Kalasin (กาฬสินธุ์)

Thai-Pali-Sanskrit. ‘Black water’ or ‘black river’. Name of a province (map), as well as its capital city, in Northeast Thailand, 519 kms Northeast of Bangkok. The name comes from the fact that the area around the town of Kalasin has many still and natural waters (sin), such as marshes, swamps, ponds, creeks and brooks. The water in these is very often dark or black (kala), hence the name given to the city. Although the first town in the province was founded only in 1793, archeological excavations have shown that people of the Lawa tribe have lived in the area since ancient times, probably already since the 5th century AD. Besides this, also 120 million year-old dinosaur fossils (fig.) have been excavated at Phu Kum Khao, in the district of Sahatsakhan. At this dinosaur site, the largest of its kind in Thailand, more than 700 fossilized bones were found and in the nearby Phu Faek Forest Park, in the district of Huai Peung, several large dinosaur footprints were discovered. In the beginning of the twentieth century the town of Kalasin was made into a province, but in 1932 this province was done away with and the area was incorporated in the province of Maha Sarakham, only to be re-established again in 1947. Kalasin is a mainly agricultural province covered by a hilly landscape which allowed the creation of a large dam and water reservoir for flood prevention and irrigation. The province has at present fourteen amphur and four king amphur, 134 tambon and 1,509 villages, called mu ban in Thai. See also Kalasin data file. 回