HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL

FIRST  SETTLERS

       Ancient cave drawings found north of Phuket at Takua Pa, as well as in the bays of Phang Nina and Krabi, provide us with only scanty insight into the region's earliest inhabitants. The first written accounts of Phuket's inhabitants come from early Thai, Indian, Chinese and Arabian sailors. They described the natives as clans of fierce nomadic sailors who constanty battled with one another for slaves and other spoils. These warrior clans of uncertain origin were known as the Chao Nam or Water People. Their descendants can still be found on Phuket today.

TlN  MlNING  DAYS

      Long before Europeans knew of Phuket's existence, the island was a centre of much economic activity. The largest and most easily accessible tin deposits in the east were discovered on Phuhet. This provoked the Burmese into trying to take the island from the Thais on a number of occasions. The most famous battle took place in 1785, when the Burmese laid siege to the island's principal town of Thalang. As the governor had recently died, his wife Chan and her sister Mook bravely took charge of the island's small force. They built a stockade around the town and dressed women to look like men in an attempt to make their army seen larger, and thus held off the Burmese until they retreated. The Heroines Monument, a statue honouring their bravery and daring success, now stands on the road to the airport. By the 19th century, with Phuket firmly under Thai domination, tin mining flourished as never before The arrival of thousands of Chinese miners added to both the population and the island's cultural diversity. Many went on to become wealthy mine owners and build beautiful mansions which still grace the tropical landscape.

RUBBER AND THE LAST JUNGLE

      As surface supplies of tin diminished (along with some of the local scenery), the inhabitants turned to rubber. First introduced to Southeast Asia by way of Singapore in 1877, rubber cultivation had spread north to Phuket by 1903. Today, plantations occupy a large area of Phuket and can be recognised by the orderly rows of trees. In contrast, as little as 7 percent of the island's original virgin jungle remains, mostly in Khao Phra Thaew Forest Reserve.