Chiang Saen

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เชียงแสน
Chiang Saen
Chiang Saen (Thailand)
Red pog.svg
Coordinates 20 ° 17 ′  N , 100 ° 5 ′  E Coordinates: 20 ° 17 ′  N , 100 ° 5 ′  E
Basic data
Country Thailand

province

Chiang Rai
Northern Thailand

Chiang Saen ( Thai : เชียงแสน ) is an ancient city in the northern region of Thailand . Chiang Saen is also the capital of Amphoe Chiang Saen , a district ( Amphoe ) in the north of Chiang Rai Province .

The Mekong near Chiang Saen

geography

Chiang Saen is located in the northernmost tip of Thailand. The provincial capital Chiang Rai is about 60 kilometers to the southwest. In the wide plain of the lower Maenam Kok ( Kok River ), Chiang Saen is on the western bank of the Mekong , the opposite bank is in Laos . About five kilometers further south of today's city, the Maenam Kok flows into the Mekong.

history

The area around Chiang Saen was already settled in prehistoric times, as evidenced by finds exhibited in the Chiang Saen National Museum. Chronicles describe an ancient royal city, Ngoen Yang , which was probably the first major city in the area. It was on one of the trade routes that ran from northern Thailand to Yunnan . The chronicles further report that the ruler of this city entered into an alliance with Chiang Hung by marriage , which is now called Jinghong and at that time was in "Sipsong Pan Na" (today: Xishuangbanna ). Mengrai , who later became King of Lan Na, was born into this family in 1239 . The city of Ngoen Yang no longer exists, but its name is still used synonymously with Chiang Saen.

Chiang Saen city was founded in 1329 by Saen Phu , a grandson of Mengrai. The newly founded city was initially called "Mueang Roi", it was shaped like an irregular rectangle and 1500 × 700 Wa (about 3000 meters × 1400 meters) in size. Their outlines can still be seen well in today's city. Saen Phu had it built directly on the Mekong, so he only had to dig a moat on three sides, the fourth side was the Mekong. Behind the moat there was an earth wall, a total of five gates led into the city. Eight watchtowers were built in the city and at strategically important points in the surrounding area. Shortly after the city was completed, Saen Phu handed Chiang Mai over to his son Kham Fu as governor and retired to Chiang Saen, which has since carried his name. He died here in 1334.

Ruins of the abandoned city of Chiang Saen in the late 1860s, after a drawing by Louis Delaporte

During the Burmese rule over Lan Na from 1558 to 1774, the Burmese built a fortress in Chiang Saen, which in the 18th century served as the military and political center of the Lan Na they controlled. A Burmese governor (myo-wun) resided here . Chiang Saen was more firmly integrated into the Burmese Empire than other parts of Lan Nas. A “History of Chiang Saen” from the 19th century even reports negatively about Chiang Mai's rebellion against Burmese rule. It was not until 1804 that Chiang Saen - the last part of what is now northern Thailand inhabited by Tai Yuan - was conquered by the Siamese troops of King Ramas I (Phra Phutthayotfa Chulalok) with the help of the armies of King Kawila of Chiang Mai and the Prince of Nan. The Siamese king ordered that the city, with the exception of the religious sites, should be destroyed. In addition, he had the population deported to his immediate territory, the central Thai basin, as slave laborers. To this day, descendants of the Tai Yuan from Chiang Saen who were abducted at the time can be identified in the provinces of Ratchaburi and Saraburi .

For the next few years the city remained deserted, as noted by the British surveyor Holt Hallet, who visited the city in 1876. It was not until 1881 that King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) had Chiang Saen re-established and repopulated with families from Lamphun, Lampang and Chiang Mai. To this day only a small part of the old city is inhabited. Of the former five city gates, only the Chiang Saen Gate has been restored, through which Road 1016 leads from the Amphoe Mae Chan down to the banks of the Mekong.

Wat Pa Sak in Chiang Saen

Attractions

  • Wat Pa Sak (Thai: วัด ป่า สัก , "monastery in the teak forest") - ruins of a Buddhist temple ( Wat ) outside the city wall with an impressive, well-preserved chedi with a square base in Mon style.
  • Wat Phra That Chedi Luang (Thai: วัด พระ ธาตุเจดีย์ หลวง ) - ruins of the main temple of Chiang Saen. Today only the octagonal chedi can be seen, which at 88 meters is the tallest building in Chiang Saen.
  • Chiang Saen National Museum (Thai: พิพิธ ภัณฑ สถาน แหง ชาติ เชียงแสน ) - small national museum next to Wat Chedi Luang with a small but important collection of Chiang Saen-style Buddha statues.

literature

  • Sarassawadee Ongsakul: History of Lan Na . Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2005, ISBN 974-9575-84-9
  • David K. Wyatt, Aroonrut Wichienkeeo: The Chiang Mai Chronicle . Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 1998, ISBN 974-7100-62-2
  • Michael Freeman: Lanna - Thailand's Northern Kingdom . River Books, Bangkok 2001, ISBN 0-50097602-3

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Freeman: Lanna , p. 209
  2. Wyatt: The Chiang Mai Chronicle , p. 59 - today's city is surrounded by a wall that is only about 1000 meters by 2500 meters, the dimensions may have been confused in the chronicles.
  3. Wyatt: The Chiang Mai Chronicle , p. 60
  4. Wyatt: Chiang Mai Chronicle , p. 61: "Saen Phu reigned in Chiang Saen for seven years before he fell ill and died in CS 696 ( AD 1334)."
  5. ^ Volker Grabowsky : Population and State in Lan Na. A contribution to the population history of Southeast Asia. Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, p. 160.
  6. ^ Grabowsky: Population and State in Lan Na. 2004, pp. 55-56.
  7. ^ Grabowsky: Population and State in Lan Na. 2004, pp. 177, 207-215.
  8. ^ Grabowsky: Population and State in Lan Na. 2004, p. 264 ff.

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