Phetchabun (เพชรบูรณ์)

Thai. ‘Full Diamond’. Province (map) and its capital city of the same name in North Thailand, 346 kms north of Bangkok. The name Phet or Petcha, which means ‘Diamond’, refers to the natural resources of the land, as well as to the fact that at some point in time, in the amphur Lom Sak, quartz was quarried, whereas the second word bun (บูรณ์), comes from the word burana (บูรณ) or purana (ปูรณ), which itself derives from the Sanskrit word puurna (पूर्ण) and means ‘full’. The province lies in the broad fertile river valley of the Pa Sak River, flanked both in the East and West by the Phetchabun Mountain Range. The province of Phetchabun was established through administrative reforms, that took place during the beginning of the 20th century, and in which several districts and monthon were merged, whilst others were dissolved. The region is known for the communist rebels of the PLAT (People's Liberation Army of Thailand), who hid in the region's mountains in the seventies and eighties, and for the production of tamarind and tobacco. The province has eleven amphur. See also Phetchabun data file and Purana. 回