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The History of Phuket: The social fabric of early Phuket
The History of Phuket: The social fabric of early Phuket
Prostitution and the availability of slave women for sale meant that sex workers were never a thriving business in Phuket until later in the 19th century when thousands of single Chinese male “coolies” arrived to work in the tin mines.
The ‘Angyee’ Chinese Riots of 1876
The ‘Angyee’ Chinese Riots of 1876
High taxation in the early1870’s placed backbreaking taxes on Phuket Tin mines. This extra tax burden on the Chinese mine owners and coolies happened to coincide with a fall in the world tin price in the mid-1870’s. With the mines so overtaxed, several became unprofitable and the mine owners laid off many workers or simply stopped paying their wages.
Phuket History: Why Penang was colonised but Phuket was not
Phuket History: Why Penang was colonised but Phuket was not
After 12 years of intrigues, Captain Francis Light [of the British East India Company (EIC)] and [his friend and business partner] James Scott had two islands potentially in their hands: Phuket and Penang – and an EIC in the mood to do something to obtain a base on the east side of the Bay of Bengal.
Phuket History: Siam’s conflict with Portugal
Phuket History: Siam’s conflict with Portugal
Portugal and Siam had gener­ally got along well at first, but the Portuguese, especially after they united with the Spanish crown (1580-1640) grew increasingly arrogant and overbearing towards the Siamese kings Ekathotsarot and Songtham.
Phuket History: The first English privateers in Phuket
Phuket History: The first English privateers in Phuket
In 1591 the first English privateering fleet was funded to go to the East for, as its charter stated, “The anoyinge of the Spaniards and Portingalls, (nowe our enemys) as also for the vendinge of oure comodities.”
Phuket History: A short period of Japanese rule over the central peninsula and Phuket
Phuket History: A short period of Japanese rule over the central peninsula and Phuket
In 1629 when King Songtham of Ayutthaya died, his cousin, Okya Kalahom (minister of defence), and his supporters effectively usurped the throne by killing King Songtham’s designated heir and placing King Songtham’s six-year-old son on the throne as King Chetha, with Okya Kalahom as his overseeing regent, which gave the ambitious defence minister real power over the kingdom.
Phuket History: A picture of the slave trade before the chains were broken
Phuket History: A picture of the slave trade before the chains were broken
Since labour was such a scarce resource, slav­ery remained legal in Siam until 1905 and was integral to peninsular society. Hwang Chung, a visiting Chinese trader in the 16th century, reported that on the peninsular west coast the people said, “it is better to have slaves than to have land because [the labour of] slaves [is] a protection to their masters”.
Phuket History: The first English privateers in Phuket
Phuket History: The first English privateers in Phuket
In 1591 the first English privateering fleet was funded to go to the East for, as its charter stated, “The anoyinge of the Spaniards and Portingalls, (nowe our enemys) as also for the vendinge of oure comodities.”
Kathu’s 19th Century treasure: The discovery of tin in the 1790s
Kathu’s 19th Century treasure: The discovery of tin in the 1790s
Kathu had previously been an area frequented only by hunters chasing flocks of waterfowl in the swamps or rhinoceros, tigers, deer and boar in the forests. In 1870, Dr. D. B. Bradley, publisher of the Bangkok Daily Advertiser, visited Phuket and tells us the history of the early development of these new mines at Kathu.
Phuket History: The 1675 Battle of Patong
Phuket History: The 1675 Battle of Patong
The Englishman Thomas Bowrey was on Phuket as the island’s trouble with the Dutch escalated. He tells us that the main base for the Dutch patrol ships was “Banquala” Bay (Patong), where they were based to intercept boats coming east from India.
The Kingdom of Funan: The First Great Southeast Asian Empire
The Kingdom of Funan: The First Great Southeast Asian Empire
The smaller kingdoms develop­ing in the central peninsula came to be dominated by the Kingdom of Funan from the first to the seventh centuries AD. Funan, probably the first great Southeast Asian empire, apparently started out as a simple pirate base at Óc Eo, strategical­ly situated on the southwest coast of Vi­etnam today between the Mekong delta and the main east-west maritime trade routes.
The Massacre of the Cholas - Phuket under Indian Governorship 1676-1679
The Massacre of the Cholas - Phuket under Indian Governorship 1676-1679
In 1676, when he was warned that the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was planning to invade Phuket to make it a colony, King Narai had ordered the removal of Okya Phet, the anti-Dutch governor. Okya Phet petitioned heavily in Ligor and Ayutthaya to try to retain his lucrative governorship.
Sinbad the Sailor - Was Phuket the mariner’s old stomping ground?
Sinbad the Sailor - Was Phuket the mariner’s old stomping ground?
Persian and Arab mariners returned home to their barren and dry homelands with fantastic stories of the exotic jungle lands they had seen on the other side of the Indian Ocean, and they soon became the setting for fabulous sailors’ legends such as the tales of Sinbad the Sailor in The Thousand and One Nights.
Duals with the Dutch - The Honourable East India Company in Siam
Duals with the Dutch - The Honourable East India Company in Siam
In late December 1600, as the winter dark fell over the drizzling, grim but bustling streets of London, passersby may have heard a cheer emanate from the lamp-lit windows of a building in Leadenhall St. Inside were some of the city’s leading lords and merchants who had just agreed to form a joint stock trading company for undertaking eastern trade, the Honourable East India Company or HEIC, which was given a monopoly by the king over all eastern trade.
Reach of the ancient empire. Were the Greeks or Romans in Phuket or the Peninsula?
Reach of the ancient empire. Were the Greeks or Romans in Phuket or the Peninsula?
“The beautiful vessels, the masterpieces of the Greeks, stir white foam on the Periyar River … arriving with gold and departing with pepper.”
Phuket History: Sex in early Siam
Phuket History: Sex in early Siam
Many early observers of local culture in Phuket and the surrounding areas noted that women played the dominant role in commercial trade as well as within their private households.
Phuket History: Indians have long sailed the monsoon winds to trade on the Andaman coast
Phuket History: Indians have long sailed the monsoon winds to trade on the Andaman coast
The annual monsoon winds in Asia take their name from the Arabic word “mausim”, meaning seasonal. They are caused by the heating up and rising of the air over the hot central Asian landmass in the summer.
Phuket History: Rough justice Siamese style
Phuket History: Rough justice Siamese style
Captain Alexander Hamilton leaves us a most colourful account of the workings of a Siamese law court in the 18th century. He first tells us the official punishment for rebellion in Siam at the time.
Phuket History: An execution observed
Phuket History: An execution observed
A vivid account of a ritualised public beheading in 19th century southern Siam