Nakhon Si Thammarat province

Nakhon Si Thammarat province (Thai/Southern Thai: นครศรีธรรมราช, Thai pronunciation:, Southern Thai pronunciation:) is a province (changwat) of Thailand, on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. As of 2018, it was the most populous province of Southern Thailand, with a population of approximately 1.5 million. Neighboring provinces are (from south clockwise) Songkhla, Phatthalung, Trang, Krabi and Surat Thani.

The provincial town is one of the oldest in Thailand. Sanskrit inscriptions and hill sites in the province reach back to the seventh century, and from the thirteenth the Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom held a group of twelve tributary towns running from Chumphon south to Pahang. Wat Phra Mahathat, built in that period, remains the principal Buddhist monument of southern Thailand.