Historically, Narathiwat was the part of the semi-independent Malay Sultanate of Patani, paying tribute to the Thai kingdoms of Sukhothai and Siamese Ayutthaya Kingdom. The original name for the Narathiwat province was Menara.
Patani, a coastal sultanate encompassing much of what is now southernmost Thailand, converted to Islam with the arrival of traders.
After Ayutthaya fell in 1767, the Sultanate of Patani gained full independence, but under King Rama I it again came under Thai control 18 years later and in the early–1800s was divided into seven smaller kingdoms.
In 1901, Manara merged with Ra-ngae town when King Rama V established a new administration system called Monthon Thesaphiban, under which Monthon Pattani consisted of Pattani, Yala, Sai Buri and Ra-ngae towns.
By virtue of British-Siam Treaty, this southern region was divided between Thai and the British colonizer. The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 or Bangkok Treaty of 1909 was a treaty between the United Kingdom and Thailand signed on March 101909 in Bangkok.
The agreement, in which the Malays were not represented, effectively dissected the northern Malay states into two parts. Narathiwat was fully integrated into Siam while Thailand relinquished its claims to sovereignty over Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu which remained within the British sphere of influence as protectorates.
The majority of the population is Muslim, with the Jawi dialect predominantly used in verbal communication. Jawi is a divergent dialect of Malay which still uses the original Arabic-based Jawi alphabet when written.
History of Narathiwat province
