4 - Early Contacts between India and the Andaman Coast in Thailand from the Second Century BCE to Eleventh Century CE

Summary

The Andaman Coast of the southern region of Thailand displays numerous evidences that reveal the long history of trade and cultural contacts between Thailand and other countries. By the early part of the Common Era these trade routes reached out to bring together the previously rather disparate Southeast Asian exchange systems, linking them into a vast network stretching from Western Europe, via the Mediterranean Basin, the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, to India, Southeast Asia and China. This period saw the first appearance of what has been called the World System (Glover 1996: 59). The contacts caused the communities located along the Andaman Coast to rapidly become a significant trading-station in Southeast Asia (Fig. 4.1).

EARLY SEAPORTS ON THE ANDAMAN COAST

The southern region of Thailand is geographically part of the Thai-Malay Peninsula, forming a natural wall stretching into the sea. The area became a meeting point for the ships sailing between the east and the west. This led to the establishment of the early trading-stations on the Andaman Coast. During the uncomfortable journey along the coastline, resting points were essential for tired sailors and crews. Consequently, commercial connections fostered cultural exchange and engendered settlements of foreign sailors and traders, especially Indian people, during early times. The foreigners gradually merged with the local people. Later on Indian merchants established trading-stations at many ports in Southeast Asia. In ancient Indian literature, the area was called Suwannaphumi (Swarnabhumi). The trading stations founded by Indians did not distribute only Indian goods, but also Roman products and items that imitated the original Roman goods. The Roman items came to Southeast Asia because at that time the Romans had already founded many trading stations in India (Phasook Indrawooth 2005: 37). The archaeological site Khuan Luk Pat at Khlong Thom, Krabi Province, is located on the coast of the Andaman Sea. There is archaeological evidence that illustrates the contacts with overseas regions since the beginning of the Common Era. The number of beads found at this site is ample enough to say that this place was once significant bead-making site in Thailand.