Today, a significant minority of Phuket people have darker skins, wavier hair, and the taller Caucasian statures of the Indian subcontinent. It is tempting to think they are direct descendants of the subcontinent s migrant traders who controlled trans-peninsular trade with China. Between the 9th and 11th centuries AD, Persian and Arab traders mixed with the locals in the trading states they called Kalah and Qaqullah , one of which was probably Takuapa. Again, Phuket absorbed the same influences. Around 30 percent of Phuket s population today is Muslim.
Mosques are a common sight in all the native villages along the west coast.
Phuket s relationship with Islam likely dates from around the 10th century. Until the 18th century, Phuket s people seem to have been a mixture of subcontinental Indians, Arabs, Malay and Mokken sea nomads. From then on, the picture quickly changed with the arrival of Hokkien Chinese migrants, many of them from Penang. The lure was the prospect of employment in Phuket s new labour-intensive tin mines, set up by Caucasian settlers to satisfy European demand. Most Chinese migrants were single males.