Ranong

Ranong is one of Thailand’s southern provinces, on the west coast along the Andaman Sea. It has the fewest inhabitants of all Thai provinces. Provinces neighboring Ranong are Chumphon, Surat Thani, and Phang Nga. To the west, it borders Kawthaung, Tanintharyi, Myanmar.Ranong province once was a deputy town of Chumphon in the Ayutthaya era (1350–1767).It was a small, mountainous town that protected Chumphon from Burma. The population was very low until the discovery of tin, when people from many cities and foreigners started to visit Ranong to do tin business there. This also gave rise to the name Ranong, which was a distorted form of rae nong, meaning “full of minerals”.The ruler of Ranong was known after the town as Luang Ranong.