Singgora

Singgora stood at the entrance to Songkhla Lake, where the lagoon meets the Gulf of Siam. Its harbour served ships travelling between the Malay Peninsula and the ports farther north. Forts and walls guarded the settlement at Khao Daeng, while merchants of different origins made the town a thriving centre of exchange on the peninsula’s eastern coast.

In the seventeenth century a Muslim ruling family established an independent sultanate at the port of Singgora. Sultan Sulaiman strengthened the town's defences and pursued commerce amid competition with Pattani and the expanding European trading companies. Relations with Ayutthaya deteriorated, and King Narai's forces besieged and destroyed the fortified town in 1680. The defeated ruling family subsequently dispersed, and the region returned to Siamese authority.