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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