Phuket Map

Phuket Map

Phuket was known as Bukit, Junk Ceylon, or Muang Talang, within the variety of reason. Bukit is the name that derives in meaning in the Tamil manikram, or Crystal Mountain. Junk Ceylon is the name that on the old maps (Ptolemy's Geographical, written by the Alexandrian geographer within the Third Century A.D.) and Muang Talang is called because the the main Srivichai and Siri Tahmarach empires. It was initially called Monton Phuket in Rama V’s reign.

Phuket is really a town having a long history. In centuries past, Phuket was an essential trading post on the eastern shore of the bay of Bengal, handing shipping and coping with sailors in the Arab and Malay worlds, India, Burmar, China and, obviously, Siam. By the 16th century, the island was also well-know to Europeans, as first Portuguese and Dutch, then English and French sailed to its fabled shore. The area enjoyed an unprecedented surge in wealth when tin is discovered to be available in large quantities within the nearby shadows. Ambitious, hardworking miner and business flocked to the island from the province of south China (the 1800s), adding a considerable Chinese element to the island’s already mixed population.

The most crucial historic event is the story of two heroines: Thao Thep Kasatri (Kunying Jan) and Thao Sri Sunthon(Kunying Mook) that people in Phuket were assembled led by the two heroines to fight using the Burmese which come to fight them. Following a month’s siege the Burmese were forced to go away on 13 March, 1785. Kunying Jan and her sister were credited using the successful defense. In recognition King Rama I bestowed upon Kunying Jan the honorific Thao Thep Kasatri, a title of nobility usually reserved for royalty, by which she's known today. Her sister (Kunying Mook) became Thao Sri Sunthon.