Bangkok

Thailand

Bangkok, on the Chao Phraya River, is the capital and largest city of Thailand. It grew from a village under the Ayutthaya kingdom, and in 1782 King Rama I moved the capital across the river from Thonburi to Rattanakosin Island, a date taken as the city's founding. The Grand Palace and Buddhist temples such as Wat Pho and Wat Arun stand at its historic core, and it is the seat of the national government and a centre of Thai Theravada Buddhism. The Catholic monk Thomas Merton died near the city in December 1968, at a retreat centre in neighbouring Samut Prakan, while attending a monastic conference.