Forty years later, however, the Burmese returned to take revenge, destroyed Thalang and other parts of Phuket and created such a disaster that the inhabitants of Phuket left their island and settled on the mainland, in an area that is now known as Pang-Nga (A similar thing happed to Chiang Mai in the North of Thailand that was also temporarily abandoned by its inhabitants). Another twenty years later, during the reign of King Rama III, the Burmese threat abated and the islanders returned to Phuket. Thalang was rebuilt, but it did not stay capital of Phuket island long, instead,  Phuket Town was founded in the south of the island and became the new capital.

It was also during the reign of King Rama III (who was the older brother of King Mongkut, well-known from the Broadway musical "The King and I" ) that tin was discovered on the island. Tin mining soon became the major source of wealth on Phuket and the employment opportunities in the tin mines attracted large numbers of Chinese immigrants.In the year 1876 a rebellion of the tin miners broke out who were very dissatisfied with their working conditions. Two monks (their statues can be seen at Wat Chalong) served as mediators in the conflict.

Phuket Island has a population of about 200.000. One third of them live in Phuket Town. 30% of the population are Chinese, the descendants of the Chinese tin miners of the previous century. The rest are Thai who migrated from the mainland, Sikhs and Hindus who migrated from India, and the Chao Lay, the so-called Sea Gypsies. The Chao Lay were among the earliest inhabitants of Phuket. they are darker skinned and heavier built than the Thai and often have curly black hair. They used to travel from island to island, from cove to cove, staying only until the fish and seafood resources were depleted . Nowadays most of them live in villages on land.

Although Thailand (i.e. Phuket) is still one of the largest tin producers in the world, there are only very few open mines left, most of the tin mining is done offshore. Another important product is rubber. All over Phuket you can see large rubber plantations and if you rise early enough you can watch the rubber tappers at work. Phuket also produces tropical fruit, the most common is a small, very sweet pineapple (often planted in the spaces between the trees in the rubber plantations). Fishing is of course also important, and, to an increasing degree, tourism and its associated industries.

Phuket used to be the home of a large variety of wild animals like elephants, monkeys, rhinoceros, and even tigers, until about the beginning of the 19th century. But these times are gone .... The only real tropical rainforest is now the Khao Phra Thaeo National Park (which is very beautiful, visit it!)

The dominant religion of Phuket Island is Theravada Buddhism, which is very much alive. Each Thai Buddhist man must at least once during his lifetime become a monk, for a minimum of seven days, and live in one of the Wats and in the early morning walk out barefoot with the other monks and do Bintabaht (the alms giving rite that provides the monks their only source of food.)

The Chinese population of Phuket Island adheres to a mixture of Taoism and Mahayana Buddhism (a school of Buddhism that cultivates the belief in saints, the so-called Boddhisatvas). Animism, i.e. the belief in spirits and demons is common both among Thai and Chinese. A relatively large part of the population are Muslims of the (non-fundamentalist) Sunni Sect.