Page 42 - (DK Eyewitness) Top 10 Travel Guide - Phuket

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Moments in History

Mural depicting the attempted Burmese invasion of 1785
March 13, 1785: Burmese
1st Century BC–
1 4
Invasion Repelled
AD 2nd Century:
Earliest Records Led by two sisters – Thao Thep
Phuket was founded by Indian Kasattri and Thao Srisoonthorn –
merchants, with trade dating back the Siamese defended Phuket
to the 1st century BC. It was later against a month­long Burmese
mentioned by the Greek geogra pher attack. Francis Light, an English
Ptolemy, who referred to it as “Junk ship captain, had alerted Phuket
Ceylon,” a “cape” en route to the of assembling Burmese forces,
Malaysian peninsula. giving the army time to prepare.
Early 19th Century:
AD 1500–1700:
2 5
Tin Seekers
Chinese Immigration
Tin defined Phuket’s economy Lured by Phuket’s flourishing tin
for hundreds of years. The Dutch mines, and to escape poverty in their
established a strategic trading own country, thousands of Chinese
presence in Phuket after it was dis­ workers immigrated to the island
covered that the island had vast tin during the early 1800s, estab lishing
reserves. The English and French com munities and customs that
followed shortly after, and the define Phuket to the present day.
Siamese King Narai (r.1656–88) Chinese shrines, architecture, and
granted France monopoly in 1685. festivals are among their legacies.
1876: Tin Worker
AD 1688:
3 6
Rampage
French Expulsion
After the Siamese revolution of 1688, A group of migrant Chinese tin
in which the pro­foreign Siamese workers, disgruntled over their low
King Narai was over thrown, the wages and difficult living condi tions,
French were ordered out of Siam. instigated a violent uprising on
The French, under General Marshal Phuket, causing local residents to
Desfarges, captured Phuket in an flee to Wat Chalong for protec tion.
attempt to reassert influence in Siam The monks of the temple sheltered
in 1689, but the occupation of the the people and eventually helped
island was futile. restore calm to the island.

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