The Golden Triangle is the area where the borders of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers. The name “Golden Triangle”—coined by the CIA—is commonly used more broadly to refer to an area of approximately 950,000 square kilometres (367,000 sq mi) that overlaps the mountains of the three adjacent countries.
Along with Afghanistan in the Golden Crescent, it has been one of the largest opium-producing areas of the world since the 1950s. Most of the world’s heroin came from the Golden Triangle until the early 21st century when Afghanistan became the world’s largest producer.
A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are approximately 176 international tripoints. Nearly half are situated in rivers, lakes or seas. On dry land, the exact tripoints may be indicated by markers or pillars, and occasionally by larger monuments.
Usually, the more neighbours a country has, the more international tripoints that country has. China with 16 tripoints and Russia with 11 to 14 lead the list of states by number of tripoints. Within Europe, landlocked Austria has nine tripoints, among them two with Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
The Laos Myanmar border is the international border between the territory of Laos and Myanmar (formerly Burma). The Laos Myanmar border is 238 km in length and runs entirely along the Mekong river from the tripoint with China in the north to the Golden Triangle with Thailand in the south.
The Laos Myanmar border starts in the north at the tripoint with China at the confluence of the Nanla river with the Mekong, and then proceeds in a south-westerly direction down to the tripoint with Thailand at the confluence with the Kok River, save for an eastwards protrusion of the Mekong about halfway along the frontier.
The Mekong has historically served as a natural frontier between various kingdoms and people groups in the region. Its use as the modern boundary between Laos and Myanmar stems from the colonial period in the 19th century. From the 1860s France began establishing a presence in the region, initially in modern Cambodia and Vietnam, and the colony of French Indochina was created in 1887. Laos was then added to the colony in 1893 following the Franco-Siamese War. Meanwhile Britain began occupying Myanmar (then referred to as Burma), gradually incorporating it into British India. On 15 January 1896 Britain and France agreed that the boundary between their two colonies would run along the Mekong.
In 1941, following Japan’s invasion of Burma, parts of Burma were ceded to Siam as the Saharat Thai Doem territory, thereby ending the existence of the Laos-Myanmar boundary, however these areas were returned to Burma in 1946 following Japan’s defeat and the boundary restored. In 1937 Burma had been separated from India and became a separate colony, gaining full independence in 1948. Laos obtained a partial independence from France in 1949, gaining independence in 1953, with the boundary then becoming one between two sovereign states. The Myanmar Laos border region became unstable in the subsequent decades, with various armed groups operating here, such as the Chinese Kuomintang, Pathet Lao and various Shan militias. The Laos Myanmar border is nowadays more peaceful – a joint demarcation survey of the border was conducted in June 1993, and a Friendship Bridge across it was built in 2015.
The Myanmar Thailand border is the international border between the territory of Myanmar (formerly Burma) and Thailand. The Myanmar Thailand border is 2,416 km in length and runs from the Golden Triangle with Laos in the north to Andaman Sea coast in the south.
The Myanmar Thailand border starts in the north at the tripoint with Laos at the confluence of the Kok and Mekong Rivers and, after briefly following the Kok and then the Sai, then proceeds overland to the west via a series of irregular lines through the Daen Lao Range, before turning to the south-west and joining the Salween River. The Myanmar Thailand border follows the Salween and then Moei River southwards, before leaving it and proceeding southwards overland through the Dawna Range and Bilauktaung Range. The Myanmar Thailand border continues southwards down the Malay Peninsula, almost cutting Thailand in two at Prachuap Khiri Khan, before reaching the Isthmus of Kra and the Kraburi River, which it then follows out via a wide estuary to the Andaman Sea.
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