BANGKOK, the capital of Siam, on the river Me Nam, about tom. from its mouth. Until modern times the city was built largely on floating pontoons or on piles along innumerable canals and water-courses which formed the thoroughfares; in recent years, however, well-planned roads and streets have been con structed, crossing the old canals at many points, and lined with well-built houses, for the most part of brick. The centre of the city is the royal palace (see SIAM), situated in a bend of the river and enclosed by walls. At a radius of nearly a mile was another wall (whole sections of which together with the inner wall have been demolished) within which lay the closely-packed city proper, and beyond which the town stretched away to the royal parks on the north and to the business quarter, the warehouses, rice-mills, harbour and docks on the south. There are about 8o rice-mills in or near the city and a naval arsenal, while the Bangkok Dock Co. have two graving docks besides slipways for launches up to 76ft. The whole town covers an area of over iosq.m. There is a corn plete system of electric tramways and the streets are lined with shade-trees and lit by electricity. All over the town are scattered Buddhist temples, with coloured tile roofs and gilded spires. Many fine buildings are to be seen—public offices, the arsenal, the mint, palaces, the Chulalongkorn university, schools, hospitals, markets and Christian churches, chiefly Roman Catholic. There are four railway stations in Bangkok, the termini of the lines which connect the capital with the provinces and with Penang and Singa pore.
The climate of Bangkok has, in recent times, become hotter and less humid. Though a minimum temperature below 6o°F is still recorded in January and December, a maximum of over zoo° is reached during the hot months and at the beginning of the rains, whereas up to 190o a maximum of 93° was considered un usually high. The cause of this change is attributed to extensive drainage and removal of vegetation in the immediate neighbour hood of the town. The annual rainfall amounts to over 5oin. A four-mile reach of the Me Nam, immediately below the city proper, forms the port. From 25o to 400yds. broad and of good depth right up to the banks, the river offers every convenience for the berthing and loading of ships, though a bar at its mouth, which prevents the passage of vessels drawing more than 13ft., necessitates, in the case of large ships, a partial loading and un loading from lighters outside. The banks of the port are closely lined with the offices, warehouses and wharves of commercial houses, with timber yards and rice-mills ; the custom house, the harbour master's office and many of the foreign legations and consulates are also situated here. It is notable that the heavy trade with Singapore shows a tendency to decrease in favour of direct trade with Europe. A fleet of small steamers, schooners and junks, carries on trade with towns and districts on the coasts of the Gulf of Siam. The trade of Bangkok is almost entirely in the hands of Europeans and Chinese. The principal exports are rice and teak, and the principal imports, cotton and silk goods and gold-leaf. Trade is flourishing and 85% of it goes through the capital, in 1925-26 the total foreign trade of the port being L33,040,159, of which imports accounted for 114,888,643 and ex ports f 18,151,516. Most of the leading mercantile firms and banks of the Far East have branches in Bangkok and a number of Chinese banks also have headquarters here. The unit of cur rency is the tical, or baht (see SiAm).
The government of Bangkok, carried on directly by the Central Government, is administered by the lord prefect, who is an official of the Ministry of the Interior. Under him are the gen darmerie, municipal affairs, harbour, public health and prison de partments. The police force is an efficient and well-organized body of 8,000 men under a commissioner of police (non-Euro pean). The harbour master general controls the port and the city waterways. Local revenues are collected by the revenue office. The functions of the department of municipal affairs include re sponsibility for conservancy and the water-works of Bangkok, which are under the direct supervision of the city engineer. The absence of good drinking water was, until recently, largely re sponsible for the bad sanitary conditions of the city and resulted in a high death rate, especially among children, from cholera, smallpox and fevers during the dry months. Now that the water supply, taken from the river above the city, is purified and regu larly examined, public health is greatly improved. A medical officer is in charge of sanitary inspection, vital statistics, control of communicable diseases, the central hospital, public health centres and prison medical service. The law courts are under the Ministry of Justice but until the promulgation and putting into force of the Siamese Penal, Civil and Commercial Codes and the Codes of Procedure and Law of Organization of Courts, and for five years after, the diplomatic and consular officials of the treaty powers may, by means of a written requisition addressed to the judge, evoke any case pending in a Siamese court, except the Supreme or Dika court, in which a subject, corporation, com pany or association or a protected person of the power is defendant or accused.
The population in 1924 was rather over 4 5 2,000; Siamese and Chinese form the majority, but there are members of almost every race to be found between Bombay and Japan, while Europeans number 1,5oo.
Before 1769 Bangkok was nothing but an agricultural village with a fort on the river bank. It was, in that year, seized by Paya Tak, as a convenient point from which to attack the Burmese army then in occupation of Siam, and upon his becoming king was made the capital. (See Sum.)