1 Krabi Province Provincial Emblem Flag Province . Government Governor: Phinit Bunloet (since October 2015) Capital: Krabi Royal capital: - Population: 456,811 (2014) Area: 4,709 km2 Administrative divisions Krabi is subdivided into eight districts (amphoe), which are further divided into 53 communes (tambon) and 374 villages 1. Mueang Krabi 2 . Khao Phanom 3 . Ko Lanta 4 . Khlong Thom 5 . Ao Luek 2 6 . Plai Phraya 7. Lam Thap 8 . Nuea Khlong Geography The area is dotted with solitary limestone peaks, both on land and in the sea. Rock climbers from all over travel to Ton Sai Beach and Railay Beach. The beaches form part of Krabi's Phra Nang Peninsula. Of the 154 islands in the province, Ko Phi Phi Le is the most famous, as it was the site of the movie The Beach. Other notable islands include Ko Phi Phi Don, part of the Phi Phi Islands, and Ko Lanta, a larger island to the south. The coast was damaged by the tsunami of 26 December 2004. Krabi's limestone hills contain many caves, most having stalactites and stalagmites. Tham Chao Le and Tham Phi Hua To, both in Ao Luek District, contain prehistoric rock- paintings depicting humans, animals, and geometrical shapes. In Lang Rong Rien cave in 1986 archaeologists found 40,000-year-old human artifacts: stone tools, pottery, and bones. It is one of the oldest traces of human occupation in Southeast Asia. Krabi's caves are one of the main sources of nests of the edible-nest swiftlet, used in the making of bird's nest soup. Krabi's farmland is dominated by a duopoly of rubber and palm oil plantations. Palm plantations alone occupy 980,000 rai (1,568 km2), or 52 percent of the province's farmland. Together, palm oil and rubber cover 95 percent of Krabi's cultivated area with many smallholder farms amidst industrial plantations. Economy Agriculture, tourism, and, to a lesser extent, fisheries, form the backbone of Krabi's economy. 18–19 Rubber is the primary cash crop of the province, followed by palm oil. Thailand's largest producer of palm oil products, Univanich Palm Oil PCL, is headquartered in Krabi. It employs 1,000 persons directly and purchases feed stock from 2,000 small and medium-sized Krabi growers. History Circa 1200 CE, Krabi was tributary to the Kingdom of Ligor, a city on the Kra Peninsula's east coast, better known today as Nakhon Si Thammarat. In modern times, Krabi was administered from Nakhon Si Thammarat, even after 1872 when King Chulalongkorn granted Krabi town status. In 1875 it was made a direct subordinate of Bangkok, becoming what is now a province. In 1900 the governor moved the seat of the province from Ban Talad Kao to its present location at the mouth of the Krabi River. It is believed the town may have taken its name from the word "krabi", which means 'sword'. This may stem from a legend that an ancient sword was unearthed prior to the city's founding. Tourism 3 Krabi Province ranks fifth in tourism income in Thailand with six million arrivals. Only Bangkok, Phuket, Chonburi, and Chiang Mai earn more from tourism. Arrivals are concentrated from November to April. The crush of high-season visitors has come at considerable cost to the environment. Local authorities have devised a program, "Krabi 365 Days" to move some high-season visitors to the off-season, from May to October, called the "green season" by tourism officials, partly due to the seasonal rains. Tourism revenue has grown at an average of eight percent annually. In 2018, tourism income is expected to hit 100 billion baht, up from 96 billion in 2017. The top visitors are Chinese and Malaysians. Scandinavians number in the top five visiting nationalities. According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) as of 2018 there are 460 hotels in the province, with some 200 additional hotels in the process of being licensed and another 200 in the preliminary stages of consideration. Environment In mid-2015, government plans to build an 800 megawatt coal-fired electricity generating station (EGAT Coal-Fired TH #3:13 in Tambon Pakasai in Amphoe Nuea Khlong have generated protests and hunger strikes by those opposed to the plant who say that it would endanger Krabi's relatively pristine environment. The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) has pushed forward with development. The government intends to start the bidding process without an environmental assessment in order to "save time". The Krabi site is one of nine coal-fired plants planned for southern Thailand to be constructed over the next two decades to off-set the depletion of natural gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand. Opponents of the plan say their demands—which include a three-year waiting period to see if the province can produce 100 percent renewable energy—have been ignored. .