Patani Sultanate
The Sultanate of Patani (also Kingdom of Patani ; Malay Kerajaan Patani , Jawi : كراجأن ڤتتاني; Thai อาณาจักรปัตตานี , RTGS : Anachak Pattani; historical: Kingdom of Bet (h) anien ) was from 14./15. It was a Muslim state in Southeast Asia from the 19th century until it was broken up by Siam in 1809 . The Sultanate of Patani covered an area in the south of what is now Thailand, its area of influence was at times significantly larger than the area of the Pattani Province and comprised most of the northeastern Malay Peninsula south of Songkhla. Ethnically, the population consisted largely of Malays.
history
14.-16. century
The predecessor state of the Sultanate of Patani was the Buddhist kingdom of Langka Suka , whose tradition as a trading center under the rule of Sri Vijaya could have continued into the Muslim era. The background to the formation of the sultanate is in the dark and has not yet been clarified by research. According to a Malay manuscript, the date of the Islamization of Patani is dated to around 1470. Ibn Battuta reported as early as 1344 that there was a majority of Muslims, according to which Patani had adopted Islam before Malacca (around 1400). Patanian nationalists, however, assume that missionaries spread Islam around 1150. However, some researchers doubt such an early date.
The conversion to Islam brought the minor kings previously ruling in the region the advantage of a stronger religious legitimation of their rule as the shadow of Allah on earth (the Hindu king title raja was retained in Patani even after the Islamization). Islamic merchants, who were among the pioneers of the Islamization process in the Indonesian archipelago, preferred to act in Islamic empires, so that there was another - financial - incentive for the rulers to convert to Islam. In addition, Islam offered the Malay population a strengthened ethnic identity compared to the expansive policies of the Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya . A violent expansion of the Islamic religious community, as happened in the Middle East, is not to be expected in Southeast Asia.
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The development of a state with the capital Patani is dated from the middle of the 14th to the middle of the 15th century. The Chronicle of Patani mentions an inland town called Mahligai , whose ruler is said to have moved his palace to the fishing village of Patani during the period mentioned. As a result, Patani developed into a regional trading center, but from the beginning of the 15th century it was under the rule of Ayutthaya. Patani's tribute to Ayutthaya consisted of the sending of "golden and silver flowers" (bunga mas dan perak) . This sign of submission had to be given once in three years. The far more important consequence of the dependence on Ayutthaya, however, was the obligation to follow the army in the event of war. In general, however, Ayutthaya is not believed to have had too much influence on Patani's internal affairs. Volker Grabowsky also speaks of de facto independence .
Heyday (1584–1688)
A decisive factor in the development of Patani was the advance of the Portuguese into Southeast Asia at the beginning of the 16th century. Patani became a hub in international trade thanks to the branches of European merchants. In 1516 the Portuguese trader Manuel Falco set up a branch in Patani. According to Fernão Mendes Pinto, around 1538 there were already 300 Portuguese merchants in Patani. At the beginning of the 17th century, merchants from other European nations broke into the sphere of influence of the Portuguese merchants. In 1602 the first Dutch merchants settled in Patani, followed by the English in 1612. In addition to the European merchants, merchants from Arabia , Persia , India , China and Japan also lived in Patani . The activities of the merchants were not limited to the economic area, but were often always a form of representing the interests of the country of origin. The writings of foreign merchants are an important source for the history of Patani.
In 1572, the death of Sultan Manzur Syah from the Sri Mahavamsa dynasty was followed by a twelve-year phase of political turmoil. The Sultan named his daughters after the colors of the rainbow, namely green (Ijau), blue (Biru) and purple (Ungu). In 1584 Manzur's eldest daughter, Ijau, ascended the throne. She succeeded in restoring political stability in Pattani and thus creating a basis for further economic upswing. After Ijau's death in 1616, her sisters Biru (r. 1616–1624) and Ungu (r. 1624–1635) succeeded her as rulers. The period from Queen Ijau's accession to the throne in 1584 to the end of the Sri Mahavamsa dynasty in 1688 is considered to be the heyday of Patani.
The city had a population of around 100,000 and was one of the most important trading centers in Southeast Asia. The German traveler Johann Albrecht von Mandelslo , who visited Patani in 1639, described the city in his diary: “Patani is a very wealthy country. ... The rice fields are extraordinarily lush; there are many kinds of meat ... along with hundreds of kinds of fruits. ” The fact that the empire was ruled by female rulers was unusual for a Muslim state. The Europeans working in Patani also described this with great astonishment. Patani's wealth through trade also went hand in hand with a marriage in the spiritual and cultural realms. Patani was a focal point for Islamic scholars and was to remain a central place for the Malay educated into the 19th century.
After marrying a high-ranking Siamese nobleman, Ungu had returned to Patani in 1614 and, despite the previously good relations, pursued an anti-Siamese policy. After the death of the Siamese king Songtham in 1628, conflicts arose in Ayutthaya about his successor. The opportunity arose for Patani to break out of formal dependence on Ayutthaya. The military situation in the south of Ayutthaya was extremely unsound, so that Ungu attacked the cities of Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung . The Dutch East India Company (VOC), which was interested in trading with both states involved in the conflict, first tried to persuade the sultana to send the "gold flowers" as formal submission through its envoy Anthonij Caen. Ungu, however, regarded the new Siamese king Prasat Thong as the murderer of the old royal family and refused to acknowledge Siam's sovereignty. The Dutch then sided with Siam and sent a small fleet to support them. Patani allied himself with the Portuguese in Melakka and the befriended Malay Sultanate of Johore . There was a stalemate as the Dutch fleet arrived too late to be of any assistance. It was not until two years later that the Siamese managed a military strike against Patani, whose new sultana Kuning sent the "gold flowers" to Ayutthaya in March 1636 as a sign of submission. During the reign of Kuning, the daughter of Ungu, there was peace with Ayutthaya until 1688. With her death the Sri Mahavamsa dynasty became extinct and a dynasty from Kelantan came to power in Patani.
1688-1902
The following time is very poor in sources. The research assumes a gradual decline of Patani as a trading center and an increasing influence of Ayutthaya. In 1786, in the course of the conquest of the Siamese, there was a strong connection to Siam, against which Sultan Tengku Lamiddin dared a revolt in 1791. The Siamese governor was expelled and fled to Phattalung. A Siamese punitive action followed and numerous residents of Patani were deported. The Siamese government let hundreds of Siamese families settle in Patani for better control of the country, which was to lead to ethnic-religious conflicts in later times.
In 1808/1809 there was another uprising against Siam. After another victory of the Siamese, thousands of Malay residents of Patani were resettled in the central Thai lowlands. In 1816 the sultanate was divided into the seven provinces of Nong Chik , Pattani , Yaring , Sai Buri , Yala , Raman and Ra-ngae . The rule of the old sultan's family was formally maintained, but the administration was established by the government in Bangkok.
Eventually Siam annexed the provinces in 1902 and regrouped them under the Pattani name .
literature
- Volker Grabowsky : Small history of Thailand. Beck, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-406-60129-3 , pp. 92-98.
- Ibrahim Syukri: History of the Malay Kingdom of Patani. Silkworm Books, Chiang Mai 2005, ISBN 974-9575-77-6 .