Archaeological evidence suggests that Phuket has been settled since about 100 BC. Before that, more than 3,000 years ago, unidentified Neolithic people of the sea left petroglyphs (rock drawings) on islands and mainland sites north of Phuket.
Indian, Chinese, Thai and European trading vessels have for thousands of years plied the Andaman Sea, and Phuket was a regular port of call for provisioning and repairs. At the same time, commodities from timber and tin to pearls, ambergris, ivory, birds' nests and rhinoceros horn drew traders.
The first actual inhabitants, it is thought, were negritoes. Mons from what is today known as central Thailand followed. A later migration from western India brought Dravidians to Malaya, the mainland north of Phuket and, almost certainly, Phuket itself.
Sometime after than, mainland Thais settled on Phuket and Muslim fishing people from Malaya came north to establish coastal villages on Phuket and neighbouring islands such as Koh Racha and Koh Phi Phi. Their descendants are also still to be found in Phang Nga Bay, just north and east of Phuket, where Koh Pannyi -- inappropriately referred to as the "Sea Gypsy Village" in English -- a community built on stilts out over water, is a popular tourist attraction. For much of its history, it was known as "Junkceylon", "Junsalaomm", "Ujong Sylang" and other variations of the same -- probably a corruption of tanjong, which is Malay for "cape" or "peninsula" and salang, the local name of the island or the people who were living there. (There is some evidence that Phuket, a thousand years ago, was still connected to the mainland by a strip of land.)
From the late 18th century onwards, large numbers of Chinese settlers began to appear, most of them drawn by tin mining. (Around half the current population is ethnic Chinese.) This soon caused what is now Phuket Town to swell to prominence, and, even today, some of the most charming architecture in the town is a mixture of
