 |
| |
History
Phuket Island has a long recorderd history, and
remains dating back to A.D. 1025 indicate that
the island's present day name derives in meaning
from the Tamil manikram, or crystal mountain.
For most of history, however, it was known as
Junk Ceylon, which, with variations, is the name
found on old maps. The name is thought to have
its roots in Ptolemy's Geographia, written by
the Alexandrian geographer in the Third Century
A.D. He mentioned that in making a trip from Souwannapum
to the Malay Peninsula it was neccesary to pass
the cape of Jang Si Lang.
Phuket was a way station on the route between
India and China where seafarers stopped to shelter.
The island appears to have been part of the Shivite
empire (called in Thai the Tam Porn Ling) that
established itself on the Malay Peninsula during
the first Millenium A.D. Later, as Muang Takua-Talang,
it was part of the Srivichai and Siri Tahm empires.
Governed as the eleventh in a constellation of
twelve cities, Phuket's emblem, by which it was
known to others in those largely pre-literate
times, was the dog.
During the Sukothai Period Phuket was associated
with Takua Pa in what is now Phang-nga Province,
another area with vast tin reserves. The Dutch
established a trading post during the Ayuthaya
Period in the 16th Cent. The island's northern
and central regions then were governed by the
Thais, and the southern and western parts were
given over to the tin trade, a concession in the
hands of foreigners.
After Ayuthaya was sacked by the Burmese in 1767
there was a short interregnum in Thailand, ended
by King Taksin, who drove out the Burmese and
re-unified the country. The Burmese, however,
were anxious to return to the offensive. They
outfitted a fleet to raid the southern provinces,
and carry off the populations to slavery in Burma.
This led to Phuket's most memorable hitoric event.
A passing sea captain, Francis Light, sent word
that the Burmese were en route to attack. Forces
in Phuket were assembled led by the two heroines,
Kunying Jan, wife of Phuket's recently deceased
governer, and her sister Mook, After a month's
siege the Burmese were forced to depart on 13
March, 1785. Kunying Jan and her sister were credited
with the successful defense.
In recognition King Rama I bestowed upon Kunying
Jan the honorific Thao Thep Kasatri, a title of
nobility usually reserved for royalty, by which
she is known today. Her sister became Thao Sri
Sunthon.
During the Nineteenth Century Chinese immigrants
arrived in such numbers to work for the tin mines
that the ethnic character of the island's interior
became predominantly Chinese, while the coastal
settlements remained populated chiefly by Muslim
fishermen.
In Rama V's reign, Phuket became the administrative
center 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
by itself. |
|
Phuket
