Samut Prakan Province is in Central Thailand. To the North and West is Bangkok. To the East is Chachoengsao Province. To the South is the Gulf of Thailand. Samut Prakan is one of the smallest provinces in Thailand at only 1,004 square kilometers. However, it is one of the most densely populated provinces. This is mainly due to the large number of factories. Samut Prakan has a population of just over 1 million people.

There are six districts in Samut Prakan Province. These are Muang Samut Prakan, Phra Pradaeng, Bang Phli, Bang Bo, Phra Samut Chedi and Bang Saothong. The province has 50 sub-districts and 405 villages. The emblem of Samut Prakan shows a picture of Phra Samut Chedi. The province flower is Marigold and the province tree is Portia tree.

Samut Prakan is split in half by the Chao Phraya River, which empties out into the Gulf of Thailand on its Southern border. The old name for the city is Paknam which means “river mouth” or “estuary”. Most people live on the East side of the river where you will find the city and many factories. The West side is mainly shrimp farms and there aren’t many roads. People have to travel by boat.

People started to live here during the Ayutthaya period in about 1 620 A.D. That was when the first temples were built. However, Samut Prakan wasn’t built properly until 1 81 9 when King Rama II commanded for forts to be built on both sides of the river at the old fishing town of Paknam. The name of the new city, Samut Prakan, means “ocean forts”.

Samut Prakan has played an important part in Thai history. The modern Thai flag was first flown here. The first railway in Thailand was opened in 1893 between Bangkok and Paknam. The first telegraph was used with a line going between Bangkok and the lighthouse in the Gulf of Thailand.

Some of the famous local food include “khanom chak” (flour mixed with coconut), “pu khai” (popular crab), “pla salit” (dried gourami fish), “mamuang nam dok mai” (sweet mango), “kapi” (shrimp paste), “nam pla wan” (sweet fish sauce), and “kung yiad” (sweetened long shrimp).