Myeik, Myanmar

The Portuguese were allegedly the first Europeans to visit Myeik, while the Siamese (Thais), who ruled the area during the 17th century, installed Englishman Samuel White as harbourmaster. White proceeded to plunder visiting ships at will and to tax the local population for every shilling he could squeeze out of them, exploits described in Maurice Collis' 1936 biography of the man, Siamese White. The British, who called the port Mergui, eventually re-occupied Myeik following the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1826, so that along with Sittwe, Myeik became one of the first cities in Myanmar to become part of British India. The city continued to retain its international roots into the 20th century, as this 1901 British census of Myeik indicates:
A considerable proportion of the population in the town and mines is Baba or half-Chinese, the men retaining the pig-tail but talking Burmese or Siamese […] Of the Musalmans [Muslims], between 2000 and 3000 are Malays and the rest nearly all Zarbadis. Living in boats among the island in a very low stage of civilisation is a wild people of obscure origin, called by the Burmese Salon, by the Malays Orang Basin, by the Siamese Chaunam (waterfolk), and by themselves Maw Ken (drowned in the sea).
The Japanese invaded in 1941, but by 1945 Myeik was back in British hands, until independence was achieved in 1948.