Phuket History

Early Thais

Thai-speaking peoples are generally thought to have originated in western China and moved into the southern province of Yunnan in the 1st or 2nd century BC. Following the collapse of the Han dynasty around 220 AD, Thai leaders founded the kingdom of Nan Chao, which endured until the Mongol conquest in 1253. Long before that time; however, groups of Thai people had begun a southward migration that throughout the following centuries led them far down the Malay peninsula and as far east as Cambodia. The Thais, who cultivated wet rice, were attracted to the agricultural potential of the watery Chao Phraya basin. Here they were subject to Indian influences and adopted the Buddhist religion. By the end of the 12th century several Thai principalities united and began to challenge the Khmers whose Angkor (Cambodia) government was in rapid decline for control of central Thailand. Taking land from the Mons (Burmese) to the west and north, the Thais controlled an area they called 'Lan Ni Thai' (literally, 'million Thai rice fields').

One of the earliest recorded references to Phuket is the 12th century Kedah Annals of Malaysia that refers to ‘Ujang Salang’ Malay for ‘northern most island’ or ‘peninsula’. When control of the island was wrested from the Sirivijaya Empire by King Ramkhamhaeng, the island was called Thalang (then the capital city on the island). On early European maps Phuket was known as ‘Junk Ceylon’ or ‘Jonkcelaon’ thought to be a corruption of the Malay language. Other early accounts refer to an island called ‘bukit’ the Malay word for mountain. During the reign of Rama V (1868-1910) the island was officially named as Bhuket, which remained until 1967 when the spelling was changed to the present day Phuket.

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