Phitsanulok

City municipality in Thailand Phitsanulok (Thai: พิษณุโลก, pronounced [pʰít.sà.nú.lôːk]) is a city municipality in northern Thailand and the capital of Phitsanulok province. In 2024 it had a city population of 60,827 and an urban population of about 200,000. That made it Thailand's 19th-most populous city proper and one of the major urban centers of the north. Located in the geographic center of the province, it occupies the fertile plains along the banks of the Nan River, which flows south to join the Chao Phraya River. The city grew from an older settlement called Song Khwae (lit. 'two rivers'). It was a second capital more than once: under the late Sukhothai Kingdom, and under the Ayutthaya Kingdom, when King Borommatrailokanat resided there to hold the frontier against the Lanna Kingdom. He unified the western and eastern Song Khwae settlements and renamed them "Phitsanulok". Due to its strategic importance as Ayutthaya's northern outpost, the city frequently faced Burmese attacks. When war with the Konbaung dynasty led to Ayutthaya's collapse in 1767, Chaophraya Phitsanulok declared himself king and briefly established Phitsanulok as a capital before it w