Uttaradit

History

Uttaradit means the "port of the north" or "northern landing", as it was formerly a trade center on the Nan River. Large boats could ascend the Nan only as far as Bang Pho, where the town now stands, rapids beginning above it, so cargo changed between river and overland carriage here. The beach market at Tha It, a little upstream, drew traders from Phrae, Nan, Luang Prabang and Sipsong Panna, and closed only when the northern railway reached the province.

A Dong Son bronze drum and bronze vessels were dug up in the reign of Rama VII at the low hill by Wat Kasem Chittaram at Khlong Pho, in tambon Tha Sao of Mueang Uttaradit district. They are held at the Bangkok National Museum, whose register gave the find-spot instead as Wiang Chao Ngo in tambon Thung Yang, Laplae district. Withaya Inthakosai, then an archaeologist of the Fine Arts Department, found that record to be wrong. Phiset Jiajanphong confirmed the Khlong Pho find-spot from residents of Ban Thung Yang who remembered the pieces being shown at the Wat Phra Thaen Sila At fair after the discovery. Wiang Chao Ngo was being looted at the time, which Phiset took to be the source of the confusion.

Surface finds at Khlong Pho include grey-black stoneware of Lopburi type, Sukhothai celadon and Chinese celadon of the 12th and early 13th centuries, with an earth rampart cored in laterite and a moat at the creek mouth. Phiset read Khlong Pho and Thung Yang as one unit, Thung Yang the centre and Khlong Pho its landing on the Nan. He noted that the material was collected from the surface or seen in private hands rather than excavated.

In the Sukhothai era several city states (Mueang) subject to the king were in the area of the modern province. Mueang Fang, an old town whose relic shrine was venerated at least from the Sukhothai period, lay on the east bank of the Nan in modern-day Mueang Uttaradit district, and Mueang Thung Yang in Laplae. Chusak Satienpattanodom treats Thung Yang as a frontier town of Si Satchanalai guarding the Khao Phlueng pass, with Mueang Phichai holding the same position further down the Nan. Wiang Chao Ngo itself is thought to be older than the Sukhothai period. Mueang Ta Chuchok lay further down the Nan in Tron district, beside the kiln field of Ban Tao Hai, and it is by that town that the kiln site is identified.

Mueang Rat, the seat of Pha Mueang, has also been sought in the province. Griswold and Prasert na Nagara argued from the terrain for the Nan valley about 50 km upstream from Uttaradit, a reading David K. Wyatt follows while stating that the town has never been found. Prasert placed it at Tha Pla, on a reading of Inscription 8 that takes its list of towns in clockwise order. Phiset Jiajanphong argued for Thung Yang in Laplae, and held that the two do not compete, Thung Yang and Uttaradit lying on one stretch of plain. The Nan was also a route of settlement. Wyatt traces the founders of the towns of the upper valley, and the ancestry of the rulers of late-13th-century Sukhothai, to families who came down the river from the U River valley. They moved into country already held by Mōn and Khmer speakers. Other proposals place it in the Pasak valley, at Lom Sak or Lom Kao in Phetchabun province, and at the old Khorat site in Sung Noen district.

Geography

The province is in the Nan River valley. About 45 kilometers north of the city of Uttaradit is the Queen Sirikit Dam, which created a 250 km2 artificial lake. The Phi Pan Nam Range reaches the northwest of the province.

Most of the province was once covered with teak forests, then the major product of Uttaradit. The largest teak tree in the world is found at the Ton Sak Yai Park in the Luang Prabang Range. The 1,500-year-old tree measures 9.87 m in circumference and 37 m in height. Originally it was 48.5 m high, but it was damaged in a storm. The total forest area is 4,415 km2 (1,705 sq mi) or 55.9 percent of provincial area.

National parks

There are ten national parks in region 11 (Phitsanulok), of which three are in Uttaradt province. (Visitors in fiscal year 2024)

Wildlife sanctuaries

There are six wildlife sanctuaries in region 11 (Phitsanulok), of which three are in Uttaradit province and Lam Nam Nan Fang Khwa Wildlife Sanctuary in region 13 (Phrae) is also in Uttaradit province.

Economy

Uttaradit is largely an agricultural province. Among its best known crops are two fruits, durian and langsat.

A durian festival is held each year around the beginning of June in Laplae District. The province is known for two varieties of durian which lack the usual, and to some people offensive, odour: Longlaplae and Linlaplae, both named after Laplae District. Durian production in Uttaradit province was estimated to be around 20,000 tonnes in 2012. The province has approximately 10,600 acres of durian orchards.

The langsat (ลางสาด) (Lansium parasiticum), for which Uttaradit is famous, and its thick-skinned sibling, longkong (ลองกอง), is a fruit that is similar in taste to the longan. A langsat festival is held each year around the middle to end of September.

Health

Uttaradit's main hospital is Uttaradit Hospital, operated by the Ministry of Public Health.

Language

A popular account of the Sukhothai dialect is reproduced at length in a 2023 study of its use in song. It names Ban Khung Taphao and Tha Sao in Mueang Uttaradit district, Ban Phra Fang, and Thung Yang in Laplae district as among the few places in the province still using the old Sukhothai accent. It explains their speech by descent from people of Sukhothai who were given to temples and so exempt from military service.

A 2015 study of the northernmost Sukhothai-dialect community of the upper Nan basin, which lies in the province, links its mangkhala pipe-and-drum music to the Sukhothai kingdom of the 15th century. It traces the decline of that music there to the late 20th century.

Symbols

The provincial seal shows the mondop at the temple Wat Phra Thaen Sila At, in Baan Phra Thaen in the Laplae district. The main item of worship in the temple is a laterite block, which is believed to have been used by Buddha to seek enlightenment. The mondhop is built upon this block.

The seal was first designed in 1940, later a garuda as the symbol of Thailand and the name of the province were added.

The provincial tree is the teak (Tectona grandis). The largest teak tree in the world stands in Ton Sak Yai National Park (สักใหญ่). The tree, estimated to be more than 1,500 years old, is 37 meters high and has a circumference of 9.58 meters at its base. Although the upper part of the tree broke off in a storm, the trunk is still alive. Discovered in 1927, the giant teak tree is part of the 35 square kilometer park of mixed deciduous forest. The edible cyprinid fish Cyclocheilichthys enoplus is the provincial aquatic life.

Transport

Uttaradit is served by the Northern Line of the State Railway of Thailand. There are two stations in Uttaradit town: Uttaradit railway station, the main station and Sila At railway station, where it is a major centre for Northern Line operations. It does not have an airport. The nearest airport is in Phrae.

Administrative divisions

Provincial government

The province is divided into nine districts (amphoe). These are further divided into 67 subdistricts (tambon) and 562 villages (muban).

Local government

As of 26 November 2019 there are: one Uttaradit Provincial Administration Organisation (ongkan borihan suan changwat) and 26 municipal (thesaban) areas in the province. Uttaradit has town (thesaban mueang) status. Further 25 subdistrict municipalities (thesaban tambon). The non-municipal areas are administered by 53 Subdistrict Administrative Organisations - SAO (ongkan borihan suan tambon).

Human achievement index 2022

Since 2003, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at sub-national level using the Human achievement index (HAI), a composite index covering all the eight key areas of human development. National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has taken over this task since 2017.