A curated collection of photos to mark the 111th celebrations of Trat Independence Day, also known as Trat Memorial Day which took place on 23 March.
This is a celebration of Trat province being returned to Thailand after a brief period as part of French Indochina. The historical background is than in 1893, French troops occupied Chanthaburi province. Eleven years later in 1904, the Thai King ceded Trat to the French in return for Chanthaburi.
However, on March 23 1907, after just three years under French rule, France and Thailand did a deal that returned Trat province to Thailand. In return, France got several, much larger, border areas to the north, which had a mainly Khymer population. This included what are now the Cambodian towns of Battambang and Siem Reap. ( More on the history of Trat province. )
Nowadays, the event is marked annually with parades and festivities in Trat town centre. This year was the 111th Anniversary ( Although you’ll note that the Thai way of counting anniversaries is different from the European way, as 2017 would have been the 110th for us. ) The festivities were much larger than usual and involved thousands of residents. Everyone from schoolchildren to the elderly took part in various parades and shows. Many also wore traditional dress from the early 20th Century.
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