Portal:Myanmar
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Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma (the official name until 1989), is a country in 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 Bangladesh and India to its northwest, 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).
Myanmar is a member of the East Asia Summit, Non-Aligned Movement, ASEAN, and BIMSTEC, but it 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 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 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. (Full article...)
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Image 1
The 2004 Myanmar cyclone was considered the worst to strike the country since 1968. The second tropical cyclone of the 2004 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, it formed as a depression on May 16 in the central Bay of Bengal. With low wind shear and a surge in the monsoon trough, the storm intensified while meandering over open waters. The storm eventually began a steady northeastward motion due to a ridge to the north over India. While approaching land, an eye developed in the center of the storm, indicative of a strong cyclone. On May 19, the cyclone made landfall along northwestern Myanmar near Sittwe, with maximum sustained winds estimated at 165 km/h (105 mph) by the India Meteorological Department. The storm rapidly weakened over land, although its remnants spread rainfall into northern Thailand and Yunnan province in China.
Winds from the cyclone reached 157 km/h (98 mph) in Myanmar, occurring in conjunction with heavy rainfall and a high storm surge. Despite the storm's ferocity, the government did not report about the cyclone for ten days, as they usually under-report on landfalling storms. The cyclone caused heavy damage throughout Rakhine State, destroying or heavily damaging 4,035 homes and leaving 25,000 people homeless. There was widespread crop damage, resulting in food shortages, and damaged roads disrupted subsequent relief efforts. Damage in Myanmar totaled over K621 million kyat ($99.2 million USD), making it the worst storm in the country since 1968, and there were 236 deaths, with an unofficial death toll as high as 1,000. Although damage was heaviest in Myanmar, the cyclone's effects also spread into neighboring Bangladesh, where strong winds knocked over trees and capsized two ships. (Full article...) -
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The Mahamuni Buddha Temple (Burmese: မဟာမုနိရှင်တော်မြတ်ကြီး, Burmese pronunciation: [məhà mṵnḭ pʰəjádʑí]) is a Buddhist temple and major pilgrimage site, located southwest of Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma). The Mahamuni Image (lit. 'The Great Sage') is enshrined in this temple, and originally came from Arakan. It is highly venerated in Burma and central to many people's lives, as it is seen as an expression of representing the Buddha's life.
Ancient tradition refers to only five likenesses of the Buddha made during his lifetime; two were in India, two in paradise, and the fifth is the Mahamuni Image in Myanmar. Legend holds that the Buddha himself visited the Dhanyawadi city of Arakan in 554 BC. King Sanda Thuriya requested that an image be cast of him. Once complete, the Buddha breathed upon it, and thereafter the image took on his exact likeness. (Full article...) -
Image 3Gadaw (Burmese: ကန်တော့, IPA: [ɡədɔ̰]; also spelt kadaw) is a Burmese verb referring to a Burmese tradition in which a person, always of lower social standing, pays respect or homage to a person of higher standing (including Buddhist monks, elders, teachers and Buddha), by kneeling before them and paying obeisance with joined hands, and bowing. This is usually done by students to their teachers or children or grandchildren to their elders (parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents), in order to show gratitude and reverence and an opportunity to ask for forgiveness, often involving gift-giving.
It is traditionally done on New Year's Day of Thingyan and during the month of Thadingyut (roughly October), which marks the end of Vassa, the Buddhist lent. (Full article...) -
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Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis (Burmese: နာဂစ်; Urdu: نرگس, [ˈnərɡɪs]) was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone made landfall in Myanmar on Friday, 2 May 2008, sending a storm surge 40 kilometres up the densely populated Irrawaddy delta, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 138,373 fatalities. The Labutta Township alone was reported to have 80,000 dead, with about 10,000 more deaths in Bogale. There were around 55,000 people missing and many other deaths were found in other towns and areas, although the Myanmar government's official death toll may have been under-reported, and there have been allegations that government officials stopped updating the death toll after 138,000 to minimise political fallout. The feared 'second wave' of fatalities from disease and lack of relief efforts never materialised. Damage was at $12 billion, making Nargis the costliest tropical cyclone on record in the North Indian Ocean at the time, before that record was broken by Cyclone Amphan in 2020.
The first named storm of the 2008 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, Nargis developed on 27 April in the central area of Bay of Bengal. Initially, the storm tracked slowly northwestward, and encountering favourable conditions, it quickly strengthened. Dry air weakened the cyclone on 29 April, though after beginning a steady eastward motion, Nargis rapidly intensified to attain peak winds of at least 165 km/h (105 mph) on 2 May, according to IMD observations; the JTWC assessed peak winds of 215 km/h (135 mph), making it a weak Category 4 cyclone on the SSHWS. The cyclone moved ashore in the Ayeyarwady Division of Myanmar at peak intensity and, after passing near the major city of Yangon (Rangoon), the storm gradually weakened until dissipating near the border of Myanmar and Thailand. (Full article...) -
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Lake of No Return (Naung Yang in Tai languages) is a body of water in Myanmar, lying in the area of the Pangsau Pass (3727') on the India–Myanmar border south of Pangsau (also called Pansaung) village. The lake is 1.4 km in length and 0.8 km in width at its widest part. It is located 2.5 km to the southwest of the Ledo Road, formerly called Stilwell Road, the road the Western Allies started building in 1942 to supply the Chinese armies of Chiang Kai-shek.
The area is home to the Tangsa community. Since the improvement of relations between India and Myanmar , the lake has come to play a part in the development of tourism in the nearby Indian Changlang District, which borders on Myanmar. (Full article...) -
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Laphet, served in a traditional lacquer tray called laphet ok.
Burmese cuisine encompasses the diverse regional culinary traditions of Myanmar, which have developed through longstanding agricultural practices, centuries of sociopolitical and economic change, and cross-cultural contact and trade with neighboring countries at the confluence of Southeast Asia, East Asia, and South Asia, such as modern-day nations of Thailand, China, and India, respectively. Mohinga, a savory fish soup with lemongrass and banana leaves are eaten for breakfast with rice noodles, lunch is rice accompanied with small side dishes of vegetables, a small soup and a meat or fish dish. Dinner is consumed in a similar fashion to lunch. Burmese stews or curries are not Indian curries but milder with reliance on the trio of onion garlic and ginger to create savory gravies. Burmese food does not rely heavily on coconut such as in Thai cuisine. Burmese however enjoy spicy food with addition of chilis mixed into the dishes.
Burmese cuisine is typified by a wide-ranging array of dishes, including traditional stews Burmese curries, Burmese salads, accompanied by soups and a medley of vegetables that are traditionally eaten with white rice. Burmese cuisine also features Indian breads as well as noodles in many forms, such as fried, in soups, or as most popularly consumed as salads. Street food and snack culture has also nurtured the profuse variety of traditional Burmese fritters and modern savory and sweet snacks labeled under the umbrella of mont. (Full article...) -
Image 7The National League for Democracy (Burmese: အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, IPA: [ʔəmjóðá dìmòkəɹèsì ʔəpʰwḛdʑoʊʔ]; abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a deregistered liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (Burma). It became the country's ruling party after a landslide victory in the 2015 general election but was overthrown in a military coup d'état in February 2021 following another landslide election victory in 2020.
Founded on 27 September 1988, the NLD has become one of the most influential parties in Myanmar's pro-democracy movement. Aung San Suu Kyi, the former State Counsellor of Myanmar, serves as its leader. The party won a substantial parliamentary majority in the 1990 Myanmar general election. However, the ruling military junta refused to recognise the result. On 6 May 2010, the party was declared illegal and ordered to be disbanded by the junta after refusing to register for the elections slated for November 2010. In November 2011, the NLD announced its intention to register as a political party to contest future elections, and Myanmar's Union Election Commission approved their application for registration on 13 December 2011. (Full article...) -
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The First Anglo-Burmese War (Burmese: ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; [pətʰəma̰ ɪ́ɰ̃ɡəleiʔ-mjəmà sɪʔ]; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War in English language accounts and First English Invasion War (Burmese: ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ် ကျူးကျော် စစ်) in Burmese language accounts, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmese empires in the 19th century. The war, which began primarily over the control of what is now Northeastern India, ended in a decisive British victory, giving the British total control of Assam, Manipur, Cachar and Jaintia as well as Arakan Province and Tenasserim. The Burmese submitted to a British demand to pay an indemnity of one million pounds sterling, and signed a commercial treaty.
The war was one of the most expensive in British Indian history. Fifteen thousand European and Indian soldiers died, together with an unknown number of Burmese military and civilian casualties. The high cost of the campaign to the British, 5–13 million pounds sterling (£500 million – £1.38 billion as of 2023) contributed to a severe economic crisis in British India which cost the East India Company its remaining privileges. (Full article...) -
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The Provisional Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော် အာဏာသိမ်းခေါင်းဆောင်), is the provisional government of Myanmar under the current military junta, the State Administration Council. On 1 August 2021, it replaced the Management Committee of the State Administration Council, which had been in place since 19 February 2021, following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état. Some ministers were appointed by Min Aung Hlaing immediately following the coup on 1 February, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services exercising emergency powers.
Due to the state of emergency, the cabinet is led by Prime Minister Min Aung Hlaing rather than Acting President Myint Swe, despite the president being the constitutional head of government. (Full article...) -
Image 10Confluence of Ruak River and Mekong Rivers, view from Wat Phra That Doi Pu Khao [th] in Ban Sop Ruak
The Golden Triangle is a large, mountainous region of approximately 200,000 km2 (77,000 sq mi) in northeastern Myanmar, northwestern Thailand and northern Laos, centered on the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers. The name "Golden Triangle" was coined by Marshall Green, a U.S. State Department official, in 1971 in a press conference on the opium trade. Today, the Thai side of the river confluence, Sop Ruak, has become a tourist attraction, with the House of Opium Museum, a Hall of Opium, and a Golden Triangle Park, and no opium cultivation.
The Golden Triangle has been one of the largest opium-producing areas of the world since the 1950s. Most of the world's heroin came from the Golden Triangle until the early 21st century when opium production in Afghanistan increased. Myanmar was the world's second-largest source of opium after Afghanistan up to 2022, producing some 25% of the world's opium, forming part of the Golden Triangle. While opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar had declined year-on-year since 2015, cultivation area increased by 33% totalling 40,100 ha (99,000 acres) alongside an 88% increase in yield potential to 790 t (780 long tons; 870 short tons) in 2022 according to latest data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Myanmar Opium Survey 2022. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has also warned that opium production in Myanmar may rise again if the economic crunch brought on by COVID-19 and the country's 2021 Myanmar coup d'état persists, with significant public health and security consequences for much of Asia. (Full article...)
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- ... that the Myanmar Coast Guard was initially proposed as a civilian law enforcement agency before being established as a branch of the military three years later?
- ... that the Burmese and South Korean first ladies held their first informal conversation 44 years after the establishment of bilateral relations between the two countries?
- ... that the mission of the United Nations special envoy on Myanmar has been called a "diplomatic graveyard"?
- ... that Maung O, Prince of Salin, and his sister Nanmadaw Me Nu became de facto rulers of Burma when King Bagyidaw was suffering from depression?
- ... that the Myanmar Photo Archive (example photograph shown) revealed "a side of modern Myanmar that, until very recently, remained hidden in dusty attics"?
- ... that the Burmese Buddhist monk Sagyo Thu-Myat successfully lobbied for the recalibration of the Burmese calendar?
- ... that former Burmese actress Honey Nway Oo turned rebel and took up arms against the military junta following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état?
- ... that clashes between the Myanmar military and local armed groups broke out in Lay Kay Kaw six years after it was established as a "town of peace" between the parties?
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Image 1Former US President Barack Obama poses barefoot on the grounds of Shwedagon Pagoda, one of Myanmar's major Buddhist pilgrimage sites. (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 2Myinhkin thabin - equestrian sport (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 3Protesters in Yangon carrying signs reading "Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi" on 8 February 2021. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 4Myanmar (Burma) map of Köppen climate classification (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 5Salween river at Mae Sam Laep on the Thai-Myanmar border (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 6British soldiers remove their shoes at the entrance of Shwedagon Pagoda. To the left, a sign reads "Foot wearing is strictly prohibited" in Burmese, English, Tamil, and Urdu. (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 7Saint Mary's Cathedral in Downtown Yangon is the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in Burma. (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 9A theatrical performance of the Mon dance (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 10The paddle steamer Ramapoora (right) of the British India Steam Navigation Company on the Rangoon river having just arrived from Moulmein. 1895. Photographers: Watts and Skeen (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 11A group of Buddhist worshipers at Shwedagon Pagoda, an important religious site for Burmese Buddhists (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 12British soldiers dismantling cannons belonging to King Thibaw's forces, Third Anglo-Burmese War, Ava, 27 November 1885. Photographer: Hooper, Willoughby Wallace (1837–1912). (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 13Hlei pyaingbwè - a Burmese regatta (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 14Protesters in Yangon with a banner that reads non-violence: national movement in Burmese, in the background is Shwedagon Pagoda. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 15Portuguese ruler and soldiers mounting an Elephant. Philips, Jan Caspar (draughtsman and engraver) (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 17Boxing match, 19th-century watercolour (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 19British soldiers on patrol in the ruins of the Burmese town of Bahe during the advance on Mandalay, January 1945. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 20Sculpture of Myanmar mythical lion (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 22A bull fight, 19th-century watercolour (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 23Two female musicians play the saung at a performance in Mandalay. (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 24A wedding procession, with the groom and bride dressed in traditional Burmese wedding clothes, reminiscent of royal attire (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 26Vegetable stall on the roadside at the Madras Lancer Lines, Mandalay, January 1886. Photographer: Hooper, Willoughby Wallace (1837–1912). (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 27Grandfather Island, Dawei (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 28The restored Taungoo or Nyaungyan dynasty c. 1650 CE. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 29Aerial view of a burned Rohingya village in Rakhine state, Myanmar, September 2017 (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 3019th-century funeral cart and spire, which would form part of the procession from the home to the place of cremation (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 32Pagan Kingdom during Narapatisithu's reign. Burmese chronicles also claim Kengtung and Chiang Mai. Core areas shown in darker yellow. Peripheral areas in light yellow. Pagan incorporated key ports of Lower Burma into its core administration by the 13th century. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 33Political Map of Burma (Myanmar) c. 1450 CE. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 35A large fracture on the Mingun Pahtodawgyi caused by the 1839 Ava earthquake. (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 37Aung San Suu Kyi addresses crowds at the NLD headquarters shortly after her release. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 38Recorder's Court on Sule Pagoda Road, with the Sule Pagoda at the far end, Rangoon, 1868. Photographer: J. Jackson. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 39The shores of Irrawaddy River at Nyaung-U, Bagan (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 40Temples at Mrauk U, was the capital of the Mrauk U Kingdom, which ruled over what is now Rakhine State. (from History of Myanmar)
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