Mergui

Mergui is a port on the Andaman Sea at the mouth of the Tenasserim River, sheltered by an archipelago of islands. For the Siamese kingdom of Ayutthaya it was a western gateway to the Bay of Bengal. Merchants could travel upriver to Tenasserim and cross the peninsula towards the Gulf of Siam, avoiding a long voyage around the Malay Peninsula. Ships from India and other distant shores brought goods and people into this busy maritime world.

In the seventeenth century Siamese officials and foreign merchants competed for control of the port's trade. Relations with the English East India Company deteriorated, and in July 1687 violence broke out at Mergui, killing many English residents. French forces subsequently occupied the port for a time. In the following century the coast passed between Siamese and Burmese control, before the Treaty of Yandabo ceded Tenasserim to Britain in 1826.