Makkasan (Thai: มักกะสัน, pronounced [mák.kā.sǎn]) is the name of an intersection and the surrounding neighbourhood in Bangkok's Ratchathewi district.
[2] Makkasan is not far from major shopping districts and Bangkok's traffic centers, such as Pratunam or Victory Monument.
The Makkasan people are Muslims that migrated from Sulawesi, Indonesia to Siam in the Ayutthaya period towards the end of King Narai's reign, with the name "Makkasan" coming from the city of Makassar, now the provincial capital of South Sulawesi.
The Makkasan were known by the Siamese of the time as Khaek Makkasan (แขกมักกะสัน); the Thai word khaek literally means guest and generally refers to non-Western foreigners (the term farang is used for Westerners), mostly Muslims, Hindus or Indians from the Middle East and the Malay Peninsula.
[3] The records of Claude de Forbin, a French naval admiral who lived in Ayutthaya at the time, states that the Makkasan rebelled on July 14, 1686, and were suppressed with harsh measures by the Ayutthaya rulers with the aid of foreign aristocrats such as Constantine Phaulkon.