Historical Phuket Thailand
The Island Colonialization and Tin Industry = Multicultural Travel
How one of the world's most well-known Thai tourist destinations became the colourful multicultural vacation destination it is today.
Phuket is internationally renowned as one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in the world. The white sandy beaches surrounded by the gorgeous blue seas enable it to be called the ‘Pearl of the Andaman.’
Visitors who can tear themselves away from the beaches can glimpse the Sino-Portuguese architectural style of the main town and enjoy the fusion of Thai, Malay and Chinese cooking. However, few people are aware of the much longer history of the island, which is a history founded on tin.
Tin is quite a soft metal which has been most commonly used in history as a component alloy of bronze. It is found in mines in many parts of the world – indeed, the Cornish tin mines were famously rich and were a significant target for the Roman invasion of Britain.
The tin mines of Phuket represented similar levels of wealth. When they were progressively opened up, people flocked to open their businesses in their proximity and to work in the mines. Ethnic Chinese migrated from Malacca, from Penang and from Singapore to work in Phuket. In particular, Hokkein Chinese mining experts arrived to help develop the existing mines and locate others.
Thais moved further south to take part in the flourishing economic life of the island and mixed the indigenous islander Malays, whose Islamic religion was mixed with Buddhist and Chinese influences to help constitute the vibrant culture of the island today.
When Europeans arrived in the region, they were inevitably drawn to Phuket as a source of wealth and as a convenient trading port for merchant activities that included access to the precious Chinese and Japanese markets. Dutch, English and French military and merchant adventurers contended with each other, aiming to establish trading posts and, ultimately, colonies.
Phuket was far from the regional power bases of Kedah, Java and Ayutthaya – far enough, at least, that local governors, in common with so many of the tiny city states dotted around Southeast Asia, had considerable autonomy over how to deal with the foreigners. Eventually, the King of Siam, based in Ayutthaya but later in Bangkok after his capital was burned by the marauding Burmese, attempted to put Phuket under firmer control by dispatching ‘Moorish’ governors such as Mohammad Beg.
‘Moorish’ implies one of the Persian or perhaps Indian trading families that had been established in Siam for generations. The governors took much firmer control over the island and allowed the Europeans to blow each other up away from the island paradise.
As much as they desired the round tin ‘puttas’ used as currency, the Europeans were forced to trade for them rather than seize their source. Yet their legacy too remains: Thai people are very keen on the confectionery (khanom) that resemble golden threads or beads – one part of the cuisine left by the Portuguese.
References and Further Reading
Dhiravat na Pombejra, “Towards a History of Seventeenth-Century Phuket,” in Sunait Chutintaranond and Chris Baker, eds., Recalling Local Pasts: Autonomous History in Southeast Asia (Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2002), pp.89-126.
