Chiang Mai is the largest city in northern Thailand covering an area of approximately 20,107 square kilometres, and the third largest city in the country after Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima.
It is located at the centre of a fertile basin at an elevation of 1,100 feet (335 metres) on the Mae Ping River, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya River. Also known as the ‘Rose of the North’, Chiang Mai borders Myanmar on the north, Lamphun and Tak provinces on the south, Chiang Rai, Lampang and Lamphun provinces on the east and Mae Hong Son province on the west.
Chiang Mai is located 750 kilometres north of Bangkok, Thailand, 473 km from Yangon, Myanmar, 763 km from Hanoi, Vietnam, 795 km from Kunming, China and 908 km from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
There are also bus and train routes to Chiang Mai from different parts of Thailand. Click here for bus schedules and here for train schedules.
History
Chiang Mai, with its full name ‘Nopphaburi Si Nakhonping Chiang Mai’ meaning ‘the new city’, was founded in 1296 and was the capital of an independent kingdom, Lanna (‘The Kingdom of a Million Fields’). Chiang Mai came to control most of what now constitutes northern Thailand, north-western Laos, the eastern Shan states of Burma and Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan, China. The religion of the kingdom — Theravada Buddhism — gave rise to a cultural wealth beyond the kingdom’s boundaries. Lanna became a major centre of Buddhist studies, hosting the Seventh World Buddhist Conference in 1477. Chiang Mai became a part of Thailand (called Siam during that period) in 1774.
Chiang Mai became linked with central Thailand because of the completion of the northern railway in 1921. Tourism became a primary source of the city’s revenue. Chiang Mai has been a centre of religion, economy, culture and artisans, education, and transportation.
People and Culture
People who live in Chiang Mai have their own distinct language and are a mixture of Mon, Lawa, Lao and Thai Lue, among others. Tens of thousands of hill tribes — Hmong, Akha, Musser, Yao and the Padaung have also settled here from troubles in Myanmar, Laos and China. There are also many overseas Chinese, Chin Haw Muslim traders from Yunnan and an increasing numbers of Europeans and Americans who have come to live in Chiang Mai.
Climate
Temperatures from mid-November to January are between 13C and 28C (56F and 83F) in Chiang Mai; those on the hills are even colder.
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