History of Phuket

Last Updated on Monday, 07 December 2009 20:13 Written by Administrator Wednesday, 08 July 2009 12:42

Phuket history

In the past Phuket was known as Junk Ceylon, a stop-over for merchants trading goods between India and China and, due to this, influences of Chinese, Malay, Portuguese and Burmese can be found in the culture, language, religion and architecture. Amongst the Buddhist Wats you will also find Muslim mosques, Chinese Temples and beautiful Portuguese architecture in Old Phuket Town.

The Chinese influence came from large numbers of Chinese arriving in the 19th century to work in the tin mines. They stayed and opened up businesses and integrated into the community, thus the ethnic make-up of the island's interior became mainly Chinese, while the coastal settlements remained populated largely by Muslim Thais.

As you come from the airport you will pass the famous Heroines Monument dedicated to the women who prevented an invasion of Phuket from the Burmese. At the time of the Burmese invasion most of the men on the island were away fighting in other parts of Thailand (or so they told their wives), so the wife of the recently deceased Phuket Governor and her sister gathered together a force of mainly women to protect Phuket. They wore their hair short to look like men, made fake weapons and even used children to create the impression that Phuket had an army. They held the Burmese at bay for over a month, until they finally left on 13th March 1785. King Rama I bestowed titles of nobility on the two sisters, usually reserved for royalty.