Nakhon Sawan

Nakhon Sawan or "Heavenly City" was a settlement since Dvaravati era. Wikipedia writes that while part of the Sukhothai kingdom, it was called Mueang Phra Bang, the southern frontier city of Sukhothai. Later within the Ayutthaya kingdom it was an important trade center because of its location at the two major rivers from the north. It also was the common meeting point of Burmese troops before moving to attack Ayutthaya. In the reign of King Taksin the Great, Phra Bang became a Siamese military base to prevent further Burmese attacks. When King Mongkut signed the Bowring Treaty with Britain the glorious time of Nakhon Sawan began, as it became the main rice and teak trading center. However the opening of the Northern railway in 1922, the economic crisis before 1932 revolution, and finally the opening of Dejativongse bridge and Phahonyothin highway in 1950 each decreased the importance of water transportation and thus made Nakhon Sawan less important. When in 1895 King Chulalongkorn established the monthon as part of the thesaphiban administrative reform, Nakhon Sawan became capital city of Monthon Nakhon Sawan.

Another source state the original name of Mueang Chontawan was Muang Phra Bang. Phra Bang is the name of an important image of the Buddha being the palladium of Laos. In the period of Thonburi during, the reign of King Taksin 1778, Chao Phraya Chakri (later King Rama I) took an expedition to subdue Vientiane, on his return he took two important images of the Buddha with him. There were Phra Bang and Phra Keo Morakot (the Emerald Image of the Buddha). In 1778 King Taksin's leading general, Chao Phraya Chakri, led a Siamese army to capture Vientiane and Luang Phrabang and established Siamese domination over the Laotian kingdoms. The Buddha Pra Bang was taken to Siam. King Rama I kept the Buddha Phra Bang at present Nakhon Sawan for a period of time, because the Burmese army was preparing to invade Siam on its western frontier. Because the Buddha Phra Bang was settled in this city for a certain period, the people started to call the city "Muang Phra Bang". When the Buddha Pra Bang was returned to Vientiane by Rama I in 1782 after the Siamese restored the Vietnamese dynasty as a puppet regime, the name of Muang Phra Bang was changed into Mueang Chontawan: "Chon" means looking against the rays, "Tawan" means the morning sun; so Chontawan means looking against the rays of the morning sun. The reason of naming the city Chontawan was because the city was situated on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River, and the city itself was facing to the east; so the people who live in the city usually look against the rays of the sun in the morning. In the reign of King Rama V Mueang Chontawan was renamed Nakhon Sawan.

The Ping and Nan rivers merge near the city of Nakhon Sawan to form the Chao Phraya River.

Ayutthaya Historical Research