In the past, ships from many nations such as Persia and India travelled in and out of this island due to the hospitable geography of the island which has a mountain range to protect the island from monsoons and flourished forests full of wild fruits.

It is evidenced that 400 years ago, in the middle of the Ayuddhaya era, tin mining began having its importance over the lives of the people of Thalang.

Tin was a commodity highly sought after by contemporary Europeans. They mixed it with copper to create bronze. They then used bronze to mint coins, jewels and statues. Thanks to the European demand on tin, tin mining in the region became booming. The villagers traded the tin for various goods such as Camphor oil, opium, weapons and tools from the European traders – according to a 300 year old record of Mr Veret, a French merchant.

In Year 1583, Portugal was the first nation to have a major role in tin trading. It used its political clout and military prowess to try to monopolize the tin trading business. Yet, it eventually failed.

40 years after that the Dutch, having an intimate relationship with the Siamese authority during the reign of Prachao Songtham of Ayuddhaya, were given the rights to use the government’s inventories and monopolize the tin trading business on Thalang island. During that time, everybody in Thalang had no choice but sell tin to the Dutch East India Company. Later, the Dutch merchants had conflicts with the villagers which escalated into battles. Eventually, in 1671, the Dutch merchants decided to leave Thalang Island.

During the reign of Narai the Great of Ayuddhaya, Siam had a good diplomatic relationship with France. The king of France during that time was Louise XIV. France came in to balance the influence of the Netherlands, which had been expanding her influence throughout South East Asia. A Frenchman by the name Mr Rene Chabonno was appointed the mayor of Thalang and dubbed “Phraya Surintharacha” by the king. Chabonno then began making an attempt to let the French monopolize the tin trading business in the island.

However, the attempt was stalled by the change in the regime. After King Narai passed away and King Phra Phetracha succeeded in 1698, King Phra Phetracha did not favor the French as did his predecessor, so he did not allow such monopolization. After making some more failed attempts, the French eventually conceded and backed off.

At Thalang, the English East India company led by Captain Francis Light was spearheading the island's major trade, tin trading.

Captain Francis Light permanently resided in the island between 1772 – 1780 in his own residence. He held close connections with the then governor of Thalang, Phraya Phimol and his wife, Thao Thep Kasartri, partly because of the tin trading business.

In the meantime, the British government was seeking a seaport as a base in her scheme for expanding the influence over the sea to the Melacca strait. As the representative of the British government, Captain Light proposed an idea that Britain occupied Thalang as a marine base. Yet, thanks to the fact that Britain decided to occupy Penang instead, Thalang was safe from being colonized.

Despite having escaped from Britain’s colonization attempt, Thalang was still facing Burmese invasions.

In 1785, Burma invaded Thalang. During that time, Phraya Phimol, the governor of Thalang had just passed away. Thao Thep Kasatri, his wife, and her sister,
Thao Sri Sunthorn gathered villagers to resist Burma. After surrounding Thalang for almost a month, the Burmese army was forced to leave by the lack of
provisions.

The courage, intelligence and determination of Thao Thep Kasatri and Thao Sri Sunthron who successfully defended Thalang against Burma made the people of Thalang (nowadays Phuket) honor both of them as heroines of the island and built a monument for them at the intersection of Ta Rue. Today, the monument is still being paid respect to by both local and international visitors everyday.

Even though Burma finally withdrew its troops, the war had brought about calamities to Thalang. In order to revive the economy, Thalang had to trade a large amount of tin for essential goods.

The peace did not last for long as another war happened 24 years later. In 1809, Burma once again invaded Thalang. This time Thalang was utterly defeated. All the villagers deserted the island and fled to Phang'nga and Krabi. Thalang remained a ghost town for more than 10 years until Burma lost the war against Britain and became a British colony – ending the series of Burmese invasions on Siam.

In 1825, Thalang people began moving back to Thalang. Yet, Thalang town never again gained an importance as before.

However, at the same time, the Phuket town in the south of the island was booming – again by the tin trading business. Phuket grew to be the center of tin trading and a more important community than Thalang. Eventually, Phuket was promoted to be equal to Thalang in 1850.

The island had become the host of two towns, Thalang and Phuket. The mayors of both towns had the same rank, Phraya.

Phuket still kept expanding and attracting villagers from Thalang and nearby areas, including the Chinese from both other places in Thailand and outside Thailand. Due to its growing community, economy and political power, in 1861, Phuket was finally promoted to be directly under the administration of Bangkok from being under the administration of Takua Pa.

In 1894, Phuket was promoted further to become a monton (province), having Thalang, Phang Nga, Takua Pa, Ranong, Krabi and Trung under it.

The tin trading business was analogous to a springboard that sprang Phuket to the top of the region. Various people came to this boomtown, making Phuket’s economy flourished. Various businesses mushroomed across the town. Making up the largest proportion of the immigrants were the Chinese from Penang, other places in South East Asia and China itself.

It was this group of Chinese who brought about rich cultures with them and transformed the face of Phuket like nowadays.

The question is “When did the Chinese begin their influx into Phuket?”

To answer this question, we have to look back into the mid of the 19th century when some scientists discovered that tin can be used to coat iron to prevent rusting. Since then, the demand of tin coated iron for food canning surged in Europe. At that time, Britain established the Asian headquarter of English East India in Penang – making Penang the center of tin trading in Asia. This boosted the tin trading business of the whole region to the next level. This change in the market coupled with the fact that the Thai authority no longer monopolized the tin trading business and allowed ordinary people to mine and sell tin freely, the tin production surged.

The surge in the demand of tin during that time caused a severe labor shortage in Phuket. As a result, the mayor of Phuket at that time began sourcing 300 Chinese laborers from Bangkok and a large number of Chinese from Penang. Most of the Chinese who came to Phuket spoke Hokkien as their mother tongue.

These Chinese then asked their friends and families to join them, and that caused the influx of Chinese into the island.

A vast number of Chinese from the South of China, e.g. those from Fujian (Hokkien), Guangdong and Hainan, who had access to the sea, migrated to South East Asia.

These overseas Chinese migrants fled from their homeland due to the stagnant economy, civil war and natural catastrophes for better opportunities in life. These Chinese migrants could be categorized into two categories – freewill migrants and indentured laborers (coolies).

Many of these Chinese coolies were sent from China to Penang before being distributed to other places such as Phuket and Medan, Indonesia. These Chinese were registered and marked on their body in order to prevent absconding.

The Chinese Protectorate Report Of 1881, indicated the severity of labor condition. Chinese coolies usually worked for 360 days a year with wages varying from $30 to $40. For new immigrants or sinkeh, the cost of passage was first deducted from their wages.

The land rich of tin provided opportunities to the dwellers of Phuket to stably accumulate wealth, especially to the Chinese migrants who were already hardworking and business-minded. Many Chinese coolies changed their statuses from coolie to entrepreneur. Many became millionaires. Some of them came from Penang and some directly from China. Most of them are Hokkien.

At that time, for Phuket people, traveling to Penang by ship took less than 10 hours, but traveling to Bangkok took 2 days. The development of Penang, coupled with its proximity to Phuket, contributed to the popularity of it as a destination for education of children from well-off families in Phuket.

The close relationship between Penang and Phuket brought about the cultural influence of Penang over Phuket which is reflected by the architecture called Sino-Portugese in Phuket.

Various cultural elements that are the uniqueness of Phuket (and Part of Phang Nga) such as cuisine, funeral, Ghost Festival, costumes, Spring Festival and the practice of praying to divine spirits all resemble Penang’s.

Altars are often found in front of houses in these streets.

If you go a bit into the house, you’ll find an even bigger altar which has the Buddha statue and Taoist divine statues on it.

On the left of the altar, you’ll find signs representing the spirits of the ancestors of the family.

The front door is often engraved with beautiful patterns which imply good meanings such as.

Many houses in the old town have interesting history which attracts visitors to take photos as souvenirs on their trips to Phuket.