Non-state allies
129-419: [REDACTED] Myanmar ( SAC ) Non-state opponents [REDACTED] Chinland Council The Chin Brotherhood Alliance (CBA) is a military and political alliance between several ethnic armed organisations active in Chin State , Myanmar . Formed on 30 December 2023 during the Myanmar civil war , the claimed goal of the alliance is to foster collaboration concerning affairs in Chin State and in
258-588: A Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Nationalities , and multi-party elections were held in 1951–1952 , 1956 and 1960 . The geographical area Burma encompasses today can be traced to the Panglong Agreement , which combined Burma Proper, which consisted of Lower Burma and Upper Burma, and the Frontier Areas, which had been administered separately by the British. In 1961, U Thant ,
387-527: A ceasefire but insisted on a full submission. They repeated their 1281 demand that the Burmese king send a formal delegation to the emperor. The two sides had reached a tentative agreement by 3 March 1286, which calls for a full submission of the Pagan Empire, and central Burma to be organized as the province of Mianzhong ( Chinese : 緬中 ; Wade–Giles : Mien-Chung ). After a long deliberation,
516-599: A long vowel: [ˈmjænmɑː, ˈbɜːmə] . So the pronunciation of the last syllable of Myanmar as [mɑːr] by some speakers in the UK and most speakers in North America is in fact a spelling pronunciation based on a misunderstanding of non-rhotic spelling conventions. However, Burma is pronounced [ˈbɜːrmə] by rhotic speakers of English due to a phonotactic constraint, as /ɜː/ occurs only before /r/ in those accents. Archaeological evidence shows that Homo erectus lived in
645-695: A prosperous economy for more than 80 years. From the 1720s onward, the kingdom was beset with repeated Meithei raids into Upper Myanmar and a nagging rebellion in Lan Na. In 1740, the Mon of Lower Myanmar founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom . Hanthawaddy forces sacked Ava in 1752, ending the 266-year-old Toungoo Dynasty. After the fall of Ava, the Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War involved one resistance group under Alaungpaya defeating
774-764: A relaxation of press censorship, and the regulation of currency practices. In response, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar in December 2011 – the first visit by a US Secretary of State in more than fifty years – meeting both President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. First Mongol invasion of Burma 1277–1278: 12,000 1283–1285: 24,000+ 1277–1278: Unknown 1283–1285: 10,000+ 1277–1278: Unknown 1283–1285: Unknown 1277–1278: Unknown 1283–1285: 10,000+ The first Mongol invasions of Burma ( Burmese : မွန်ဂို–မြန်မာ စစ် (၁၂၇၇–၁၂၈၇); Chinese : 元緬戰爭) were
903-636: A series of military conflicts between Kublai Khan 's Yuan dynasty , a division of the Mongol Empire , and the Pagan Empire that took place between 1277 and 1287. The invasions toppled the 250-year-old Pagan Empire, and the Mongol army seized Pagan territories in present-day Dehong, Yunnan and northern Burma to Tagaung . The invasions ushered in 250 years of political fragmentation in Burma and
1032-485: A smaller, more manageable kingdom, encompassing Lower Myanmar , Upper Myanmar , Shan states , Lan Na and upper Tenasserim . The restored Toungoo kings created a legal and political framework whose basic features continued well into the 19th century. The crown completely replaced the hereditary chieftainships with appointed governorships in the entire Irrawaddy valley and greatly reduced the hereditary rights of Shan chiefs. Its trade and secular administrative reforms built
1161-413: A stalemate, exchanging Tenasserim (to Burma) and Lan Na (to Ayutthaya). Faced with a powerful China and a resurgent Ayutthaya in the east, King Bodawpaya turned west, acquiring Arakan (1785), Manipur (1814) and Assam (1817). It was the second-largest empire in Burmese history but also one with a long ill-defined border with British India . In 1826, Burma lost Arakan, Manipur , Assam and Tenasserim to
1290-644: A unified state. Aung Zan Wai , Pe Khin, Bo Hmu Aung , Sir Maung Gyi, Sein Mya Maung, Myoma U Than Kywe were among the negotiators of the historic Panglong Conference negotiated with Bamar leader General Aung San and other ethnic leaders in 1947. In 1947, Aung San became Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of Myanmar, a transitional government. But in July 1947, political rivals assassinated Aung San and several cabinet members. On 4 January 1948,
1419-468: Is "Republic of the Union of Myanmar" ( Burmese : ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် , Pyihtaungsu Thamada Myanma Naingngantaw , pronounced [pjìdàʊɴzṵ θàɴməda̰ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴdɔ̀] ). Countries that do not officially recognise that name use the long form "Union of Burma" instead. In English, the country is popularly known as either Burma or Myanmar . In Burmese, the pronunciation depends on
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#17327915437781548-656: Is bordered by India to its west, Bangladesh to its southwest, China to its northeast, Laos and Thailand to its east and southeast, and the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to its south and southwest. The country's capital city is Naypyidaw , and its largest city is Yangon (formerly Rangoon). Early civilisations in the area included the Tibeto-Burman -speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Myanmar and
1677-629: Is not a member of the Commonwealth of Nations despite once being part of the British Empire . Myanmar is a Dialogue Partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization . The country is very rich in natural resources , such as jade , gems , oil , natural gas , teak and other minerals , as well as also endowed with renewable energy , having the highest solar power potential compared to other countries of
1806-463: Is standard. Pronunciations with two syllables are found most often in major British and American dictionaries. Dictionaries—such as Collins —and other sources also report pronunciations with three syllables. As John Wells explains, the English spellings of both Myanmar and Burma assume a non-rhotic variety of English , in which the letter r before a consonant or finally serves merely to indicate
1935-497: The 8888 Uprising then resulted in a nominal transition to a multi-party system two years later, but the country's post-uprising military council refused to cede power, and has continued to rule the country through to the present. The country remains riven by ethnic strife among its myriad ethnic groups and has one of the world's longest-running ongoing civil wars . The United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systemic human rights violations in
2064-536: The Ayutthaya Kingdom , Lan Xang and southern Arakan. However, the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia unravelled soon after Bayinnaung's death in 1581, completely collapsing by 1599. Ayutthaya seized Tenasserim and Lan Na, and Portuguese mercenaries established Portuguese rule at Thanlyin (Syriam). The dynasty regrouped and defeated the Portuguese in 1613 and Siam in 1614. It restored
2193-571: The Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP). During this period, Myanmar became one of the world's most impoverished countries. There were sporadic protests against military rule during the Ne Win years, and these were almost always violently suppressed. On 7 July 1962, the government broke up demonstrations at Rangoon University , killing 15 students. In 1974, the military violently suppressed anti-government protests at
2322-769: The Chin ethnic community. The alliance was created by local Chin people's defence forces who believed that the establishment of the Chinland Constitution , the Chinland Council , and the State of Chinland "did not adhere to democratic standards, lacked equality, and failed to represent and reflect the unity of the entire Chin ethnic group." On 31 January, 2024, the CDF- Mara , CDF- Paletwa , CDF- Thantlang , CDF–Zophei, CDF-Lautu, and CDF–Senthang, alongside
2451-885: The Chin National Army (CNA), launched an offensive on Chin Brotherhood Alliance member the Maraland Defence Force (MDF) after the MDF reportedly killed a CNA soldier and detained several CDF-Mara soldiers. A month later, the MDF and CNA clashed in Paletwa Township near the Chin State - Rakhine State border. In early May, after the Chin Brotherhood Alliance captured the town of Kyindwe, the alliance accused
2580-611: The Chinland Council and the Chin National Front of trying to take advantage of the conflict in Chin State to occupy the town and expand their territorial control. In the same statement, it urged the CNF to prioritise attacks on the Chin State capital of Hakha and warned that the alliance would "fight back" if confrontations continued. The Chinland Defense Force - Matupi (Brigade 2), a Chinland Council member, condemned
2709-462: The Han Chinese , Wa , and Kachin . During 8–12 August, the first days of the conflict, as many as 10,000 Burmese civilians fled to Yunnan in neighbouring China. Civil wars have been a constant feature of Myanmar's socio-political landscape since the attainment of independence in 1948. These wars are predominantly struggles for ethnic and sub-national autonomy, with the areas surrounding
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#17327915437782838-673: The Khwarazmid empire , the Kipchaks , and even Bulgars from the lower Volga . What followed was a border war in 1277–1278. It was reported mainly in the Yuan dynasty chronicle and the travelogue of Marco Polo . Although the Burmese chronicles have no record of the border war, a 1278 Burmese inscription mentions the army's defeat at Ngasaunggyan. The Mongol accounts of the border war contain certain errors of location and numbers although
2967-625: The Mon kingdoms in Lower Myanmar . In the 9th century, the Bamar people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley, and following the establishment of the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language , culture , and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country. The Pagan Kingdom fell to Mongol invasions , and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by
3096-933: The Rohingya Muslims and the government and non-government groups in Rakhine State ; and a conflict between the Shan , Lahu , and Karen minority groups, and the government in the eastern half of the country. In addition, al-Qaeda signalled an intention to become involved in Myanmar. Armed conflict between ethnic Chinese rebels and the Myanmar Armed Forces resulted in the Kokang offensive in February 2015. The conflict had forced 40,000 to 50,000 civilians to flee their homes and seek shelter on
3225-531: The Rohingya conflict , continued to be a source of international tension and consternation. Following the 2020 Myanmar general election , in which Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won a clear majority in both houses, the Burmese military (Tatmadaw) again seized power in a coup d'état . The coup, which was widely condemned by the international community , led to continuous ongoing widespread protests in Myanmar and has been marked by violent political repression by
3354-471: The State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests. The military government finalised plans for People's Assembly elections on 31 May 1989. SLORC changed the country's official English name from the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar" on 18 June 1989 by enacting the adaptation of the expression law. In May 1990,
3483-534: The Taungoo dynasty , the country became the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia for a short period. The early 19th-century Konbaung dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Assam , the Lushai Hills , and Manipur as well. The British East India Company seized control of the administration of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century, and
3612-606: The economy is controlled by cronies of the military junta . Myanmar is one of the least developed countries ; as of 2020, according to the Human Development Index , it ranks 147 out of 189 countries in terms of human development , the lowest in Southeast Asia . Since 2021, more than 600,000 people were displaced across Myanmar due to the surge in violence post-coup, with more than 3 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance. The name of
3741-447: The military government officially changed the English translations of many names dating back to Burma's colonial period or earlier, including that of the country itself: Burma became Myanmar . The renaming remains a contested issue. Many political and ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognise the legitimacy or authority of the military government. The country's official full name
3870-671: The register used and is either Bama ( pronounced [bəmà] ) or Myamah ( pronounced [mjəmà] ). Official United States foreign policy retains Burma as the country's name although the State Department 's website lists the country as Burma (Myanmar) . The United Nations uses Myanmar , as does the ASEAN and as do Australia , Russia , Germany , China , India , Bangladesh , Norway , Japan , Switzerland , Canada and Ukraine . Most English-speaking international news media refer to
3999-431: The 1947 Constitution, successive military governments construed the use of the term ' federalism ' as being anti-national, anti-unity and pro-disintegration. On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d'état , and the government had been under direct or indirect control by the military since then. Between 1962 and 1974, Myanmar was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by
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4128-593: The 19th century, Burmese rulers sought to maintain their traditional influence in the western areas of Assam, Manipur and Arakan. Pressing them, however, was the British East India Company, which was expanding its interests eastwards over the same territory. Over the next 60 years, diplomacy, raids, treaties and compromises, known collectively as the Anglo-Burmese Wars , continued until Britain proclaimed control over most of Burma. With
4257-471: The 9th century, several city-states had sprouted across the land: the Pyu in the central dry zone, Mon along the southern coastline and Arakanese along the western littoral. The balance was upset when the Pyu came under repeated attacks from Nanzhao between the 750s and the 830s. In the mid-to-late 9th century the Bamar people founded a small settlement at Bagan . It was one of several competing city-states until
4386-831: The British in the First Anglo-Burmese War . In 1852, the British easily seized Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War . King Mindon Min tried to modernise the kingdom and in 1875 narrowly avoided annexation by ceding the Karenni States . The British, alarmed by the consolidation of French Indochina , annexed the remainder of the country in the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885. Konbaung kings extended Restored Toungoo's administrative reforms and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion. For
4515-401: The Burmese called Ngasaunggyan . The Yuan Chronicle reports that only 700 men defeated a Burmese army of 40,000 to 50,000 with 10,000 horses and 800 elephants. It also reports only one Mongol was killed, in trying to catch an elephant. According to Marco Polo, the Mongol army consisted of 12,000 mounted archers, and the Burmese army numbered 60,000 men with 2,000 elephants, "on each of which
4644-508: The Burmese defenses led by commanders Athinkhaya , Yazathingyan and Thihathu , and probably never got closer than 160 km north of Pagan. (An inscription dated 16 February 1293 by the three brothers claimed that they defeated the Mongol army. ) Even if the Mongols did reach Pagan, the damage they inflicted was probably minimal. At any rate, the Mongol army suffered heavy casualties, and retreated north to Tagaung. They remained there as
4773-437: The Burmese fort at Ngasaunggyan. The Burmese chronicles report an overwhelming number of Mongol forces laying siege to the fort although their numbers are greatly exaggerated. (The chronicles say that the Burmese army numbered 400,000 men while the Mongol army numbered 20 million men and 6 million horses.) The Burmese withstood the siege for over two months but the fort fell on 3 December 1283. The defeat at Ngasaunggyan broke
4902-584: The Chairmanship – effectively the position of Myanmar's top ruler – from General Saw Maung in 1992 and held it until 2011. On 23 June 1997, Myanmar was admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. On 27 March 2006, the military junta, which had moved the national capital from Yangon to a site near Pyinmana in November 2005, officially named the new capital Naypyidaw , meaning "city of
5031-637: The Chindits into the Burmese jungle in 1943. Beginning in late 1944, allied troops launched a series of offensives that led to the end of Japanese rule in July 1945. The battles were intense with much of Burma laid waste by the fighting. Overall, the Japanese lost some 150,000 men in Burma with 1,700 prisoners taken. Although many Burmese fought initially for the Japanese as part of the Burma Independence Army, many Burmese, mostly from
5160-500: The Chinese side of the border. During the incident, the government of China was accused of giving military assistance to the ethnic Chinese rebels. Clashes between Burmese troops and local insurgent groups have continued, fuelling tensions between China and Myanmar. The military-backed Government had promulgated a "Roadmap to Discipline-flourishing Democracy" in 1993, but the process appeared to stall several times, until 2008 when
5289-608: The Government published a new draft national constitution, and organised a (flawed) national referendum which adopted it. The new constitution provided for election of a national assembly with powers to appoint a president, while practically ensuring army control at all levels. A general election in 2010 - the first for twenty years - was boycotted by the NLD . The military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party declared victory, stating that it had been favoured by 80 per cent of
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5418-493: The Great Mekong Subregion. However, Myanmar has long suffered from instability , factional violence, corruption , poor infrastructure, as well as a long history of colonial exploitation with little regard to human development . In 2013, its GDP (nominal) stood at US$ 56.7 billion and its GDP ( PPP ) at US$ 221.5 billion. The income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world, as a large proportion of
5547-471: The Mongol Empire in the late 13th century. Though it was never more than a minor frontier war to the Mongols, the war set off a series of enduring developments in Burma. The invasions ushered in a period of political fragmentation, and the rise of Tai-Shan states throughout mainland Southeast Asia. The immediate result of the war was the collapse of the Pagan Empire. However, the war merely accelerated
5676-501: The Mongol military success, the control of the borderlands remained contested. Pagan did not relinquish its claim to the frontier regions, and the Burmese, apparently taking advantage of Mongol preoccupations elsewhere, rebuilt their forts at Kaungsin and Ngasaunggyan later in 1278, posting permanent garrisons commanded by Einda Pyissi. But their control was short-lived. The Great Khan's attention turned to Southeast Asia once more in 1281. He had mixed success: his vaunted forces finished off
5805-442: The Mongols, who viewed the states as a useful buffer between Yunnan and the rest of Southeast Asia. The Mongols, who were still trying to incorporate Yunnan into the central administration, were unwilling or unable to make necessary sustained investments to bring the vast regions south of Yunnan into the fold. (The integration of Yunnan itself into “China proper” was to take several more centuries, and continues to today. ) As such, from
5934-474: The Mongols. When the Mongol envoys led by Qidai Tuoyin showed up, the Pagan court led by Chief Minister Ananda Pyissi was well aware of the military power of the Mongols and advised King Narathihapate to use diplomacy. The king was furious at the demand and kept the Mongol envoys waiting for weeks. The court finally devised a compromise: the envoys were sent back without ever seeing the king. Accompanying them
6063-447: The Mongols. Like in 1272, the Burmese government responded by sending an army to reclaim the rebellious state; but unlike in 1272, the Mongols had posted a sizable garrison there. Though it was ultimately under Mongol command, many of the officers and most of the soldiers of the garrison were Turkic-speaking peoples or people from the further west: Turks from Samarkand , Bukhara , Merv and Nishapur , but also captive soldiers from
6192-614: The Pagan dynasty itself. Between the newly conquered Mongol territory and Pagan were a wide swath of borderlands stretching from present-day Dehong , Baoshan and Lincang prefectures in Yunnan as well as the Wa and Palaung regions (presumably in present-day northern Shan State ), which Pagan and Dali had both claimed and exercised overlapping spheres of influence. Then as now, the borderlands mostly consist of forbidding terrains of high mountain ranges. The Mongol Empire first arrived at
6321-771: The Restored Hanthawaddy, and by 1759 he had reunited all of Myanmar and Manipur and driven out the French and the British, who had provided arms to Hanthawaddy. By 1770, Alaungpaya's heirs had subdued much of Laos and fought and won the Burmese–Siamese War against Ayutthaya and the Sino-Burmese War against Qing China . With Burma preoccupied by the Chinese threat, Ayutthaya recovered its territories by 1770 and went on to capture Lan Na by 1776. Burma and Siam went to war until 1855, but all resulted in
6450-471: The Shan states were all multi-ethnic polities. Despite the wars, cultural synchronisation continued. This period is considered a golden age for Burmese culture . Burmese literature "grew more confident, popular, and stylistically diverse", and the second generation of Burmese law codes as well as the earliest pan-Burma chronicles emerged. Hanthawaddy monarchs introduced religious reforms that later spread to
6579-726: The Taruk [Chinese]). ) From a geopolitical standpoint, the Mongol–Chinese presence in Yunnan pushed the Shan migrations in the direction of Burma (and parts of the Khmer Empire). The raids by various Shan states into Upper Burma would continue until the mid-16th century. During the official visit by the Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj to Myanmar in November 2013, Aung San Suu Kyi ,
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#17327915437786708-408: The Union of Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and former secretary to the prime minister, was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations , a position he held for ten years. When the non-Burman ethnic groups pushed for autonomy or federalism, alongside having a weak civilian government at the centre, the military leadership staged a coup d'état in 1962. Though incorporated in
6837-426: The accusations. Founding Members: Later Members: Myanmar in ASEAN (dark grey) – [ Legend ] Myanmar , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also rendered Burma (the official English form until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia . It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has a population of about 55 million. It
6966-425: The animals into such pain that they fled. The Mongol army pressed on after the monsoon season. In the following dry season of 1277–1278, c. December 1277, a Mongol army of 3,800 men led by Nasr al-Din , son of Gov. Sayyid Ajjal, advanced to Kaungsin, which defended the Bhamo Pass . They occupied the fort and destroyed a large number of abandoned stockades. But they found the heat excessive and returned. Despite
7095-430: The back of Burmese defenses. The Burmese army lost several thousand men as well as senior commanders. Kaungsin, the next fort in line, fell just six days later on 9 December 1283. The Mongol sources say that the Burmese lost 10,000 men at Kaungsin. The Mongol armies pushed farther south into the Irrawaddy valley. They took the ancient Burmese capital of Tagaung , about 380 km north of Pagan on 5 February 1284. There,
7224-422: The battle, the Turkish and Mongol horsemen "took such fright at the sight of the elephants that they would not be got to face the foe, but always swerved and turned back," while the Burmese forces pressed on. But the Mongol commander Huthukh did not panic; he ordered his troops to dismount, and from the cover of the nearby treelines, aim their bows directly at the advancing elephants. The Mongol archers' arrows threw
7353-405: The borderlands in order to block an escape path for the Song, and permitted a limited border war if Pagan contested. Pagan did contest but its army was driven back at the frontier by the Mongol Army in 1277–1278. After a brief lull, Kublai Khan in 1281 turned his attention to Southeast Asia, demanding tribute from Pagan, the Khmer Empire , Đại Việt and Champa . When the Burmese king again refused,
7482-412: The capital city of Pagan (Bagan). But Kyawswa was overthrown nine months later, and the Mongols were forced to intervene, leading to their second invasion in 1300–1301. Marco Polo reported the first invasions (1277–1287) in his travelogue, Il Milione . The Burmese referred to the invaders as the Taruk (after the central Asian Turkic troops that largely made up the Mongol invasion army); today,
7611-432: The collapse but did not cause it. Pagan's disintegration was "in fact more prolonged and agonized." The kingdom had been in long gradual decline since the early 13th century. Had Pagan possessed a stronger central government, the collapse could have been temporary, and the country “could have risen again”. But the dynasty could not recover, and because the Mongols refused to fill the power vacuum, no viable center emerged in
7740-444: The contrary. At any rate, the imperial envoys did not return to Yunnan in due time. The newly formed Yunnan government sent another delegation to investigate the whereabouts of the delegation, but the delegation could not reach Pagan because of an ongoing rebellion en route. Meanwhile, in 1274, the former Dali Kingdom was officially reorganized as the province of Yunnan, with Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar as governor. In May 1275,
7869-450: The country became a British colony . After a brief Japanese occupation , Myanmar was reconquered by the Allies. On 4 January 1948, Myanmar declared independence under the terms of the Burma Independence Act 1947 . Myanmar's post-independence history has been checkered by continuing unrest and conflict to this day. The coup d'état in 1962 resulted in a military dictatorship under the Burma Socialist Programme Party . On 8 August 1988,
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#17327915437787998-418: The country by the name Myanmar , including the BBC , CNN , Al Jazeera , Reuters , and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation ( ABC )/ Radio Australia . Myanmar is known by a name deriving from Burma in Spanish , Italian , Romanian , and Greek . French-language media consistently use Birmanie . There are at least nine different pronunciations of the English name Myanmar , and no single one
8127-442: The country has been a matter of dispute and disagreement, particularly in the early 21st century, focusing mainly on the political legitimacy of those using Myanmar versus Burma . Both names derive from the earlier Burmese Mranma or Mramma , an ethnonym for the majority Burman ethnic group, of uncertain etymology. The terms are also popularly thought to derive from Sanskrit Brahma Desha , 'land of Brahma '. In 1989,
8256-399: The country. (Indeed, the tribute was no longer nominal.) In exchange, the emperor agreed to withdraw his troops. For the emperor, the Burma campaign was the only bright spot; his other Southeast Asian expeditions had gone badly. He did not want to invest more troops pacify the rest of the kingdom. He preferred a vassal ruler. The Burmese embassy arrived back at Hlegya in May 1287, and reported
8385-433: The country. In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved following a 2010 general election , and a nominally civilian government was installed. Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners were released and the 2015 Myanmar general election was held, leading to improved foreign relations and eased economic sanctions , although the country's treatment of its ethnic minorities , particularly in connection with
8514-503: The critical days following this disaster, Myanmar's isolationist government was accused of hindering United Nations recovery efforts. Humanitarian aid was requested, but concerns about foreign military or intelligence presence in the country delayed the entry of United States military planes delivering medicine, food, and other supplies. In early August 2009, a conflict broke out in Shan State in northern Myanmar. For several weeks, junta troops fought against ethnic minorities including
8643-417: The decline continued. On the eve of the Mongol invasions, between one and two-thirds of Upper Burma's cultivable land had been donated to religion. The crown's ability to mobilize defenses was in serious jeopardy. The period of calm for Pagan ended in the early 1270s. By then, the Song were on the ropes, and Emperor Kublai Khan , who officially founded the Yuan dynasty on 18 December 1271, sought to cut off
8772-402: The defeat, the king panicked, and fled to Lower Burma. The evacuation proved premature. The Mongol forces did not advance on Pagan as it was not part of their invasion plan. The country fell into chaos. In Lower Burma, the king found himself isolated, let alone plan a counterattack. Although the king's three sons ruled the nearby regions ( Bassein (Pathein), Prome (Pyay), and Dala-Twante ),
8901-416: The doorstep of Burma. The old Dali Kingdom, known to the Burmese as Gandalarit ( ဂန္တလရာဇ် , after Gandhara Raj ) was now a Mongol Chinese province. (The Burmese now called the new powers at Yunnan "Taruk" after the Turkic-speaking soldiers of Yunnan. Over the years, the term Taruk came to be used to refer to the Han Chinese . Today, King Narathihapate is remembered as Taruk-Pye Min, ("the King who fled from
9030-432: The doorstep of the Pagan Empire in 1252 by invading the Dali Kingdom in its attempt to outflank Song China. The Mongol armies captured the capital, Dali, on 7 January 1253, and went on to pacify much of the kingdom by 1257. The arrival of the Mongols did not initially upset the existing order at the borderlands as the Mongols were intent on finishing off the Song . For the next dozen years, they consolidated their hold over
9159-421: The early 13th century. The continuous growth of tax-free religious wealth had greatly reduced the tax base of the kingdom. The crown had lost resources needed to retain the loyalty of courtiers and military servicemen, inviting a vicious circle of internal disorders and external challenges. Although it was able to put down the first batch of serious rebellions in 1258–1260 in South Arakan and Martaban (Mottama),
9288-543: The emergence of iron-working settlements in an area south of present-day Mandalay . Evidence also shows the presence of rice-growing settlements of large villages and small towns that traded with their surroundings as far as China between 500 BCE and 200 CE. Iron Age Burmese cultures also had influences from outside sources such as India and Thailand , as seen in their funerary practices concerning child burials. This indicates some form of communication between groups in Myanmar and other places, possibly through trade. Around
9417-548: The emperor in Beijing in January 1287, agreed to a treaty that acknowledged the suzerainty of the Mongol Empire over the Pagan Empire and annual payments in taxes to the Yunnan government in exchange for the evacuation of Mongol troops from northern Burma. But the treaty never really took effect as Narathihapate was assassinated in July 1287, and no authority who could honor the treaty emerged. The Mongol command at Yunnan now deemed
9546-432: The emperor now ordered an invasion of northern Burma. He also ordered an invasion of Champa, whose king too had refused to submit. Throughout 1282, the Mongol command made preparations for the upcoming invasions of Champa and northern Burma. The objective of the Burma campaign was to take over northern Burma but no further; the emperor did not sanction an attack on Pagan itself. At least one army consisted of 14,000 men of
9675-459: The emperor ordered an invasion of northern Burma. Two dry season campaigns (1283–1285) later, the Mongols had occupied down to Tagaung and Hanlin , forcing the Burmese king to flee to Lower Burma. The Mongols organized northern Burma as the province of Zhengmian. Ceasefire negotiations began in 1285, and ended with Narathihapate finally agreeing to submit in June 1286. The Burmese embassy, received by
9804-477: The entire eastern half of Lower Burma (Pegu and Martaban) was in open revolt. Given his precarious position, Narathihapate decided to buy time, and sue for peace with the Mongols. In November/December 1285, the king ordered his generals Ananda Pyissi and Maha Bo to enter into ceasefire negotiations. The Mongol commanders at Hanlin, who had organized northern Burma as a protectorate named Zhengmian ( Chinese : 征緬 ; Wade–Giles : Cheng-Mien ), agreed to
9933-408: The erstwhile Khwarezmid Empire under the command of Yalu Beg was sent to Yunnan to reinforce the Burma invasion force, which again was made up of Turks and other central Asians. On the Burmese side, the king managed to raise an army although given his low standing with his vassals, he probably could not have raised a large one. By mid-1283, a Burmese army led by generals Ananda Pyissi and Yanda Pyissi
10062-614: The ethnic minorities, served in the British Burma Army. The Burma National Army and the Arakan National Army fought with the Japanese from 1942 to 1944 but switched allegiance to the Allied side in 1945. Overall, 170,000 to 250,000 Burmese civilians died during World War II. Following World War II, Aung San negotiated the Panglong Agreement with ethnic leaders that guaranteed the independence of Myanmar as
10191-562: The ethnically Bamar central districts of the country serving as the primary geographical setting of conflict. Foreign journalists and visitors require a special travel permit to visit the areas in which Myanmar's civil wars continue. In October 2012, the ongoing conflicts in Myanmar included the Kachin conflict , between the Pro-Christian Kachin Independence Army and the government; a civil war between
10320-486: The fall of Mandalay, all of Burma came under British rule, being annexed on 1 January 1886. Throughout the colonial era, many Indians arrived as soldiers, civil servants, construction workers and traders and, along with the Anglo-Burmese community, dominated commercial and civil life in Burma. Rangoon became the capital of British Burma and an important port between Calcutta and Singapore . Burmese resentment
10449-555: The final blow against the Song; the emperor ordered the Yunnan provincial army to secure the borderlands in order to block the escape path of the Song refugees. He also sanctioned a limited border war if Pagan contested the takeover. As planned, the Yunnan army proceeded to consolidate the borderlands in 1275–1276. Elsewhere, the main Mongol armies had captured most of the Song territory by 1276. By 1277, at least one Burmese vassal state named "Gold Teeth" (modern Yingjiang ) had submitted to
10578-664: The first Prime Minister and Premier of Burma. Ba Maw was an outspoken advocate for Burmese self-rule, and he opposed the participation of Britain, and by extension Burma, in World War II . He resigned from the Legislative Assembly and was arrested for sedition. In 1940, before Japan formally entered the war , Aung San formed the Burma Independence Army in Japan. As a major battleground, Burma
10707-422: The first time in history, the Burmese language and culture came to predominate the entire Irrawaddy valley. The evolution and growth of Burmese literature and theatre continued, aided by an extremely high adult male literacy rate for the era (half of all males and 5% of females). Nonetheless, the extent and pace of reforms were uneven and ultimately proved insufficient to stem the advance of British colonialism. In
10836-604: The form of cave paintings in Padah-Lin Caves . The Bronze Age arrived c. 1500 BCE when people in the region were turning copper into bronze, growing rice and domesticating poultry and pigs; they were among the first people in the world to do so. Human remains and artefacts from this era were discovered in Monywa District in the Sagaing Region . The Iron Age began around 500 BCE with
10965-543: The four-century-old kingdom in 1287. Pagan's collapse was followed by 250 years of political fragmentation that lasted well into the 16th century. Like the Burmans four centuries earlier, Shan migrants who arrived with the Mongol invasions stayed behind. Several competing Shan States came to dominate the entire northwestern to eastern arc surrounding the Irrawaddy valley. The valley too was beset with petty states until
11094-408: The funeral of U Thant. Student protests in 1975, 1976, and 1977 were quickly suppressed by overwhelming force. In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 8888 Uprising . Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and formed
11223-589: The general. Almost all aspects of society (business, media, production) were nationalised or brought under government control under the Burmese Way to Socialism , which combined Soviet-style nationalisation and central planning . A new constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma was adopted in 1974. Until 1988, the country was ruled as a one-party system , with the general and other military officers resigning and ruling through
11352-641: The government held free multiparty elections for the first time in almost 30 years, and the National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, won earning 392 out of a total 492 seats (i.e., 80% of the seats). However, the military junta refused to cede power and continued to rule the nation, first as SLORC and, from 1997, as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) until its dissolution in March 2011. General Than Shwe took over
11481-426: The governor sent a report to the emperor stating that the embassy had not returned; that the Burmese evidently had no intention of submitting; and that war was the only way forward. But the emperor rejected an outright invasion. Just coming off a disastrous Japanese campaign, the emperor was unwilling to commit the central government troops to what he considered a low priority affair. He was now focused on delivering
11610-420: The immediate aftermath. As a result, several minor states fought it out for supremacy for the better part of the 14th century. It was only in the late 14th century that two relatively strong powers emerged in the Irrawaddy basin, restoring some semblance of normalcy. The vast region surrounding the Irrawaddy valley would continue to be made up of several small Tai-Shan states well into the 16th century. Perhaps
11739-473: The imperial order to withdraw void, and ordered an invasion of central Burma. They may not have reached Pagan, and even if they did, after having suffered heavy casualties, they returned to Tagaung. The Pagan Empire disintegrated and anarchy ensued. The Mongols, who probably preferred the situation, did nothing to restore order in the next ten years. In March 1297, they accepted the voluntary submission of King Kyawswa of Pagan although he controlled little beyond
11868-494: The independent Dali Kingdom and its predecessor Nanzhao , both with Dali as their capital city . Dali-based kingdoms were a power in their own right, at times allying themselves with the Tibetan Empire to their west and at other times with China's Tang and Song dynasties. Indeed, Nanzhao's mounted armies ventured deep into what is today Burma and may have been behind the founding of the medieval city of Pagan and
11997-431: The invaders paused their advance. They "found the heat of the searing Irrawaddy valley excessive", and evacuated Tagaung, allowing the Burmese to return to Tagaung on 10 May 1284. But the Mongol army renewed their offensive in the following dry season. They retook Tagaung, and defeated another Burmese stand south of Tagaung, probably near Hanlin , on 26 January 1285, opening the way to Pagan, about 270 km south. After
12126-468: The king agreed to submit but wanted the Mongol troops to withdraw. In June 1286, he sent an embassy led by Shin Ditha Pamauk , a learned monk, to the emperor's court. In January 1287, the embassy arrived at Beijing, and was received by the Yuan emperor. The Burmese delegation formally acknowledged Mongol suzerainty of their kingdom, and agreed to pay annual tribute tied to the agricultural output of
12255-436: The king did not trust any of them, and he and his court settled at Hlegya, west of Prome. Without the full support of his sons, the presence of the king and his small army impressed no one. A usurper named Wareru seized the southern port city of Martaban (Mottama) by killing its Pagan-appointed governor. Gov. Akhamaman of Pegu also revolted; the king managed to send two small expeditions to Pegu but they both failed. Now,
12384-577: The kings". In August 2007, an increase in the price of fuel led to the Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks that were dealt with harshly by the government. The government cracked down on them on 26 September 2007, with reports of barricades at the Shwedagon Pagoda and monks killed. There were also rumours of disagreement within the Burmese armed forces, but none was confirmed. The military crackdown against unarmed protesters
12513-552: The last of the Song in 1279 but had again failed to take Japan in 1281. That year, the Mongol emperor sent another mission to Pagan, demanding tribute yet again. The Burmese king was to send his ten senior ministers accompanied by one thousand cavalry officers to the emperor's court. (With Champa, the emperor summoned the king of Champa himself to Beijing. ) At Pagan, Narathihapate deliberated with his court for an appropriate response but ultimately refused to submit. The Burmese court may have been counting on another limited border war but
12642-566: The late 10th century, when it grew in authority and grandeur. Pagan gradually grew to absorb its surrounding states until the 1050s–1060s when Anawrahta founded the Pagan Kingdom, the first ever unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Pagan Empire and the Khmer Empire were two main powers in mainland Southeast Asia. The Burmese language and culture gradually became dominant in
12771-646: The late 14th century when two sizeable powers, Ava Kingdom and Hanthawaddy Kingdom , emerged. In the west, a politically fragmented Arakan was under competing influences of its stronger neighbours until the Kingdom of Mrauk U unified the Arakan coastline for the first time in 1437. The kingdom was a protectorate of the Bengal Sultanate at different time periods. In the 14th and 15th centuries, Ava fought wars of unification but could never quite reassemble
12900-439: The loss of 7000 men; occupied the city; and sent out detachments to receive homage, one of which reached south of Prome. But not all colonial period scholars agreed with the assessment as none of the contemporary Mongol/Chinese records specifically mentioned the conquest of Pagan or the temporary completeness of the conquest. Recent research shows that the Mongol forces most probably never reached Pagan. They were held at bay by
13029-476: The lost empire. Having held off Ava, the Mon -speaking Hanthawaddy entered its golden age, and Arakan went on to become a power in its own right for the next 350 years. In contrast, constant warfare left Ava greatly weakened, and it slowly disintegrated from 1481 onward. In 1527, the Confederation of Shan States conquered Ava and ruled Upper Myanmar until 1555. Like the Pagan Empire, Ava, Hanthawaddy and
13158-506: The military, as well as a larger outbreak of the civil war . The military also arrested Aung San Suu Kyi in order to remove her from public life, and charged her with crimes ranging from corruption to violation of COVID-19 protocols; all of the charges against her are "politically motivated" according to independent observers. Myanmar is a member of the East Asia Summit , Non-Aligned Movement , ASEAN , and BIMSTEC , but it
13287-408: The most enduring legacy of the Mongol invasions was the emergence of Tai-Shan states in mainland Southeast Asia. The Tai-Shan people who came down with the Mongol invasions stayed. By the early 14th century, several Tai-Shan states had come to dominate a vast region from present-day Assam to present-day northern and eastern Myanmar to northern and central Thailand and Laos. Their rise was encouraged by
13416-526: The nation became an independent republic, under the terms of the Burma Independence Act 1947 . The new country was named the Union of Burma , with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first president and U Nu as its first prime minister. Unlike most other former British colonies and overseas territories, Burma did not become a member of the Commonwealth . A bicameral parliament was formed, consisting of
13545-406: The new "king" controlled just a small area around the capital, and had no real army. The real power in central Burma now rested with the three commander brothers. The uneasy arrangement would persist until 1297. The Mongols continued to occupy northern Burma to Tagaung as the province of Zhengmian (Cheng-Mien) but ended the fictional central Burma province of Mianzhong on 18 August 1290. Meanwhile,
13674-453: The newly conquered land, which not only provided them with a base from which to attack the Song from the rear but also was strategically located on the trade routes from China to Burma and India. The Mongols set up military garrisons, manned mostly by Turkic -speaking Muslims from Central Asia, in 37 circuits of the former Dali Kingdom. By then, the Pagan Empire, despite outward appearances of calmness, had been in long and slow decline since
13803-407: The newly formed Tai-Shan states in western and central Southeast Asia to Dai Viet and Champa in eastern Southeast Asia, the Mongols elected to receive nominal tribute. Though the rulers of these states were technically governors of the Yuan government, they were the native chieftains, “who would have ruled there in any case, and they did as they pleased.” The war also marked the arrival of China at
13932-511: The overall narrative is probably accurate. According to the Yuan dynasty chronicle and Marco Polo's accounts, a Burmese army "invaded" the Mongol territory of Gold Teeth, and was defeated by the Mongol army in April 1277. The battle took place either at the Vochang valley (in present-day Baoshan Prefecture ) or 110 km southwest at Kanngai (present-day Yingjiang , Dehong Prefecture ), which
14061-448: The power struggle in central Burma continued with the three brothers blatantly consolidating support. To check their rising power, Kyawswa submitted to the Mongols in January 1297, and was recognized by the Yuan emperor Temür Khan as King of Pagan on 20 March 1297. The emperor also gave Chinese titles to the brothers as subordinates of Kyawswa. The brothers resented the new arrangement as it directly reduced their power. On 17 December 1297,
14190-407: The region now known as Myanmar as early as 750,000 years ago, with no more erectus finds after 75,000 years ago. The first evidence of Homo sapiens is dated to about 25,000 BP with discoveries of stone tools in central Myanmar. Evidence of Neolithic age domestication of plants and animals and the use of polished stone tools dating to sometime between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE has been discovered in
14319-476: The rest of the country. Political unification returned in the mid-16th century, through the efforts of Taungoo , a former vassal state of Ava. Taungoo's young, ambitious King Tabinshwehti defeated the more powerful Hanthawaddy in the Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War . His successor Bayinnaung went on to conquer a vast swath of mainland Southeast Asia including the Shan states, Lan Na , Manipur, Mong Mao ,
14448-481: The retreat of Song refugees in all directions. In Pagan's case, he had ordered the Mongol governor of Dali to tighten control of the borderlands, and in January 1271 to send a mission to Pagan to demand tribute. The tribute he demanded was nominal. Given his higher priority preoccupations elsewhere, the emperor was not looking to replace the regime at Pagan. At the border, the ruler of the Wa and Palaung regions submitted to
14577-452: The rise of ethnic Tai-Shan states throughout mainland Southeast Asia . The Mongols first demanded tribute from Pagan in 1271–1272, as part of their drive to encircle the Song dynasty of China. When King Narathihapate refused, Emperor Kublai Khan himself sent another mission in 1273, again demanding tribute. It too was rejected. In 1275, the emperor ordered the Yunnan government to secure
14706-600: The second century BCE the first-known city-states emerged in central Myanmar. The city-states were founded as part of the southward migration by the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu people, the earliest inhabitants of Myanmar of whom records are extant, from present-day Yunnan . The Pyu culture was heavily influenced by trade with India, importing Buddhism as well as other cultural, architectural and political concepts, which would have an enduring influence on later Burmese culture and political organisation. By
14835-502: The term Taruk ( တရုတ် ) refers to the Han Chinese instead. King Narathihapate is unkindly remembered in Burmese history as Taruk-Pye Min, ("the King who Fled from the Taruk "). In the 13th century, the Pagan Empire , along with the Khmer Empire , was one of the two main empires in mainland Southeast Asia . For much of its history, Pagan's neighbor to the northeast was not China but
14964-495: The terms of the treaty of Beijing, emerged. Indeed, a king would not emerge until May 1289. Given the chaos, the governor of Yunnan ignored the imperial orders of evacuation. The Mongol army commanded by Prince Ye-sin Timour, a grandson of the emperor, marched south toward Pagan. According to mainstream traditional ( colonial-era ) scholarship, the Mongol army ignored the imperial orders to evacuate; fought its way down to Pagan with
15093-487: The terms to the king. But the agreement broke down a month later. In late June, the defeated king and his small retinue left their temporary capital for Pagan. But on 1 July 1287, King Narathihapate was captured en route and assassinated by his second son Thihathu , the Viceroy of Prome . Anarchy ensued. Each region in the country which had not revolted broke away. No successor to Narathihapate, who could honor and enforce
15222-493: The three brothers overthrew Kyawswa, and founded the Myinsaing Kingdom . The dethronement forced the Mongol government to intervene again, leading to the second Mongol invasion of Burma (1300–1301). The invasion failed. Two years later, on 4 April 1303, the Mongols abolished the province of Zhengmian (Cheng-Mien), evacuated Tagaung, and returned to Yunnan. The war was one of several near simultaneous wars waged by
15351-607: The treaty was now void. The disintegration of the Pagan Empire was now complete. But the Mongols refused to fill in the power vacuum they had created. They would send no more expeditions to restore order. The emperor apparently had no interest in committing troops that would be required to pacify the fragmented country. Indeed, his real aim all along may have been "to keep the entire region of Southeast Asia broken and fragmented." It would be another two years until one of Narathihapate's sons, Kyawswa , emerged as king of Pagan in May 1289. But
15480-462: The upper Irrawaddy valley, eclipsing the Pyu , Mon and Pali norms by the late 12th century. Theravada Buddhism slowly began to spread to the village level, although Tantric , Mahayana , Hinduism , and folk religion remained heavily entrenched. Pagan's rulers and wealthy built over 10,000 Buddhist temples in the Pagan capital zone alone. Repeated Mongol invasions in the late 13th century toppled
15609-614: The votes; fraud, however, was alleged. A nominally civilian government was then formed, with retired general Thein Sein as president. A series of liberalising political and economic actions – or reforms – then took place. By the end of 2011 these included the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission , the granting of general amnesties for more than 200 political prisoners, new labour laws that permitted labour unions and strikes,
15738-465: The world is linked with Us, and enter into a perpetual alliance. This will add to your reputation, and be in your own interests; for if it comes to war, who will be the victor? Ponder well, O king, Our words." This time, the Burmese king received the imperial envoys but still refused to submit. The Burmese chronicles say that the king was so insulted that he had the envoys executed, although both Burmese inscriptional evidence and Yuan records indicate to
15867-421: Was a Burmese envoy who carried a letter expressing friendly sentiments and the Burmese king's wish to one day worship a Buddha tooth at Beijing. The king then promptly ordered an expedition, which retook the rebellious borderland regions in April 1272. The rebel leader A-Pi (အပိ) was brought back to Pagan. Dali relayed the news to Beijing but did not carry out any military action. At Beijing, Kublai Khan, who
15996-459: Was deployed at a fort at Ngasaunggyan. The invasion began on 22 September 1283. Prince Sangqudar was the commander-in-chief of the invasion force; his deputies were Vice Governor Taipn, and commander Yagan Tegin. The Mongol armies marched to the border in two columns. One column advanced along the Taping River using over 200 boats; the other proceeded by land and joined the first column at
16125-586: Was devastated during World War II by the Japanese invasion . Within months after they entered the war, Japanese troops had advanced on Rangoon, and the British administration had collapsed. A Burmese Executive Administration headed by Ba Maw was established by the Japanese in August 1942. Wingate 's British Chindits were formed into long-range penetration groups trained to operate deep behind Japanese lines. A similar American unit, Merrill's Marauders , followed
16254-620: Was preparing an invasion of Japan , decided against a war with Pagan—for the time being. On 3 March 1273, he sent a 4-member delegation led by an imperial ambassador, the First Secretary to the Board Rites, to Pagan. The delegation carried a letter from the emperor. The letter says: "If you have finally decided to fulfill your duties towards the All-Highest, send one of your brothers or senior ministers, to show men that all
16383-404: Was set a tower of timber, well-framed and strong, and carrying from 12 to 16 well-armed fighting men." Even then, the 40,000 to 60,000 figures of the Burmese army strength were likely eye estimates and may still be too high; the Mongols may have erred "on the side of generosity" not to "diminish their glory in defeating superior numbers." According to Marco Polo's account, in the early stages of
16512-425: Was strong, and was vented in violent riots that periodically paralysed Rangoon until the 1930s. Some of the discontent was caused by a disrespect for Burmese culture and traditions. Buddhist monks became the vanguards of the independence movement. U Wisara , an activist monk, died in prison after a 166-day hunger strike. On 1 April 1937, Burma became a separately administered colony of Britain, and Ba Maw became
16641-712: Was widely condemned as part of the international reactions to the Saffron Revolution and led to an increase in economic sanctions against the Burmese Government . In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis caused extensive damage in the densely populated rice-farming delta of the Irrawaddy Division . It was the worst natural disaster in Burmese history with reports of an estimated 200,000 people dead or missing, damages totalled to 10 billion US dollars, and as many as 1 million were left homeless. In
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