Phuket History

All this is still visible until today, on Phuket's east coast are all the harbors, jetties and marinas since the east coast is the save haven. Even during the Tsunami disaster all damages occurred on the west coast. Phuket had a similar position as Penang in today Malaysia and both islands are very similar. The only difference today is in Malaysia the free wheeling capitalism of the Chinese got the upper hand at Penang, resulting in plenty of ugly high rise buildings all along the coast of Penang. At Phuket luckily the environ conscious people got the upper hand and only a very few high-rise buildings were constructed.

But within resent times an other avalanche came over Phuket and this is a serious one, the people of the north of Thailand discovered Phuket as a place where money still can be made for a broad spectrum of people with a low qualification in the tourism industry. This resulted virtually to bury Phuket Island under concrete and the population density is already similar to Pattaya which itself is more or less Bangkok on Sea. It is to be seen where that ends, its a similar development which ended into the low budget mass tourism like it was and is in southern Spain.

-The Mon of southern Myanmar or Burma were also also known as Thalangs.

There are plenty of interesting connections between Thailand and Myanmar or Burma. An important part of Phuket history was during the 15th century when Tin was fund at Phuket Island. After a while Phuket was  the leading tin mining producer in the

region, actually it was mainly Chinese immigrant labor who did the job. Due to the local mining industry, Phuket become somewhat of a trading hub and Chinese merchants made lots of money, this is still visible today in form of marvelous villas in Sino - Portuguese Style in Phuket Town. This villas are used for tourist purposes today and the area around is already littered with the usual Thai way of encroaching to make quick money. Its bringing the tears into the eyes to look what they are doing around this beautiful heritage used to make quick

Sino Portuguese architecture at Phuket Town

money and destroying the environ, nobody cares what will happen afterwards. The Thai King during that period decided that Phuket should be administered by a European, because of the large volume of European merchants and traders who took residence at Phuket Island. Between the period of 1681 and 1685, Thalang was administered by a French missionary named Renee Charbonneau. Another important event in Phuket history was in 1785 when troops from neighboring Burma tried to invade Phuket Island. Two Phuket ladies decided to stand up and defend the Island in the name of the King of Thailand . The former governor’s widow, Chan, and her sister Muk organized the defense which lasted nearly a month.

-The Tin age of Phuket.

In the 197x and after about 300 years, the tin ore resources for mining in the Phuket area became exhausted. The tin mining had not only been the mainstay of the islands revenue before the tourism era but had enhanced the technology, politics, education, foreign affairs and employment in Thailand.

There were of course many success stories and other stories but in general Phuket and its population of immigrants and locals greatly benefited from the advent of the ore mining industry.

The archives of Nakorn Sri Thamarath, formerly record "Muang Takua Thalang" as one of the twelve cities of the province. This mean Thalang or Phuket had been a source of tin mining (then known as Takua) for hundreds of years.

According to available evidence, tin mining on Phuket began in 1528 A.D. during the reign of King Ega Thodsarot of Ayudhya. Not long before this the Portuguese had occupied Malacca which was a trade center for their Asian operation and in 1583 they opened a tin warehouse on Phuket Island at Thalang.

In 1626 the Dutch more or less took over Java and King Sontham agreed that the Dutch be the sole agents for the tin trade in Thalang. In 1667 the people of Thalang rose to fight the Dutch and subsequently expelled them from the Island.

In 1745 King Narai the Great allowed the French to be the sole tin traders on the island, but this was overturned by the succeeding king. King Pedracha who reigned from 1688 to 1703. He cancelled diplomatic relation with France after ascending the throne.

In 1772 the British Captain, Francis Light, who was also very busy in Penang, came to establish a trading station at Baan Tharua. He became a good friend of the Thalang Governor. In 1824 King Rama III of the Chakri Dynasty ordered the building of a new city after the second Thalang battle.

During 1809 tin minerals were found at Baan Ket-ho or Kathu. (Currently Baan Thungkha in the Muang District). In 1825 Thailand signed the Berney Agreement with England which was the first trading agreement Thailand made with a western country. This directly affected trading with various countries and seaports in the area, namely Penang, Malacca and Singapore and resulted in the mining business expansion.

More and more Chinese people migrated to the area to work in the mining operations. At that time tin was panned from the streams using simple tools but in the Mhuang Lan or Mhuang Khra area, operators with greater financial capital used powered water hoses to break down the soil and rocks of nearby hills.

Additional to the harvesting of ore by the aforementioned methods there was other methods of mining. This was done by digging into the soil and crumbling rocks plus following the visible ore pipe.

At the Mhuang Harb mine were at least 100 workers who worked over a wide area. Mhuang Jor-Ngun was on flat ground where there was an exposed rocky mineral line. In 1861 Phuket was promoted as a leading city to be answerable directly to Bangkok and as a result of the expansion in mining; Thalang became an important town under the jurisdiction of Phuket.

In 1867 the government began collecting taxes by means of "Mhao Muang' and in 1876, Chinese workers were rioting and united united as "Ung Yee." They complained about the shortage of water needed for separating soil from ore as well as the decrease in then incomes caused by "Mhao Muang" tax system and further worsened by lowering tin prices.

In 1888 the Mhuang Cheed method was adopted from Malaya and which needed more space and water. In 1901 the first Mining Act was written and allowed Westerners to mine for ore. Some Westerners and mine owners from Penang then moved to Phuket, generally because of the exhausted tin deposits in Malaya, today Malaysia. The English Chartered Bank moved in to provide financial services to foreign owned mine businesses in 1906.

In 1907 when Phraya Radsadanupradit (Khorsimby Na Ranong) was a regional dependant of Phuket. Edward Thomas Miles, an Australian captain established the Tongkah Harbor Company. It began to run Mhuang Rua Khud at Thungkha Bay. It was the first mining operation in the world to use marine vessels for dredging ore from the sea bed and later it was ingeniously adapted to be used inland too. Mhuang Rua Khud needed high capital investment and required a large open space; its success eventually attracted other companies for Mhuang Rua Khud and a new mining era was born.

In 1930 "Mhuang Chao Fah" was opened. It was the first Mhuang Soob in Thailand. It needed a large plain, equipment and a variety of vehicles. Dikes and rail tracks for the movement for mineral ore were built.

In 1947 Thai International Airways began their regular flights from Bangkok to Phuket. The time the tourism industry had arrived. In 1963 some Phuket residents began doing their own version of sea ore dredging or Mhuang Pae-dood, by using small boats or bamboo rafts to dive from, they dug the mineral mixed with sand and soil from the sea bed and brought it to the surface be to washed and separated on the beach.

By 1961 miners who used iron rafts retrieved the mineral by using drills for piercing the ocean floor and then vacuuming the residue to the surface, hence reducing the number of laborers needed.

In 1967 Temco Company requested government permission to operate deep sea mining, but the Phuket residents protested. In 1973 the Tourism Authority of Thailand announced its plans to develop Phuket into a major center of Tourism.

In 1975 The government cancelled all ore mining concessions for Temco Company and allowed the formation of the Phuket Tourism Business Club.

In 1988 there was the "Tantalum" case when most people from Phuket protested strongly against the building of an Ore Smelting Factory. Th. mining businesses were closed down and the tourism industry era began.

In the middle of 2008 the first stage of the Phuket Mining Museum project on its 400 rai plot of land at Kathu district was completed and brought into service.

Thailand islands around Phuket are not so much discovered for mass tourism. Phuket is most popular for its beaches, nightlife, scuba diving, beach hotels, beach spa, massage and beautiful tropical orchids and sexy Thai Girls.