Editing Langkasuka (section)

==Location==
[[File:Mao Kun map - Songkla, Langkasuka, Kelantan, Trengganu.png|thumb|left|[[Mao Kun map]] from [[Wubei Zhi]] showing Langkasuka (狼西加) near the top right ([[Songkla]] further to its right, and [[Kelantan River]] and [[Trengganu]] to the left).]]
Chinese and Arab sources placed the ancient kingdom on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. The ''[[New Book of Tang]]'' mentions that Langkasuka bordered [[Pan Pan (kingdom)|Pan Pan]], and a map in the [[Ming dynasty]] military treatise ''[[Wubei Zhi]]'' locates it south of [[Songkla]] near the [[Pattani River]].<ref name="crossroads"/> A 15th century Arab text similarly places the kingdom between Kelantan and Songkla. The only contradictory information comes from a later Malay text ''Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa'' which placed it on the west coast as the predecessor of modern Kedah, although its sovereign had some association with Pattani.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5rG6reWhloC&pg=PA164 |title=The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the Maritime Silk-Road (100 BC-1300 AD) |author= Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h |pages=164–166 |others=Victoria Hobson (translator) |year=2002 |publisher=Brill |isbn= 978-90-04-11973-4 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sabrizain.org/malaya/early1.htm |title=Langkasuka |work=Sejarah Melayu }}</ref> Chinese, Arab and Indian sources all considered Kedah and Langkasuka to be separate geographical entities. The Javanese poem ''Nagarakretagama'' placed it north of [[Sai Buri District|Saiburi]], however it appears to imply that it was originally located on the west coast but was transferred later to the east.<ref name="historical encyclopedia"/>

In 1961, taking account of the various sources, the geographer and historian [[Paul Wheatley (geographer)|Paul Wheatley]] concluded that Langkasuka should be located near the modern town of Pattani.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Golden Khersonese. Studies in the Historical Geography of the Malay Peninsula before AD 1500 |author=Paul Wheatley |publisher=University of Malaya Press |year=1961 }}</ref> French archaeologist and historian Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h concurred, and proposed the former estuary of the Pattani River near Yarang as the likely location of Langkasuka. He also suggested that whole area between [[Pattani, Thailand|Pattani]], Saiburi and [[Yala, Thailand|Yala]] may have been part of Langkasuka.<ref name=wade>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIDGBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 |title=Ghosts of the Past in Southern Thailand: Essays on the History and Histiography of Patani |author= Geoff Wade |pages=62–63 |editor= Patrick Jory |publisher=NUS Press |date=30 April 2013 |isbn= 978-9971-69-635-1 }}</ref> Modern archaeological explorations have uncovered ruins near Yarang, a village fifteen kilometers south of Pattani, which may be of the city described in ''Liangshu''.<ref name="malay peninsula">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5rG6reWhloC&pg=PA166 |title=The Malay Peninsula: Crossroads of the Maritime Silk-Road (100 BC-1300 AD) |author= Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h |pages=166–175 |others=Victoria Hobson (translator) |year=2002 |publisher=Brill |isbn= 978-90-04-11973-4 }}</ref> The city was located inland 10 miles from the coast and connected to the rivers leading to the sea via canals.<ref name="dougald">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyHTschgg50C&pg=PA54 |title=Early Civilizations of Southeast Asia |author= Dougald J. W. O'Reilly |publisher=Altamira Press |pages=53–54 |year= 2006|isbn=978-0-7591-0279-8}}</ref> Silting of the waterways may have led to its decline.