Myanmar

Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also referred to as Burma, 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 is bordered by India and Bangladesh to the northwest, China to the northeast, Laos and Thailand to the east and southeast, and the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to the south and southwest. The country's capital city is Naypyidaw, while its largest city is Yangon.

The country has a rich history, with early civilisations including the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states and the Mon kingdoms. In the 1050s, the Pagan Kingdom was established, spreading Burmese language, culture, and Theravada Buddhism. Myanmar later came under British rule after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and gained independence in 1948.

Myanmar has faced many challenges, including military rule, conflicts, and struggles for democracy. Despite being rich in natural resources like jade, gems, and oil, the country has struggled with instability, corruption, and colonial exploitation. Today, Myanmar continues to deal with ethnic tensions and the effects of recent political changes.

Etymology

Main article: Names of Myanmar

Myanmar, also called Burma, has a name that many people argue about. Both names come from an old word used by the main group of people there, the Burman. In 1989, the government changed the official English name from Burma to Myanmar. But not everyone agreed with this change, and some groups and countries still use the name Burma.

The country’s full official name is “Republic of the Union of Myanmar.” In English, people commonly use either Burma or Myanmar to refer to the country. Different countries and news outlets have different preferences for which name to use. There are also many ways people say the name “Myanmar” in English, and no single way is considered correct.

History

Main article: History of Myanmar

Prehistory

Main articles: Prehistory of Myanmar and Migration period of ancient Burma

Archaeological evidence shows that Homo erectus lived in the region now known as Myanmar as early as 750,000 years ago. The first evidence of Homo sapiens is dated to about 25,000 years ago with discoveries of stone tools in central Myanmar. Evidence of the use of polished stone tools dating to between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE has been discovered in the form of cave paintings in Padah-Lin Caves.

The Bronze Age arrived around 1500 BCE when people in the region were turning copper into bronze, growing rice and domesticating poultry and pigs. The Iron Age began around 500 BCE with 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 had influences from outside sources such as India and Thailand.

Early city-states

Main articles: Pyu city-states and Mon kingdoms

Around the 2nd century BCE the first-known city-states emerged in central Myanmar. These city-states were founded as part of the southward migration by the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu people 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.

By 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.

Pagan Kingdom

Main articles: Pagan Kingdom, Toungoo dynasty, and Konbaung dynasty

See also: Kingdom of Ava, Hanthawaddy Kingdom, Kingdom of Mrauk U, and Shan States

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 the upper Irrawaddy valley. Theravada Buddhism slowly began to spread to the village level.

Pagan's collapse was followed by 250 years of political fragmentation. 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 the late 14th century when two sizeable powers, Ava Kingdom and Hanthawaddy kingdom, emerged.

Taungoo and Konbaung dynasties

Main article: Burmese–Portuguese conflicts

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. His successor Bayinnaung went on to conquer a vast swath of mainland Southeast Asia, including the Shan states, Lan Na, Manipur, Mong Mao, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, Lan Xang, and southern Arakan. However, the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia unravelled soon after Bayinnaung died in 1581, and the empire collapsed by 1599.

The dynasty regrouped and defeated the Portuguese in 1613 and Siam in 1614. It restored 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.

After the fall of Ava, the Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War involved one resistance group under Alaungpaya defeating the Restored Hanthawaddy, and by 1759, he had reunited all of Myanmar and Manipur and driven out the French and the British.

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 the result was 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).

In 1826, Burma lost Arakan, Manipur, Assam, and Tenasserim to 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.

British Burma (1885–1948)

Main articles: British rule in Burma and Burma campaign

In 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 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 was strong and was vented in violent riots that periodically paralysed Rangoon until the 1930s.

On 1 April 1937, Burma became a separately administered colony of Britain, and Ba Maw became 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 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 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. Although many Burmese fought initially for the Japanese as part of the Burma Independence Army, many Burmese, mostly from 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.

Following World War II, Aung San negotiated the Panglong Agreement with ethnic leaders that guaranteed the independence of Burma as a unified state. In 1947, Aung San became Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council of Burma, a transitional government. But in July 1947, political rivals assassinated Aung San and several cabinet members.

Independence (1948–1962)

Main article: Post-independence Burma (1948–1962)

See also: Independence Day (Myanmar)

On 4 January 1948, 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 a Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Nationalities, and multi-party elections were held in 1951–1952, and in 1956 and 1960.

In 1961, U Thant, 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.

Military rule (1962–2011)

On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d'état, and the government has been under direct or indirect control by the military since then. Between 1962 and 1974, Myanmar was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by 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 the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP). During this period, Myanmar became one of the world's most impoverished countries.

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 the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests.

In May 1990, 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. 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 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.

In August 2007, an increase in the price of fuel led to the Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks. The government cracked down on them.

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.

Civil wars

Main article: Internal conflict in Myanmar

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.

Period of liberalisation, 2011–2021

See also: 2011–2015 Myanmar political reforms

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 the Government published a new draft national constitution, and organised a (flawed) national referendum which adopted it. The new constitution provided for the election of a national assembly with the 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. 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, 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.

Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party participated in the 2012 by-elections, facilitated by the government's abolition of the laws that previously barred it. In the April 2012 by-elections, the NLD won 43 of the 45 available seats.

Myanmar's improved international reputation was indicated by ASEAN's approval of Myanmar's bid for the position of ASEAN chair in 2014.

2015 general elections

General elections were held on 8 November 2015. These were the first openly contested elections held in Myanmar since the 1990 general election (which was annulled). The results gave the NLD an absolute majority of seats in both chambers of the national parliament, enough to ensure that its candidate would become president, while NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from the presidency.

The new parliament convened on 1 February 2016, and on 15 March 2016, Htin Kyaw was elected as the first non-military president since the military coup of 1962. On 6 April 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi assumed the newly created role of state counsellor, a role akin to a prime minister.

Coup d'état and civil war

Main articles: 2021 Myanmar coup d'état and Myanmar civil war (2021–present)

See also: Myanmar protests (2021–present)

In Myanmar's 2020 parliamentary election, the ostensibly ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, competed with various other smaller parties – particularly the military-affiliated Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). Suu Kyi's NLD won the 2020 Myanmar general election on 8 November in a landslide. The USDP, regarded as a proxy for the military, suffered a "humiliating" defeat – even worse than in 2015 – capturing only 33 of the 476 elected seats.

As the election results began emerging, the USDP rejected them, urging a new election with the military as observers. More than 90 other smaller parties contested the vote, including more than 15 who complained of irregularities. However, election observers declared there were no major irregularities. However, despite the election commission validating the NLD's overwhelming victory, the USDP and Myanmar's military persistently alleged fraud.

In the early morning of 1 February 2021, the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's military, detained Suu Kyi and other members of the ruling party. The military handed power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and declared a state of emergency for one year. The military announced it would replace the existing election commission with a new one, and a military media outlet indicated new elections would be held in about one year – though the military avoided making an official commitment to that.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Myanmar

Myanmar is a large country in Southeast Asia, covering an area of 678,500 square kilometres. It is surrounded by India, Bangladesh, China, Laos, and Thailand, with coastlines along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The northern part of Myanmar features high mountains, including Hkakabo Razi, the country's highest peak. Major rivers such as the Irrawaddy flow through fertile valleys where most people live.

The country has many different landscapes, from mountains to plains to coastal areas. It experiences a monsoon climate, with heavy rains in coastal regions and drier conditions in central areas. Myanmar is also known for its rich plant and animal life, including forests, wildlife, and many bird species. However, changes in land use and climate pose challenges to protecting these natural resources.

Government and politics

Myanmar operates as a unitary republic with a parliamentary system and a bicameral legislature. About 25% of legislators are appointed by the military, while the rest are elected. The legislature is called the Assembly of the Union, which includes the upper House of Nationalities and the lower House of Representatives.

The main political party is the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party. In 2021, the military took control of the government in a coup d'état, leading to protests and ongoing conflict. Myanmar has close ties with neighboring countries like India and China.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Myanmar

Further information: Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), Transport in Myanmar, and Oil and gas industry in Myanmar

Myanmar's economy is growing quickly, with a nominal GDP of US$76.09 billion in 2019. The country set up its first stock exchange, the Yangon Stock Exchange, in December 2014.

The economy faces challenges, including a large informal sector linked to corruption and smuggling. Decades of civil war have contributed to poverty and a lack of economic progress. Myanmar has significant resources, including rubies, sapphires, pearls, and jade, with rubies being a major export. The country also produces rare-earth elements, which are important for many modern technologies.

Both China and India have worked to strengthen economic ties with Myanmar. Many Western nations, including the United States and Canada, have historically imposed sanctions on Myanmar, though some were eased in 2012. Foreign investment comes mainly from China, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea, India, and Thailand. The military holds stakes in several major industries, including oil, consumer goods, transportation, and tourism.

Demographics

Main article: Demographics of Myanmar

The provisional results of the 2014 Myanmar Census showed that the total population was 51,419,420. This figure includes an estimated 1,206,353 persons in parts of northern Rakhine State, Kachin State and Kayin State who were not counted. There are over 600,000 registered migrant workers from Myanmar in Thailand.

Myanmar is ethnically diverse. The government recognises 135 distinct ethnic groups. The Bamar form an estimated 68% of the population. 10% of the population are Shan. The Kayin make up 7% of the population. The Rakhine people constitute 4% of the population. Overseas Chinese form approximately 3% of the population.

Myanmar is home to four major language families: Sino-Tibetan, Tai–Kadai, Austroasiatic, and Indo-European. Burmese, the mother tongue of the Bamar and official language of Myanmar, is related to Tibetan and Chinese.

Although the country is predominantly Buddhist, significant numbers of people practice other recognized religions in Myanmar. A large majority of the population practices Buddhism; estimates range from 80% to 89%. According to the 2014 Myanmar Census, 87.9% of the population identifies as Buddhists. Theravāda Buddhism is the most widespread. Other religions are practised largely without obstruction, with the notable exception of some religious minorities. According to 2014 census, 6.2% of the population identifies as Christian; 4.3% as Muslim; 0.8% as followers of tribal religions; 0.5% as Hindus; 0.2% as followers of other religions; and 0.1% follow no religion.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Myanmar

Myanmar has a rich and diverse culture, with many traditions influenced by neighboring countries. The majority culture is Buddhist and centered around the Bamar people. Important cultural events include the shinbyu ceremony for boys entering the monastery and various local festivals.

Burmese cuisine uses many fish products and includes mohinga as its national dish. Traditional sports such as lethwei and bando are popular, and football is widely played. Burmese art has developed with influences from both local and Western styles. The country's media has seen changes in recent years, with some relaxation of censorship rules.