Samui Island

Samui Island or Ko Samui is the largest of a group of nearly 100 tropical islands in the Gulf of Thailand along the east coast of Surat Thani Province. These islands are known as the Samui archipelago. The most phenomenally famous tourist destinations, attracting a wide range of visitors from all over the world, are the three largest islands: Samui, Phangan, and Tao. Long sandy beaches, green mountainous interiors, colorful coral reefs, a warm tropical climate and an easy-going people with a ready smile clearly define Samui's appeal.

Some 1,500 years ago Samui was probably first inhabited by fishermen using the island as a base to fish its rich waters. The island was first officially recorded on a Ming Dynasty map from China in approximately 1,500 AD. Many immigrants from Hunan have settled in the northern villages of Nathon and Maenam. Muslim fishermen settled in the South and East and Huan Thanon is still a strong Muslim enclave. During the 17th to 18th centuries the islands came under the rule of Nakhon Si Thammarat which at that time was the main power in southern Thailand. Eventually it came under the direct rule of the Siamese from Bangkok in the late 18th century, but Samui and other islands have always been essentially self-governing. By the end of the 19th century, the remote communities had been established and word of the beautiful islands in the Gulf of Thailand was already seeping through to the greater Thai country. After the Second World War, Thailand became more economically sophisticated and natural products such as timber, rubber and fruit became tradable commodities. These fertile islands were important for the plantations of coconuts which began to assume economic value to the country. Then the backpackers arrived and gradually tourism began to dominate the island economically and socially.

Ko Samui, the third largest island of Thailand and thelargest in the southeast in the Gulf of Thailand, is surrounded with almost a hundred islands. The main islands, which are all near Samui Island and are inhabited, are Phangan, Tao and Tan Islands. Samui Island is 247 sq km It is full of tropical jungle and mountains up to 600 m high and is covered by almost 3 million coconut trees, some over 160 years old and 35 m tall.