Koh Samui Guide  History

Koh Samui History

Koh Samui history is one filled with stories of traders and fishermen as is the case with many Thai and South East Asian islands. Koh Samui first got onto the map when captains and fishermen discovered Samui and used it as a save shelter from bad weather and rough seas.

Many of the original immigrants were of Malaysian and Chinese origin. Early records in Koh Samui history show how these first inhabitants of Koh Samui were stunned by the islands beauty, the white sandy Samui beaches and  the huge amounts of available natural resources such as fruits.

History of Samui

This history of Samui is one that was unfortunately not well documented in historic documents. The main reason for this unfortunate lack of documents regarding the Samui history is that those that knew of Koh Samui, the traders and captains, were used to passing this type of information verbally rather then writing up the information to be passed out to fellow boatmen and other traders.

The first people that came to Koh Samui and started the Samui history books lived for the major part of what they were able to get from the sea.

The immigrants however quickly discovered the richness of the soil on Koh Samui and soon agriculture popped up throughout Samui and an important chapter in Samui history started as Koh Samui still benefits to this very day of the actions of the original inhabitants.

Coconut tree plantations were started as well as plantations with numerous other tropical and delicious fruits. For those of you that have visited Thailand you will certainly have tasted the lovely and sweet lynchee which can be found in many Koh Samui farms.

Koh Samui Tourism History

The first tourists that appear in the Samui history books were the European backpackers who discovered this beautiful and tropical Thai island in the 70’s.

Obviously the infrastructure was not in place yet for mass tourism in those days and most visitors slept in basic beach huts along one of the beautiful sandy beaches of Koh Samui.

Tourism has changed a great deal since those early days in the history of Samui tourism as since then tourism has become the main source of income for the island. The quality of the Samui hotels and other tourists infrastructure has also improved dramatically as many beautiful 4 and 5 star Samui resorts and hotels can be found all over the island.