History of Phitsanulok Province - Singhanavati City-State

Singhanavati City-State

In 1188, King Boromma Chayasiri of Singhanavati (a city-state kingdom originally centered around modern day Chiang Rai) is said to have expanded the city-state to include much of what is now Phitsanulok Province, and relocated the capital of his kingdom to Nakhon Thai, from where he ruled for a period of time. The early city of Nakhon Thai thereby became the second urban center of the province, and one of the few urban areas in the Nan Basin, at that time, not situated directly on the banks of the Nan River. Rather, Nakhon Thai was situated at the foothills of the Phetchabun Mountains along one of the main tributaries of the Khwae Noi River. Nakhon Thai's period as a major urban center was short lived, however, as the throne of Singhanavati moved on. The predominant city of the region throughout the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya period, as well as in modern times, would be Phitsanulok, due to the city's prime location at a major tributarial junction of the Nan River. As a historical sidenote, the fourth successor after Boromma Chayasiri to the throne of Singhanavati (which survived through the Sukhothai era) was the famous King Ramathibodi I who became the first King of Ayutthaya in 1351, marking the dawn of the Ayuttahaya period of Thai history.