Phuket History

Chakri Dynasty

On the death of King Taksin the crown passed to General Pya Chakri, founder of the present dynasty of Thai kings, who ruled (1782-1809) as Rama I. King Rama I moved the capital to its present location in Bangkok and fought another war with the Burmese who were again trying to wrest control of Siam. During this war in 1785 at the ‘Battle at Thalang’, Phuket forever earned its place in the annals of modern Thai history. Burmese invaders had attacked by land and sea and captured several cities on the west coast of Thailand. While preparing to defend his capital then located in the village of Thalang the governor died leaving the forces defending Phuket leaderless, out-manned and out-gunned (the same governor who had earlier conspired with Captain Light). Realizing they were out numbered, Chan, the governor’s widow and her sister Mook disguised the island’s women as men. The great number of soldiers defending the island confused the Burmese, and cleverly devised attacks on their flanks and rear weakened their resolve. Believing the island had been reinforced from Bangkok and running short of food and provisions the Burmese decamped and sailed away. A grateful king conferred royal titles on the two brave and resourceful sisters. Today, the Heroine’s Monument located south of the airport in the traffic circle on the main highway honors their memory.

Phuket History - Monument of the Two Sisters, In 1809 Phuket was again attacked by the Burmese (the famous sisters had both passed away by then), who wrecked such destruction on the island that many of the surviving residents fled to the mainland and settled around the present day location of Phang Na. Reports filed by European traders who witnessed the Burmese attacks on Phuket read more like a black-comedy than a serious military campaign. One account has the Burmese savagely attacking Phuket in an orgy of killing and destruction then carrying off many survivors to be sold as slaves. When the Burmese tried to sail away, the wind blew their ships back upon the rocky coastline, smashing them, and the enraged residents of the island took their revenge on the hapless Burmese soldiers. One of the Burmese leaders was captured and sent to Bangkok where he was beheaded. The king Rama II was so enraged with the disruption of tin production, and the death and destruction wrecked upon the island he ordered the governor of Phuket be arrested and brought to Bangkok in chains and imprisoned as a warning to others. The following year, during another attack by the Burmese, the Thai navy was sailing to the rescue, but a carelessly handled keg of gunpowder on one of the ships set off a sympathetic explosion that blew most of the Thai fleet out of the water. Meanwhile, the new governor had built stockades to defend the island and was holding off the attacking Burmese. The Burmese commander making little headway against these defenses devised a clever strategy and loaded all his forces back onto their ships and sailed away out of sight of the governor and his troops. The governor, believing the attack was over, celebrated his victory and let his people return to their homes. Several days later the Burmese returned unnoticed and captured the capital and sacked the island without organized resistance. The Burmese proved adept at attacking Phuket but never managed to hold the island long enough to gain either an economic or a strategic benefit.

The long period of bloody warfare with the Burmese had depleted the population of Phuket and virtually halted the production of tin. Production of tin fell from over 500 tons in 1784 to less than 20 tons in 1820. The Industrial Revolution in Europe and America had already sent the demand for tin skyrocketing, when a patent taken by a British inventor to use tinplated steel to manufacture containers to preserve food (tin cans) led to a shortage that forced the price of tin to record levels. The scramble to meet the worldwide demand for tin put tremendous pressure on the King Rama II to bring tin production back on line in Phuket and the surrounding provinces, or risk losing them.

Shortly after Rama III (1824-51) ascended the throne the British and Thai governments concluded a commercial treaty that officially re-opened Thailand to world commerce. One of the rights obtained in this agreement was unrestricted British access to the tin trade on Phuket Island. British influence in Thailand was increased; an indirect result of this agreement being that throughout the remainder of the 19th century the Burmese were too busy fending off the British to ever pose a threat to Thailand again. With British warships making life very short and very difficult for pirates operating in the Straits of Malacca, and with the threat of foreign invasion under control Phuket was ready to prosper.

New Thalang was established on the north part of the island as the new capital city of Phuket Island but its prominence was to be short-lived. When tin ore was discovered in large quantities in the south part of the island, a third town -- Phuket Town -- rose and within a few decades dominated the island’s economic and political life. Phuket, faced with a severe manpower shortage to work the tin mines, was forced to import workers. Thousands of Chinese miners came to labor in the tin mines; some came from nearby Malaysia and some from China itself. Diligent and hard-working, a lucky few would go on and become wealthy mine-owners themselves and build the splendid mansions that still grace the island. By the middle of the century an estimated 30,000 Chinese were employed by mines scattered in various locations all over the island. Malays also came and established a strong Muslim presence on the island. Many of the Muslim Malays came and settled in the Surin area where their descendants continue to work the farms and fish to the present day. Rama III, concerned that the opium smoking then common among the miners from China would spread to the Thai population, banned the drug. Then, as today, the ban was largely ignored. In 1840 the King had a large quantity of opium seized from traders in Phuket and shipped to Bangkok. Beginning a tradition the exists periodically to this day, over 900 chests full of opium were publicly burned to show that drugs would not be tolerated. In what was undoubtedly a wise decision, it was also the last reported incident of this ritual taking place on the palace grounds. It was reported that a toxic but oddly pleasant aroma surrounded the palace grounds for most of the day.

King Mongkut (Rama IV reigned 1851-68) was the first of two successive outstanding rulers whose willingness to modernize and to establish friendly relations with the Western powers enabled their country to escape colonial conquest. Before succeeding his brother on the throne, Mongkut served 27 years as a Buddhist monk learned to speak English and studied Western history and science. As king, Rama IV introduced European-style education established the first printing press, and hired foreign experts to modernize Siam's government and economy. The most controversial act during the reign of Rama IV was the signing of the ‘Bowring Treaty’ under duress from Great Britain. This treaty granted extra-territoriality rights and other privileges to British citizens. In effect under this treaty the British were free to do as they pleased in Thailand. They could import previously banned items like opium and gold bullion, all royal monopolies were canceled, import and export duties were taxed at a flat rate of 3%, and no British citizen could be arrested and or tried in a Thai court. The treaty was much to the benefit of Britain and could never be canceled without her permission. Virtually every European power and America rushed to sign a similar treaty. The treaty was more economical than making Thailand a colony because all the benefits of a colony were obtained without any obligation to build roads, schools, establish postal services, build railroads, etc. Rama IV was a model for the king in Margaret Landon's book ‘Anna and the King of Siam', which was based on the experiences of an English governess at the Siamese court, and from which the musical comedy ‘The King and I’ was adapted.

Phuket became a boom town with all the attendant problems. For a few it offered a continuous wave of prosperity, but for most who labored under the control of the strict Chinese overlords it was a life of relentless toil. Dissatisfaction with working conditions and rivalry between two Chinese secret societies resulted in a miners rebellion in which pitched battles were fought between police and the miners. Eventually the emperor of China dispatched emissaries to broker a peace agreement and keep the mines in operation. After working for 3 to 5 years to pay off the debt incurred from their transportation from mainland China, a miner could earn the privilege of mining for themselves. The miner lost 25% of his ore after smelting to the royal tax, 12-15% as a fee for smelting controlled by the Chinese overlords, and owed an additional tax if he attempted to export the tin off the island. The only other option was to sell the tin to a Chinese trading company who had purchased export rights from the Thai Royal Court. A select few would prosper and became wealthy beyond imagination but it was the rare exception. Statues at ‘Wat Chalong’ pay homage to two famous monks who healed broken bones on both sides as they worked to resolve the crisis and quell the rebellion.

King Chulalongkorn (Rama V reigned 1868-1910) ruled during the height of the onslaught of European colonization. Rama V is generally regarded as Thailand's greatest ruler. He was the son of Rama IV, Siam's first great modernizing monarch. Besides abolishing slavery and the ancient practice of prostration before the monarch, Chulalongkorn continued the policies of his father and introduced major economic, administrative, educational, and transportation-communications reforms. He continued the vigorous modernization efforts of his father and managed to maintain the country's independence, albeit at considerable cost in territorial concessions. In 1893 Thailand became embroiled in a boundary dispute with France, which was then the dominant power in Cochin China (Viet Nam), and Cambodia. The French dispatched warships to Bangkok and forced the Thais to yield Cambodia and all of Laos east of the Mekong River. Additional Thai territory, situated west of the Mekong, was acquired by France in 1904 and 1907. Thailand gave up control over four states in the Malay Peninsula to Great Britain in 1909.

The beginning of the 20th century was a period of positive growth for Phuket. Tin mining boomed, and the very capable and benevolent governor Rasada Korsimbi helped diversify the island’s economy and the capital city of Phuket began its modern expansion. The town of Phuket grew rapidly, its streets lined with handsome buildings in the Sino-Portuguese style inspired by those of Malacca, and ships from all over the world called at its bustling port. Rama V was the first Thai king to visit Phuket dramatizing the island’s importance to the central government.

In 1903 a missionary John Carrington wrote that Phuket is a place where wild elephants, rhinoceros, tiger, water buffalo, cattle, monkeys, multicolored birds and reptiles abound.

That was; however, about to change. Two significant developments were about to bring major economic and environmental changes to the island. In 1903 the first rubber trees were planted, beginning a major new industry that would transform Phuket’s agriculture and greatly add to its prosperity. Over forty percent of the island’s remaining rainforest was cut down and planted in rubber. The introduction of the first tin dredger in 1907 by Australian Captain Edward Miles dramatically transformed its coastline.

In 1912 a group of Thai Military officers unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow the monarchy. Military takeovers of the government and attempted takeovers have been a feature of Thai political life ever since. As a show of support for the Allies in World War I, Rama VI sent a small contingent of troops to France in 1918.