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Did
you know!
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That: Southern
Thailand has been inhabited since the early days of mankind by ancient tribes
who settled and or adapted their lifestyles to the local environment. Who
arrived first and who pushed out or assimilated who has kept archaeologists
occupied for a long time, and promises to keep them working for a good while
to come.
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more
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Travelers Guide to Phuket
History
- Ancient Times
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Ancient
Times
Southern
Thailand has been inhabited since the early days of mankind by
ancient tribes who settled and or adapted their lifestyles to the
local environment. Who arrived first and who pushed out or
assimilated who has kept archaeologists occupied for a long time,
and promises to keep them working for a good while to come.
Remains of domesticated rice
found at Spirit Cave, Thailand, may date from before 6800 BC. The
development of bronze (copper and tin) for use in weapons and
tools generally marks the time when archaeologists consider a
society to have left the Stone Age. Discoveries in Thailand since
1960 have upset traditional theories concerning the origins of
copper and bronze technologies. It had been thought that the use
of bronze had originated in the Middle East, but discoveries near
Ban Chiang, Thailand indicate that bronze technology was known
there as early as 4500 BC. This preceded the working of bronze in
the Middle East by several hundred years. Greece by comparison did
not enter the Bronze Age until 3000 BC and China not until 1800
BC. What tribe or group of people created this advanced
civilization and what happened to them is a matter of great
debate. The developments were localized and did not affect the
region as a whole. This is due in part to Southeast Asia having
some of the most inhospitable and inaccessible terrain in the
world. This allowed some areas to develop into very sophisticated
and modern societies while a few miles away deep in the jungles
and remote mountain areas primitive societies survived.
Tin,
a commodity as valuable as gold to ancient kingdoms was discovered
several millennia ago in the Kathu (central) district of Phuket.
Tin in seemingly endless quantities was easily extracted from
veins near the surface. While no written records exist of when tin
was first discovered and mined, cave drawings and recovered
artwork and other artifacts go back well into the Stone Age. In
ancient times people did not mine for tin. They found it, usually
after a heavy rain washed away the topsoil and exposed the layers
of gravel bearing tin. Phuket had long appeared on the charts of
ship captains from India and the Arab nations as a source of fresh
water, firewood, and pitch to caulk their boats. Ships would
anchor in the safe harbors of Phuket and wait for the monsoon
winds to allow them to proceed across the Andaman Sea to the
Indian subcontinent. As these ships were at times forced to wait
weeks or even months for favorable winds, it is believed that
these early sailors discovered the precious metal.
Among the earliest permanent
residents of Phuket were primitive tribes similar to the Semang
pygmies that still exist today in Malaysia. Small tribes of these
hunter-gathers survived in the jungle by hunting and eating the
bountiful fruits and roots found in the lush triple-canopy
rainforest that then covered the entire island. Small groups of
these Semang people are reported to have survived in the dense
jungles of the Phukets interior until finally being displaced
in the mid-nineteenth century by tin miners.
The
coastal areas of Phuket were populated by a nomadic seafaring
people, the Chao Nam or sea gypsies. The Chao Nam
traditionally strand looped or traveled from cove to cove,
staying until the shellfish and other resources were depleted.
They then moved on, allowing the cove to re-establish its former
ecological balance before returning to repeat the cycle. Described
as Saliteers (pirates) the Chao Nam developed a rather
unsavoury reputation among sea captains that plied the Straits of
Malacca. The Chao Nam figured prominently in reports filed by
early visitors of the area. Often they were described as a small
but hardy people, who were expert sailors and who built small but
sturdy ships that could weather the roughest seas. They moved from
place to place like gypsies, encamping on the islands but never
cultivating the soil. Piracy and fishing for pearls were their
only means of support. They had no written language, practiced a
religion based on animism, and were generally described as
heathens of the first order. Captain Hamilton, an early European
trader, writes of them: "Between Mergui (now coastal Burma)
and Jonkcelaon (Phuket) there are several good harbors for
shipping, but the sea coast is very thin of inhabitants, because
there are great numbers of Freebooters (pirates), called Saliteers,
who inhabit islands along the sea coast and they both rob and take
people for slaves and transport them to the Sumatran kingdom of
Atjeh (Indonesia) and there make sale of them and Jonkcelaon (Phuket) often feels the weight of their depredations." An
early French Jesuit missionary believed it impossible to go by
foot more than half a league from Junkceylon (Phuket) without life
and property being endangered by bandits. The fierce reputation of
these Saliteers (pirates) may explain why it took so long for
permanent trading and mining settlements to be established on
Phuket.
By the 3rd century there were
scattered settlements of traders from south India along the west
coast of Thailand. A four meter (13-ft) stone statue of the Hindu
god Vishnu was unearthed in the nearby province of Phang-nga.
It is now on display in the Thalang National Museum in Phuket, and
is one of many examples of art and sculpture recovered from this
period. These early traders are believed to have been trying to
establish a trade in cotton cloth, spices and tin.
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