History
of Phuket , Thailand
Phuket Ancient
Times
Southern Thailand has been inhabited since the early
days of mankind by ancient tribes who settled and or adapted their lifestyles
to the local environment. Who arrived first and who pushed out or assimilated
who has kept archaeologists occupied for a long time, and promises to
keep them working for a good while to come.
 Remains
of domesticated rice found at Spirit Cave, Thailand, may date from before
6800 BC. The development of bronze (copper and tin) for use in weapons
and tools generally marks the time when archaeologists consider a society
to have left the Stone Age. Discoveries in Thailand since 1960 have upset
traditional theories concerning the origins of copper and bronze technologies.
It had been thought that the use of bronze had originated in the Middle
East, but discoveries near Ban Chiang, Thailand indicate that bronze technology
was known there as early as 4500 BC. This preceded the working of bronze
in the Middle East by several hundred years. Greece by comparison did
not enter the Bronze Age until 3000 BC and China not until 1800 BC. What
tribe or group of people created this advanced civilization and what happened
to them is a matter of great debate. The developments were localized and
did not affect the region as a whole. This is due in part to Southeast
Asia having some of the most inhospitable and inaccessible terrain in
the world. This allowed some areas to develop into very sophisticated
and modern societies while a few miles away deep in the jungles and remote
mountain areas primitive societies survived.
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 Tin,
a commodity as valuable as gold to ancient kingdoms was discovered several
millennia ago in the Kathu (central) district of Phuket. Tin in seemingly
endless quantities was easily extracted from veins near the surface. While
no written records exist of when tin was first discovered and mined, cave
drawings and recovered artwork and other artifacts go back well into the
Stone Age. In ancient times people did not mine for tin. They found it,
usually after a heavy rain washed away the topsoil and exposed the layers
of gravel bearing tin. Phuket had long appeared on the charts of ship
captains from India and the Arab nations as a source of fresh water, firewood,
and pitch to caulk their boats. Ships would anchor in the safe harbors
of Phuket and wait for the monsoon winds to allow them to proceed across
the Andaman Sea to the Indian subcontinent. As these ships were at times
forced to wait weeks or even months for favorable winds, it is believed
that these early sailors discovered the precious metal.
Among the earliest permanent residents of Phuket were
primitive tribes similar to the Semang pygmies that still exist today
in Malaysia. Small tribes of these hunter-gathers survived in the jungle
by hunting and eating the bountiful fruits and roots found in the lush
triple-canopy rainforest that then covered the entire island. Small groups
of these Semang people are reported to have survived in the dense jungles
of the Phuket’s interior until finally being displaced in the mid-nineteenth
century by tin miners.
 The
coastal areas of Phuket were populated by a nomadic seafaring people,
the Chao Nam or ‘sea gypsies’. The Chao Nam traditionally ‘strand
looped’ or traveled from cove to cove, staying until the shellfish
and other resources were depleted. They then moved on, allowing the cove
to re-establish its former ecological balance before returning to repeat
the cycle. Described as ‘Saliteers’ (pirates) the Chao Nam developed
a rather unsavoury reputation among sea captains that plied the Straits
of Malacca. The Chao Nam figured prominently in reports filed by early
visitors of the area. Often they were described as a small but hardy people,
who were expert sailors and who built small but sturdy ships that could
weather the roughest seas. They moved from place to place like gypsies,
encamping on the islands but never cultivating the soil. Piracy and fishing
for pearls were their only means of support. They had no written language,
practiced a religion based on animism, and were generally described as
heathens of the first order. Captain Hamilton, an early European trader,
writes of them: "Between Mergui (now coastal Burma) and Jonkcelaon
(Phuket) there are several good harbors for shipping, but the sea coast
is very thin of inhabitants, because there are great numbers of Freebooters
(pirates), called Saliteers, who inhabit islands along the sea coast and
they both rob and take people for slaves and transport them to the Sumatran
kingdom of Atjeh (Indonesia) and there make sale of them and Jonkcelaon
(Phuket) often feels the weight of their depredations." An early
French Jesuit missionary believed it impossible to go by foot more than
half a league from Junkceylon (Phuket) without life and property being
endangered by bandits. The fierce reputation of these Saliteers (pirates)
may explain why it took so long for permanent trading and mining settlements
to be established on Phuket.
By the 3rd century there were scattered settlements of
traders from south India along the west coast of Thailand. A four meter
(13-ft) stone statue of the Hindu god ‘Vishnu’ was unearthed
in the nearby province of Phang-nga. It is now on display in the Thalang
National Museum in Phuket, and is one of many examples of art and sculpture
recovered from this period. These early traders are believed to have been
trying to establish a trade in cotton cloth, spices and tin.
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