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If you've been following the Boomerang Box, you probably know a lot about ports. You know that a port is a waterfront city, where goods are brought in and out by ship from other countries.
But does a port have to be on the seacoast?
Well, not necessarily! And Bangkok is a good example of a city that is a major port but not a seaport. Bangkok is a port on a river, which makes it not your usual port.
Bangkok is located on the banks of the Chao Praya River in the country of Thailand. It has served as a port for hundreds of years. In the 17th and 18th centuries, small sailing ships traveled up the river to load and unload goods at Bangkok and Thon Buri, the city across the river. But they only stopped there briefly. In those days, the major port was farther upriver. It was called Ayutthaya, and it was the capital city of the country, which was at that time called Siam.
As trading ships got bigger, though, they could no longer travel all the way upriver to Ayutthaya. The river became too shallow for them as they traveled farther inland. That meant that Bangkok and Thon Buri became more important as trading centers. In fact, Thon Buri became Siam's capital in 1767. Then, in 1782, King Rama the First moved the capital across the river to Bangkok. He did this because Bangkok was better protected from Siam's enemy, Burma.
As a major port and capital city, Bangkok grew and thrived. People moved around mainly by boat, traveling on canals instead of roads. In fact, Europeans who visited Bangkok called it the Venice of the East because of these canals.
As Bangkok grew, it even stretched across the river. In 1971, Thon Buri became part of Bangkok. Today, Bangkok is a bustling, modern city with a modern container port. Its canals have mostly been filled in and turned into roads so that goods coming into the port can speed out of the city. And the city is filled with a combination of old buildings and new ones, of historic floating markets and modern malls.
As you can imagine, ship captains have to be very careful navigating the twists and turns of the river to get to Bangkok. Want to learn more about how they do it and who helps them? Log onto the Bangkok Port and write a one-page paper about what you learn!
Study questions
- Can you locate Thailand and Bangkok on a map?
- People in Thailand refer to Bangkok as Krung Thep, which means City of Angels. Do you know of another city with the same nickname? Stay tuned for the next trade topic to find out!
Check out past Trade Topics entries!
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