Songkhla province
Songkhla is one of the southern provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Satun, Phatthalung, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani, and Yala. To the south it borders Kedah and Perlis of Malaysia.
In contrast to most other provinces, the capital Songkhla is not the largest city in the province. The much newer city of Hat Yai, with a population of 359,813, is considerably larger, with twice the population of Songkhla. This often leads to the misconception that Hat Yai is the provincial capital.
History
Songkhla was the seat of an old Malay Kingdom with heavy Srivijayan influence. In ancient times, Songkhla formed the northern extremity of the Malay Kingdom of Langkasuka. The city-state then succeeded as the Sultanate of Singgora, it later became a tributary of Nakhon Si Thammarat, suffering damage during several attempts to gain independence.In Arabic-Persian merchant’s record from 1450-1550, Songkhla was firstly known as Singor or Singora.
Archaeological excavations on the isthmus between Lake Songkhla and the sea reveal that in the 10th through the 14th century this was a major urbanized area, and a center of international maritime trade, in particular with Quanzhou in China. The long Sanskrit name of the state that existed there has been lost; its short Sanskrit name was Singhapura , a city state. The short vernacular name was Satingpra, coming from the Mon-Khmer sting/''steng/stang and the Sanskrit pura. The ruins of the important port city of Satingpra are just few kilometres north of Songkhla city.
During 1619-1680, Songkhla Town beside Red Hill was very prosperous in trading with other countries by Malay governors migrating from Indonesia. They escaped from Dutch’s monopoly tradefor free trade in Songkhla which was supported by England. At the first period, during 1619-1642 the governor of Songkhla was Muslim. Later, In 1642-1680 the governor of Songkhla rebelled to Ayutthaya so the town was suppressed by King Narai and left carelessly. Then, Phatthalung took control of it. From 1699 to 1776, Songkhla reformed at the new location in Laemson called Songkhla Town at Laemson Side which is opposite to the current location of Songkhla town.
In 1836, King Rama III instructed Phraya Vichiankiri to build the city wall fortress. During the construction of the wall, Tuanku Ahmadsa-adtogether with the rulers from Syburi, Pattani and 7 other provinces, attacked Songkhla. After their conquering all the rebellion, the fortress and the city wall were carried on. Also, the city pillar was set up and the town of Songkhla was moved to the east of Laem Son called Bo Yang District, which is now in the area of Songkhla Municipality.
Since the 18th century, Songkla has been firmly under Thai suzerainty. In 1909, Songkhla was formally annexed by Siam as part of Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, negotiated with the British Empire, in which Siam gave up its claim to Kelantan in return for Britain recognizing Siam's right to the provinces north of that.
In the 18th century many Chinese immigrants, especially from Guangdong and Fujian, came to the province. Quickly rising to economic wealth, one of them won the bidding for the major tax farm of the province in 1769, establishing the Na Songkhla family as the most wealthy and influential. In 1777 the family also gained political power, when the old governor was dismissed and Luang Inthakhiri became the new governor. In 1786 the old governor started an uprising, which was put down after four months. The position was thereafter inherited in the family and was held by eight of his descendants until 1901, when Phraya'' Wichiankhiri was honorably retired as part of the administrative reforms of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab. The family's former home was converted into the Songkhla National Museum in 1953.
In 1932, Monthon Thesaphiban or the administrative subdivisions was dissolved and changed to provincial administration, Songkhla then becomes one of the provinces in the south of Thailand.
Songkhla was the scene of heavy fighting when the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Thailand on 8 December 1941 and parts of the city were destroyed.
Geography
The province is on the Malay Peninsula, on the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. The highest elevation is Khao Mai Kaeo at 821 meters.In the north of the province is Songkhla Lake, the largest natural lake in Thailand. This shallow lake covers an area of 1,040 km2, and has a south–north extent of 78 kilometers. At its mouth on the Gulf of Thailand, near the city of Songkhla, the water becomes brackish. A small population of Irrawaddy dolphins live in the lake, but are in danger of extinction due to accidental capture by the nets of the local fishing industry.
Songkhla province hosts three national parks. San Kala Khiri covers of mountain highlands on the Thai-Malay border. Khao Nam Khang is also in the boundary mountains. Namtok Sai Khao on the Pattani-Songkhla border.
The total forest area is or 11.2 percent of provincial area.
Chinese Communist guerrillas inhabited this region until the 1980s.
National parks
Two of the three national parks in region 6 and Namtok Sai Khao in region 6 are the protected areas of Songkhla province.Wildlife sanctuaries
The two wildlife sanctuaries in region 6 are the protected areas of Songkhla province.Non-hunting areas
There are a total of seven non-hunting areas in region 6, of which four are in Songkhla province.| Location protected areas of Songkhla | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Within the boundaries of the city of Songkhla is Cape Samila Beach, the most popular beach in the province. The famous mermaid statue can be found here. The two islands Ko Nu and Ko Maew, not far from the beach, are also popular landmarks, and a preferred fishing ground. According to a local folk tale, a cat, mouse and dog were traveling on a Chinese ship, when they attempted to steal a crystal from a merchant. While trying to swim ashore, both the cat and the mouse drowned and became the two islands; the dog reached the beach, then died and become the hill Khao Tang Kuan. The crystal turned into the white sandy beach. SymbolsThe provincial seal shows a conch shell on a Phan with glass decorations. The origin of the conch shell is unclear, but the most widely adopted interpretation is that it was a decoration on the jacket of the Prince of Songkhla.The provincial tree is the Sa-dao-thiam. The brackish fish green scat is the provincial aquatic life. EtymologyThe name Songkhla is actually the Thai corruption of Singgora ; its original name means "the city of lions" in Malay. This refers to a lion-shaped mountain near the city of Songkhla.DemographicsBuddhists make up two-thirds to three-fourths of the population, most of whom are of native Thai or Thai Chinese descent. One-fourth to one-third of the population are Muslim, most of them belong to a Thai-speaking Muslim group, called Sam-Sam. People claiming to be of Malay ethnicity make up a minority among the Muslim populace. The Songkhla Malays are very similar in ethnicity and culture to the Malays of Kelantan, Malaysia. They speak the language Songkhla Malay which is a derivative of Kelantan-Pattani Malay.Administrative divisionsProvincial governmentSongkhla is divided into 16 districts, which are further subdivided into 127 subdistricts and 987 villages.The districts of Chana, Thepha were detached from Mueang Pattani and transferred to Songkhla during the Thesaphiban reforms around 1900.
Local governmentAs of 26 November 2019 there are: one Songkhla Provincial Administration Organisation and 48 municipal areas in the province. Songkhla and Hat Yai have city status. Further 11 have town status and there are 35 subdistrict municipalities. The non-municipal areas are administered by 92 Subdistrict Administrative Organisations - SAO.HealthSongkhla is served by a larger number of public hospitals than private hospitals. The main hospitals for Songkhla province are Hatyai Hospital and Songkhla Hospital, both operated by the Ministry of Public Health. Songklanagarind Hospital is also another major hospital located in Hat Yai, but is operated by the Faculty of Medicine, Prince of Songkla University, which is the largest medical school in the South of Thailand. |