MYANMAR

                      MYANMAR

The Union of Myanmar, known as Burma until 1989, is the land of the great Irrawaddy, or Ayeyarwady, River. Most of the country's people live in the fertile lowlands drained by the river. Myanmar is bordered by China to the north and northeast, Laos to the east, Thailand to the southeast, the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to the south and southwest, Bangladesh to the west, and India to the northwest. The capital is Naypyidaw, a newly built city chosen by the government in 2006 to replace the historical capital of Yangon (Rangoon).

Land and Climate

• Mount Popa is an extinct volcano in the Pegu Mountain Range of Myanmar.

Myanmar consists mainly of central lowlands surrounded by mountain ranges that run from north to south. The northern mountains are the highest, reaching an elevation of more than 19,000 feet (5,800 meters) at Mount Hkakabo. Several of Asia's great rivers, including the Irrawaddy, begin in this region. In western Myanmar a series of mountain ranges form the border with India. South of these are the Arakan Mountains, with peaks that rise to almost 13,000 feet (4,000 meters). The highlands of the east include the Shan Plateau, with an average elevation of about 3,000 feet (900 meters). On the south the plateau continues into the Tenasserim Mountains, on Myanmar's narrow southern panhandle between Thailand and the Andaman Sea. The low Pegu Mountains divide the central lowlands into two unequal parts, the larger Irrawaddy Valley and the smaller Sittang Valley. The Salween River flows through the Shan Plateau in a deep, narrow valley.

Most of Myanmar receives heavy rainfall, almost all in summer. The Arakan and Tenasserim regions receive up to 200 inches (500 centimeters) a year. From 60 to 100 inches (150 to 250 centimeters) fall in the Irrawaddy Delta and between 40 and 80 inches (100 and 200 centimeters) in the eastern highlands and in the north. Parts of the central Irrawaddy Valley get less than 40 inches each year.

Almost half of Myanmar is forested. Where rainfall is greatest, tropical, evergreen rain forests are common. Where there is less rainfall, the forests have trees that lose their leaves in the dry season. Teak is the best known of these trees. Mangrove forests rim the Irrawaddy and Sittang deltas and portions of the coasts. Wildlife includes elephants, tigers, leopards, bears, monkeys, snakes, crocodiles, and tropical birds.

People and Culture

Most of the ancestors of Myanmar's people originally came from southwestern China about 2,000 years ago. The Burmans, or Burmese, are the majority ethnic group; they make up about two thirds of the population and live chiefly in the central lowlands and the deltas. They speak Burmese, which is the official language of Myanmar. The largest of the many other indigenous groups are the Karen, who live in the southeastern hills and deltas, and the Shan, of the Shan Plateau. There are small numbers of Chinese and Indian residents.

• Buddhist monks are highly respected in Myanmar.

Buddhism, the country's dominant religion, was brought from India and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) many centuries ago. The form of Buddhism practiced in Myanmar and in other parts of Southeast Asia is called Theravada. Most of the Burmans, Shan, and Karen are Buddhist, though many of the Karen have converted to Christianity. Most of the hill peoples are animists.

Education is compulsory between ages 5 and 9 (primary school) and is free at primary, lower secondary, and vocational schools. Upper secondary schools and universities charge fees. The University of Yangon and the University of Mandalay are the oldest and best-known institutions of higher education.

Every village in Myanmar has a health unit and access to a hospital. However, the lack of adequate sanitation and a shortage of medicine have contributed to relatively high rates of gastrointestinal diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Economy

Myanmar has a developing economy that is basically agricultural. About two thirds of the labor force works in agriculture, though only about one sixth of the land is under cultivation. Rice is by far the chief crop, planted on about half of the cropland. The country's other crops include sugarcane, peanuts (groundnuts), pulses (peas, beans, and lentils), sesame seeds, onions, corn (maize), and rubber. Northern Myanmar is the center of the Golden Triangle, one of the world's major sources of illicit opium. Cattle, pigs, goats, and poultry are raised for food. Pulses are a leading export, along with fish and hardwoods, especially teak.

Myanmar's industrial sector has been limited by mismanagement and poor infrastructure. A leading industry is the processing of such agricultural goods as rice, sugar, and lumber. Other products include cement, fertilizers, and textiles. Among Myanmar's rich mineral resources are copper, tin, tungsten, lead, zinc, silver, gold, rubies, and jade. The country also produces coal, natural gas, and petroleum; natural gas is an important export.

• A raft of logs floats on the Irrawaddy (or Ayeyarwady) River at Mandalay, Myanmar.

Transportation is mostly by water or rail, with air service available between the larger cities. The Irrawaddy is navigable for some 900 miles (1,450 kilometers), and the Chindwin, its main tributary, for about 500 miles (800 kilometers) more. Yangon is the chief port.

History

The first human settlements in Myanmar appeared some 11,000 years ago in the Irrawaddy Valley. A group of people known as the Pyu, who spoke a Tibeto-Burman language, established city-kingdoms in northern Myanmar between the 1st century BC and the 9th century AD. To the south of the Pyu were the Mon, speakers of an Austro-Asiatic language, who established their capital at Thaton. In the 9th century the Pyu capital of Halingyi fell to the Nanchao kingdom of southern China. Then another group of Tibeto-Burman speakers, the Burmans, assumed control of northern Myanmar and established a capital at Pagan.

• Ruins of ancient Buddhist temples stand in Pagan (Bagan), Myanmar.

Myanmar was first united as a single kingdom in 1044 under the Burman ruler Anawrahta. He converted to Theravada Buddhism and helped to make it Myanmar's dominant religion. A Mongol invasion in the late 13th century broke up the Pagan kingdom. Reunification first occurred in the 16th century under the Toungoo dynasty, which lasted fitfully until 1752, when it fell to the Mon. Burman resistance rallied behind the popular leader Alaungpaya, who by 1759 had secured all of Myanmar and founded its last dynasty.

Territorial conflict with the British resulted in a series of wars, and Myanmar fell to the British in 1885. The British called the country Burma and its capital Rangoon. (In the Burmese language, the country had been known as Myanma since the 13th century.) From 1886 to 1937 the British governed Burma as a province of India. The Burmese suffered under British economic policies and resented Britain's refusal to continue state patronage of Buddhism. Burmese peasants rose in rebellion in 1931. In 1937 the British government separated Burma from India. The Japanese occupied Burma during World War II, but British rule was restored after the war. Burma gained its independence in 1948.

Intent on creating a socialist Burma, Gen. Ne Win staged a coup in 1962. His Revolutionary Council nationalized much of the country's commerce and industry while isolating Burma from the outside world. By the late 1980s government corruption and mismanagement had turned resource-rich Burma into one of the world's poorest countries. Public dissatisfaction erupted in 1988 into widespread antigovernment riots. Ne Win stepped down, but within months the military again seized control of the government and suppressed the riots by force. Thousands of unarmed protesters were killed. In 1989 the government changed the country's name from Burma to Myanmar.

• Buddhist monks protest against Myanmar's military government in Yangon in September 2007. The …

In 1990 Myanmar held its first multiparty elections in more than 30 years. The National League for Democracy, an opposition party, won a landslide victory, but the military government refused to relinquish power. The new assembly was not permitted to convene until 1993. Opposition leaders routinely faced government harassment and jail. The most prominent of them, Aung San Suu Kyi, endured years of house arrest. She was awarded the 1991 Nobel peace prize for her efforts to negotiate for a freer government. The international community condemned the military regime for human rights abuses and its suppression of democracy, but economic sanctions failed to effect change. Population (2006 estimate), 47,383,000.

• MLA Style:   "Myanmar." Britannica Student Library. Encyclopaedia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010.