The Last Eden (Part 2)
Action Asia (1998)

Mystery Land

To date, little study or research has been done on the Mergui Archipelago, and it barely appears in the pages of history or geography books. It takes quite a bit of digging to get even the sketchiest information. However, it seems that ten thousand years ago, during the last great Ice Age, the Mergui Islands were part of the mainland. Then the polar ice caps melted, the sea rose and the islands were cut off – with flora and fauna from the mainland preserved intact. What remained of the adjacent mainland was a very narrow neck of land – the Isthmus of Kra, which joins Malaysia to Thailand – most of it mountainous and covered in dense, malaria-infested jungle. The coastal strip opposite the archipelago was mainly mangrove swamp, and unattractive for either farming or settlement. Through the rise and the fall of the various empires of Burma, Thailand and Malaysia, the area remained all but unsettled and the islands of the archipelago untouched.

It was only the growth of commerce between the various empires of the region that led to any significant settlement in the area. As trade grew between the civilizations of India and Mesopotamia to the west, and China, Vietnam and Thailand to the east, seafarers and merchants quickly found it convenient to make landfall on the Isthmus of Kra, then transship goods the short distance across the peninsula. Even so, battling across the rugged mountains, overcoming heat, humidity, dense jungle, the risk of malaria and occasional tiger attacks, was no easy task. The town of Mergui was established on a small island in a river mouth, one of the most convenient anchorages on the western coast. Over the centuries the settlement grew into a prosperous port, and its fortunes were further bolstered by the advent of European traders seeking access to the Far East. But eventually the tide turned for Mergui. The British, who became the dominant sea power and trading nation in the region in the early 19th century, chose to set up another port further south on Penang Island, and Mergui declined in importance. Then the advent of steam ships, which enabled an easy passage through the windless Straits of Malacca and around the Malay peninsula, removed the need for the difficult transshipment across the mountainous Isthmus of Kra, and Mergui slipped into obscurity. Once again the western coast of the peninsula and the Mergui Archipelago were off the world map.

In 1948, the British granted independence to Burma; but in 1962, just as the rest of Asia began a period of unsurpassed growth and development, a military junta seized power and established a dictatorship. They all but sealed Burma off from the outside world, and the few tourists who took advantage of the one-week visas usually explored Rangoon (Yangon) or headed north to Mandalay and the fabulous Plain of Pagan. None turned south to the untouched islands of Mergui – and even if they had, getting there at that time would have proven extremely difficult.