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.
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 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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