Thon Buri, former city in south central Thailand, incorporated with Thon Buri Province into metropolitan Bangkok in 1971. The city was a road center and the terminus of a railroad extending south to Singapore. Extensive fruit farms lay in the surrounding area; industries included rice mills and sawmills. Linked with Bangkok by three bridges (including the Memorial), the city was the site of a branch campus of King Mongkut's Institute of Technology (1960), the royal naval academy and dockyards, an arsenal, and the beautiful Wat Arun, or Temple of Dawn, which stands near the river, facing Bangkok proper. The region is traversed by many canals. A village and fort were established on the site of Thon Buri about 1650; when the capital at Ayutthaya was destroyed in 1767, Thon Buri became the capital. In 1782 the new city of Bangkok was established, and the capital was moved again. The name is also spelled Thonburi and Dhonburi. Population (1992 estimate) 227,980.
