Phuket History

Phuket Island has a lengthy history dating back to A.D. 1025.  The first inhabitants were probably the Negrito, and sea gypsy tribes, or fairer skinned Mon migrants from the Pegu area. Originally known as Junk Ceylon, the name found on old Portuguese navigation maps, it eventually became known as it is today, Phuket, which is derived from the Tamil word ‘manikram’ meaning crystal mountain. Junk Ceylon may be a miss pronunciation of Ujong Sylang. The word “Ujong” in Malay means peninsula and the word “Sylang” was said to be the name of the inhabitants who lived in the island at that time. During the period of King Ramkamhang of Sukhothai Kingdom the word Sylang became Thalang. Talang itself, nowadays is one of the first villages on Phuket and was at the time the main tin mining area on the island.

In the fifteenth to sixteenth century A.D. a new town called “Bukit” developed in the southwestern part of the island now known as Kathu District and at the time was under the Thalang juristiction. The area became renowned for its tin production and became a centre of trade and commerce among Europeans, French, Dutch and Portuguese who were granted permission to trade on the island. The King at that time appointed a French medical missionary named Rene Charbonneau to be the Governor of the island from 1681 to 1685 A.D.

The word Ujong Sylang or Thalang was probably changed to Phuket before the reign of the King Chulalongkorn (before 1868 A.D.). During that time when the tin ore was in great demand most of the foreign traders called the island as it is today, Phuket. The island served as a way station on the route between India and China and was at one point part of the Shivite empire that established itself on the Malay Peninsula during the first millennium. Typical of the era, Phuket's emblem in those largely pre-literate times was the dog. (Animals feature in other areas such as Krabi, where the symbol was that of a monkey.)

Phuket was then very much untamed. Villagers lived beside lowland streams on the fringes of the island's dense forests. Until as recently as the 19th century, the forests sustained wild tiger, rhinoceros, elephant, crocodiles and bears. Although small, Phuket had an abundance of ivory, gems, natural pearls, hides, spices, firewood, caulk for ship hulls and ambergris - the valuable slime emitted by whales which is used as a cloying agent in Western perfumes.

Malay pirates, Arabian merchants in sturdy dhows, Tamil settlers, Han Dynasty silk traders and Portuguese pioneers all sought to exploit these resources. When tin mining expanded in the 17th century, Phuket assumed new economic and political importance.

During the Sukothai period, Phuket was associated with Takuapa in Phang Nga Province, an area like Phuket with vast tin reserves. The Dutch established a trading post during the Ayuthaya Period in the 16th century on the island and the Thai government at the time secured the northern and central regions of the island for themselves and basically handed the southern and western areas over to the tin mining companies, all of which were to foreigners, on a concession basis.

After Ayuthaya was sacked by the Burmese in 1767 there was a short gap in Thailand’s reign, ended by King Taksin, who drove the Burmese out and re-unified the country. The Burmese, however, weren’t happy about this at all and outfitted a fleet to raid the southern provinces intending to capture the people of Phuket and put them into slavery in Burma. This led to Phuket's most memorable historic event.

A passing sea captain, Francis Light, sent word that the Burmese were en-route to attack. Forces in Phuket were assembled led by two heroines, Kunying Jan, wife of Phuket's governor and her sister Mook. Masquerading as men, they along with thousands of other women in similar garb marched up and down Phuket’s beaches wielding makeshift arms and after a month's siege the Burmese were forced to depart on 13 March, 1785.

The sisters were credited with the successful defence and in recognition of their bravery King Rama I gave Kunying Jan the honorific title Thao Thep Kasatri, a title usually reserved for royalty, by which she is known today. Her sister became Thao Sri Suntorn.

During the Nineteenth Century Chinese immigrants arrived in such numbers to work the tin mines that the ethnic character of the island's interior changed to become predominantly Chinese, while the coastal settlements remained populated by Muslim fishermen. In Rama V's reign, Phuket became the administration centre of a group of tin mining provinces called Monton Phuket and in 1933, with the change in government from absolute monarchy to a parliamentary system, the island was established as a province in its own right.

It was around this time that the second important occupation on the island became established, that of rubber farming. Praya Rasda ("Kawsimbi") a Chinese grandee who governed Phuket from 1890 to 1909 is accredited with introducing the first rubber tree into Thailand in 1901, this became such a successful industry that Thailand is now the largest exporter of rubber in the world.

With the opening of an international airport in 1976, Phuket saw a new industry immerge, that of tourism and it is this latest influx of foreigners that has helped make Phuket the wealthiest province in the country and it looks set to prosper for years to come. Recently voted as the most popular tourist destination in the world, it takes a lot of beating.