- published: 29 Aug 2012
- views: 3905
Tambon (Thai: ตำบล, pronounced [tam.bon]) is a local government unit in Thailand. Below district (amphoe) and province (changwat), they form the third administrative subdivision level. As of the 2009 there are 7255 tambon, not including the 169 khwaeng of Bangkok, which are set at the same administrative level, thus every district contains 8-10 tambon. Tambon is usually translated as "township" or "subdistrict" in English — the latter is the recommended translation, though also often used for king amphoe, the designation for a subdistrict acting as a branch (Thai: king) of the parent district. Tambon are further subdivided into 69,307 villages (muban), about 10 per tambon. Tambon within cities or towns have no subdivision into villages, but into communities (chumchon).
The tambon as a subdivision has a long history. It was the second-level subdivision of the area administered by a provincial town in the 19th century. The governor of the province was supposed to appoint a commune elder, kamnan or phan. (The latter also means 1000, and refers to the supposition that a tambon would have about 1000 abled-bodied men. It is also both an obsolete feudal title and current Thai military rank that may be used instead of Nai for a tambon administrator.)