A wealthy Malay trading sultanate on the upper east coast of the peninsula, Patani reached its golden age under four successive queens beginning with Raja Hijau (r. 1584), when it was a cosmopolitan port frequented by Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, Portuguese and Siamese merchants and repelled several Siamese invasions. Siamese suzerainty tightened through the 18th-19th centuries until formal annexation in 1902.
Annexed by Siam: broken into seven districts in 1808 and formally absorbed in 1902; the region was confirmed to Siam by the 1909 Anglo-Siamese Treaty.
Peer-reviewed Journal of the Siam Society article on Patani's commercial rise; primary scholarly anchor for its 16th-c. dates.
Cambridge Core scholarly study of the queens' era, Patani's golden age.