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Southern Region Paktai (ปักษ์ใต้) | |
|---|---|
     From upper-left to lower-right: Sunrise ThailandKo Samui,Tarutao National Park,Wat Phra Mahathat Woramahawihan,Rajjaprabha Dam andPhuket City. | |
 Southern Region in Thailand | |
| Largest city | Hat Yai |
| Provinces | |
| Area | |
• Total | 73,848 km2 (28,513 sq mi) |
| Population (2018)[2] | |
• Total | 9,454,193 |
| • Density | 134/km2 (350/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Southern Thai |
| GDP | |
| • Total | US$45.6 billion (2019) |
| Time zone | UTC+07:00 (ICT) |
| Language | Southern Thai •Pattani Malay •Satun Malay •Mos •Urak Lawoi' •Moklen •Hokkienetc. |
Southern Thailand (formerlySouthern Siam andTambralinga) is the southernmostcultural region ofThailand, separated fromCentral Thailand by theKra Isthmus.
Southern Thailand is on theMalay Peninsula, with an area of around 70,714 km2 (27,303 sq mi), bounded to the north byKra Isthmus, the narrowest part of the peninsula. The western part has highly steep coasts, while on the east side river plains dominate. The largest river in the south is theTapi, inSurat Thani, which, together with thePhum Duang in Surat Thani, drains more than 8,000 km2 (3,100 sq mi), more than 10 percent of the total area of southern Thailand. Smaller rivers include thePattani,Saiburi,Krabi, and theTrang. The largest lake in the south isSongkhla Lake (1,040 km2 (400 sq mi) altogether). The largest artificial lake is the Chiao Lan (Ratchaprapha Dam), occupying 165 km2 (64 sq mi) ofKhao Sok National Park in Surat Thani. The total forest area is 17,964 km2 (6,936 sq mi) or 24.3 percent of provincial area.[1]
Running through the middle of the peninsula are several mountain chains, with the highest elevation atKhao Luang, 1,835 m (6,020 ft), inNakhon Si Thammarat province. Ranging from the Kra Isthmus toPhuket Island is thePhuket chain, which connects to theTanao Si Mountain Range further north. Almost parallel to the Phuket chain but 100 km (60 mi) to the east is theNakhon Si Thammarat, or Banthat, chain, which begins withSamui Island,Ko Pha-ngan, andKo Tao in Surat Thani Province and ends at theMalaysian border at the Ko Ta Ru Tao archipelago. The border with Malaysia is formed by theSankalakhiri range, sometimes sub-divided into the Pattani, Taluban, and Songkhla chain. At the Malaysian border, theTitiwangsa chain rises.
The limestone of the west coast has been eroded into many steep singular hills. The parts submerged by the rising sea after theLast Ice Age now form many islands, like the well-knownPhi Phi Islands.[citation needed] Also well known is the so-calledJames Bond Island inPhang Nga Bay, featured in the movieThe Man with the Golden Gun.
The population of the growing region is projected to be 9,156,000 in 2015, up from 8,871,003 in 2010 (census count and adjusted). Although those figures are adjusted for citizens who have left for Bangkok or who moved to the region from elsewhere, as well as registered permanent residents (residency was problematic in the prior 2000 census), the figure is still misleading.[citation needed] There are still a huge number of migrant or informal workers, temporary workers and even stateless people and a large expatriate population, which are not included.[4]
Most of southern Thailand is inTenasserim–South Thailand semi-evergreen rain forestsecoregion. ThePeninsular Malaysian rain forests andPeninsular Malaysian montane rain forests ecoregions extend into southernmost Thailand along the border with Malaysia.[5]
TheMalay Peninsula has been settled since prehistoric times. Archeological remains were found in several caves, some used for dwellings, others as burial sites. The oldest remains were found inLang Rongrien Cave, dating 38,000 to 27,000 years before present, and in the contemporary Moh Khiew cave.
In thefirst millennium, Chinese chronicles mention several coastal cities or city-states. No exact geographical locations were recorded and so the identification of these cities with later settlements is difficult. The most important of those states wereLangkasuka, usually considered a precursor of thePatani Kingdom;Tambralinga, probably the precursor of theNakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom, orP'an-p'an in Phunphin district, Surat Thani, probably located at theBandon BayTapi River. The cities were highly influenced byIndian culture, and have adoptedBrahman orBuddhist religion. WhenSrivijaya inChaiya extended its sphere of influence, those cities became tributary states of Srivijaya. The cityChaiya inSurat Thani Province contains several ruins from Srivijaya times, and was probably a regional capital of the kingdom. Some Thai historians even claim that it was the capital of the kingdom itself for some time, but this is disputed.
After Srivijaya lost its influence, Nakhon Si Thammarat became the dominant kingdom of the area. During the rule of KingRamkhamhaeng the Great ofSukhothai, Thai influence first reached Nakhon Si Thammarat. According to the Ramkhamhaeng inscription, Nakhon Si Thammarat was a tributary state of Sukhothai. During most of later periods, Nakhon became a tributary ofAyutthaya.
The deep south belonged to the Malay sultanates ofPattani andKedah, while the northernmost part of the peninsula was under the control of Bangkok.
During theThesaphiban reforms at the end of the 19th century, both Nakhon Si Thammarat and Pattani were incorporated into the central state. The area was subdivided into 5monthon, which were installed to control the city states (mueang). Minormueang were merged into larger ones, thus forming the present 14 provinces. With theAnglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 the boundary to Malaysia was fixed. Kedah came under British control, while Pattani stayed with Siam.
The largest native language isSouthern Thai (Thai:ภาษาไทยใต้[pʰaːsǎːtʰajtâːj]), also known asPak Thai orDambro (Thai:ภาษาตามโพร[pʰaːsǎːtaːmpʰroː]), which is asouthwestern Tai languagespoken in the 14changwat of southern Thailand as well as by smallThai communities in the northernmostMalaysian states. It is spoken natively by roughly five million people and as a second language by the 1.5 million native speakers ofPatani Malay, along with otherethnic groups such as the localNegritos communities, and other tribal groups.[citation needed]
AlthoughCentral Thai is the sole official language in Thailand and most people are able to communicate in Central Thai, the language is only the third largest native language in southern Thailand, with roughly four hundred thousand native speakers. In particular, it is native only among someethnic Chinese groups (Teochew, Hoklo, Hakka and Cantonese Chinese groups), particularly in their majorethnic enclaves likeHat Yai andBandon districts; their dialect is very similar to the Krungthep dialect (the upper-class dialect of Bangkok) but is seasoned with some Southern Thai loanwords.
The Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) identities Southern Thailand as 14 provinces.[6]
The Thai Meteorological Department (TMD) includes for Southern Thailand (east coast) also the two provinces of Prachuap Khiri Khan and Phetchaburi.[7]
| Name | Thai | Area | Pop.[2] | Dens. | Annual income | Poverty Ratio | Coastal region | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Chumphon | ชุมพร | 6,009.0 | 510,963 | 85 | 351,672 | 5.4% | East |
| 2 |  Nakhon Si Thammarat | นครศรีธรรมราช | 9,942.5 | 1,560,433 | 157 | 301,488 | 8.1% | East |
| 3 |  Narathiwat | นราธิวาส | 4,475.0 | 802,474 | 179 | 238,680 | 37.3% | East |
| 4 |  Pattani | ปัตตานี | 1,940.4 | 718,077 | 370 | 210,156 | 36.0% | East |
| 5 |  Phatthalung | พัทลุง | 3,424.5 | 525,044 | 153 | 257,736 | 14.0% | East |
| 6 |  Songkhla | สงขลา | 7,393.9 | 1,432,628 | 194 | 331,920 | 8.2% | East |
| 7 |  Surat Thani | สุราษฎร์ธานี | 12,891.5 | 1,063,501 | 83 | 437,592 | 1.4% | East |
| 8 |  Yala | ยะลา | 4,521.1 | 532,326 | 118 | 187,008 | 21.2% | East |
| 9 |  Krabi | กระบี่ | 4,709.0 | 473,738 | 101 | 372,132 | 6.4% | West |
| 10 |  Phang Nga | พังงา | 4,170.0 | 268,240 | 64 | 346,104 | 5.1% | West |
| 11 |  Phuket | ภูเก็ต | 543.0 | 410,211 | 755 | 378,000 | 0.5% | West |
| 12 |  Ranong | ระนอง | 3,298.0 | 191,868 | 58 | 264,420 | 16.6% | West |
| 13 |  Satun | สตูล | 2,479.0 | 321,574 | 130 | 278,496 | 5.8% | West |
| 14 |  Trang | ตรัง | 4,917.5 | 643,116 | 131 | 279,708 | 15.9% | West |
| Average household annual income in 2015 (Thai baht).[8] |
|---|
| Poverty Ratio in 2016.[9] |
Southern Thailand has 9.454 million inhabitants and its population density is 134 per square kilometre (350/sq mi).[2]
| No. | Name | Pop. | Metropolitan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hat Yai | 159,627 | 397,379 inHat Yai District. |
| 2 | Surat Thani | 130,114 | 177,242 inMueang Surat Thani District. |
| 3 | Nakhon Si Thammarat | 104,948 | 271,330 inMueang Nakhon Si Thammarat District. |
| 4 | Phuket | 78,923 | 238,866 inMueang Phuket District. |
| 5 | Ko Samui | 65,847 | 82,900 inKo Samui–Ko Pha Ngan. |
| 6 | Songkhla | 64,602 | 163,083 inMueang Songkhla District. |
| 7 | Yala | 61,293 | 167,582 inMueang Yala District. |
| 8 | Trang | 59,999 | 156,115 inMueang Trang District. |
| 9 | Pattani | 44,900 | 130,178 inMueang Pattani District. |
| 10 | Narathiwat | 41,572 | 124,049 inMueang Narathiwat District. |
Thailand is a Buddhist-majority country. About 93.46% in Thailand follow Buddhism.[11] Buddhism is the majority religion in southern Thailand as well but makes up 75.45% of the region's people.[10] The Thai followTheravada Buddhism. Minority ethnic groups such as Khmer also follow Buddhism, and 10 of the 14 provinces in southern Thailand have Buddhist majorities.
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Islam constitutes 24.33% of Southern Thailand even though it constitutes only 5.36% of the whole country.[10] Islam is mostly followed by the Malay people in Southernmost Thailand: Yala, Pattani, Naratiwat and Satun provinces, near Malaysia. There is also a smallThai Muslim population.
Christianity makes up 0.21% of Southern Thailand's population. Sikhism makes up 0.05% in the region and is practiced by Indian immigrants.[10]
The bulk of the region's population relies on agriculture for 27 percent of its gross regional product in 2014. It is followed by industry (12 percent), trade (10 percent), transportation (9 percent), tourism (8 percent), and construction and property (7 percent).[12]
For FY 2018, Southern Thailand Region had a combined economic output of 1,402 trillion baht (US$45.2 billion), or 8.6 percent of Thailand's GDP. Surat Thani province had an economic output of 206.869 billion baht (US$6.67 billion), which is equal to a GPP per capita of 182,371 baht (US$5,883), more than double for Yala province, which is fifth and more than three times for Narathiwat province, lowest in the ranking.[13]
| Rank | Province | GPP (million baht) | Population (x 1000) | GPP per capita (baht) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Surat Thani | 206,869 | 1,134 | 182,371 |
| 2 | Chumphon | 87,746 | 498 | 176,200 |
| 3 | Songkhla | 248,386 | 1,635 | 151,918 |
| 4 | Nakhon Si Thammarat | 164,375 | 1,507 | 109,050 |
| 5 | Yala | 43,006 | 468 | 91,815 |
| 6 | Pattani | 48,549 | 641 | 75,697 |
| 7 | Phatthalung | 36,006 | 492 | 73,213 |
| 8 | Narathiwat | 44,778 | 721 | 62,066 |
| East coast | 879,715 | 7,096 | 123,973 |
| Rank | Province | GPP (million baht) | Population (x 1000) | GPP per capita (baht) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phuket | 234,028 | 580 | 403,534 |
| 2 | Phang-nga | 78,493 | 250 | 313,919 |
| 3 | Krabi | 86,684 | 418 | 207,415 |
| 4 | Satun | 31,215 | 290 | 107,505 |
| 5 | Ranong | 28,014 | 269 | 103,966 |
| 6 | Trang | 64,586 | 630 | 102,589 |
| West coast | 523,020 | 2,437 | 214,616 |
Southern Thailand is connected with Bangkok by railway and highway. Several regional airports are located at the larger towns. The transportation hub of all of southern Thailand is Hat Yai.
Phetkasem Road, the longest road in Thailand, runs from Bangkok along the Kra Isthmus and then along the west coast of the peninsula. From Trang, it crosses over to the east coast to Hat Yai, and ends at the Malaysian border.
TwoAsian highways run through southern Thailand:Asian Highway 2 runs mostly parallel to the railroad all the way from Bangkok. It crosses to Malaysia atSadao, and continues on the west side of the peninsula.Asian Highway 18 begins in Hat Yai and runs south along the east coast, crossing to Malaysia atSungai Kolok.
Thesouthern railway connects Bangkok to Hat Yai and continues from there to Sungai Kolok. There are branches fromBan Thung Phoe Junction toKirirat Nikhom. Two smaller branches of the railway run fromThung Song to Trang and Nakhon Si Thammarat and fromHat Yai Junction to Malaysia and Singapore.
Southern Thailand has five international airports and six domestic airports. As of 2018[update] Thailand's transport ministry is constructing the 1.9 billionbahtBetong Airport. It is scheduled for completion in 2020.[14]
page 35 The South
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Southern Thailand travel guide from Wikivoyage | Four-region division system |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Six-region division system | |||
8°03′33″N99°58′32″E / 8.0592°N 99.9756°E /8.0592; 99.9756
