Golden Triangle

The Golden Triangle can refer to:

• The confluence of the Ruak River and the Mekong river, known for the wealth generated by the production and trafficking of opium. The term has since been appropriated by the Thai tourist industry to describe the nearby junction of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar.

• The downtown area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The "triangle" is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny river and Monongahela river; it is "golden" because it is and long has been the city's commercial center, where the fortunes of industrial barons like Carnegie, Frick, Westinghouse, and Heinz were made.

• A region in China, located south of the Yangtze River in Sunan (southern part of Jiangsu province), between Nanjing to the northwest and Shanghai to the southeast. The "triangle" is formed by the cities of Wuxi, Suzhou, and Changzhou. It is called "golden" because in recent years the region has had one of the fastest-growing economies in China.

• A region in the far east of the U.S. state of Texas. Its "triangle" is formed by the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange. The "golden" refers to the wealth that came from the Spindletop oil strike near Beaumont in 1901.

• A region of Saint Charles County, Missouri, with the Missouri River forming the east side, I-70 the north, and Highway 40/61 the south. The region was the site of rapid development in the 1980s and 90s.

• A region in the northeast of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The "triangle" is formed by the cities of Columbus, Starkville, and West Point. The term was created to encourage greater economic ties between the three cities and counties (Lowndes, Oktibbeha, and Clay County). The three cities share an airport, Golden Triangle Regional Airport. Columbus has traditionally been the leading city of the Mississippi Golden Triangle, but the collapse of industry in Columbus and rapid growth associated with Mississippi State University has led Starkville to challenge this position.

• A highly productive agricultural region bounded roughly by the towns of Narrabri, Moree, and Inverell in northwestern New South Wales, Australia.

• An Internet service provider in Canada.

• The financial district in downtown Washington, DC, near the White House.

• The triangle formed by the University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and Imperial College, London with University College, London. These universities in the south-east of the UK receive a huge section of the research budget in the UK, hence the term 'golden'.

• An area covering several parishes in the city of Norwich, UK. It is roughly wedge shaped, with a the thin end at the city centre, spreading outwards between St Stephen's Road and Dereham Road to the University of East Anglia, on the outskirts of the city. It is characterised by a high percentage of students and young professional residents, and a cosmopolitan atmosphere.

---