The name Ko Pha-ngan derives from the word "ngan", meaning 'sand bar' in southern Thai, for there are many sand bars offshore.[citation needed] Ko Pha-ngan has been a longtime favorite of past kings of Thailand. Rama V, or Chulalongkorn, for example, visited Ko Pha-ngan 14 times during his reign. The Bronze Drum of Dongson Culture (500–100 BCE) that was found on Ko Samui in 1977 is evidence that there were settlements of people on Ko Samui, Ko Pha-ngan, and their islets more than two thousand years ago. Some historians and archaeologists believe that the first group who migrated to Ko Pha-ngan were Austronesian peoples who travelled by boat from the Malay Peninsula.