Pathum Wan District
By the turn of the 20th-21st centuries, the district had become known as the modern-day city centre, home to the prominent shopping areas of Siam and Ratchaprasong. When King Rama I established Bangkok as his capital in 1782, he had canals dug including Khlong Maha Nak, which extended eastward from the fortified city proper of Rattanakosin Island. As the canal was extended further eastward and became known as Khlong Bang Kapi (later Khlong Saen Saep), the outlying areas were cleared for paddy fields, though apart from the canal’s banks the areas remained sparsely populated. Communities formed along its bank, including Ban Khrua, a Muslim community mainly of Cham settlers, which stood at the end of the canal.
The Matter (in Thai). McGrath, Brian (2005). “Bangkok‘s CSD”. Manager Daily (in Thai). Na Thalang, Jeerawat (29 May 2016). “Spinning a living from a dyeing art”. Regarding Public Space. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. Pathum Wan District Office. Biggs, Andrew (21 April 2013). “Where the streets have strange names”. เพนนินซูล่า พลาซ่า” แลนด์มาร์ค “คริสต์มาส” แรก ณ ราชดำริ”. In Benites, Cecilia; Lyster, Clare (eds.).
The latter is named after the founder of the Red Cross, as the Thai Red Cross Society straddles its southern end, with the Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute (famous for its snake farm) on one side and King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (one of the country’s largest teaching hospitals, affiliated with the university) on the other. The offices of the State Railway of Thailand (next to the Bangkok Railway Station) and the Ministry of Energy sit beside Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem in Rong Mueang. Another major public hospital, Police General Hospital, is within the Royal Thai Police headquarters between Chaloem Phao and Ratchaprasong intersections.
Bangkok, Thailand. It lies just beyond the old city boundary of Khlong Phadung Krung Kasem, and was a rural area on the eastern outskirts of the city when royal villas were built there in the late nineteenth century. A large part of the district area is taken up by the campus of Chulalongkorn University and the green expanses of Lumphini Park and the Royal Bangkok Sports Club. The district was officially established in 1915, and covers an area of 8.37 square kilometres (3.23 sq mi).
