Pattani Province in the context of "Ethnic Malay"

Malays (Malay: Orang Melayu, Jawi script: اورڠ ملايو‎) are an Austronesian ethnoreligious group native to the Malay Peninsula, eastern Sumatra, coastal Borneo, and the smaller islands that lie between these locations known as Riau Archipelago. These locations are today part of the countries of Malaysia, Indonesia (eastern and southern Sumatra, Bangka Belitung Islands, West Kalimantan, Riau Islands, and the coast of East Kalimantan), the southern part of Thailand (Pattani, Satun, Songkhla, Trang, Yala, and Narathiwat), Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam.

There is considerable linguistic, cultural, artistic and social diversity among the many Malay subgroups, mainly due to hundreds of years of immigration and assimilation of various regional ethnicity and tribes within Maritime Southeast Asia. Historically, the Malay population is descended primarily from the earlier Malayic-speaking Austronesians and Austroasiatic tribes who founded several ancient maritime trading states and kingdoms, notably Brunei, Kedah, Langkasuka, Gangga Negara, Chi Tu, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pahang, Melayu and Srivijaya.

Thai Malays (Standard Malay: Orang Melayu Thailand/Siam, Thai: ไทยเชื้อสายมลายู: Jawi: ملايو تاي; Pattani Malay: Oré Nayu Siae, Bangso Yawi; Bangkok Malay: Oghae Nayu Thai), with officially recognised terms including 'Malayu-descended Thais' and 'Malay', is a term used to refer to ethnic Malay citizens of Thailand, the sixth largest ethnic group in Thailand. Thailand is home to the third largest ethnic Malay population after Malaysia and Indonesia. Most Malays live primarily in the four southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat, Satun and Pattani. They live in one of the country’s poorest regions. They also live in Songkhla, Phuket and Ranong. Trang province, home to a sizeable Muslim population, also has many people who are of Malay descent. Some live in Thailand's capital, Bangkok. They are descended from migrants or deportees who were relocated from the South from the 13th century onwards.

The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, also known as the Bangkok Treaty of 1909, was an agreement between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand). It was signed on 10 March 1909 in Bangkok, with ratifications exchanged in London on 9 July 1909. The treaty established the modern border between Malaysia and Thailand. Areas around modern Pattani, Narathiwat, southern Songkhla, Satun and Yala remained under Thai control, later becoming the site of the South Thailand insurgency.

Under the treaty, Thailand relinquished claims to Kedah (Thai: ไทรบุรี, romanized: Saiburi), Kelantan (กลันตัน, Kalantan), Perlis (ปะลิส, Palit) and Terengganu (ตรังกานู, Trangkanu), which entered the British sphere of influence as protectorates. During World War II, Thailand briefly reclaimed these territories with Japanese permission, but they were returned to British control after the defeat of the Axis powers. These four states, together with Johor, later became known as the Unfederated Malay States, eventually joining the Federation of Malaya and forming part of present-day Malaysia.

Patani Darussalam (Malay: Kesultanan Patani Darussalam, Jawi: كسلطانن ڤطاني دارالسلام, also sometimes Patani Raya or Patani Besar, Greater Patani; Thai: ปตานี) is a historical region and sultanate in the Malay Peninsula. It includes the southern Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala (Jala), Narathiwat (Menara), and also parts of Malaysia modern state Kelantan and Besut district in state of Terengganu. Its capital was the town of Patani.

The Patani region has historical affinities with the Singgora (Songkhla), Ligor (Nakhon Si Thammarat), Lingga (near Surat Thani) and Kelantan sultanates dating back to the time when the Patani Kingdom was a semi-independent Malay sultanate paying tribute to the Siamese kingdoms of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya. After Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese in 1767, the Sultanate of Patani gained full independence, but under King Rama I, it again came under Siam's control.