CHAPTER 8 Two peripheral regions: the North-East and the South he North-East (Phak Isan) and the South (Phak population made up of Khmers and Siamese speak- Tai) are two of Thailand’s three very distinctive ing Tai Khorat) or the principalities of Vientiane or Tperipheral regions. The North-East is syno- ny- Cham-passak. At the beginning of the 19th century, mous with the Khorat plateau, a remarkable natural Bangkok’s control over Isan was threatened and this unit of almost 170,000 km2 bordered to the north and led to terrible wars with Vientiane which resulted in the the east by the Mekong, to the west by the Phetch- deportation of a large proportion of the Lao popula- abun Range and to the south by the Dangrek Range. tion on the plateau (and as far as the center of the This is the largest region in the country, a little more country). The Kingdom of Siam then had sovereignty extensive than the North but much more densely over the territories of the former Lao kingdoms which populated (almost 21 million inhabitants compared it later lost to the French colonial empire (see plate with 12 million), in fact one third of the country’s total 20 Changes in boundaries and frontiers (18th-20th area and population. The South is the smallest of the century)). three peripheral regions, with almost 71,000 km2 (14% of the total national area) and little more than 8 million The Siamese penetrated earlier into the South inhabitants (14% of the national total). This region (13th century), via Nakhon Si Thammarat, a flour- extends over 600 km, from the very narrowest part ishing local center and outpost in the Malay world, of the Thai peninsula between the Gulf of Thailand established as a province with a fairly high degree of and Myanmar, to the Taluban Range. autonomy. The current eastern provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala and part of Songkhla correspond to In the way these two frontier regions are popu- what was at that time the Malay sultanate of Patani, lated and in relations with their own culture and with an important center of Islam in South-East Asia, the Thai nation, they still retain traces of their own which also included Kelantan and Trengganu, today histories closely linked with those of the neigh-boring in Malaysia. Linked with Malacca, Patani was a flour- countries. Although their histories have been different, ishing, cosmopolitan port that succeeded in fending they coincide at the key points that resulted in the off attacks by the Siamese in the 17th century, before later integration of these regions into the Kingdom giving in and recognizing the suzerainty of Bangkok in of Siam. Today, these two peripheral regions are in 1786. Rebellions occurred sporadically, especially at a position to connect together several areas at the the turn of the 19th century, which resulted in Muslims level of continental and maritime South-East Asia from the region being installed by force in Bangkok (see plate 6 Networks in Eastern Asia). and hundreds of Siamese families being settled in Patani. The constant tension led Siam to divide Under the influence of the Dvaravati civilization Patani into seven distinct principalities each with a before the 11th century, the North-East came within Malay ruler appointed by the King, before grouping the sphere of influence of the Khmers and the Empire them into four, then three provinces with Siamese of Angkor, which declined in the 13th century, leav- governors. The Anglo-Thai treaty of 1909 legitimized ing behind outposts and religious sanctuaries in the the incorporation of Patani into the Siamese nation southern part and an established population south at the same time as it created, on the western side, of the river Mun (see plate 10 Main ethno-linguistic the province of Satun, henceforward separated from groups). In the 14th century, Buddhist populations from the Sultanate of Kedah which had passed into the Laos were established to the north of the plateau and hands of the British. there were outposts from the Lan Chang kingdom in the center (see plate 21 Formation of the nation-state At the beginning of the 20th century, the ap- territory). The influx from Laos of opponents to the plication of the provincial administration system the- wars between kingdoms increased at the end of the saphiban to the North-East and the South, placing the 17th century and spread into the plateau as a result entire country under centralized control, gave rise to of the expanding power of the Champassak princi- local resistance, sometimes violent, as was the case, pality on the north bank of the Mekong. In 1778, the for instance, in the five predominantly Islamic south- kingdoms of Laos recognized Siamese suzerainty ern provinces (see plate 12 Islam and Christ-ianity) in which was at that time confined to the south-west relation to other measures including the “thaisation” of edge of the plateau. The allegiance of the external education. From the 1920s, the policy of integration provinces (hua muang) to the Kingdom of Siam was of these five provinces has varied according to the then through Khorat (Nakhon Ratchasima, city with a governments and their view of international relations 161 (especially with Malaysia) and their assessment of the yet do not affect the significance of the whole. scale of resistance move-ments made up of those who call themselves the Melayu. The ethnic and The last three plates concern district level religious identity, the awareness of a former politi- (amphoe). This scale level is better suited than the cal independence, also make the South peninsular one used at province level to present the modalities region a particularly sensitive area. The denigration of population distribution or specific agricultural and of distinctive cultural traditions took on other forms industrial features in more detail. For industry in par- (subordination of the local sangha to Siamese monks ticular, it shows the duplication of the center-periphery at the beginning of the 20th century) in the North-East, phenomenon already observed between provinces, suspected of separatist intentions and where, in the but now seen between districts within the provinces. 1960s and 1970s, communist guerilla movements For each theme, the map bases have been adapted brought fears that a front was opening up in Thailand. (generally by grouping districts together) to adjust The backwardness in infrastructure provision and in the statistical mapping to the administrative units the economy, the poverty, all show another dimen- used by the body responsible for the data collection. sion of the “northeastern problem” that robust rural Population distribution within the provinces (plate develop-ment programs intended to alleviate: Accel- 63 Population in North-East and South) bears erated Rural Development, widely backed by the USA witness both to the attraction of the urban areas and who had military bases in the region; at the end of to the spread of settlement as the result of agricul- the 1980s, Isan Khiao (Green North-East), launched tural colonization that has marked the history of the by the army to reforest and install agricultural village country since the middle of the 1950s (see plate 19 infrastructure. At the same time, the raising of the Population distribution and demographic features). level of education, the confrontation with the outside Crops have been selected both for their importance in world (especially as a result of emigration) has helped each region studied and for the availability of statisti- construct a regional identity for those who consider cal information at district level (plate 64 Agriculture themselves Khon Isan. in North-East and South). Fruit trees and oil palm trees are some of the perennial crops, other than The physical environment also contributes to rubber, typical of the South (major or even exclusive the very clear individuality of the two regions (see production at national level). Rice (white rice or glu- also plates 7 Relief and hydrographical system and 8 tinous rice) is an important crop in the North-East Environment and natural resources). The North-East which has strengthened its position as producer (see is a hard environment with soils that are poor and of plate 33 Rice). The duplication within the provinces variable fertility according to topography and vulne- of the spatial imbalances of industrialization refers rable to salinity, rainfall that is uneven and irregular to a certain number of factors, among which are the over time, causing flooding for several weeks (in the unequal availability of equipment and facilities, the valleys) and extreme drought for the rest of the year. geographical position of the district, notably its dis- In the South, which has a high rainfall and is widely tance from the center of the country, and the role of open to the sea, the low eastern coastal side with local entrepreneurs (plate 65 Industry in North-East its alluvial plains contrasts with the rocky, indented and South). These entrepreneurs, alone or with Thai western side. The agro-ecological landscapes that or foreign participation, have been able to reach out express the relationships between units of the bio- to national and international markets, not limiting their physical environment and the social groups that operation to local or regional markets. exploit them are the subject of case studies: one on the Sakon Nakhon basin, one of the two physical sub- regions of the North-East (plate 61 Land use in the North-East: Sakon Nakhon province); the other on the eastern side of the South region, between Nakhon Si Thammarat and Phatthalung (plate 62 Land use in the South: Pak Phanang watershed). Mapping here is the result of a classification of information from satellite images validated by direct observation.