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Phuket to host World Art Exhibition
Phuket to host World Art Exhibition
Thursday 10 August 2023 03:13 PM
PHUKET: Creative Arts enthusiasts are in for a treat with the “Phuket World Arts Creative City” Art Exhibition taking place from Saturday (Aug 12) until the end of the month.
Lard Yai doubles New Year fun with two consecutive street fairs in Phuket Old Town
Lard Yai doubles New Year fun with two consecutive street fairs in Phuket Old Town
Sunday 25 December 2022 02:48 PM
PHUKET: The Phuket Old Town Community has invited local residents and tourists to feel the New Year spirit at the renowned Lard Yai street fair on Thalang Rd. Instead of one weekend event, there will be two markets on both the last Saturday of 2022 (Dec 31) and the following first Sunday of 2023 (Jan 1).
The History of Phuket: The social fabric of early Phuket
The History of Phuket: The social fabric of early Phuket
Saturday 22 February 2020 12:00 PM
Prostitution and the availability of slave women for sale meant that sex workers were never a thriving business in Phuket until later in the 19th century when thousands of single Chinese male “coolies” arrived to work in the tin mines.
Lovers eternally bound remain in the heart of Phuket forever -The Sarasin Bridge of Love Remembered
Lovers eternally bound remain in the heart of Phuket forever -The Sarasin Bridge of Love Remembered
Saturday 22 February 2020 10:00 AM
Every day, people come and go from Phuket to Phang Nga, looking over at the old Sarasin Bridge, having no idea the significance it holds in Thai folklore. Live here for a substantial amount of time and the legend of “Saphan Rak Sarasin” will be as well known to you as it is among Thais.
The ‘Angyee’ Chinese Riots of 1876
The ‘Angyee’ Chinese Riots of 1876
Thursday 30 January 2020 07:00 PM
High taxation in the early1870’s placed backbreaking taxes on Phuket Tin mines. This extra tax burden on the Chinese mine owners and coolies happened to coincide with a fall in the world tin price in the mid-1870’s. With the mines so overtaxed, several became unprofitable and the mine owners laid off many workers or simply stopped paying their wages.
Phuket History: The Tin’acious Dutch
Phuket History: The Tin’acious Dutch
Sunday 22 December 2019 01:00 PM
The Dutch had originally come to the Phuket peninsula to buy pepper. But as the market in Europe for porcelain, tea and silk began to boom they concentrated more on their trade with China and Japan. The problem was that Holland, in fact Europe, had few products that China needed. But China did always want tin, which was widely used in religious ceremonies and for making bronze (rust-proof) cannons. So the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or VOC, widely known by it’s British name the Dutch East India Company, started to focus on obtaining tin in the Malay Peninsula for its China trade. For this it began to turn to the tin mines of southwestern Siam around Phuket. The official VOC “Dagregistrar” (records book) records that the first Dutch tin-buying expedition to Phuket had been in 1639 under Captain Orlando Thibault. However two years later, after conquering Ma­lacca in 1641, the Dutch moved more aggressively to expand their tin-buying activities up the surrounding peninsular west coast.
Phuket History: The Siamese character seen through foreign eyes
Phuket History: The Siamese character seen through foreign eyes
Sunday 24 November 2019 03:00 PM
Nicolas Gervaise, a French resident in Siam in 1688, says of the Siamese character: “They make no scruples about being a little [dissembling] and those to whom they sometimes show the greatest politeness and respect are those for whom in their heart they have often contempt and antipathy.
Phuket History: Why Penang was colonised but Phuket was not
Phuket History: Why Penang was colonised but Phuket was not
Sunday 20 October 2019 03:00 PM
After 12 years of intrigues, Captain Francis Light [of the British East India Company (EIC)] and [his friend and business partner] James Scott had two islands potentially in their hands: Phuket and Penang – and an EIC in the mood to do something to obtain a base on the east side of the Bay of Bengal.
Phuket History: Siam’s conflict with Portugal
Phuket History: Siam’s conflict with Portugal
Sunday 22 September 2019 03:00 PM
Portugal and Siam had gener­ally got along well at first, but the Portuguese, especially after they united with the Spanish crown (1580-1640) grew increasingly arrogant and overbearing towards the Siamese kings Ekathotsarot and Songtham.
Phuket History: The first English privateers in Phuket
Phuket History: The first English privateers in Phuket
Wednesday 21 August 2019 04:00 PM
In 1591 the first English privateering fleet was funded to go to the East for, as its charter stated, “The anoyinge of the Spaniards and Portingalls, (nowe our enemys) as also for the vendinge of oure comodities.”
Phuket History: A short period of Japanese rule over the central peninsula and Phuket
Phuket History: A short period of Japanese rule over the central peninsula and Phuket
Monday 19 August 2019 03:00 PM
In 1629 when King Songtham of Ayutthaya died, his cousin, Okya Kalahom (minister of defence), and his supporters effectively usurped the throne by killing King Songtham’s designated heir and placing King Songtham’s six-year-old son on the throne as King Chetha, with Okya Kalahom as his overseeing regent, which gave the ambitious defence minister real power over the kingdom.
Phuket History: A picture of the slave trade before the chains were broken
Phuket History: A picture of the slave trade before the chains were broken
Sunday 21 July 2019 03:00 PM
Since labour was such a scarce resource, slav­ery remained legal in Siam until 1905 and was integral to peninsular society. Hwang Chung, a visiting Chinese trader in the 16th century, reported that on the peninsular west coast the people said, “it is better to have slaves than to have land because [the labour of] slaves [is] a protection to their masters”.
Phuket History: The first English privateers in Phuket
Phuket History: The first English privateers in Phuket
Monday 10 June 2019 02:00 PM
In 1591 the first English privateering fleet was funded to go to the East for, as its charter stated, “The anoyinge of the Spaniards and Portingalls, (nowe our enemys) as also for the vendinge of oure comodities.”
Kathu’s 19th Century treasure: The discovery of tin in the 1790s
Kathu’s 19th Century treasure: The discovery of tin in the 1790s
Monday 13 May 2019 02:00 PM
Kathu had previously been an area frequented only by hunters chasing flocks of waterfowl in the swamps or rhinoceros, tigers, deer and boar in the forests. In 1870, Dr. D. B. Bradley, publisher of the Bangkok Daily Advertiser, visited Phuket and tells us the history of the early development of these new mines at Kathu.
Phuket History: The 1675 Battle of Patong
Phuket History: The 1675 Battle of Patong
Monday 18 March 2019 03:00 PM
The Englishman Thomas Bowrey was on Phuket as the island’s trouble with the Dutch escalated. He tells us that the main base for the Dutch patrol ships was “Banquala” Bay (Patong), where they were based to intercept boats coming east from India.
Sinbad the Sailor - Was Phuket the mariner’s old stomping ground?
Sinbad the Sailor - Was Phuket the mariner’s old stomping ground?
Sunday 21 October 2018 02:00 PM
Persian and Arab mariners returned home to their barren and dry homelands with fantastic stories of the exotic jungle lands they had seen on the other side of the Indian Ocean, and they soon became the setting for fabulous sailors’ legends such as the tales of Sinbad the Sailor in The Thousand and One Nights.
Peranakannitat Museum in Phuket Town
Peranakannitat Museum in Phuket Town
Sunday 14 October 2018 01:00 PM
Right in the heart of old Phuket Town you can find the Peranakannitat Museum (also called the Baba Museum), which was officially opened in May 2017 by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Cache on 2026-07-27 16:16:32