Kanchanaburi Province - History

History

Archaeology found in Kanchanaburi dates back to the 4th century which proves of trade with surrounding countries even in that time. Very little is also historically known about the actual Khmer influence in Kanchanaburi but there is evidence of their occupation with Prasat Muang Singh – one of the country’s most well-known Khmer sites.

Not much was historically recorded about Kanchanaburi province before the reign of King Rama I, but some historians believe that the province played much strategical importance during the Ayutthaya period. In 1982 the Fine Arts Department found many human and elephant skeletons and swords in Phanom Thuan District. Thus, this site might even have been the location of the famous battle of King Naresuan against the Burmese crown-prince, most commonly assigned to the Don Chedi District in Suphanburi Province nearby.

With the rise of the Chakri Dynasty and General Chakri (who would later become King Rama I) Kanchanaburi certainly played a distinctive strategical point as defense against the invading Burmese.

For foreigners however, it is only Kanchanaburi’s recent history which really stands out with the name ‘The Death Railway’. During the Japanese occupation of Thailand in 1942 POWs both allies and Asian labourers were ordered by the Japanese to build a Thailand-Burma railway. Eventually, an unprecedented more than 100,000 POWs (16,000 allies and 90,000 local Asian labourers) died from horrific working conditions.