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Population.
Phuket has a population of 200,000. The main
centers of population are on opposite sides of the island. Phuket Town,
with a population of about 63,000, is located on the east side and
Patong Beach, whose population varies widely depending on the time of
year, is located on the west side.
The residents are Thais who migrated from the
mainland, Chinese who arrived to work the tin mines, Muslims of
Malaysian extraction -- many of who come to work the rubber plantations
-- and Chao Nam or Sea Gypsies -- who may have occupied the area for a
millennium or more.
The Chinese now comprise 35 percent of the
island’s population. They differ from those who settled in Bangkok and
many other areas of Thailand in that they came from the Hokkien region
of China, as did those who settled in
Singapore and
Malaysia. As elsewhere in Asia, many of the
Chinese have made the transition from providing cheap labor to being
merchants. The Chinese have inter-married with native Thais and have
largely been assimilated into Thai culture. Today the descendants of the
early Chinese settlers are responsible for much of the trade and
commerce that take place on the island.
The influence of Indonesian-Malayan culture is
still apparent today in the ethnic makeup, language, art, and religion
of the southern Thais. About 35% of the Thais living on Phuket are
Muslims. Concentrated mostly around Surin and a few other big villages,
they work as rice and rubber farmers. In addition to Thai and Malay
languages many also speak ‘Yawi’, an ancient dialect of the Malayan
language. >Back to Top<
One of the most interesting groups of people
who have lived on Phuket are the Sea Gypsies, traditionally a nomadic
peoples who traveled from cove to cove, staying until the fish and other
resources were depleted. They then moved on, allowing the cove to
re-establish its former ecological balance before
returning
to repeat the cycle. Their history and cultural lifestyles are hard to
trace as they do not have a written language. Sea gypsies are said to
have originated in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands between India and
Burma. They are generally darker skinned and heavier with curly black
hair. They speak their own language and follow their own animistic
religion.
Sea Gypsies consist of three groups. The Mokens
still prefer their ancestral sea nomad-style of living and are commonly
found occupying the islands north of Phuket. The Orung Laut and the
Moklens have settled on coastal areas. There are three Sea Gypsy
villages in Phuket. The one located at Rawai is thought to be the oldest
and is visited by busloads of tourists everyday. Another village is
located 8km north of Phuket Town at Sapam Coast, and a third village is
located on Siray Island which is accessible by bridge from Phuket Town.
>Back to Top<
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