Chiang Mai From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Not to be confused with Chiang Rai or Chengmai. This article is about the city Chiang Mai. For other uses, see Chiang Mai (disam biguation). Chiang Mai ????????? City Municipality Top left: East moat, Chiang Mai; top right: Chedi, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep; midd le left: View from Doi Suthep of downtown Chiang Mai; middle right: Tha Phae Gat e; bottom left: A songthaew shared taxi; bottom right: Wat Chiang Man Top left: East moat, Chiang Mai; top right: Chedi, Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep; midd le left: View from Doi Suthep of downtown Chiang Mai; middle right: Tha Phae Gat e; bottom left: A songthaew shared taxi; bottom right: Wat Chiang Man Location of the city within Chiang Mai Province Location of the city within Chiang Mai Province Chiang Mai is located in Thailand Chiang MaiChiang Mai Location of the city within Thailand Coordinates: 18°47'43?N 98°59'55?ECoordinates: 18°47'43?N 98°59'55?E Country Thailand Province Chiang Mai Province Government Type City municipality Mayor Tatsanai Puranupakorn Area City Municipality 40.216 km2 (15.527 sq mi) Metro 2,905 km2 (1,122 sq mi) Elevation 310 m (1,020 ft) Population (2008) City Municipality 148,477 Density 3,687/km2 (9,550/sq mi) Metro 960,906 Metro density 315.42/km2 (816.9/sq mi) Time zone ICT (UTC+7) Airport IATA: CNX ICAO: VTCC Website Official website Chiang Mai (/'t?j???'ma?/, from Thai: ????????? [t??i?? màj] ( listen), Lanna: ?? ??????? [t??ia?.màj] ( listen)) sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", i s the largest and most culturally significant city in Northern Thailand. It is t he capital of Chiang Mai Province and was a former capital of the Kingdom of Lan na (12961768), which became the Kingdom of Chiang Mai, a tributary state of Thail and from 1774 to 1939. It is 700 km (435 mi) north of Bangkok and is situated am ongst the highest mountains in the country. The city sits astride the Ping River , a major tributary of the Chao Phraya River. Chiang Mai means "new city" and was so named because it became the new capital o f the Lanna kingdom when it was founded in 1296, succeeding Chiang Rai, the form er capital founded in 1262.[1]:208209 Chiang Mai gained prominence in the political sphere in May 2006, when the Chian g Mai Initiative was concluded between the ASEAN nations and the "+3" countries (China, Japan, and South Korea). Chiang Mai was one of three Thai cities contend ing for Thailand's bid to host the World Expo 2020 (the others were Chonburi and Ayutthaya).[2] Ayutthaya, however, was the city ultimately chosen by the Thai P arliament to register for the international competition.[3][4] Chiang Mai has positioned itself to become a Creative City and is considering ap plying for Creative City status with UNESCO.[5] Chiang Mai was one of two touris t destinations in Thailand on TripAdvisor's 2014 list of "25 Best Destinations i n the World", where it stands at number 24.[6] Chiang Mai's historic importance is derived from its close proximity to the Ping River and major trading routes.[7][8][9] While officially the city (thesaban nakhon) of Chiang Mai only covers most parts of the Mueang Chiang Mai district with a population of 160,000, the city's spra wl extends into several neighboring districts. The Chiang Mai Metropolitan Area has a population of nearly one million people, more than half the total of Chian g Mai Province. The city is subdivided into four wards (khwaeng): Nakhon Ping, Srivijaya, Mengra i, and Kawila. The first three are on the west bank of the Ping River, and Kawil a is on the east bank. Nakhon Ping district comprises the north part of the city . Srivijaya, Mengrai, and Kawila consist of the west, south, and east parts, res pectively. The city centerwithin the city wallsis mostly within Srivijaya ward.[10 ] Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Emblem 3 Climate 3.1 Air pollution 4 Religious sites 5 Culture 5.1 Festivals 5.2 Language 5.3 Museums 5.4 Dining 6 Education 7 Nature 8 Recreation 9 Transportation 10 Tourism 11 Notable persons 12 Twin towns and sister cities 13 Gallery 14 See also 15 References 16 External links History[edit] Wat Chiang Man, the oldest Buddhist temple in the city City wall, north-west corner King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai ("new city") in 1296[1]:209 on the s ite of an older city of the Lawa people called Wiang Nopburi.[11][12] Gordon You ng, in his 1962 book The Hill tribes of Northern Thailand, mentions how a Wa chi eftain in Burma told him that the Wa, a people who are closely related to the La wa, once lived in the Chiang Mai valley in "sizeable cities".[13] Chiang Mai succeeded Chiang Rai as the capital of the Lanna kingdom. Pha Yu enla rged and fortified the city, and built Wat Phra Singh in honor of his father Kha m Fu.[1]:226227 The ruler was known as the "chao". The city was surrounded by a m oat and a defensive wall since nearby Burma was a constant threat, as were the a rmies of the Mongol Empire, which only decades earlier had conquered most of Yun nan, China, and in 1292 overran the bordering Thai Lü kingdom of Chiang Hung.[7] With the decline of the Lanna Kingdom, the city lost importance and was occupied by the Burmese in 1556.[14] Chiang Mai formally became part of Siam in 1775 by an agreement with Chao Kavila, after the Thai King Taksin helped drive out the B urmese. Because of Burmese counterattacks, Chiang Mai was abandoned between 1776 and 1791.[15] Lampang then served as the capital of what remained of Lanna. Chi ang Mai then slowly grew in cultural, trading, and economic importance to its cu rrent status as the unofficial capital of Northern Thailand, second in importanc e only to Bangkok.[16] The modern municipality dates to a sanitary district (sukhaphiban) that was crea ted in 1915. It was upgraded to a municipality (thesaban) on 29 March 1935, as p ublished in the Royal Gazette, Book No. 52 section 80. First covering just 17.5 km2 (7 sq mi), the city was enlarged to 40.2 km2 (16 sq mi) on 5 April 1983.[17] Emblem[edit] The city emblem shows the stupa at Wat Doi Suthep in its center. Below it are cl ouds representing the moderate climate in the mountains of Northern Thailand. Th ere is a naga, the mythical snake said to be the source of the Ping River, and r ice stalks, which refer to the fertility of the land.[18] Climate[edit] Chiang Mai has a tropical wet and dry climate (Köppen Aw), tempered by the low lat itude and moderate elevation, with warm to hot weather year-round, though nightt ime conditions during the dry season can be cool and much lower than daytime hig hs. The maximum temperature ever recorded was 42.4 °C (108.3 °F) in May 2005.[19] [hide]Climate data for Chiang Mai (19812010) Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year Record high °C (°F) 35.5 (95.9) 38.2 (100.8) 40.8 (105.4) 41.6 (106.9) 42.4 (108.3) 40.5 (104.9) 39.3 (102.7) 38.0 (100.4) 41.2 (106.2) 37.1 (98.8) 36.5 (97.7) 35.0 (95) 42.4 (108.3) Average high °C (°F) 29.8 (85.6) 32.6 (90.7) 35.2 (95.4) 36.5 (97.7) 34.2 (93.6) 32.7 (90.9) 31.8 (89.2) 31.5 (88.7) 31.7 (89.1) 31.4 (88.5) 30.1 (86.2) 28.6 (83.5) 32.18 (89.93) Average low °C (°F) 14.9 (58.8) 16.2 (61.2) 19.5 (67.1) 22.9 (73.2) 23.8 (74.8) 24.0 (75.2) 23.9 (75) 23.7 (74.7) 23.2 (73.8) 22.2 (72) 19.2 (66.6) 15.7 (60.3) 20.77 (69.39) Record low °C (°F) 0.5 (32.9) 3.3 (37.9) 7.8 (46) 14.4 (57.9) 17.2 (63) 20.6 (69.1) 20.0 (68) 20.2 (68.4) 19.7 (67.5) 16.3 (61.3) 11.1 (52) 4.8 (40.6) 0.5 (32.9) Average rainfall mm (inches) 4.2 (0.165) 8.9 (0.35) 17.8 (0.701) 57.3 (2.256) 162.0 (6.378) 124.5 (4.902) 140.2 (5.52) 216.9 (8.539) 211.4 (8.323) 117.6 (4.63) 53.9 (2.122) 15.9 (0.626) 1,130.6 (44.512) Average rainy days (= 1 mm) 1 2 2 6 14 14 16 18 20 14 5 1 113 Average relative humidity (%) 68 58 52 57 71 77 79 81 81 79 75 73 70.9 Mean monthly sunshine hours 272.8 251.4 269.7 258.0 217.0 177.0 170.5 161.2 156.0 198.4 234.0 263.5 2,629.5 Source #1: Thai Meteorological Department[20] (normal 19812010, avg. rainy days 1 9611990) Source #2: Hong Kong Observatory[21] (sunshine) Panorama, Chiang Mai during the rainy season, August 2014 Air pollution[edit] See also: Environmental issues in Thailand A continuing environmental issue in Chiang Mai is the incidence of air pollution that primarily occurs every year towards the end of the dry season between Febr uary and April.