Prachinburi province

Prachinburi province (ปราจีนบุรี,, , lit. 'City of the East') is one of Thailand's seventy-seven provinces (changwat), it lies in eastern Thailand. Neighboring provinces are (from north clockwise) Nakhon Ratchasima, Sa Kaeo, Chachoengsao, and Nakhon Nayok.

History
Located in Si Mahosot district, their existed an ancient Buddhist site at the Sra Morakot Archeological Site. The site contains an Arogyasala dating to the reign of Jayavarman VII of the Khmer Empire in the late 1100s, although the Arogyasala was possibly constructed on an older Dvaravati shrine. Not much of the Arogyasala survives, but it most likely was designed in the standard layout. In the temple of Wat Morakot at the site contains the largest and oldest carvings of The Buddha's footprints in Thailand. Created between the 600s and 800s, the footprints were made from natural laterite and hold significance to Buddhists. The site also contains two ancient reserviors, with Sra Boa being one of them.

Geography
The province is divided into two major parts, the low river valley of the Bang Pakong River, and the higher lands with plateaus and mountains of the Sankamphaeng Range, the southern prolongation of the Dong Phaya Yen mountains. The total forest area is 1,436 km² or 28.6 percent of provincial area.

National parks
There area two national parks, along with two other national parks, make up region 1 (Prachinburi) of Thailand's protected areas.
 * Thap Lan National Park, 2236 km2
 * Khao Yai National Park, 2166 km2

Symbols
The provincial seal shows the Bodhi tree. It symbolizes the first Bodhi tree planted about 2,000 years ago at Wat Si Maha Phot. The provincial colors are red and yellow. Red symbolises the land and yellow, Buddhism.

The provincial tree is the Bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa). The provincial flower is the cork tree (Millingtonia hortensis).

Provincial government
The province is divided into seven districts (amphoes). These are further divided into 65 subdistricts (tambons) and 658 villages (mubans). The missing numbers 4 and 5 as well as 10 to 12 are districts split off to form Sa Kaeo province.

Local government
As of 26 November 2019 there are: one Prachinburi Provincial Administration Organisation (ongkan borihan suan changwat) and 13 municipal (thesaban) areas in the province. Prachinburi has town (thesaban mueang) status. Further 12 subdistrict municipalities (thesaban tambon). The non-municipal areas are administered by 56 Subdistrict Administrative Organisations - SAO (ongkan borihan suan tambon).

Roads
The main road through Prachinburi is Route 319. While Route 319 does not lead directly to other major centers, along with Route 33 it leads to Nakhon Nayok, and along with Routes 314 and 304 it leads to Bangkok.

Rail
Prachinburi is served by the State Railway of Thailand's Eastern Line. Prachin Buri Railway Station, is the main railway station located 122 km from Bangkok. Five trains go to Bangkok and five come to Prachinburi each day, with a commute time of around two and a half hours. A one-way ticket costs only 24 bahts.

Economy
Tambon Hua Wa in Si Maha Phot District is the site of Rojana Industrial Park. Among other tenants of the park, Honda Automobile (Thailand) has established a 17.2 billion baht plant there to manufacture sub-compact vehicles. The plant, opened in March 2016, has an initial production capacity of 60,000 vehicles per year. The plant is designed to build up to 120,000 vehicles per year. Honda produces hybrid electric vehicles and batteries for electric vehicles, at its factories in Prachinburi and Ayutthaya. Honda's Prachinburi factory has an annual capacity of 120,000 units.

Health
The main hospital of Prachinburi province is Chaophraya Abhaibhubejhr Hospital.

Human achievement index 2022
Since 2003, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Thailand has tracked progress on human development at sub-national level using the Human achievement index (HAI), a composite index covering all the eight key areas of human development. National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB) has taken over this task since 2017.