History of Phuket

Phuketis the largest island in modernThailand, locating inSouthern Thailandon the western coast in theAndaman Sea. Historically at the fringe of Thai sphere of influence, Phuket has a unique place in Thai history, as its natural maritime wilderness hid lucrativetinresources that attracted both locals and foreigners who competed for control over the island, also a battleground for intensiveBurmese–Siamese Wars, later becoming aHokkien Chineselabor immigration entrepôt intin miningindustry and eventually a world tourism hub.
Locating on the southern frontierof Thai sphere of influence, far from Thai historical centers such asAyutthayaandBangkok, closer to theMalay archipelago,events in Phuket were rarely recorded by the mainstream official royal Siamese chronicles. Native records about Phuket are scarceand none of them described events prior to the eighteenth century. Most of early history of Phuket can only be constructed from Western records by various foreigners such as the Dutch, the British and the French,who occasionally visited or had businesses in the Phuket island in the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries. Dearth of Phuket indigenous records may be attributed to the Burmese destruction of all settlements on Phuket in 1810, which presumably destroyed any historical documents and clues of the island.
The oldest extant native Thai historiography about the history of Phuket is dated to 1841,a small excerpt recounting a list of governors of Thalang or Phuket from around mid-eighteenth century to that time. Phraya Thalang Roek the governor of Thalang, relying on oral accounts of some elderly people of Phuket, provided a slightly more detailed account of History of Phuket, published byPrince Damrongin 1914 asPhongsawadan Mueang Thalang("Chronicles of Thalang").
Gerolamo Emilio Gerini, an Italian man known by Siamese title Phra Sarasat Phonlakhan (พระสารสาสน์พลขันธ์), served as a military instructor atChulachomklao Royal Military Academyfrom 1897 to 1905. Gerini studied Siamese history and culture, composingHistorical Retrospect of Junkceylon Islandin 1905, the first modern historical narration of Phuket, republished in 1986 underSiam Society.
For most of its history, Phuket was known as "Junkceylon"in Western sources. The term Junkceylon came fromPortugueseattested terms Jonsalam, Jonsalan or Junsalão of the sixteenth century.These terms were derived from the Malay term "Ujong Salang",meaning the "Cape of Salang",referring to the southern tip of the island. The name "Salang" was apparently related to native calling of the island "Chalang" or Thalang", which was adopted by the Thais to call the island. The name Salang, Chalang or Thalang did not have translatable meanings in bothThaiandMalaylanguages, in which Gerini theorized to be derived from indigenousAustroasiatic languagespoken bySemang Negrito peopleof theMalay peninsula.Merong Mahawangsathe Chronicles ofKedah, dated to late eighteenth century to early nineteenth century, called Phuket "Pulau Salang"or "Island of Salang".
The name "Phuket" came from the Malay term Bukit ("Mountain"), substantiated into Thai term "Phukej" (ภูเก็จ) from Phu ("Mountain") and Kej ("Diamond"), meaning "Diamond Mountain", which was related to Siamese title of the governors of Thalang "Phraya Phetkhiri" (พระยาเพชรคีรีฯ, "Lord of the Diamond Mountain"). Thalang and Phukej are two distinct settlements on the island. Thalang was the preferred term by pre-modern Siamese government as it was the main administrative center, locating in various shifting places in the center-northern part of the island, while Phukej began as a small settlement on the southern half of the island around late eighteenth century under jurisdiction of Thalang. With the foundation of modern Phukej town in 1827, the Phukej city grew rapidly and exponentially as atin mininghub, attractingHokkien Chinesetin mine laborers. After mid-nineteenth century, Phukej became the preferred term to call the island. Official spelling changed from Phukej to Phuket in early twentieth century.
There are twoTamnanor histories,Tamnan Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat(History ofNakhon Si Thammarat) andTamnan Phrathat Mueang Nakhon Si Thammarat(History ofPhrathat of Nakhon Si Thammarat), which provide semi-legendary narration of history of the area ofSouthern Thailandfrom thirteenth to seventeenth centuries, believed to be composed around the later half of the seventeenth century,discovered by modern Thai historianPrince Damrongand published during the 1930s. According to theseTheravadinBuddhistTamnans, King Si Thammasok established the city of Nakhon Si Thammarat as the center of his newNakhon Si Thammarat Kingdomaround mid-thirteenth century. With the foundation, King Si Thammasok also organized twelveNaksatzodiacsatellite cities to be under the rule of Nakhon Si Thammarat. The termNaksat, from SanskritNakshatra, referred instead to theChinese zodiac.
TwelveNaksatsatellite cities subordinating to Nakhon Si Thammarat, each assigned with a zodiac emblem, areSaiburi(Rat),Pattani(Ox),Kelantan(Tiger),Pahang(Rabbit),Kedah(Dragon),Phatthalung(Snake),Trang(Horse),Chumphon(Goat), Banthay Smoe (Monkey, theorized to beKrabi),Sa U-Lau (Rooster),Takua Pa(Dog) andKraburi(Pig). These cities covered modern area from Southern Thailand to northern Malaysian states. In one version, Takua Pa was replaced with "Takua-Thalang"(ตะกั่วถลาง), which could either mean Takua Pa or Thalang, suggesting that the Phuket area was under control of Nakhon Si Thammarat Kingdom, as did much of Southern Thailand. However, this seventeenth-century account lacks supporting collaborative evidences from other sources.
In theRamkhamhaeng Stele, dated to 1292, Nakhon Si Thammarat is named as one of subordinate cities ofSukhothai Kingdom.TheTamnansuggests that a King of Sukhothai had come to subjugate Nakhon Si Thammarat.Therefore, the Thai Sukhothai kingdom had at least some influences over Southern Thai region in the fourteenth century but it is dubious that Sukhothai had solidified control over Southern Thailand or Malay peninsula as a whole.
Nakhon Si Thammarat and Southern Thailand was incorporated intoAyutthaya kingdomby fifteenth century. Towns on the Andaman Coast were not mentioned in the list of peripheral cities inPhra Aiyakarn Tamnaeng Na Thaharn Huamueang, which was complied in underKing Trailokkanat, which includedNakhon Si Thammarat,Chumphon,ChaiyaandPhatthalungas Ayutthayan authority was concentrated onGulf of Siamside of Malay peninsula. According toJeremias van Vliet'sChronicles of the Ayuthian Dynasty(1640),King Borommaracha III of Ayutthayawent on his leisure journey to "Tjongh Tjelungh" where he died, presumably in 1491.Fernão Mendes Pintopassed by the port of "Juncalan" in 1539,visiting Nakhon Si Thammarat or Ligor, mentioning that fourteen petty kings were subordinates of the viceroy of Ligor, Mendes Pinto again mentioned "Coast of Juncalan" in 1545.In 1580,Ralph Fitchpassed by "Junsalaon" on his sea journey fromPegutoMalacca.
Earliest recognized inhabitants of Phuket seemed to be the Malays.Orang Lautsea nomads, called Saletters in Dutch sources,also patrolled the area. In October 1592, Edmund Baker from the fleet ofSir James Lancastervisited the "kingdome of Junsaloam",where Baker sent a Portuguese man to speak to the inhabitants inMalay language; "Here we sent our souldier, which the captaine of the aforesaid galion had left behind him with us, because he had the Malaian language to deale with the people for pitch,".This was the first recorded encounter between visitor and native inhabitant of Phuket.
KingPrasat Thongof Ayutthaya enactedPhra Thammanun(พระทำนูน) or Constitution in 1633, in which Thalang was mentioned for the first time as a city underKalahomor Southern Siam department.Tenasserim Hillswas abundant intin, which had been exported from various seaports of the Malay peninsula, attracting foreign merchants to trade tin in exchange for their goods. In the early seventeenth century, there had been a flourishing trans-Indian Oceantrade, in which South Indian merchants fromCoromandel Coastwould trade for tin in the Malay peninsula in exchange for Indian textiles brought with them. In the aftermath of Dutch conquest of Malacca in 1641, Malacca served as the foothold for expansion of Dutch commercial power in the region.As tin became a key commodity,the Dutch sought to take control and monopolize over this trans-Indian Ocean tin trade, at the expense of their competitors the South Indian and Acehnese merchants, through treaties and agreements with local rulers.
By the reign of King Prasat Thong in mid-seventeenth century, there were many Southern Siamese ports that exported tin including Nakhon Si Thammarat (Ligor), Chumphon, Chaiya, Phunphin, Thalang and Bangkhli, on both coasts of Southern Siam, of which Thalang and Bangkhli were on the Andaman Coast (Bangkhli is in modernThai Mueang district,Phangnga Province).Dutch East India Company(VOC) sought to make treaties with local Asian governments, either through diplomacy or forced naval blockade, to obtain tin export monopolies to their benefits. Dutch sources described governors of Thalang and Bangkhli as "viceroys" who held autonomous powers,capable of conducting independent diplomatic ventures with the Dutch. The Dutch established VOC factory atNakhon Si Thammarator Ligor in 1642, primarily for acquiring tin for export and had earlier concluded a treaty with Kedah in 1642.The Dutch concluded separate treaties with the governor of Thalang in March 1643 and the governor of Bangkhli in January 1645,in which local tin miners were forced to sell tin only to the Dutch, who suppressed the price low, not to South Indian merchants, in exchange for Indian textiles brought in by the Dutch. Any tin miners who were caught selling tin to other parties were to be punished by seizure of their tin goods.Furthermore, any Dutch traders committing criminal offenses in Thalang and Bangkhli would not be subjected to native Siamese legal system but theopperhoofdfrom Ayutthaya would come to judge instead,a partial form ofextraterritoriality.
Ayutthaya struggles to control technically autonomous towns like Thalang and Bangkhli, which were under nominal authority of Nakhon Si Thammarat or Ligor, theMueang Ekor first-level principal city of Southern Siam. The governor of Thalang even independently sent letters toJeremias van Vlietthe Governor ofDutch Malaccain 1644–1645.In 1645, King Prasat Thong appointed a new governor of Ligor and, through him, summoned the Thalang governor to Ayutthaya for the fourth timewithout success. The Ligor governor sought to control Thalang. In 1654, the Ligor governor divided Thalang island into two administrative parts, upsetting Okphra Phetkhiri the governor of Thalang.Okphra Phetkhiri, through Tenasserim, complained his case to Ayutthaya.The result was that the Ligor governor was replaced by the governor of Tenasserim as the new governor of Ligor.
Tin export monopoly is the Dutch way of conducting businesses in the area, using local governments and law enforcement to ensure their benefits. The result was that South Indian and Acehnese merchants were legally barred from buying tin in these ports. Dutch tin export monopoly generated resentment among local population, who were eager to sell tin to South Indian merchants who offered higher prices. The Dutch soon found out that local authorities barely honored the treaties, as their competitors South Indian and Acehnese merchants continued to buy tin in these ports.
Local fury burst out in December 1658,when the Dutch insisted on searching Malay ships suspecting of smuggling tin, the local Malays killed Dutch officials and burnt down VOC factory in Phuket, causing the damage of over 22,000 guilders.This incident should be interpreted as a part of wider Malay resistance against Dutch commercial dominance in the region, in which Dutch officials inPerakwere massacred in 1651 and Kedah in 1652 and 1658.King Naraiof Ayutthaya responded to this incident by sending two royal commissioners, along with another Southern Siamese official from Ligor, to conduct investigation at Ligor and Phuket in 1659. The Dutch suspected that Okphra Phetkhiri the governor of Thalang was behind this incident.Phetkhiri was summoned to Ligor to provide his testimony.Siamese commissioners returned to Ayutthaya in 1661, bringing with them governor Okphra Phetkhiri and three Malay men suspected of killing Dutch officials.Phetkhiri was found no guilty and the three Malay men were sent to Malacca for punishments appropriated by the Dutch.Nevertheless, this incident led to closing down of Dutch factory of Phuket in 1660,leading to a ten-year hiatus of Dutch presence in Phuket.
In 1658,Pierre Lambert de la Motteof the Paris Foreign Mission was made the firstApostolic Vicar of Cochinas titulartitular bishopof Beirut. Lambert de la Motte leftMarseilleswith the secular priest Jacques de Bourges in 1660, arriving in Mergui in April 1662 and reaching Ayutthaya in August 1662.From Ayutthaya, Jacques de Bourges brought the letter of Lambert de la Motte back to Rome, passing through Paris. At Paris, De Bourges wrote the first French account on Siam,mentioning "Jansalom"or Junk Ceylon as one of eleven provinces of Siam; "The kingdom is divided into eleven provinces, to wit Siam, Martaban, Tenasserim, Junk Ceylon, Kedah, Perak, Johore, Pahang, Pattani, Ligor and Chaiya. These provinces formerly ranked as kingdoms but today are under domination of the King of Siam",mostly coveringSouthern Siam, representing wide-reaching Siamese claims over theMalay peninsula.
Jacques de Bourges returned to Ayutthaya in 1669.In 1671, Lambert de la Motte the bishop of Beirut and Vicar Apostolic of Cochin, staying in Ayutthaya, sent a Portuguese priest named Perez was sent from Ayutthaya to Phuket to proselytize. Perez noted that there had already been a large number of Portuguese Catholics in Phuket.
King Prasat Thong of Ayutthaya had been in favor of the Dutch. In the reign of his son King Narai, however,Dutch–Siamese relationsdeteriorated.In the seventeenth century, Ayutthayan government had been sending royal ships to bring Siamese products such as deerskin andsappanwoodto trade atNagasaki, port ofTokugawa Japan, as a major source of revenue. Due to theSakokupolicy, Siam was unable to trade directly with Japan but rather through Dutch or Chinese middlemen. Dutch VOC had been exploiting this condition by asking for deerskin and tin export monopoly from Siam, guaranteeing them as the only channel for Siamese goods to be exported. However, King Narai commissioned his own trade junks under Chinese agents to sell Siamese products at Nagasaki, bypassing Dutch grip on Siamese export. By 1661, Chinese junks from Ayutthaya carried goods belonging to the king, members of royal family and high-ranking ministers to Nagasaki.
The Dutch found Siamese circumvention of their export monopoly increasingly frustrating, which they considered an unfair trade competition. In 1661, the Dutch seized a Portuguese ship belonging to King Narai in Macao.Narai responded by decreeing next year in 1662 that all export commodities should be sold to Royal Warehouse before going out,thus abolishing any Dutch privileges. The Dutch seized another trade ship belonging to King Narai atBanda Islandsin 1663.Siamese troops attacked Dutch settlement at Ayutthaya in response, prompting the Dutch to closed down the VOC factory of Ayutthaya and retreat in 1663.Joan MaetsuyckertheGovernor-General of the Dutch East IndiesatBataviaresponded by sending three Dutch warships to impose naval blockade upon Ayutthaya.The blockade lasted for four months from October 1663 to February 1664.
Siamese court eventually took a reconciliatory stance as theDutch–Siamese Treatywas signed on 11 August 1664,normalizing Dutch–Siamese relations.In the treaty, Ayutthaya granted deerskin export monopoly to the Dutch. Peaceful, undisturbed trade and no higher duties were to be guaranteed in "Ligor, Oetjangh Salangh and other places".Even though Dutch–Siamese relations was normalized, the incident took a huge impact on King Narai's sentiments towards the Dutch, prompting the king to soon seek out for other European nations to counter Dutch influence. The Dutch was yet to re-obtain tin monopoly in Phuket after 1658. Even though the Dutch continued to acquire tin from Phuket, they did with difficulty and the yield was minimal.
Balthasar Bort, the Governor-General of Dutch East Indies, told Nicolaas de Rooij the Dutchopperhoofdof Ayutthaya to attempt to re-obtain license for tin monoply from King Narai.Nicolaas de Rooij managed to obtain licenses from King Narai in 1670 granting tin export monopoly to the Dutch in Ligor, Thalang and Bangkhli.Success of the Dutch was short-lived as the Dutch shipDolphinwas seized at Bangkhli by local inhabitants in April 1671,massacring the Dutch, for the local tin miners were angry that South Indian merchants were offering much higher prices for tin in Tenasserim,they refused to be under Dutch commercial dominance again. With Ayutthayan government taking minimal responses to this incident, the Dutch decided to take matters into their own hands. In 1673, Dutch sloops attacked and set fires on settlements on Phuket and Bangkhli, imposing naval blockade onto the island, accusing the Siamese governor of Bangkhli of being "seeming to love with the mouth but the Kedahans with the heart".Taking their base on the Banquala bay (modern Patong Bay),the Dutch, with three sloops, patrolled the surrounding waters, searching and preventing any attempts to smuggle tin out of the island.
For two years, the Dutch imposed naval blockade onto Phuket. In 1675, the Dutch sloop seized an Acehnese merchant ship, funded by an English trader, with full load of tin.This incident angered the local Malays, who had enough of the Dutch. The local Malays protested that the Dutch action was against the protection of the "Radja of Jansalone"(Okphra Phetkhiri, the governor of Thalang) but the Dutch replied that all the roads and rivers of Jansalone belonged to them. The Dutch fired into the gathering crowd, killing some and dispersing the rest.The local Malays took revenge by cutting down tree logs to block the exit passageway, trapping the Dutch inside of the waterway.The local Malays then descended upon the Dutch, killing every Dutch men, tearing Dutch sloop into pieces.
The Dutch VOC protested this incident to Ayutthaya. Upon learning about this incident, King Narai decided to go against the Dutch. King Narai ordered Okphra Phetkhiri the governor of Thalang to supply each of the three ports of Phuket with two large war prows, to arm and fortify the island againstpossible Dutch attacks. Another attack on Dutch ship in Phuket occurred in 1677. The Dutch considered conquering Phuket but realized that the cost of conducting warfare would not be met by minimal tin product yield from the island.
In the seventeenth century, Siam had claims over Andaman coastal port towns like Phuket, Trang and Bangkhli.By the 1670s, Phuket had about 6,000 inhabitants,with the Malay-majority population as minersunder Siamese government or foreign investors. Thomas Bowrey, an English free merchantin India under employment of William Jearseyof theFort of St. George, visited many places in the region including Phuket, Kedah and Aceh, providing valuable accounts of these places. Thomas Bowrey visited Phuket, which he called "Jansalone",around 1675.Bowrey states that the Phuket islands belonged to the King of Siam (It wholy belongeth to the Kinge of Syam,).The Siamese lived in the inner parts of the island (The Inhabitants Up in the Countrey are Naturall Syamers,),while the Malays lived in the seaports (downe att the Sea Ports most of the Inhabitants are Malayars).Bowrey also noted the presence of the pirate "Saletter"Orang Lautsea nomads cruising around the area.Three ports, Buckett (Phuket), Luppoone (Liphon) and Banquala were on the island. Phuket island was mostly uncultivated wilderness, with a plenty of wild animals including elephants, tigers and ferocious monkeys with large teeth, less than ten percent of the lands were put to use, according to Bowrey's estimation.Phuket had abundance of fruits including plantains, coconuts, pomelos and areca nuts.Rice was grown in the inner middle part of the island but was barely sustainable to the inhabitants.
The island only produced elephant and tin for export (The Whole Island affordeth nothinge Save Some Elephants and tinne.)and the inhabitants trade in small tin lumps called Putta.Bowrey called therajaor governor of Thalang a viceroy (Vice Kinge), given his local autonomous power. The governor of Thalang resided in Luppoone, which was the chief settlement in the inner part of the island.Traders arrived at the seaport of Banquala on the southwestern side of the island,where the custom toll stood and the trading ships would proceed up the river to the inland. The governor Okphra Phetkhiri at Luppoone sent elephants to fetch Bowrey up to meet him. Bowrey discovered that, without exemption license from the Siamese king, he had to pay ten percent custom of all goods he carried.
As the Dutch had been imposing blockade on Phuket, King Narai was informed about prospective Dutch invasion and conquest of Phuket.King Narai then removed Okphra Phetkhiri the anti-Dutch governor of Phuket from his position in mid-1676, under suggestion of Okphra Si Naowarat Aqa Muhammad Astarabadi, a Shiite Persian influential figure in Siamese royal court of King Narai and installed Muslim Indian Chulia brothers, Mohammed Beg and Ismael Beg, as governors of Thalang and Bangkhli, respectively.According to Bowrey, King Narai wanted austere men who would be fitter to govern the island.These two governors soon alienated local officials and populace by installing a hundredof their own fellow Muslim Indian traders to positions of influence and taking control of the tin export there. Thomas Bowrey, visiting Phuket again in 1677, was well-entertainedby Mohammed Beg the governor of Phuket. However, Bowrey also noticed that the local Siamese and Malay people were dissatisfied with forced labor and tyranny under the new governor. The previously-existing local Siamese elite were upset that their positions and power were replaced by the Chulias. Furthermore, Mohammed Beg and Ismael Beg attempted to divert all tin export toMergui, where South Indian merchants had been frequenting, shipping tin to Indian and Persian destinations.
Mohammed Beg and Ismael Beg did not establish a long-lasting control over the area. Shortly after the political downfall and execution of Okphra Si Naowarat Aqa Muhammad in 1678,Siamese and Malay people of Phuket jointly rose up to murder the two brothers Mohammed Beg and Ismael Beg, along with other seventy Moorish and Chulia men in Phuket in 1679.This incident put Phuket into the state of anarchy as Thomas Bowrey himself had to flee to Kedah for a time being.
In 1619,Kedahwas attacked and conquered byAceh sultanate,with the Kedah sultan carried off as prisoner to Aceh. Kedah then sought protection under Ayutthaya. By the mid-seventeenth century, the Malay sultanates of Kedah,SinggoraandPattanihad been sendingbunga mastributes to Ayutthaya as tributary states. KingPrasat Thongrepeatedly demanded personal presence of the Kedah sultan in Ayutthaya,which SultanRijaluddin Muhammad Shahavoided by feigning illnessin 1645. King Prasat Thong responded by sending his own portrait engraved on a golden to the Kedah sultan with instructions on how to worship the image of the Siamese king.In 1646, all of the three Malay states of Kedah, Singgora and Pattani collectively ceased sending tributes to Ayutthaya in defiance,with Singgora attacking Phatthalung and Trang,initiating theMalay–Siamese War of 1646–1650. King Prasat Thong of Ayutthaya sent Siamese armies of 15,000 men from Ayutthaya and 7,000 men from Ligor to subjugate the Malay rebellious polities in the south but failed.Ayutthaya asked the Dutch to attack Kedah.The Dutch attacked Kedah in 1648, prompting Sultan Rijaluddin Muhammad Shah of Kedah to sendbunga mastribute to Ayutthaya in 1648but the Dutch continued to impose naval blockade on Kedah during 1648–1652.In 1649, Singgora and Pattani retaliated, attacking up north and capturing the Nakhon Si Thammarat or Ligor city itself,the center of Ayutthayan administrative power in the south. King Prasat Thong sent 25,000 Siamese men with 20 Dutch ships to counter the Malay attacks. By 1650, Singgora agreed to peace and resumed sendingbunga mastributes to Ayutthaya.
With ascension ofDziaddin Mukarram Shah Iin 1662, the new Kedah sultan sent two envoys to Ayutthaya to present thebunga mastribute to King Narai in 1662,also to ask for Siamese assistance against another Dutch blockade of Kedah but Siam did not provide any assistances.Kedah did not send more tributes to Ayutthaya in the next eight years.When Ayutthaya asked for tributes again, Kedah did not send, prompting King Narai to send Siamese fleets to attack Kedah in 1670 and 1673–1674 but was not successful.Kedah withstood the Siamese attack of twenty ships in 1674. The Dutch intervened on Siamese side, imposing naval blockade on Kedah in 1674. In 1677, King Narai sent a golden cap and a goodwill letterto Sultan Dziaddin Mukarram Shah in effort to win over Kedah through peace but, nevertheless, Kedah, Singgora and Pattani jointly ceased sending tributes to Siam altogether in the same year, with Kedahan forces attacking Thalang and Bangkhli,leading to theMalay–Siamese War of 1678–1680. King Narai sent Siamese armies to the Malay south in 1678 to subjugate the rebellious Malay polities.Siamese conquest and destruction of Singgora in 1680 put the end to much of Malay resistance against Siamese power in Southern Siam.
When Sultan Dziaddin Mukarram Shah refused to send tributes to Ayutthaya again in 1681 upon Siamese request, King Narai ordered the governor of Thalang or Phuket to bring naval forces to attack Kedah.
For four decades, since the 1640s, the Dutch had been dominating tin export and commercial activities on the Andaman Coast and the Malay archipegalo. Siamese court had been relying on mutual trade benefits with the Dutch, who also assisted Siam in subjugating rebellious Malay tributary states of the south. However, Siam found the business practices of the Dutch – Dutch efforts to monopolize export of Siamese goods to themselves, acting as enforcing middlemen – increasingly demanding. Siamese king and Siamese court sought to circumvent Dutch commercial dominance in order to seek for more potential benefits. Dutch blockade of Ayutthaya in 1663–1664 left negative impression on King Narai and the Siamese court. Even though theDutch–Siamese Treaty of 1664restoredDutch–Siamese relationsto friendly terms, goodwill was only on the surface. When other European nations stepped in, Siam was more than eager to embrace the newcomers to counter Dutch influence.
Franco–Siamese relationsbegan with arrival of French missionaries ofParis Foreign Missions Societyin Ayutthaya during the 1660s. In 1680, French East India Company sent a diplomatic ship led by André Deslandes-Boureau,who was the future son-in-law of the Governor-General of FrenchPondicherryFrançois Martin, on the shipVautourto Ayutthaya,becoming the first official diplomatic contact between Ayutthaya and France. In the same year, in 1680, a French trading ship acquired a full load of tin from Phuket. In 1682, King Narai appointed a French medical missionaryRené Charbonneauof the Mission of St. Lazarus as the governor of Thalangwith title Okphra Thalang. Charbonneau was amedical missionary, arriving in Siam in 1677, having been serving as a physician under the Siamese king Narai. Charboneau was reluctant to take Phuket governor position but was possibly under requirement of King Narai himself andLouis LaneautheVicar Apostolic of Siamto take a political mission to reduce Dutch influence and expand French influence over Phuket.Free trade was allowed in Phuket as all incoming vessels were welcomed,disregarding Dutch influence and the previous Dutch tin export monopoly in Phuket.
Nicolas Gervaise, a French missionary from the Paris Foreign Mission, arrived in Ayutthaya in 1683, spending four years in Ayutthaya from 1683 to 1686.In 1688, Gervaise publishedThe Natural and Political History of the Kingdom of Siam, which mentioned "Jonsalam"as situating on to the west of Malay Peninsula at about 8 degrees latitude. Gervaise commented that the seaport of Phuket had a largeroadstead, serving as a toll to collect duties accommodating trading vessels but the seaport was not deep enough for large vessels to anchor.Phuket was crucial as a refuge for trading vessels travelling fromCoromandel Coastto Malay archipelago seeking shelter from storms in July and August.Gervaise also said that Junkceylon (Phuket) was of great importance in trade with Bengal, Pegu and other kingdoms. Gervaise related that the Dutch had been setting eyes on Junkceylon because the island had an abundance of tin, also some gold andambergrisbut the French governor of Phuket René Charbonneau, appointed by the Siamese king Narai, would not allow the Dutch to enter Phuket.
King Narai sent the first Siamese embassy to France in 1681, boarding onSoleil d’Orientbut the ship wrecked off the coast ofMadagascarat the end of the year.King Narai tried again by sending another Siamese mission in 1684, which successfully reachedParis, having an audience withKing Louis XIV of France. King Louis XIV reciprocated by sending French diplomatic mission led byChevalier de Chaumont, accompanied byAbbé de Choisy, to Ayutthaya in 1685, leading to conclusion of theFranco–Siamese Treaty of 1685, which granted tin export monopoly in Phuket to France.René Charbonneau the governor of Thalang, who had been desiring to return to Ayutthaya, was recalled in 1685 as King Narai appointed Sieur de Billy, the formermaître d'hôtelof De Chaumont, as the new governor of Thalang-Phuket and Jean Rival, a Provençal French man, as governor ofTakua Paand Bangkhli. Abbé de Choisy mentioned "Joncelang"as a Siamese seaport on the west coast of Malay peninsula, being abundant in tin and ambergris, while Chevalier de Chaumont mentioned "Josalam" of Junkceylon as one of eleven provinces of Siam,in similar manner to the 1662 account of Jacques de Bourges but the list of eleven provinces was different. De Chaumont observed that the tin from Junkceylon was shipped in King Narai's royal junks to China, Coromandel Coast andSurat.
After the Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1685, King Narai sent aSiamese diplomatic missionunderKosa Panto Paris in 1686 to ratify the treaty. King Louis XIV reciprocated by sending another French diplomatic mission underSimon de la LoubèreandClaude Céberet du Boullayin 1687, withGeneral Desfargescommanding French military forces accompanying the mission, leading to conclusion of theFranco–Siamese Treaty of 1687, which confirmed French tin export monopoly from Phuket, also allowing the French to station their military troops inBangkokand Mergui under the commands of General Desfarges.
Simon de la Loubère returned to France with the last Siamese mission to France underOkkhun Chamnanin January 1688. Three years later, in 1691, La Loubère publishedDu royaume de Siam, which provided a detailed description of "Jonsalam".La Loubère related that Junkceylon was abundant in tin and, due to remoteness, the King of Siam allow local Junkceylon inhabitants to privately mine the tin in their own businesses, in accordance with their "ancient rights",paying amounts of tax to the king in return, unlike most of Siam, where the tin belonged solely to the Siamese king and could only be sold under the name of the king, a royal monopoly. Junkceylon or Phuket was the place where common people could pursue tin mining industry for their own benefits.
The Franco–Siamese Treaty of 1687 allowed the French to station their troops at strategic cities of Bangkok and Mergui. When King Narai was on his deathbed in June 1688, seeing the French as threats, the anti-French faction led byOkphra Phetrachastaged a coup (Siamese Revolution of 1688), overthrowing King Narai's regime and his dynasty altogether. Okphra Phetracha made himself the new king of Siam, establishing the Ban Phlu Luang dynasty that would rule Siam until theFall of Ayutthayain 1767. General Desfarges the French supreme military commander in Siam, stationing at Bangkok, failed to respond in time to this seizure of power. Phetrachasent Siamese forces to lay siegeon the French-held Bangkok fort as French personnel and missionaries, including Sieur de Billy the governor of Thalang and Jean Rival the governor of Takuapa, were kept as prisoners, their eventual fates unknown. René Charbonneau the former governor of Junkceylon, however, was treated with respect as Charbonneau had earlier resigned from the French mission, acting as an independent, non-aligned French man. Phetracha even asked the Dutch to shelter Charbonneau for fear that some Siamese men might unintentionally hurt Charbonneau.
After five-month-long siege, Phetracha reached an agreement with Desfarges in November 1688, allowing Desfarges to peacefully evacuate his French troops out of from Siam. The French and the Siamese exchanged hostages to enforce agreement terms. Leaving Siam with three Siamese noblemen hostages in November 1688, Desfarges and his French crew crossed theIndian Oceanand reachedPondicherryin January 1689. A council of civil and military authorities was held at Pondicherry,which was then underFrançois Martinthe Governor-General of French Pondicherry. The French decided to seize Phuket as the leverage against the new regime of Phetracha. Desfarges led his remaining French forces of 330 mento sail from Pondicherry, again crossing the Indian Ocean, arriving in Phuket in April 1689. Desfarges anchored at the harbor, still holding three Siamese hostages, sending a letter toKosa PanthePhrakhlangor the Siamese Minister of Trade and Foreign Affairs, laying out his conditions, calling for repatriation of remaining French captives in Siam and return of French properties.This conditions fell on deaf ears of the new Siamese king Phetracha, who ignored Desfarges' pleas and instead ordered Siamese authorities in Phuket not to provide any provisions or water to Desfarges,pressuring the French to leave Phuket.
Desfarges and the French did not occupy the whole Phuket island but rather stayed at the harbor, waiting for responses from Ayutthaya. In August 1689, Desfarges sent one of the Siamese hostages to bring his letter to Kosa Pan thePhrakhlang, calling for the new King Phetracha of Ayutthaya to send Siamese envoys to Junkceylon to negotiate and conclude a new treaty.Véret the head of former French factory in Ayutthaya also entrusted his letter to the hostage to Ayutthaya, calling for Siam to cede Junkceylon island to French East India Company.Phetracha apparently did not care about any of these French demands, saying that French Christian hostages would be released only when Desfarges release the two remaining Siamese noblemen hostages. After seven months of unfruitful expedition to Phuket, Desfarges decided to abandon his plan to procure agreements from the new Siamese regime, leaving Junkceylon or Phuket in November 1689 empty-handed, along with the French crew, releasing the remaining Siamese hostages.
After the expulsion of the French from Siam in 1688, the SiameseAyutthaya Kingdomunder the new Ban Phlu Luang dynasty found itself in relative isolation from the Western world in contrast to the rising Siamese tributary trade withQing Chinain the Chinese Century. Westerners became less interested in Phuket, which was a major source of tin. With lessening contact with the West, Siam found fewer opportunities to put Phuket island on the bargaining table. With reduced visit of Westerners, records about Phuket in the early eighteenth century fell relatively silent.The rising Chinese traders in Siam were active on the Siamese ports on theGulf of Siamcoast includingNakhon Si Thammarat(Ligor),SongkhlaandPattanibut not on the Andaman Coast.
After expulsion of the French from Siam in 1688, the anti-French new kingPhetrachaconfirmed treaty terms with theDutch East India Companyin November 1688,confirming Dutch monopoly over tin export from Ligor but not mentioning Phuket. Phetracha seemed to initially favor the Dutch but the Dutch soon fell out of his favor.Phetracha did not fervently engage in diplomatic relations with the Dutch like his predecessors of the previous dynasty had done. The blatantly-attempted French diplomatic mission underGuy Tachardto Ayutthaya in 1699 also did not win any concessions from Siam. Siam simply became disinterested in diplomatic and commercial relations with Westerners. Meanwhile, Chinese traders were gaining influence in Siamese court. With tragic death ofKosa PanthePhrakhlangMinister of Trade at the hands of King Phetracha in 1699, a Chinese man was appointed to the position ofPhrakhlangfor the first time in 1700to replace Kosa Pan.
Previously, Ayutthayan government had been relying on Nakhon Si Thammarat or LigortheMueang Ekor First-level city, chief city ofSouthern Siam, to control this Southern Siamese region, including Phuket. In his reign, King Phetracha of Ayutthaya grappled with internal rebellions and dissidents, who questioned his legitimacy in usurpation of the Ayutthayan throne in 1688. In 1700, Phraya Ramdecho the governor of Ligor, appointed by King Narai, had not submitted to Phetracha and rebelled. Phetracha had to send a force of 15,000 men from Ayutthaya to successfully subjugate this Ligor rebellion with great effort. King Phetracha died in 1703, succeeded by his sonPhra Chao Suea.Another governor of Ligor, appointed by Phetracha, did not accept Phra Chao Suea as his new king and rebelled in 1704 but was suppressed a year later in 1705.After his short reign, King Phra Chao Suea died in 1709, succeeded by his son KingThaisa.
With frequent regional rebellions, the Ban Phlu Luang dynasty was unwilling to allow the provincial governors to retain unnecessary powers. The Ligor governorship was, therefore, stripped of much of its powers in Southern Siam to "clip its wings"as its satellite cities including Phatthalung and Songkhla reported directly to Ayutthaya. The whole southern region was put under supervision of theSamuha Kalahomor Prime Minister of the South of theKalahomdepartment, extending central government powers to the periphery.
In the reign of King Thaisa, Chinese merchants and traders gained influence in Siamese government and economy as Chaophraya Phrakhlang Chin, the Phrakhlang Minister of Trade of Chinese ethnicity, took power in Siamese court.The Chinese overtook the Dutch as the main investors for the tin mining industry in Southern Siam. In the early eighteenth century, the Chinese began to settle in Phuket as tin miners. In 1716, a Chinese entrepreneur, assigned with a Siamese noble title, was supervising tin mining near Songkhla.The main Chinese tin mining entrepôt, however, was not in Siam but rather atBangka IslandoffshoreSumatra.
In 1718,Alexander Hamiltonthe commander of Bombay Marine, on his journey to Ayutthaya, visited "Jonceyloan"or Junkceylon or Phuket. Hamilton narrated that Junkceylon was a part of the Siamese kingdom (it lies in the dominions of the king of Siam).Hamilton  mentioned two different ports on Phuket, each for a different monsoon season. A port situating between Phuket island and the mainland was suitable during the season of southwestern monsoon, whereas the "Puton Bay" (Patong Bay) was the safe harbor for the northeastern monsoon season.Hamilton related that Junkceylon was abundant in tin but there were few people to dig it, possibly due to depopulation. Most importantly, Hamilton mentioned that the governor of Junkceylon and the elites were mostly Chinese (and the governors being generally Chinese),who bought their position from the Siamese government and, in turn, oppressed local people for their benefits.
In spite of the decline of tin trade in Phuket in the early eighteenth century, the economy was still thriving to some extent. Phuket was mentioned as one of the principal Asian Indian Ocean ports trading with the BritishFort St. Georgeor Madras of theCoromandel Coast. They were Pegu, Mergui, Kedah and Ujong Salang (Phuket).Hamilton said that the local Phuket inhabitants engaged in low-scale trade with the Coromandel Coast and Bengal.Trans-Indian Ocean trade of the mid-seventeenth century between Phuket and Coromandel Coast seemed to survive into the early eighteenth century, albeit in a reduced state. Phuket was, unfortunately, not a part of the growing Sino-Siamese tributary trade and, therefore, suffered decline in the early eighteenth century.
Northumberland, a British sloop carrying tin from Kedah and Selangor to return to Madras, anchored at Phuket in April 1756.Its captain, John Mackmath, went ashore to visit the Siamese governor of Junkceylon or Phuket. During this visit, eight Malay men from Phuket andLangkawi, led by a certain Capitan China,a Chinese person, attacked and plundered theNorthumberlandship for its tin cargo. The eight Malay men were able to kill six British crew and the remaining twenty-one British men were captured. The Capitan China, who was the ringleader of this robbery and the principal servant of the Siamese governor of Phuket according to Mackmath, personally stabbed the Britishchief mateofNorthumberlandto death.Fearing for his life, Mackmath had to hide on the Phuket island for ten days before he was able to get on another British sloop to leave Phuket.
Two months after the incident, around June or July 1756, Raja Pookolo the Kedahan governor of Langkawiarrived in Phuket to bring theNorthumberlandship, along with the eight Malay men, who had earlier attacked the ship and the surviving twenty-one British crew ofNorthumberlandto Langkawi.TheNorthumberlandship ended up being sunk atKuala Kedahand its cargo being given to the Sultan of Kedah.In August 1756, William Ormston, another British merchant, arrived in Phuket to ask the governor of Phuket to pay the debt. The Phuket governor told Ormston that the earlier incident of plunderNorthumberlandwas perpetrated by the Malays outside of his jurisdiction.
Seeking revenge for his lost crew members and his lost cargo, John Macmath pressuredGeorge Pigotthe Britishpresident of Madrasto retaliate against Siam. Pigot called this incident the "Malay Treachery in Junk Ceylon".In early 1757, the Madras presidency sent letters to the Siamese royal court of Ayutthaya, urging the Siamese government to restitute to Mackmath or else the British would seize Siamese ships in the Andaman Sea.Pigot, however, soon realized that the Siamese central government was oblivious to the events in Junkceylon. The Siamese court was apparently not informed about the incidents happening in the faraway Phuket at the frontiers. KingBorommakotof Ayutthaya reportedly took action by sending guards to arrest the ringleader of this robbery (presumably the Capitan China the principal servant of the Phuket governor) to Ayutthaya but the ringleader stabbed himself to death in the act of suicide before reaching Ayutthaya.
In 1758, the British learned that the Capitan China had owed debts to the Sultan of Kedah and this Chinese headman robbed British cargo ship in order to repay his debts to the Kedah Sultan.In 1759, the Madras presidency warned British ships not to visit any Siamese or Kedahan ports.The British also learned that theNorthumberlandship and its cargo might somehow ended up in Kedah. John Mackmath asked Kedah to return his ship and his cargo. SultanMuhammad Jiwa Zainal Adilin of Kedahreplied that Junkceylon was not under his jurisdiction, being under Siamese jurisdictionbut if the ship had ventured out elsewhere he would try his best to search for it. This reply caused Mackmath to believe that the Kedah Sultan, in some way, was involved in this incident and urged Madras authorities to take strong actions. George Pigot the president of Madras ordered the seizure of Kedahan merchant ship in Madras in July 1759.The Sultan of Kedah made a public declaration in 1760 that he had taken no parts in thisNorthumberlandincident and criticized Mackmath for not being able to protect his cargo ship and his crew against just eight Malay men.
This robbery ofNorthumberlandship belonging to John Mackmath at Phuket in 1756 seemed to be a conspiracy among local Siamese and Kedahan Malays to seize British goods.Pierre Brigotthe FrenchVicar Apostolic of Siamat Ayutthaya wrote in 1762 that local Siamese officials in Phuket, being far from the government of Ayutthaya, not under knowledge of the Siamese king, resorted themselves to piracy, preying on the commuting British cargo ships.
According to a native Thai writing dated to 1841,in around mid-eighteenth century, during the last decades ofAyutthaya Kingdom, there were two chiefs on the Phuket island:
"Chom" is aSouthern Thaihonorific for a respectable man. Chom Rang and Chom Thao were said to be half-brothers, born from the same father but different mothers.Ban Takhian and Ban Don were two separate settlements on the Phuket Island.
Chom Rang married a Kedahan Malay woman immigrating from Kedahnamed Masia(Masia had been a Kedahan Malay woman who had been married to a man but lost her inheritance dispute over her deceased husband's property so she moved to Phuket and married Chom Rang as her second husband)and, with her, Chom Rang had two sons and three daughters, including his daughtersChan and Mook. Lady Chan was said to be born around 1735. Upon growing up, Chan married Muen Si Phakdi,a Southern Thai nobleman fromTakuathung.Muen Si Phakdi was a son of Chom Naikong, a Southern Thai official from Nakhon Si Thammarat or Ligor.With Muen Si Phakdi, Chan had a daughter named Prang and a son named Thian.Muen Si Phakdi, first husband of Lady Chan, soon died in an unspecified year.Chan remarried. She married Phra Phimon the governor ofKraburi.
After the deaths of Chom Rang and Chom Thao, Aat, a son of Chom Rang and a brother of Chan and Mook, became the new governor of Phuket. However, Aat was soon assassinated, shot dead. Phuket then entered the state of upheaval. Phra Phimon, second husband of Chan, was transferred to become the governor ofPhatthalungaround 1766but Chan remained in Phuket.
BurmeseHmannan Yazawinchronicles stated that the Burmese forces attacked Southern Siamese cities in 1765 including the town of "Salin",probably referring to Chalang or Thalang. Phraya Ratchasuphawadi the governor of Ligor was called to bring Southern Siamese forces to fend off the invading Burmese forces atRatchaburi, leavingPhra Palat Nuthe deputy governor in charge in Ligor. However, the Ligor governor did not return and Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese in April 1767. Phra Palat Nu, in absence of a controlling central authority, declared himself the leader of the new Southern Siamese independent regime, one of many regional regimes breaking away after the catastrophicFall of Ayutthaya. Phra Palat Nu became Chao Nakhonor the Lord of Ligor. His regime extended over Nakhon Si Thammarat (Ligor), Phatthalung and Songkhla. Phra Phimon, Chan's husband, was then the governor of Phatthalung. Two years later, in August 1769, the new KingTaksinof Thonburibrought Central Siamese forces to the south to subjugatethe Southern Siamese regime of Nakhon Nu. Uparaj Chan, deputy of Nakhon Nu,led the Ligorians to fight the Central Siamese but was defeated. Governors of Ligor, Phatthalung and Songkhla fled to take refuge inPattaniunder Sultan Mohammad.Chaophraya Chakri Mud, commander under Taksin, secured the surrender and release of the three fugitive governors from Pattani to Taksin. Phra Phimon the governor of Phatthalung, husband of Lady Chan, was later made the governor of Thalangby King Taksin. Thongphun, son of Chom Thao and half-cousin of Lady Chan, was made deputy governor of Thalang on the same occasion.
It was in the tenure of Phra Phimon as the governor of Thalang thatFrancis Light, a "country trader", first arrived in Phuket in 1771.Francis Light arrived to settle in Phuket in 1772and soon became a friend to Lady Chan's family.Francis Light soon met a local Portuguese–Malay–Siamese CatholicMestizowoman named Martinha Rosells and had his first child with her in 1779, despite not marrying her.Francis Light settled down at Tharuea,the main town of the island. In 1776, Francis Light gifted 1,400 flintlock muskets to King Taksin of Siam,earning him a Siamese noble title Phraya Ratcha Kapitan. Despite being held captive at Thonburi for six years, Nakhon Nu the former Lord of Ligor was restored as the "King of Ligor" and overlord of Southern Siam under King Taksin in 1776. After 1776, King Taksin sent Chaophraya Inthawongsa to be the superintendent of Siamese tin-producing Andaman coastal region of theMalay peninsulaincluding Phuket in order to procure tin for the Royal Warehouse to trade. Inthawongsa headquartered at Pak Phra in modernTakua Thung district, opposite of Phuket on the mainland.
Johann Gerhard König, a Danish botanist, set sail fromTranquebarto visit Siam under theThonburi Kingdomin late 1778. On his return journey to India, König spent some months in Phuket in 1779observing plants and flora. König arrived at Tharuea or the port of Phuket on the eastern side of the island in March 1779 on the shipBristolcommanded by Captain Francis Light himself.During his stay in Phuket, König also visited nearby small islands and mentioned many places including Tarmah (Tharuea), Pullo Penjang or Pullo Salang (Koh Yao Yai), Pullo Salang Minor (Koh Yao Noi), Lem Nga (Laem Nga), Kopran (Koh Maphrao) and Pullo Jamu (Laem Yamu).
König stayed in Phuket for four months until his departure in July 1779 because of a sudden negative attitude of Siamese government towards the Westerners, which, according to König, was due to some quarrels between English captains and the Siamese authorities.In Francis Light's letter toWarren Hastingsin 1780, Light recounted his conflict with Siamese government, in which a certain high ranking Siamese commissioner at Pak Phra called "Chao Phya"forbid the local Phuket people to pay tin to Light for the rice Light had brought in. The Chao Phya then sent forces to seize and plunder Francis Light's house in Thalang,forcing Francis Light to abandon his house. This "Chao Phya" was certainly Chaophraya Inthawongsa, who was appointed by King Taksin as the superintendent of the Andaman coast around 1776. The Chao Phya, who established a stockade at Pak Phra where every officials had to visit to receive orders, according to Light, was unpopular among the Phuket inhabitants.
In April 1782, King Taksin was removed from power and executed,ending the Thonburi regime. The newBangkok-basedRattanakosin Kingdomwas founded under the new kingRama Iof theChakri dynasty. The new Bangkok regime was yet to pacify Southern Siam as there were Thonburi loyalists; Nakhon Nu the King of Ligor and Chaophraya Inthawongsa the superintendent of the Andaman Coast, both of them appointed by Taksin. King Rama I repeatedly called for Nakhon Nu to report himself at Bangkok to demonstrate loyalty but Nakhon Nu refused to comply. Eventually, the Bangkok regime gained control over Southern Siam by sacking Nakhon Nu from his position in 1784,replacing Nakhon Nu with his own son-in-law Phat as the new governor of Ligor.Bangkok court then sent three commissioners, namely Chaophraya Lueratchanikun, Phraya Thammatrailok and Phraya Phiphitphokhai,to the Andaman Coast as commissioners in 1784, leading to a battle between Chaophraya Inthawongsa the old lord and the new commissioners. Inthawongsa was defeated, committing suicide as the three commissioners gained power over the Andaman Coast.
In 1784,Warren Hastingsof theBengal GovernmentsentThomas Forresta country trader as a British envoy to secure a trading agreement withRaja Haji Fisabilillahthe Crown Prince of Johor.However, Raja Haji was killed in a battle atMalacca, prompting Forrest to abandon his diplomatic mission and went to Phuket instead.Thomas Forrest called Phuket "Jan Sylan", saying that the island was divided from the continental promontory, where the harbor of Popra (Pak Phra) stood, by a narrow isthmus. Forrest wrote that the Phuket inhabitants generally spoke theMalay languageand that the name Jan Sylan was derived from Oojong Sylan but then stated that, due to external contacts, also spokeSiamese language.Phuket people looked like the Malays with Chinese features.
Forrest also mentioned Pulo Panjang or Koh Yao Yai. Forrest listed seventeen villages on Phuket, including Terowa (Tharuea), Bankian (Ban Takhian), Bandan (Ban Don), Popra (Pak Phra), Bandpon (Ban Liphon), etc, totalling 12,000 inhabitants.Forrest named the governor or viceroy of Phuket as Peepeemont (Phra Phimon), assisted by official Pee Tukerat (Phra Thukkharat, deputy governor).Forrest narrated the geography of Phuket as having a hilly interior with coastal flatlands and mangrove forests. The creek draining from the hilly interior to the sea was so shallow that only paddle boats can be used to reach Terowa or Tharuea in the interior, where the governor resided. Forrest noted that Phra Phimon the governor of Phuket did not speak Malay and had a Portuguese translator.
In the matter of trade, Forrest observed that British trading ships from Bengal brought opium to Phuket to trade for tin but the Siamese government had been banning opium import.By 1784, tin production in Phuket was taxed by the Siamese government. Duty collection rights on tin mining in Phuket had been farmed out to a Chinese agent, who acted as the tax collector. In order to procure tin, a tin miner had to pay 12 percent of the tin produced to this Chinese tax farmer officialin order to be allowed to mine for tin. In order to export tin from Phuket, one had to pay 25 percent or a quarter of tin to the Siamese government.Forrest claimed that this tax policy aroused dissatisfactions among local Phuket inhabitants to the point that Peepeemont the Phuket governor considered rebellingagainst the central government at Bangkok. Again, small tin lumps called Pootwere used as local currency (compare "Putta" observed by Thomas Bowrey in 1675). Forrest's observation of Junkceylon was later published as a part of his bookA Voyage from Calcutta to the Mergui Archipelago, also an Account of the Islands Jan Sylanin 1792.
As the new Bangkok regime consolidated its rule over Southern Siam, the old Thalang elite, family of Lady Chan, was in precarious position. Phra Phimon the governor of Thalang and even Francis Light came into conflict with Phraya Thammatrailok, one of the three commissioners over Andaman Coast stationed at Pak Phra, appointed by Bangkok. In the letter of Phraya Thukkharat Thian, son of Lady Chan, to Francis Light atPenang, dated to January 1788, Thukkharat apologized Francis Light on behalf of the Siamese government for an unspecified earlier swindle against Light caused by the royal commissioner Phraya Thammatrailok.No details was given about the incident. It was likely that the new commissioners at Pak Phra targeted the Thalang elite the family of Lady Chan and Francis Light himself had been a close ally of Phra Phimon, Lady Chan's husband. The commissioners at Pak Phra might perceive these Phuket elites as not submitting to the new Bangkok regime, their loyalty uncertain. Phra Phimon the Thalang governor had at least some designs for a rebellion against Bangkok.Francis Light eventually had to leave Phuket. Phra Phimon fell gravely ill and his wife Lady Chan was arrested by orders of Phraya Thammatrailok on an unspecified charge. She was taken to Pak Phra for investigation.
The rising militaristic BurmeseKonbaung dynastypermanently took control ofTenasserimcoastal cities ofTavoyandMerguiduring its invasion of Siam in 1765. Possession of Tenasserim allowed the Burmese to utilize Tenasserim as the base for further Burmese expeditions into Southern Siam and the Andaman Coast. In mid-1785, the Burmese kingBodawpayaamassed the Burmese troops of 144,000 mento invade Siam in five directions, known as theNine Armies Warin Thai historiography. KingRama Iand his younger brother PrinceSura Singhanatcould only muster 70,000 Siamese menagainst the Burmese invaders. The fighting concentrated on the west of Bangkok at Latya,Kanchanaburiand the north of Bangkok at Pakphing,Phitsanulokas these Burmese invasion routes directly threatened Bangkok. One of the contingents, led by the Burmese general Maha Thiri Thihathu,called Kinwun Mingyi in Thai sources, attacked Southern Siam. Maha Thiri Thihathu set sail from Mergui with 7,000 Burmese men and landed atKraburiat theKra Isthmus, crossing the peninsula to attackChumphon. As the Siamese military concentrated on the north and the west, the Southern Siamese were left to themselves to fend off the Burmese invaders. Southern Siamese cities of Chumphon,Chaiyaand Nakhon Si Thammarat (Ligor) surrendered to the Burmese in rapid succession. Maha Thiri Thihathu conquered and ransacked Ligor, the chief city of Southern Siam, in February 1786.
A smaller Burmese contingent of 3,000 men under Wungyi branched off from the main army of Maha Thiri Thihathu to attack Siam's Andaman Coast. Wungyi attackedTakuapaandTakua Thungin December 1785.The Siamese were caught off guard as the commissioners of the Andaman Coast, including Phraya Thammatrailok, led the defenses against the invading Burmese.Francis Light sent a message to warn Lady Chan at Pak Phra about the incoming Burmese attack. Informed about the Burmese, amidst the confusion, Lady Chan fled back from Pak Phra to Phuket. In this crisis of Burmese invasion, Phra Phimon the governor of Thalang died from illness in December 1785, leaving his wife Lady Chan, her sister Mook, her son Thian and also Phra Phimon's deputy Phra Palat Thongphun (son of Chom Thao and, therefore, half-cousin of Lady Chan) to lead the defenses of Phuket against the Burmese. In the turn of events, Phraya Thammatrailok was killed in the battle and the two other commissioners fledas the Burmese ransacked as destroyed Takuapa and Takuathung, setting eyes on Phuket next.
Being informed by Francis Light about the imminent Burmese invasion enabled Lady Chan and the Phuket elites to prepare for the upcoming attack. They established stockades over Phuket. Burmese commander Wungyi attacked Phuket in February 1786. Captain James Scott reported that the Burmese were seen off Tharuea, the main town of Phuket, on 8 February 1786.Francis Light stated that the attack composed of "3000 of the Bamar army with 80 large prows".Lady Chan, her sister Mook and her relatives in the governor's council organized the defenses of Phuket in two strongholdsat Nangdak fields and Phra Nang Sang temple, each armed with a large cannon. Light also provided the Phuket defenders with muskets. Lady Chan devised a ruse to deceive the Burmese that Phuket had a large defending force.Lady Chan had Phuket women dress as men pretending to be soldiers,stationing on the walls of the stockades and marching around, also holding coconut palm fronds as fake muskets, the accound that Lady Chan, later in her life, loved to tell the visitors, according toJohn Anderson.The letter of Chaophraya Surinthraracha to Francis Light in April 1786 provided the account: "our soldiers of Thalang were enabled to fight and hold up the Burmese for a period of one month. The Burmese suffered between 300 and 400 casualties, killed and wounded. They broke off the action and retired on Monday, 14th waxing of the fourth month in the year of Snake".
Despite being outnumbered, the Siamese were gaining upper hand in the north and the west by February 1786 when the Burmese were also ravaging Southern Siam. Prince Sura Singhanat, younger brother of the Siamese king Rama I, defeated the Burmese in the Battle of Latya in February 1786. Also in February, the Burmese king Bodawpaya called for the general retreat of the Burmese armies from Siam.In the north, the Siamese repelled the Burmese at Pakphing near Phitsanulok in March 1786. In the south, the Burmese were halted atPhatthalungby a local resistance. Bodawpaya's command for his armies to retreat would take a while to reach all of the overstretched Burmese contingents spreading over many invasion routes. As the Siamese were relieved from the north and the west, the Siamese king and his younger brother could then shift attention to Southern Siam, which had been left to the mercy of Burmese invaders. In March,Prince Sura Singhanat of theFront Palaceset sail with the Siamese fleet of 20,000 to repel the Burmese from Southern Siam. Facing the main Siamese forces, Maha Thiri Thihathu and his Burmese armies on the Gulf of Siam coast were compelled to retreat. Phuket defenders, led by Lady Chan and her family, resisted the Burmese besiegers for one month. The Burmese eventually retreated from Phuket on 13 March 1786,following the general retreat command from the Burmese king, before the main Siamese military could provide any supports to Phuket.
After failure ofBritish East India Companyto establish a settlement in Kedah, Francis Light arrived in Phuket in 1771 at the age of thirty-one.Francis Light settled permanently on Phuket in May 1772 where he had a house and a family. When Francis Light visited and presented the Siamese King Taksin with flintlocks in 1776, Light had conversations with Taksin and reported in 1777 that Taksin expressed a strong desire to cultivate a friendship with the Company.When the forces of Chaophraya Inthawongsa plundered Francis Light's house in Phuket in 1779, Light complained that "I look upon part of this island to be my property, it was granted by their own free will, the ground cleared at my expence, and tho' unjustly driven off I think myself at liberty to resume it whenever I have power.".This incident of losing his property in Phuket might be the motivation of his idea of establishing a British settlement on Phuket for Phuket was a relatively autonomous and isolated place in Siam. In 1780, Francis Light proposed toWarren HastingstheGovernor-General of Bengalfor establishment of a British settlement in Phuket.
It is not known where Francis Light lived during 1780–1784 but he certainly focused on reclaiming his property in Phuket. Light had cultivated a close friendly relations with Phra Phimon the governor of Thalangand his family including his wife Lady Chan.Thomas Forrest, who visited Phuket in 1784, wrote that Phra Phimon the Thalang governor was dissatisfied with the Siamese central government and would break away if he had supports.James Scott, a resident in Phuket and a friend of Francis Light, wrote toGeorge Macartneythegovernor of Madrasin October 1785, recommending that the British should take this opportunity of Burmese invasion of Siam to occupy Phuket.Scott pointed out that, if the Burmese attacked Phuket in late 1785, the news of this Burmese attack on Phuket would not reach Bangkok until at least April 1786, given poor Siamese communications. Scott also speculated that, as the French had already given military supports to Annam, the Annamese-French would soon join the Burmese to attack Siam from the east,(Scott perhaps misunderstood the situation as the French gave support only toNguyễn Phúc Ánhwho was still a political refugee in Bangkok and Vietnam was then largely ruled by theTây Sơn), further complicating the situation for the Siamese and the British would be upset by French entrance into theGulf of Siam.The British, therefore, according to Scott, should occupy Phuket as the French would soon join the debacle on the other side. Scott also stated that tin and bird nest productions in Phuket were worthy of investments.
Francis Light and his friend James Scott were the main proponents of British acquisition of Phuket. Scott took efforts to materialize his dream of seeing Phuket coming under British rule by amplifying and propagating the news and rumors of impending Burmese invasion of Phuket in late 1785 so that Scott would persuade Phra Phimon to allow Scott to construct a fort in Phuket, under the pretense of defending against Burmese invasion but instead in preparation for future British garrison in Phuket without arousing suspicions from Bangkok;
However, Francis Light began to change his mind. When Francis Light arrived inCalcuttain January 1786, Light suggested to the Bengal government that the same military force that could be used to conquer Phuket could also be used to conquerPenang. Light considered both Phuket and Penang as potential British settlements. For Phuket, Light implored the British to intervene on behalf of Phuket inhabitants for "cruel oppression of Siam"; "the Inhabitants have for many years strongly solicited me to relieve them from cruel oppression of Siam, and as they are capable of defending themselves, they most want a chief in whom they can confide,".Light also suggested that Phuket and Penang could bebothconquered.John Macphersonthe acting governor-general of Bengal reported back to the Court of Directors of East India Company at London in January 1786 that Thalang, an island with 50,000 inhabitants, was an option for British settlement; "I shall propose possession to be taken of the Ports and Islands offered to us by the King of Cudda and especially of Junk Ceylon, which is occupied by a separate people to the number of 50,000. These have offered Captain Light the Sovereign Command among them."
The Burmese invasion of Phuket turned out not to be a mere rumor but a real threat. In February 1786, when the Burmese invading armies were attacking and besieging Thalang, Francis Light was in Calcuttapersuading the Bengal government to concede to his plan of establishing a British settlement in the Malay region as, by then, the Dutch were the main Westerner with presence and the British were yet to acquire a settlement in theMalay archipelago. The Bengal government then considered the question of whether to establish a settlement on theMalay peninsulaand where that place should be. A council was held in March 1786 in Calcutta, presided over by John Macphersonthe acting governor-general of Bengal, to decide this issue. James Scott's letter proposal of October 1785 to seize Phuket was recorded in this council. In this letter, Scott claimed that Phra Phimon the Siamese governor of Phuket was willing to peacefully surrender the Phuket island to the British; "If the English Company will take on them the sovereignty of the Island Jan Salong and its dependencies and send a force to resist any future attempts from Siam... He will deliver them the Peaceable Possession of the Island.".
When this Calcutta council was considering British conquest of Phuket, Phra Phimon the governor of Phuket was already dead. Phra Phimon died from illness in December 1785. James Scott was apparently too optimistic about the prospect of British conquest of Phuket, asking only for two armed snows, 100 British artillery men and 500 Indian sepoys.The council then read another report of a certain Joseph Price, who recommended Penang as the better option due to geographical position. Joseph Price stated that Penang situated right on tract of commercial route to China while Thalang or Phuket was too far north.Also, ships in Phuket would be affected by the seasonal southwestern monsoon, which did not affect Penang, putting strains on sea travel. Francis Light agreed with Price in this point. The council decided in March 1786 that Penang would be the new British settlement and Phuket fell out of consideration.
Apart from geographical factor, James Scott's over-optimism was a reason of the Company's distrust on Phuket conquest plan. Scott's speculations were proven wrong when Siamese armies, under leadership of KingRama Iand his younger brother PrinceSura Singhanatof theFront Palace, quickly repelled the Burmese invasions in the north and west of Siam and, by March 1786, Prince Sura Singhanat was able to sail Siamese fleets down south to repel Burmese invaders inSouthern Siam, also to exert power of Siamese central governance over Southern Siam. Francis Light, James Scott, and SultanAbdullah Mukarram Shah of Kedahwere all surprised by the rapid Siamese recovery.Scott was still optimistic, saying that the premature untimely death of Phra Phimon did not affect his plan because Phra Phimon himself derived his influence from his wife Lady Chan and her family, who were, according to Scott, "great promoters of the proposed Revolution".
Lady Chan the dowager governess of Thalang, her sister Muk and her family members including Thongphun the deputy governor and her son Thian, led the local Phuket people to successfully defend the island against the Burmese invaders without any assistances from the central Siamese court at Bangkok, an exceptional and rare success among Southern Siamese towns that fell to Burmese conquest in rapid succession. By March 1786, Prince Sura Singhanat of Front Palace, younger brother of King Rama I, had largely expelled the Burmese armies from Southern Siam, ending the war. The prince and his armies stayed atSongkhla, where the prince sent declarations to Northern Malay Sultanates to resume traditionalbunga mastributes to Siam. Male members of Lady Chan's family and Thalang officials went to visit Prince Sura Singhanat at Songkhla to report the events and situation. In spite of her leadership, Lady Chan could not become the governor of Thalang herself because she was a woman but the contribution of the two ladies to the defense of Phuket was recognized nevertheless. The position of governor of Thalang fell to Thongphun, who was the son of Chom Thaoand half-cousin of Lady Chan, who had been the deputy under Phra Phimon. Thongphun, as the new Thalang governor, was appointed to an exceptionally high rank ofChaophrayainstead of the usual rank ofPhrayafor the meritorious success of Phuket officials in the Burmese War. Chaophraya Thalang Thongphun was granted a goldenPhantray as the insignia for his rank, leading him to be called by the epithet Phraya Thalang Chiatthong (พระยาถลางเจียดทอง) or Phraya Thalang of the Golden Tray.Meanwhile, Thian, son of Lady Chan, was appointed as Phraya Thukkharat or vice-governor of Thalang.
As Phraya Thammatrailok the Siamese superintendant of the Andaman coast was killed in the Burmese War and two other commissioners escaped, the Bangkok court appointed a new commissioner to the region. He was Chan the formerUparajaor deputy underNakhon Nuof the Ligor regime. When King Taksin conquered the Southern Siamese Ligorian regime in 1769, Chan was propably taken as captive to Thonburi. Chan was a son ofChaophraya Chamnan Borirak,an influential minister of Ayutthaya who wasde factoChief Minister of Siam from 1733 to 1753 in the reign of KingBorommakot. Chan was appointed as the royal superintendant of the tin-producing Andaman coast, including Phuket, with the titleChaophraya Surinthraracha(เจ้าพระยาสุรินทรราชา). In 1786, Chaophraya Surinthraracha arrived in Phuket, bringing royal orders to grant Lady Chan and her sister Muk the titles Thao Thepkasattri (ท้าวเทพกระษัตรี) and Thao Sisunthon (ท้าวศรีสุนทร), respectively.Thaois a Thai noble title for palace women. In April 1786, Chaophraya Surinthraracha wrote a letter to Francis Light who was known in Thai documents by his Siamese noble title Phraya Ratchakapitan and was, by then, at Calcutta;
After theBurmese War of 1785–1786, Phuket suffered from famine and rice shortage due to the rice fields having been burnt down by the Burmese.As noted by Thomas Bowrey a century earlier, the rice paddy fields of Phuket barely fed its population and Phuket had been reliant on rice import. In his letter to Francis Light in April 1786, Chaophraya Surinthraracha asked for rice, describing the situation: "The whole region is in disorder. The Burmese burnt much rice and it is in short supply. There is insufficient to provide for the settlements until the rice is available again from the fields."Lady Chan herself wrote to Francis light in mid-1786, also asking for rice; "Because of the Burmese attacks on Thalang the district is in confusion at the present time. We are in great dearth of food." Lady Chan also related her miserable conditions to Light, describing as being "destitute, without anything", barely digging some tin to purchase rice. Light sent some rice to Phuket; "The people of Junk Ceylon after expelling the Burmese are distressed by famine, and expect another attack this season. I have sent to the people of Junk Salong 500 bags of rice, in order not to lose entirely the goodwill of the islanders." The King of Siam expected another Burmese invasion in late 1786 and ordered the Kedah Sultan to protect Phuket in the case of Burmese invasion.The Burmese did invade in early 1787, not at Phuket but rather throughThree Pagodas Pass, attackingKanchanaburiinTha Dindaeng Campaign.
Before the Burmese War, the local Phuket elite family, which had been in power in Phuket since at least mid-eighteenth century, were of uncertain loyalty to Bangkok. After the Burmese War, the Siamese central government was able to consolidate authorityover Southern Siam, including Phuket. Lady Chan and her Thalang elite family were devastated economically by the Burmese War and found themselves eclipsed in power so they decided to seek favor from the royal court at Bangkok. Appointment of the new governor of Thalang led to political conflicts between Chaophraya Thalang Thongphun the new governor of Thalang and his deputy Phraya Thukkharat Thian, who was a son of Lady Chan, representing two branches of the Thalang elite family. Thongphun was a son of Chom Thao and Lady Chan was a daughter of Chom Rang as Chom Thao and Chom Rang were half-brothers.
Anticipating Siamese aggression, Sultan Abdullah Mukkaram Shah of Kedah, who had assisted the Burmese during the Burmese invasion of Siam,negotiated with Francis Light to cede Penang Island to British East India Company in exchange for British protection of Kedah against future possible Siamese invasions. Francis Light landed at Penang in July 1786, establishingFort Cornwallis. At Penang, Francis Light was still in correspondences with the Thalang elites and Siamese officials in Phuket, who saw Light as the source of rice and muskets. Francis Light seemed to take the side of Lady Chan and her son Phraya Thukkharat Thian in the local political rivalry in Phuket. Phraya Thukkarat Thian sent a letter to Light in 1786, thanking Light for sending rice to his mother Lady Chan and told Light that Thian and his mother Chan would soon go to Bangkok. Thian had high hope of becoming the governor of Thalang, as expressed in his letter to Light; "The royal authority has first of all appointed me Phya Thukkarat, and has said that later there would be an order making me Phya Thalang. The Front Palace Prince had been very kind to me."In the same letter, Thian told Light that he was not on good terms with Thongphun the governor of Thalang, even sending some men to enumerate the detail to Light at Penang.
At Penang, Francis Light still maintained some ideas of bringing Phuket under British rule. Light told John Macpherson that British acquisition of Phuket would keep the French and the Dutch off that coast. James Scott sent a letter toLord Cornwallisthe newGovernor-General of Indiaat Calcutta in September 1786, strongly recommending British conquest of Phuket.Chaophraya Thalang Thongphun the Phuket governor sent a letter to Light at Penang in November 1787, complaining in some strong words that Captain Thomas Wilson of the snowMinerva, sent by Light to trade at Phuket, had violated trade rules in Phuket by selling merchandise directly to Phuket people at lower prices without consulting the Thalang governor,thus bypassing the monopoly of Thalang officials. Francis Light despised Thongphun the Chaophraya governor of Thalang, writing toLord CornwallistheGovernor-General of Bengalat Calcutta in June 1787; "The present Governor, titled Choo Pia Salang, is one of the greatest villains who has raised himself by ingratitude, deceit, murder and rapine from low indignant state. He wrote me a letter expressing great esteem and Friendship which I did not answer."Light also claimed that, if the British were to invade Thalang, Chaophraya Thalang would peacefully surrender the island to the British; "A few days ago he sent a Messenger to assure that if I would next November send a vessel with some Troops he would deliver the Island to the English..."Francis Light wrote this apparently to convince Lord Cornwallis to agree with his plan to conquer Phuket.
Lady Chan and her son Phraya Thukkharat Thian the deputy governor of Thalang went to Bangkok in 1788 in a clearly political move. As Thian was her son with her first husband Mom Si Phakdi, Lady Chan brought her son Nian and her daughter Thong with her second husband Phra Phimon to Bangkok. Thong was presented as aChao Chomor minor consort to King Rama I. Consort Thong would later bore the king a daughter Princess Ubon in 1791.Nian entered Siamese central bureaucracy as aMahatlekor royal page, starting his officialdom career. Thian, however, had a more political goal. According to thePhongsawadan(1914), Thian filed an unspecified criminal accusation against Chaophraya Thalang Thongphun the governor of Thalang at Bangkok, causing Thongphun to be later arrested and taken to Bangkok where he soon died during the interrogation.It was not stated what crimes Thian had accused Thongphun of but it might be related to Francis Light's claim that Chaophraya Thalang Thongphun was willing to surrender the Phuket island to the British. Thian and Francis Light were known to be in close correspondences and Thian might learn of his rival Thongphun's endeavors with Francis Light.
Thian was then appointed as the new governor of Thalang around 1791, known by the epithet Phraya Thalang Huet (พระยาถลางหืด) or the Asthmatic Governor of Thalangfor his asthma disease. However, Ruang, younger half-brother of Thongphun the deceased governor, was still appointed as Phraya Palat the deputy governor of Thalang.In 1792, Phraya Thalang Thian the governor of Thalang wrote some letters to Francis Light at Penang with his full official title Phraya Phetkhiri Si Phichai Songkhram(พระยาเพชรคีรีศรีพิชัยสงคราม), asking Light not to forget his mother Lady Chan who was very old and ill by that time. Lady Chan presumably died shortly after her son's letter to Francis Light, around 1792, around the age of fifty-seven, having lived to see her son Thian becoming the governor of Thalang. Ascension of Thian to the governorship of Thalang coincided with the campaign of KingRama Iand his younger brother PrinceSura Singhanatof theFront Palaceto reconquerTenasserimfrom Burma. (Burmese–Siamese Warof 1792–1793) Phraya Thalang Thian, like other Southern Siamese governors, was drafted to bring forces from his city to join the Siamese offensive campaign atMerguiunder the Front Palace prince. The Front Palace forces were attacking Mergui when they learned that the main Siamese royal army under the Siamese king was defeated by the Burmese in the Battle of Tavoy in 1793, during whichChaophraya Mahasena PlitheSamuha Kalahomor Prime Minister of Southern Siam was killed in battle, jeopardizing the campaign, leading to eventual Siamese retreat.
In his letter to Francis Light in April 1786, Chaophraya Surinthraracha styled himself with the position ofPhu Samret Ratchakarn(ผู้สำเร็จราชการ) or superintendent of Eight Districts.The Eight Districts were eight tin-producingMueangs or towns on the Andaman Coast including Thalang, Phuket (Thalang and Phuket were noted as separate entities),Takuapa,Takuathung, Kora,Phangnga,Khuraand Khurot.Surinthraracha, as the superintendent of the Andaman Coast, was responsible for procuring tin from the region and sending tin to Bangkok. Around 1791, Surinthraracha was called to Bangkok and when Chaophraya Mahasena Pli died in the Battle of Tavoy in 1793, King Rama I proposed to make Surinthraracha the newSamuha Kalahomthe Prime Minister of Southern Siam to replace the deceased minister. Surinthraracha refused this offer, saying that he preferred to be an official in the periphery in Southern Siam.In exchange, Chaophraya Surinthraracha proposed a project to construct a new route to transport tin from the Andaman Coast to Bangkok.Since the time immemorial, tin from Andaman Coast had been transported in cart caravans from Takuapa across the Khao Sok Mountain to Ban Don (modernSurat Thani), where it would be carried further along theGulf of Siamcoast toCentral Siam,in the trans-peninsular route. This old route was far from effective as a great number of tin cargo was lost on the route due to rugged terrain. In 1804, Chaophraya Surinthraracha established a new safer route to transport tin from Phuket to Bangkok.