Koh Samui History - Thailand

Koh Samui Island is the Kingdom of Thailand's third largest island, with an area of 247 square kilometers. It is circular in shape and about 15 kilometers in diameter in most places. It is located about 700 kilometers south of Thailand's capital, Bangkok. It is approximately 80 kilometers east of the Thai mainland - which at that point is really a very slender strip of land leading to the Malay peninsula – in the Gulf of Thailand.

Koh Samui has a fairly typical tropical climate, although the rainy period is shorter than would be expected, and a diverse geography. There are many lovely beaches on Samui island – and coral reefs just off of the beaches - but the interior is very hilly or mountainous, with some of these high places extending to heights of over 600 meters.

There are seven or so important streams which flow from the mountains to the ocean. Many smaller islands – almost one hundred – surround Koh Samui. Today, it is dependent on tourism for the overwhelming bulk of its revenue, but is somewhat famous for another source of income – coconuts. It is estimated that there are over three million coconut trees on the island.

Koh Samui first appears in written history as "Pulo Cornam", a location on 17th century Ming Dynasty maps. It is believed that the island was not inhabited until 1,200 to 1,500 years ago. Immigrants from Hunan in China settled in the northern part of the island and grew coconuts, and Muslim fishermen from what is now Malaysia settled in the southern and eastern parts.

In the 17 and 18th centuries, it came under the control of Nakhon Si Thammarat, the major power in southern Thailand at the time, and in the later part of the 18th century, under the control of the Thais or Siamese from Bangkok.

For practical purposes, however, there wasn't really very much to control. The islanders lived in small, self sustaining and self governing villages, largely isolated from the larger world and even from other villages on the island.

Journeys which today take only a matter of minutes took several hours, and were dangerous due to snakes and so forth. It wasn't until around 1960's that the island had any roads at all to speak of, and these were dirt roads. Development was discussed but very little was done until this time.

In 1967, the "island leader", Khun Dilok Suthiklom, made a decision to try to develop the island, and asked the authorities in Bangkok for assistance. Thus, about this time, construction of what came to be known as the "ring road", a road running along the coastlands and encircling Kh Samui Island, began.

It was a difficult project involving, in several places, excavation through solid rock and required extensive use of both manpower and sophisticated machinery, which was difficult to transport to a remote island. Even when the excavations were complete and the dirt road was established, it took additional time to pave the road. The 51 kilometer road, which was necessary if the island was to develop, wasn't finished until 1973.

The beginnings of the tourism industry on Koh Samui are traced to about the time the ring road was completed. The popular story is that two tourists visited a friend living on the island in 1971, being so impressed with the natural beauty of the island, began telling anyone and everyone who would listen about it.

Tourism became a souce of revenue in the latter 1970's but did not become a "monster" industry until the late 1980's and early 1990's. This was due to the efforts of the Thai Tourism Authority, and to the completion of the island's first and only airport, which was built in the northeast corner of the island, near most of what have become the major tourist beaches.

Previous to the construction of the airport, almost all tourists had to come to the island by ferry boat from the Thai mainland through the port town of Nathon, which is located on the west coast of the island toward the northern corner, and then travel to the northeast and east coasts.

The development of the tourism industry has been a mixed blessing for Koh Samui. A huge amount of investment has come into the island and many jobs have been created.

However, the development has not occurred in a planned, sustainable way. Resorts and businesses have been built almost anywhere and everywhere on the island and the environment has suffered terribly.

Although the beaches have, by and large, been protected, the interior of the island, with its trees, mountains and wildlife, has been decimated.

This is unfortunate because, if for no other reason, these items could also have been an important part of the tourism industry.

Furthermore, the destruction of the forests and the mountains have increased the destructuve impact of the seasonal rains, which now cause massive flooding.

It is also questionable how much the tourism industry has benefited the original inhabitants of the island. It is true that several islanders became "rich" by selling their land to developers (usually for less than its real worth), and that many jobs have been created. Most of the good jobs on the island, however, are reserved for Bangkok Thais and for the foreign businessmen who have flooded the island, driving up prices for everyone.

Many of the "Chao Samui", those who have lived on the island for generations, find themselves with no options but to work in hotels and restaurants serving customers, or as drivers or security guards, and so forth. It is also questionable how much the Chao Samui, many of whom are Muslim, appreciate the huge numbers of "entertainer" females who now occupy large parts of the island, loud music and intoxicated tourists.

It is said that many of the Chao Samui have retreated to more remote parts of the island and try to live in isolation, or prefer to live in Nathon, the largest town and administrative center of the island, a place which maintains more of a local atmosphere than the tourists developments which occupy many other places on the island.

The Future

One can only guess what the future will bring to Koh Samui. The island seems well protected from natural disasters such as tsunamis. It was not effected by the tsunami of 2004 in the slightest. And it will probably continue to draw large investment and be a magnet for tourists.

However, there does seem to be a danger that the island will become an overdeveloped concrete jungle, where rich people live inside densely packed, walled resorts, and swim on the slivers of beautiful beaches that remain to be enjoyed. Certainly, the development of Koh Samui could have been handled much better.