This thesis studies the emergence and development of the city of Hat Yai during 1915-19411 starting from 1915 whereby the southern railway reached Hat Yai. The arrival of railroad considerably changed Hat Yai from a small community to be a commercial centre which linked eastcoast towns with west-coast and some Malay towns. The study reveals that before the railway was built to Hat Yai, the economy of the community was self-sufficient. The economic mainstay of villagers lay in raising cattle or producing handicraft just enough to survive. Regarding commercial activities, they adopted barter system only to exchange small numbers of goods which they were not able to produce. The small scale of its economy was the result of a limited number of inhabitants and inconvenience of transportation. However, the completion of railway construction at Hat Yai in 1915 allowed Chinese people from different places to settle down and undertake their business in Hat Yai. Tin and rubber trading, which saw an increasing demand in world market during that period significantly affected the economy of Hat Yai which eventually transformed itself from self-sufficient economy to commercial one in which Chinese traders took control. Under new economic circumstances, villagers turned themselves to be small vendors, rubber plantation workers or employees of Chinese businessmen. Increasing trading activities allowed Hat Yai to continuously become an important commercial centre of the southern part of Thailand until the year 19411 when the development of Hat Yai experienced a halt after the Asia-Pacific war broke out.
