The village of Thoburi, on the right (western) bank of the
Chao Phraya (here in the lower left corner of the map), facing the fortress of
Bangkok, during the 1688
Siege of Bangkok.
() was capital of
Thailand for a short time during the reign of King
Taksin, after the previous capital
Ayutthaya was sacked by the
Burmese. It is located on the opposite bank of
Chao Phraya River, or nowaday Royal Palaces. During Ayutthaya time, Thon Buri was an important garrison town at the mouth of the river.
King
Rama I moved the capital to
Bangkok in 1782 to the other side of the
Chao Phraya River. Thon Buri remained an independent town and province, and was merged into Bangkok in 1972.
Thon Buri stayed less developed than the original Bangkok part of the city, several of the traditional small waterways (
Khlongs) still exist there, which are nearly gone on the other side of the river.
In 1950, Bangkok had 1,299,528 people, and the municipality of Thon Buri 403,818.
Thon Buri was Thailand's second largest city proper with around 600,000 residents in 1970. (3 times more than the next largest). No Thai city other than Bangkok since has reached 400,000 residents.
