The Heroine's Monument, Phuket, Thailand

In 1785, after King Taksin the Great of Thonburi (briefly Siam's capital before the founding of Bangkok) had fought back the Burmese two decades after they sacked the Ayutthaya kingdom, Sir Francis Light of the British East India Company told officials on Phuket that he had spotted Burmese forces preparing for an attack on the southern island.

Phuket's governor had just died, so his widow Kunying Chan and her sister Mook assembled a defence force. Realising they were outnumbered, Chan and Mook persuaded all the island's women to dress as men in a bid to fool the invaders that the island was well-defended.

On March 13, after a month-long of siege, they succeeded in repelling the Burmese. The two women became local heroines, receiving the honorary names Thao Thep Kasatri and Thao Sri Sunthon from King Rama I.