View source for Kra Isthmus

{{short description|Isthmus in Thailand}}
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{{Infobox landform
| water =
| name = Kra Isthmus
| type = [[Isthmus]]
| photo =
| elevation =
| elevation_ref =
| map = Thailand
| map_relief = 1
| map_caption = Location in Thailand
| label_position = none
| location = [[Ranong Province|Ranong]] and [[Chumphon Province|Chumphon]], [[Thailand]]
| coordinates = {{coord|10|11|00|N|98|53|00|E|type:mountain_region:TH_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| topo =
}}
The '''Kra Isthmus''' ({{langx|th|คอคอดกระ}}, {{IPA|th|kʰɔ̄ː kʰɔ̂ːt kràʔ|pron}}; {{langx|ms|Segenting Kra}}) in [[Thailand]] is the narrowest part of the [[Malay Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Kra-Isthmus-of?q=Kra%2C+Isthmus+of |title=Kra, Isthmus of |work=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=14 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924121950/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/Kra-Isthmus-of?q=Kra%2C+Isthmus+of |archive-date=24 September 2015 }}</ref>  The western part of the isthmus belongs to [[Ranong Province]] and the eastern part to [[Chumphon Province]], both in [[Southern Thailand]].  The isthmus is bordered to the west by the [[Andaman Sea]] and to the east by the [[Gulf of Thailand]].{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}
The Kra Isthmus marks the boundary between two sections of the mountain chain which runs from [[Tibet]] through the Malay peninsula. The southern part is the [[Phuket Range]], which is a continuation of the [[Tenasserim Hills]], extending further northwards for over {{convert|400|km|abbr=on}} beyond the [[Three Pagodas Pass]].<ref>Gupta, A. ''The Physical Geography of Southeast Asia''</ref>
The Kra Isthmus is in the [[Tenasserim-South Thailand semi-evergreen rain forests]] [[ecoregion]]. [[Dipterocarp]]s are the dominant trees in the ecoregion.<ref>Wikramanayake, Eric; Eric Dinerstein; Colby J. Loucks; et al. (2002). ''Terrestrial Ecoregions of the Indo-Pacific: a Conservation Assessment.'' Washington, DC: Island Press.</ref>
== Pacific War ==
On 8 December 1941 local time, the [[Imperial Japanese army]] landed in [[Songkhla]], [[Japanese Invasion of Thailand|invading Thailand]]. Because of the [[International Date Line]], this actually occurred hours before the 7 December ([[Hawaii–Aleutian Time Zone|Hawaii time]]) [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], making it the first major action of the [[Pacific War]]. Japanese forces then moved south towards [[Perlis]] and [[Penang]] as part of the [[Battle of Malaya|Malayan campaign]], which culminated in the [[Battle of Singapore|capture of Singapore]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Parfitt|first=Allen|url=http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/singapore.aspx|title=Bicycle Blitzkreig &#91;sic&#93; The Japanese Conquest of Malaya and Singapore 1941-1942|website=MilitaryHistoryOnline.com|access-date=9 Aug 2012|archive-date=28 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151028204234/http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/singapore.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Kra Canal ==
The [[Thai Canal]] is a long-standing proposal to join the Gulf of Thailand with the Andaman Sea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://asiancorrespondent.com/30158/thai-canal-project-over-300-years-of-conceptualising-and-still-counting/|title=Thai Canal Project: Over 300 years of conceptualising and still counting|last=Griffith University|date=23 March 2010|work=Asian Correspondent|publisher=Hybrid News|access-date=14 April 2013|archive-date=26 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130526212445/http://asiancorrespondent.com/30158/thai-canal-project-over-300-years-of-conceptualising-and-still-counting/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Various routes were proposed<ref>{{citation|title=Singapore: Unlikely Power|last=Perry|first=John Curtis|date=2017|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-046950-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dnuuDQAAQBAJ&dq=Edward+O'Riley+burma&pg=PA77}}</ref> to shortcut voyages from India to China, and avoiding the [[Strait of Malacca]]. The northernmost route was championed by Edward O'Riley (1821-1856), a government official in Burma, and [[Henry Wise (merchant)|Henry Wise]], in England, when it was the subject of a report to the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]] in 1859 by Consul [[Robert Hermann Schomburgk|Robert Schomburk]] from Bangkok.<ref>1859 Session 2 [2572] Despatch relative to the projected ship-canal across the Isthmus of Kraa (sic.)</ref> A later crossing is related by Loftus.<ref name="Loftus">{{cite book |last1=Loftus |first1=Alfred John |title=Notes of a journey across the Isthmus of Krà |date=1883 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Notes_of_a_journey_across_the_Isthmus_of_Krà}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Kra Isthmus| ]]
[[Category:Isthmuses of Asia]]
[[Category:Landforms of Thailand]]
[[Category:Malay Peninsula]]
[[Category:Andaman Sea]]
[[Category:Gulf of Thailand]]
[[Category:Southern Thailand]]
[[Category:Tanintharyi Region]]
[[Category:Landforms of Myanmar]]