Chang and Eng Bunker

Chang and Eng Bunker were Siamese-American conjoined twins who became internationally known performers in the nineteenth century. Their fame helped popularize “Siamese twins” as a name for conjoined twins.

Robert Hunter: A Scottish merchant who helped bring Chang and Eng Bunker to the United States in 1829. He arranged their first American tour and helped launch their public careers.
Kingdom of Siam: The Southeast Asian kingdom that preceded modern Thailand and was known internationally as Siam. The twins’ birthplace supplied the geographic name that became attached to conjoined twins.
Xiphopagus twins: Conjoined twins joined at the xiphoid region, the lower end of the breastbone. Chang and Eng were joined by a band of tissue in the abdominal region.
Siamese twins: A historical expression for conjoined twins, derived from the fame of Chang and Eng Bunker. Their celebrity made the expression widely recognizable, though it is now often avoided.
P.T. Barnum: An American showman and museum proprietor known for presenting human and natural curiosities. Barnum exhibited the twins in New York, shaping their early American publicity.
Samut Songkhram: A province in central Thailand on the Gulf of Thailand. Chang and Eng were born in this region, then part of Siam.
Liver: A large organ that performs essential metabolic, digestive, and detoxifying functions. Their connecting band included a shared portion of liver tissue.
Human curiosities: People exhibited to paying audiences because their bodies or lives were presented as unusual. Nineteenth-century promoters marketed the twins within this entertainment category.
Sarah Anne Yates: The wife of Chang Bunker, whom he married in 1843. Her marriage to Chang connected the twins’ public story to a large family life.
American tour of Chang and Eng Bunker: The series of public appearances Chang and Eng Bunker made in the United States after arriving in 1829. The tour introduced them to audiences and established their fame.

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