Burma
(now known as Mynamar) is a diamond shaped country bordering China, Thailand,
and India on the Bay of Bengal. It covers an area of 676,577 square km. It can
be divided into five main regions: the northern mountains, with the highest
peak, Hkakabo Razi (5967 m), the western mountains, the Shan Plateau in the
east, the central lowlands and the coastal area. The north-south running
mountains define the courses of the two major rivers. The Irrawaddy
(Ayeyarwady), drains about three-fifths of the country's surface and the
Salween (Thanlwin), drains the Shan Plateau region.
The population of Burma is just over 42 million. Three quarters of the people live in the central lowlands and coastal areas. Although one quarter of the people live in urban areas there are only two cities with more than one million people - the capital Rangoon (Yangon) with over 4 million people and Mandalay, the capital before colonization, with just over one million. Most people are of ethnic Burmans (Tibeto-Chinese extraction). The Shan, from the eastern plateau, the Karen, in the delta region, the Pegu Yama range and the lower basin of the Salween River, and the Chin, in the north-west, are the major ethnic groups. Chinese and Indian are the major migrant groups.
Burma
was an independent Buddhist kingdom from the 11th to the 13th centuries, when
the country fell to Mongol invaders. One hundred years later, it became a
satellite of China. Britain and France later fought over control of Burma. In
the early 19th-century France dominated Burma. Britain, however,
eventually triumphed and Burma came under the control of the British Raj of
India.
Burma was unified by Burman dynasties three times during the
past millennium. The first such unification came with the foundation of the
Pagan Dynasty in 1044 AD, which is considered the "Golden Age" in
Burmese history. It is during this period that Theravada Buddhism first made
its appearance in Burma, and the Pagan kings built a massive city with
thousands of pagodas and monasteries along the Irrawaddy River (now the ruins
at Bagan/Pagan). The Pagan Dynasty lasted until 1287 when a Mongol invasion
destroyed the city. Ethnic Shan rulers, who established a political center at
Ava, filled the ensuing political vacuum for a short time.
In the 15th century, the Toungoo Dynasty succeeded again in unifying under
Burman rule a large, multi-ethnic kingdom. This dynasty, which lasted from 1486
until 1752, left little cultural legacy, but expanded the kingdom through
conquest of the Shans. Internal power struggles, and the cost of protracted
warfare, led to the eventual decline of the Toungoo.
The final Burman royal dynasty, the Konbaung, was established in 1752 under the
rule of King Alaungpaya. Like the Toungoo Kings, the Konbaung rulers focused on
warfare and conquest. Wars were fought with the ethnic Mons and Arkanese, and
with the Siamese. The Burmese sacked the Siamese capital of Ayuthaya in 1767.
This period also saw four invasions by the Chinese and three devastating wars
with the British. Key moments in the
history of the British colonization of Burma: