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Tambon



 
 
Tambon is a local government unit in Thailand
Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
. Below district
District

Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipality, or subdivisions of municipalities....
 (amphoe
Amphoe

An amphoe is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as district, amphoe make up the Provinces of Thailand....
) and province
Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state....
 (changwat
Changwat

Changwat is the name for the first level country subdivision of Thailand usually translated as province. Changwat is led by Provincial Governor ....
), they form the third administrative subdivision level. As of the 2000 census there are 7254 tambon, not including the 154 khwaeng of Bangkok
Bangkok

The city of Bangkok is the Capital , largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai language as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom and came to the forefront of Thailand when it was given the status as the...
, which are set at the same administrative level, thus every district
Amphoe

An amphoe is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as district, amphoe make up the Provinces of Thailand....
 contains 8-10 tambon. Tambon is usually translated as "commune" or "subdistrict" in English, the latter is also the recommended translation, although it is used also often used as the translation for king amphoe.






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Tambon is a local government unit in Thailand
Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
. Below district
District

Districts are a type of administrative division, in some countries managed by a local government. They vary greatly in size, spanning entire regions or counties, several municipality, or subdivisions of municipalities....
 (amphoe
Amphoe

An amphoe is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as district, amphoe make up the Provinces of Thailand....
) and province
Province

A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state....
 (changwat
Changwat

Changwat is the name for the first level country subdivision of Thailand usually translated as province. Changwat is led by Provincial Governor ....
), they form the third administrative subdivision level. As of the 2000 census there are 7254 tambon, not including the 154 khwaeng of Bangkok
Bangkok

The city of Bangkok is the Capital , largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai language as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom and came to the forefront of Thailand when it was given the status as the...
, which are set at the same administrative level, thus every district
Amphoe

An amphoe is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as district, amphoe make up the Provinces of Thailand....
 contains 8-10 tambon. Tambon is usually translated as "commune" or "subdistrict" in English, the latter is also the recommended translation, although it is used also often used as the translation for king amphoe. Tambon are further subdivided into 69,307 villages (muban
Muban

Muban is the lowest Administrative divisions of Thailand. Usually translated as village, they are the subdivision of tambon. As of the census of 2000 there were 69,307 villages, including some villages in the more rural districts of Bangkok....
), about 10 per tambon. Tambon within cities or towns have no subdivision into villages, but into communities (chumchon).

History

Tambon as a subdivision are quite old already. They were the second-level subdivision of the area administrated by a provincial town in the 19th century. The governor of the province was supposed to appoint a commune elder (kamnan
Kamnan

A kamnan is a Thailand governing official at the tambon level. It is usually translated as "subdistrict headman".The position of a kamnan was introduced with the thesaphiban administrative reforms at the end of the 19th century, first enacted in 1892....
 or phan). Phan also means 1000, which refers to the fact that a tambon was supposed to have about 1000 abled-bodied men. (Phan can be refer to a military title which is a Tambon governor.)

In the administrative reforms started in 1892 under Prince Damrong Rajanubhab
Damrong Rajanubhab

Damrong Rajanubhab was the founder of the modern Thailand education system as well as the modern provincial administration. He was also a Autodidacticism historian, and one of the most influential intellectuals of his time....
, the first Thai minister of Interior, the three levels of subdivision of provinces were continued, i.e. starting from district
Amphoe

An amphoe is the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. Usually translated as district, amphoe make up the Provinces of Thailand....
 to tambon to the lowest level called muban.

With the Tambon Council and Tambon Administrative Authority Act BE 2537 (1994) and later by the constitution of 1997
1997 Constitution of Thailand

For legal and historical context, see the Constitutions of Thailand articleThe 1997 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand was widely hailed as a landmark in Thai democratic constitutional reform....
 the tambon were decentralized into local government units with an elected Tambon Council. Depending on the size and tax income a tambon may either be administrated by Tambon/Commune/Subdistrict Administrative Organization (TAO; there are various names in English. ?????????????????????) or a Tambon Council (TC, ???????). The TAO or TC consist of two representatives from each muban in the tambon. From the group a leader is chosen, who in practice often, but not always, also happens to be the kamnan. The tambon area which belongs to a municipality (thesaban
Thesaban

Thesaban are the municipalities in Thailand. There are three levels of municipalities - city, town and subdistrict municipality. Both Bangkok and Pattaya are special municipal entities outside the thesaban system....
) is administrated by the city council. In case only a part is within a municipality, the remaining part is administrated by a TAO. Adjoining tambon of a single amphoe can also have a joint TAO responsible for more than one tambon.

One Tambon One Product

In 1999, Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra
Thaksin Shinawatra

, born July 26, 1949 in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand, is a Thai businessman, Politics of Thailand, former List of Prime Ministers of Thailand, and former leader of the Populism Thai Rak Thai Party....
 started a project in which every tambon should select a typical local product. The project then does the promotion for the product, as well as assists in modernizing the production. Stores selling the OTOP products are located in each provincial capital.

See also

  • Subdivisions of Thailand


External links