The Chao Phraya (Thai แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา) is a major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial river plain marking the mainland of the country.
It begins at the confluence of the Ping and Yom river at Nakhon Sawan (also called Pak Nam Pho) in the Nakhon Sawan province. The Yom and its biggest confluent, the Nan river, flow nearly parallel from Phitsanulok till Chumsaeng in the north of Nakhon Sawan province. The biggest confluent of the Ping is the Wang river which enters near Wang Chin. The Chao Phraya system drains an area of approximately 160,000 km, of which the largest contribution is the Ping with 35,000 km.
The Chao Phraya runs from north to south for 370 km from the central plains to Bangkok and the Gulf of Thailand. However in Chainat the river splits into the main river course and the Tha Chin river, which then flows parallel to the main river and exits to Gulf of Thailand the about 35 km west of Bangkok in Samut Sakhon. In the low alluvial plain which begins below the Chainat dam many small canals (khlong) split off from the main river, used for the irrigation of the rice paddies.
On old maps the river is named as Menam or Mae Nam, the Thai word for river. The name Chao Phraya is also a rank title in Thai nobility, which can be translated as General. In the English-language media in Thailand the name is often translated as 'river of kings'.
References
Bangkok Waterways, William Warren and R. Ian Lloyd, Asia Books, ISBN 981-00-1011-7.
Agricultural land is concentrated in the southern sub-basins and ranges from 78% in ChaoPhraya, 63% in Pasak and 55% in Tha Chin compared to 20 to 45% in the four northern sub-basins (Ping, Wang, Yom and Nan).
The headwaters of the ChaoPhraya river originate in mountainous terrain in the northern part of the country and consist of four large tributaries, the Ping, Wang, Yom and Nan rivers.
The flows in the ChaoPhraya and its tributaries are dependent on the monsoon rains during May to October and are highly seasonal.
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