Satun (สตูล)

Thai. Name of a province (map) and its capital city on the southern west coast of the Thai peninsula, 973 kms south of Bangkok and near the Malaysian border. It has a mainly Muslim population and the majority speaks Yawi, a Malay dialect. At the end of the 18th century AD, Satun was a small Malay state known as Setul, and was located in the heartland of Kedah Sultanate, which the Rattanakosin Kingdom of Siam, perceived as their vassal. After a secession crisis following the death of the 20th Sultan of Kedah in 1797, in which the crowning of the newly elected Sultan, who was endorsed by Siam, was contested by the crown prince, the Siamese, aiding to reconcile the two rivaling parties, appointed the crown prince as the ruler of Setul, thus signifying the birth of Kedah into two separate realms. In 1897, Satun became part of the Monthon Saiburi (ไทรบุรี), which in 1909 was divided between Siam and the British colonisers in Malaysia, as part of the 1909 Anglo-Siamese Treaty. Whereas most of Kedah was ceded to Britain, Satun was awarded to Siam due to its relatively large Thai population. Satun was then incorporated into Monthon Phuket, until the monthon system was ended in 1933, and Satun became a province of Thailand in is own right. Places of interest include two national marine parks. The province has six amphur and one king amphur. Also transcribed Satul. See also Satun data file. 回