Chumphon

Chumphon (Thai: ชุมพร) is one of the southern provinces (changwat) of Thailand, at the shore of the Gulf of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani and Ranong. To the west it also borders Myanmar.

Chumphon is located on the Isthmus of Kra, the narrow landbridge connecting the Malay Peninsula with the mainland of Thailand. To the west are the hills of the Phuket mountain range and its northern continuation, the Tenasserim chain, while the east is the more flat land at the coat to the Gulf of Thailand. The main river is the Lang Suan, which originates in Phato district.

There are two different theories on the origin of the name Chumphon. According to one, it originates from Chumnumporn (lit. accumulation of forces) which derives from the fact that Chumphon was a frontier city to the Burmese. Another theory claims the name derives from a local tree named Maduea Chumphon (มะเดื่อชุมพร, Ficus glomerata), found abundant in the province. This tree is therefore also depicted in the seal of the province.

The southern part of the province was originally a separate province named Lang Suan. It was incorporated into Chumphon in 1932.
In November 1989 the typhoon Gay hit the province hard - 529 people were killed, 160,000 became homeless, 7,130 km² of farm land was destroyed. Gay is the only tropical storm on record which reached Thailand with typhoon wind strength.