Tenasserim Hills
The Tenasserim Hills or Tenasserim Range (Burmese: တနင်္သာရီ တောင်တန်း, [tənɪ̀ɰ̃θàjì tàʊɰ̃dáɰ̃]; Thai: ทิวเขาตะนาวศรี, RTGS: Thio Khao Tanao Si, pronounced [tʰīw kʰǎw tā.nāːw sǐː]; Malay: Banjaran Tanah Seri/Banjaran Tenang Sari) is the geographical name of a roughly 1,700 km long mountain chain, part of the Indo-Malayan mountain system[1] in Southeast Asia.
Despite their relatively scant altitude these mountains form an effective barrier between Thailand and Myanmar in their northern and central region.[2] There are only two main transnational roads and cross-border points between Kanchanaburi and Tak, at the Three Pagodas Pass and at Mae Sot. The latter is located beyond the northern end of the range, where the Tenasserim Hills meet the Dawna Range. Minor cross-border points are Sing Khon,[3] near Prachuap Khiri Khan, as well as Bong Ti and Phu Nam Ron west of Kanchanaburi. The latter is expected to gain in importance if the planned Dawei Port Project goes ahead, along with a highway and a railway line between Bangkok and that harbor.[4]
The southern section of this extensive chain of mountains runs along the Kra Isthmus into the Malay peninsula almost reaching Singapore. Many rivers have their source in these mountains, but none of them are very long.
This mountain chain is named after the Tenasserim Region (Tanintharyi) in Burma and its name in Thai is Thio Khao Tanaosi, also spelt as Tanawsri, Tanao Sri, Tanaw Sri or in Malay as Tanah Seri. All those names are corrupted form of the original Malay Tanah Seri, which means glowing land.
The Tenasserim Hills are part of a long granite mountain ridge that is older than the Himalayas.[5]Further south from the 16th parallel, the Shan Hills break up into narrow steep-sided ranges, the Dawna Range in the west and, parallel to it at the southern end, the peninsular Tenasserim Mountains that extend southwards along the Kra Isthmus.[6]
Eastwards, in Kanchanaburi Province on the Thai side, the mountain range is crossed by the Khwae Yai River and the Khwae Noi River. In this area small hill ridges alternate with narrow valleys that are often only about 2 km wide and further east there are only isolated hills, where the range ends in the Central Plain of Thailand. Further south the Phachi, the Pranburi and the Phetchaburi River flow eastwards from the range towards the Gulf of Siam.
