Place

Kratie

ក្រចេះ

Kratie (ក្រចេះ) is a province in northeast Cambodia, on the Mekong.[1][2] It borders Stung Treng to the north, Mondulkiri to the east, Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham to the west, and Tboung Khmum and Vietnam to the south.[2] Its capital is the riverside town of Kratie.[3] The stretch of the Mekong north of the town is one of the last places where Irrawaddy dolphins live in the river.[4]

Geography

The province covers 11,094 square kilometers.[5] The Mekong runs through it from north to south for about 140 kilometers, past many islands and sandbanks.[2] Dialogue Earth describes the river at Kratie as hard to navigate, with rapids and clusters of rock hidden under the water.[6] The Mekong from Kratie town to the Lao border, with the vegetation along its banks, is listed as a Key Biodiversity Area. In places it runs as a single channel up to 1.5 kilometers wide, and elsewhere it splits into many channels around islands.[7]

In the official list for the 2011 economic census, the province had the town of Kratie (Krong Kracheh) and five districts: Chhloung, Preaek Prasab, Sambour, Snuol and Chitr Borie.[8] Into Cambodia gives a sixth district, O Kieng Sen Chey, as of 2024.[2]

People

The provisional results of the 2019 census counted 372,825 people in 86,137 households, up from 319,217 in 2008, a growth of 1.4 percent a year. The province had 34 people per square kilometer.[5] Indigenous peoples in the province include the Phnong, Kuy and Stieng.[3][2] In 2016 two Phnong villages in the north of the province received community land titles, the first in Kratie to do so.[9]

History

Into Cambodia writes that Sambor district held Sambhupura, a capital of the Chenla period, and that the region came under French rule in the 19th century as part of French Indochina.[2]

Irrawaddy dolphins

The Mekong's Irrawaddy dolphins live only along a 180-kilometer stretch of the river between Kratie and the Khone Falls on the Lao border, and the population is listed as critically endangered. In 2020 the World Wildlife Fund counted 89 of them.[4] Officials put the number at 114 in 2026.[10]

Dialogue Earth describes the Kampi pool, a stretch of river 60 meters deep, as one of three deep pools where the dolphins live. Almost all dolphin deaths in Cambodia have been blamed on illegal fishing.[6] Kampi village lies about 15 kilometers north of Kratie town.[11] In 2023 a government sub-decree set up dolphin protection zones along 120 kilometers of the Mekong, 85 of them in Kratie and 35 in Stung Treng.[12]

Places

Wat Sorsor Muoy Roy (វត្តសសរមួយរយ), in Sambor district, is known as the 100 columns pagoda.[13] On its grounds is the Mekong Turtle Conservation Center, set up by Conservation International after the Cantor's giant softshell turtle was found again in the river in 2007.[14]

Into Cambodia names other places to visit: Koh Trong, an island in the Mekong known for its pomelos; Phnom Sambok, a hill about 70 meters high with a monastery; and Chhlong, a riverside town with French colonial buildings.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Radio Free Asia Khmer, Son Chanratha, អាជ្ញាធរក្រចេះហាមឃាត់ការប្រើឧបករណ៍នេសាទខុសច្បាប់ក្នុងតំបន់ការពារ និងអភិរក្សសត្វផ្សោតទន្លេមេគង្គ (February 4, 2021)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Into Cambodia, Kratie Province (undated)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tourism of Cambodia, Kratie (undated)
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 World Wildlife Fund, Mekong River Dolphin Population Stabilizes at 89 (October 23, 2020)
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 National Institute of Statistics, Provisional Population Census 2019 (2019)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Dialogue Earth, Danielle Keeton-Olsen, Cambodia strives to protect the Mekong's last dolphins (March 18, 2022)
  7. ↑ Key Biodiversity Areas, Mekong River from Kratie to Lao PDR (undated)
  8. ↑ Statistics Bureau of Japan, District Profile of Cambodian 2011 Economic Census: 10 Kratie Province (December 11, 2012)
  9. ↑ Open Development Cambodia, Newly titled communities hope to protect more than just traditions (January 4, 2016)
  10. ↑ FISHBIO, Mekong Dolphin Population in Cambodia Rises to 114, Officials Say (March 10, 2026)
  11. ↑ Hello Angkor, Kratie Mekong River Dolphins (undated)
  12. ↑ Cambodianess, from Xinhua, Cambodia creates safe zones for rare Mekong River dolphins (February 28, 2023)
  13. ↑ Hello Angkor, Wat Sasar Muoy Roy, 100 Columns Pagoda (undated)
  14. ↑ National Geographic, Stefan Lovgren, In Cambodia, giant turtles come back from the brink (April 23, 2019)


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This page was last edited on 9 October 2026, at 15:39.