Phuket History
Sukhothai
 In
1238, King Si Intharathit declared full independence and established the
Sukhothai Kingdom (‘rising of happiness’). He expanded the kingdom's
sphere of influence not only at the expense of the Khmer Empire but by
pushing deep into what is now southern Thailand, an area then controlled
by the Sirivijaya Empire. During the of the reign of ‘King Ramkhamhaeng
the Great’(1279-1300) the Thai army completed its conquest south
as far as the present day location of Singapore. The Sirivijaya Empire
based on the Indonesian island of Sumatra had controlled the Malaya Peninsula
and the vital trade routes between China and India since before the 8th
century.
For well over two thousand years, traders from India
and the Arab world and China had been plying the ocean trade routes through
Southeast Asia. During the Thai conquest of this area in the 12th century;
the amount of trade, and the degree of interdependence, between India,
the kingdoms of Southeast Asia, and China and Japan was staggering. The
pattern of exchange was for the Southeast Asia kingdoms to import cotton
cloth from India, silver and copper from Japan, silk, porcelain and tea
from China, in exchange for China’s exports of tin, teak, pepper,
spices, aromatic woods, resins, rhinoceros horn, pearls, birds’ nests,
deerskin and sugar. The Chinese did not navigate directly to India, nor
did Indian or Persian vessels go all the way to China. The southern Thailand
cities of Chaiya (near Surat Thani) Nakorn Si Thammarat, Pattani and Songkhla
were the halfway houses and served as huge trade bazaars where they met
and exchanged their commodities.
 To
prevent disrupting the lucrative international trade, and to deter uprisings
and rebellions by the conquered Muslim Malaysian states, King Ramkhamhaeng
developed a policy of establishing tributary kingdoms on the borders of
his kingdom. He allowed the hereditary sultans of the Malay states to
remain in power, but he kept the Thai army nearby, and made the sultans
pay substantial annual tribute. Forcing neighboring kingdoms to pay tribute
became a major part of Thai foreign policy, which continued well into
the eighteenth century. This policy no doubt greatly added to the national
treasury but the lack of definite boundaries over the areas controlled
by Thailand would lead to problems with both England and France during
the colonial period of Southeast Asia.
About this time Thailand started paying tribute to the
emperor in China. Some historians believe this was the price for not being
invaded by Kublai Khan and his Mongol hordes who did conquer parts of
Burma, Viet Nam, and some Indonesian Islands to the south. Many Thai historians
dispute the claim that Thailand ever paid tribute to China, they contend
the kings of Thailand simply offered elaborate gifts on a regular basis
to foster trade with the Chinese ruler. There is; however, no record of
China feeling obliged to reciprocate in exchanging gifts of friendship,
and Thailand continued paying tribute to China until being abolished during
the reign of Rama IV (1851-68).
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 In
southern Thailand, much of the international trade was controlled by Indian
and Arab merchants who had settled there centuries before. Many had acquired
great wealth and now curried favor with their new Thai rulers. Their knowledge
and experience in the shipping and financial transactions -- necessary
to conduct trade with foreign countries -- allowed some of them to attain
high positions in the Thai government. As court ministers, these foreigners
issued orders and decrees and conducted business in the name of the king.
The Thais needed foreign experts, because up to that point they had been
mostly rice farmers and on occasion warriors, not merchants, and did not
possess the skills or technology needed to operate a fleet of ships to
the far-flung ports of Asia.
Thai control of the mineral rich west coast of southern
Thailand, including Phuket Island, remained tenuous at first, in part
because of the great distance involved, and the great resistance from
the Chao Nam people and others who inhabited the area. Gradually, though,
the Thai royal court organized the area and like a colonial power started
siphoning off the wealth through a royal monopoly on mineral extraction
and collecting a tax on the commerce of the area. By the end of the Sukothai
period royal tin mines on and around Phuket were the leading source of
revenue for the king of Siam. It was the wealth generated from tin and
trade that financed the army that allowed Thailand to bind itself together
as a nation and to be the dominant power in the area for the next four
centuries.
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 The
first westerner known to visit Thailand was Marco Polomin 1288. His journal
The Travels of Marco Polo describes the wonders of the Sukhothai
Kingdom but he used the Khmer word for Thailand, Siam. To the outside
world Thailand continued to be known as ‘The Kingdom of Siam’
until 1939 when it was officially changed. On his last return journey
from China in 1294, Marco Polo is known to have traveled by ship through
the Straits of Malacca and visited the nearby island of Sumatra. Entries
in his journal mention stopping for provisions along the mainland of present
day Thailand. He did not mention Phuket Island but it was a normal replenishment
stop during this period, and on many maps of that time Phuket was shown
as a peninsula not an island. Marco Polo’s journals about exotic
Asia and its treasures were to have a major impact on the history of Asia,
as a wave of explorers and traders from the west would follow in his footsteps.
The Sukhothai kings who followed King Ramkhamhaeng the
Great were not warriors nor did they share his wisdom or vision. They
spent most of their time battling amongst themselves over succession to
the throne while events in other parts of the kingdom engulfed them. The
Sukhothai Kingdom lasted until being annexed by Ayutthaya in 1376.
Many Thais consider the Sukothai era as the birth of
their nation and as a time when Thai language, culture, art, politics,
and religion all flourished and the kingdom was at peace.
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