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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