Phuket Island has a long recorded history, and remains dating back to AD 1025 indicate the island's present day name derives in meaning from the Thamil Manikram, or Crystal Mountain. For most of history, however, it was known as Junk Ceylon, which with variations, is the name found on old maps. The name is thought to have its roots in Ptolemy's Geographic, written by the Alexandrian geographer in the third Century AD, he mentioned that in making a trip from Suwannapum to Malay Peninsula it was necessary to pass the cape of Jong Si Lang.

Phuket was a way station on the route between India and China where seafarers stopped to shelter. The island appears to have been part of Shivite Empire (called in Thai the Tam Porn Ling) that established itself on the Malay Peninsula during the first millennium AD. Later, as Muang Takua-Talang, it was part of Srivichai and Siri Tahm Empire. Governed as the eleventh of twelve cities, Phuket's emblem was the dog.

During the Sukothai Period, Phuket was associated with Takua Pah in what is now the Phang-Nga Province, another area with vast tin reserves. The Dutch established a trading post during the Ayuthaya Period in the 16th Century. The island's northern and western parts were given over to the tin trade, a concession in the hands of foreigners.

After Ayuthaya was sacked by the Burmese in 1767 there was a short interregnum in Thailand, ended by King Taksin, who drive out the Burmese and reunified the country. Until a passing sea captain, Francis Light, sent word that the Burmese were en route to attack. Forces in Phuket were assembled led by the two heroines, Kunying Jan and her sister Mook. After a month's siege the Burmese were forced to depart on 13 March, 1785. Kunying Jan and her sister were credited with the successful defense of Phuket. In recognition King Rama I bestowed upon Kunying Jan the honorific Thao Thep Kasarti, a title of nobility usually reserved for royalty, by which she is known today. Her sister became Thao Sri Suntorn.

During the Nineteenth Century Chinese immigrants arrived in such numbers to work the tin mines that ethnic character of the island's interior became predominantly Chinese, while the coastal settlements remained populated chiefly by Muslim fishermen.

In Rama V's reign, in 1893 Phuket the island was established as a province by itself.

Phuket is an island connected by bridges to southern Thailand's Andaman Sea coast, in the Indian Ocean and is Thailand's largest island.

Phuket is surrounded by 32 smaller islands that form part of the same administration, with a total area of 570 square kilometers.