Southern Thailand historical timeline

The south’s history is a maritime one, oriented outward to the sea lanes rather than inward to the Thai plain.

The trading peninsula

From at least the second century, the narrow neck of the peninsula was a portage route between the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, allowing traders to avoid the long passage around Singapore. Ports on both coasts grew wealthy on it, and Indian religion, script and statecraft arrived this way — the Hindu and Buddhist sculpture found here is among the oldest in the country.

Srivijaya and after

From the seventh century the Sumatra-based Srivijaya thalassocracy dominated the region, and Chaiya on the Gulf coast was a major centre. As it declined, the kingdom of Nakhon Si Thammarat rose, controlling much of the peninsula and later acknowledging Sukhothai and then Ayutthaya as overlord while remaining semi-autonomous.

The Malay sultanates

Islam spread through the peninsula from the thirteenth century, and the southern sultanates — Pattani above all — were wealthy, Malay-speaking and Muslim. Pattani was a major trading port with its own queens and a formidable reputation, and its absorption into Siam, formalised by an Anglo-Siamese treaty in 1909 that drew the modern border, is the root of the region’s continuing conflict.

Tin and rubber

Nineteenth-century tin mining brought Hokkien Chinese labour and capital to Phuket and Ranong, building the shophouse towns. Rubber, introduced around 1900, replaced tin as the economic base.

Tourism

Backpackers reached the southern islands in the 1970s, and development followed quickly. The 2004 tsunami devastated the Andaman coast and reshaped much of what has been built since.