unit
Unit may refer to:
General measurement
* Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law
**International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system
**English units, histo ...
of
mass
Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
(or weight in the colloquial sense) historically used in
Mainland Southeast Asia
Mainland Southeast Asia (historically known as Indochina and the Indochinese Peninsula) is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to th ...
, particularly in the predecessor states of
Myanmar
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...
, where it is known as the ''kyat'' (''kyattha''), and of
Cambodia
Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
and
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, where it is known as the ''baht'' (''bat''). It formed the basis of the modern currencies the
Myanmar kyat
The kyat ( or ; ; ISO 4217 code MMK) is the currency of Myanmar (Burma). The typical notation for the kyat is "K" (singular) and "Ks." (plural), placed before the numerals followed by "/-". Amounts less than K. 1/- are typically denoted w ...
and the
Thai baht
The baht (; , ; currency sign, sign: ฿; ISO 4217, code: THB) is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 ''satang'' (, ). Prior to decimalisation, the baht was divided into eight ''fueang'' (, ), each of eight ''at'' (, ). The ...
, as well as the historical
Cambodian tical
From the 1850s to 1875, the tical was the currency of Cambodia as well as Siam and Laos. However, as a result of French intervention in the region, the tical in Cambodia was replaced in 1875 by the Cambodian franc. The term tical was the name ...
, which were originally valued as the unit's weight of silver. It remains in widespread use in Myanmar, where it is approximately equivalent to , and in the gold trade in Thailand, where it is defined as for bullion and for jewellery. For other uses, the ''baht'' is defined in Thailand as exactly .
The unit probably arose from multiple origins. In Burma, it was likely equivalent to the
Mon
Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to:
Places
* Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar
* Mon, India, a town in Nagaland
* Mon district, Nagaland
* Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
* Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons
* A ...
unit ''diṅkel'', which is mentioned in several thirteenth-century inscriptions from northern Thailand and may have originated in India, while in the
Khmer Empire
The Khmer Empire was an empire in Southeast Asia, centered on Hydraulic empire, hydraulic cities in what is now northern Cambodia. Known as Kambuja (; ) by its inhabitants, it grew out of the former civilization of Chenla and lasted from 802 t ...
, it was probably derived as a subdivision equalling a quarter of the ''
Ayutthaya Kingdom
The Ayutthaya Kingdom or the Empire of Ayutthaya was a Thai people, Thai kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya (city), Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. Europe ...
displaced the Khmer Empire in the fifteenth century, and as Ayutthaya gained control of the east coast of the
Andaman Sea
The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...
and developed cross-peninsular trade, the units, of roughly the same size, probably became regarded as equivalent by traders, including the Portuguese, who popularized its recognition by Westerners as the ''tical''.
Cambodian units of measurement
A number of units of measurement have been used in Cambodia to measure length, mass, volume, etc. The metric system has been compulsory there since 1914.
System before metric system
Length
Several units were used to measure length. One muoi (or ...
*
Thai units of measurement
Before metrication, the traditional system of measurement used in Thailand employed anthropic units. Some of these units are still in use, albeit standardised to SI/metric measurements. When the Royal Thai Survey Department began cadastral survey i ...