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Portal:Myanmar - Wikipedia

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ကြိုဆိုပါတယ်။ / Welcome to the Myanmar Portal Peacock

Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also rendered as 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 is bordered by India and Bangladesh 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 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. Since 2021, more than 600,000 people were displaced across Myanmar due to the civil war post-coup, with more than three million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), there are over 1.3 million people counted as refugees and asylum seekers, and 3.5 million people displaced internally as of December 2024. (Full article...)

  • Image 1 Cadets of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) preparing for military drills at the group's headquarters in Laiza, Kachin State. The Kachin conflict or the Kachin War is one of the multiple conflicts which are collectively referred to as the internal conflict in Myanmar. Kachin insurgents have been fighting against the Tatmadaw (Myanmar Armed Forces) since 1961, with only one major ceasefire being brokered between them, which lasted from 1994 to 2011, a total of 17 years. Since the resumption of hostilities in 2011, thousands of civilians have been killed, whilst over 100,000 more have been displaced. Widespread use of landmines, child soldiers, systematic rape and torture have been alleged by both sides. (Full article...)

  • Image 2 Effect of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on Myanmar Official reports from the government of Myanmar (Burma) cite a death toll of 90 due to the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on 26 December 2004. However, some estimates put the toll at between 400 and 600. 30,000 citizens of Burma were estimated to be in need of shelter, food and water, and 788 buildings were reported damaged and destroyed. An NGO estimated that 2,500 citizens of Burma based in Phang Nga Province, Thailand during the event may have been killed, and that 7,000 Burmese were still unaccounted for. Many of these missing were, however, not presumed to be dead. Many refugees fled to Thailand's interior after the destruction, or were deported or chased back into the hills that divide the countries by Thai authorities. (Full article...)

    Effect of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on Myanmar

    Official reports from the government of Myanmar (Burma) cite a death toll of 90 due to the tsunami caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on 26 December 2004. However, some estimates put the toll at between 400 and 600. 30,000 citizens of Burma were estimated to be in need of shelter, food and water, and 788 buildings were reported damaged and destroyed.

    An NGO estimated that 2,500 citizens of Burma based in Phang Nga Province, Thailand during the event may have been killed, and that 7,000 Burmese were still unaccounted for. Many of these missing were, however, not presumed to be dead. Many refugees fled to Thailand's interior after the destruction, or were deported or chased back into the hills that divide the countries by Thai authorities. (Full article...)

  • Image 3 Severe flooding in Myanmar began in July 2015 and continued into September, affecting 12 of the country's 14 states, resulting in about 103 deaths and affecting up to 1,000,000 people. Most of the casualties were reported from the Irrawaddy Delta. Torrential rains that began on 16 July destroyed farmland, roads, rail tracks, bridges and houses, leading the government to declare a state of emergency on 30 July in the four worst-hit regions in the west—Magway Division, Sagaing Division, Chin State and Rakhine State. Myanmar's Ministry of Agriculture reported that more than 1.29 million acres of farm land have been inundated and 687,200 acres damaged. Moreover, 15,239 houses were destroyed, according to OCHA figures. (Full article...)

    Severe flooding in Myanmar began in July 2015 and continued into September, affecting 12 of the country's 14 states, resulting in about 103 deaths and affecting up to 1,000,000 people. Most of the casualties were reported from the Irrawaddy Delta. Torrential rains that began on 16 July destroyed farmland, roads, rail tracks, bridges and houses, leading the government to declare a state of emergency on 30 July in the four worst-hit regions in the west—Magway Division, Sagaing Division, Chin State and Rakhine State.

    Myanmar's Ministry of Agriculture reported that more than 1.29 million acres of farm land have been inundated and 687,200 acres damaged. Moreover, 15,239 houses were destroyed, according to OCHA figures. (Full article...)

  • Image 4 Protesters in Yangon with a banner that reads "Non-violence: National Movement" in Burmese, in the background is Shwedagon Pagoda The Saffron Revolution (Burmese: ရွှေဝါရောင်တော်လှန်ရေး, romanized: Shwaywarraung Tawlhaanrayy; [sw̥èi wà jàʊɰ̃ tɔ̀ l̥àɰ̃ jéi]) was a series of economic and political protests and demonstrations that took place during August, September, and October 2007 in Myanmar. The protests were triggered by the decision of the national military government to remove subsidies on the sales prices of fuel. The national government is the only supplier of fuels and the removal of the price subsidy immediately caused diesel and petrol prices to increase by 66–100% and the price of compressed natural gas for buses to increase 500% in less than a week. The various protests were led by students, political activists, including women, and Buddhist monks and took the form of a campaign of nonviolent resistance, sometimes also called civil resistance. (Full article...)

  • Image 5 Ne Win in 1959 Ne Win (Burmese: နေဝင်း; IPA: [nè wɪ́ɰ̃]; 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002), born Shu Maung (Burmese: ရှူမောင်; IPA: [/ʃù màʊ̃̀/]), was a Burmese army general and politician who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's military dictator during the Socialist Burma period of 1962 to 1988. Ne Win founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and overthrew the democratic Union Parliament of U Nu in the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, establishing Burma as a one-party socialist state under the Burmese Way to Socialism ideology. Ne Win was Burma's de facto leader as chairman of the BSPP, serving in various official titles as part of his military government, and was known by his supporters as U Ne Win. His rule was characterized by a non-aligned foreign policy, isolationism, one-party rule, economic stagnation, and superstition. Ne Win resigned in July 1988 in response to the 8888 Uprising that overthrew the Burma Socialist Programme Party, and was replaced by the military junta of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). He held minor influence in the 1990s but was eventually placed under house arrest, under which he died in 2002. (Full article...)

    Ne Win (Burmese: နေဝင်း; IPA: [nè wɪ́ɰ̃]; 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002), born Shu Maung (Burmese: ရှူမောင်;

    IPA: [/ʃù màʊ̃̀/]), was a Burmese army general and politician who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's military dictator during the Socialist Burma period of 1962 to 1988.

    Ne Win founded the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and overthrew the democratic Union Parliament of U Nu in the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, establishing Burma as a one-party socialist state under the Burmese Way to Socialism ideology. Ne Win was Burma's de facto leader as chairman of the BSPP, serving in various official titles as part of his military government, and was known by his supporters as U Ne Win. His rule was characterized by a non-aligned foreign policy, isolationism, one-party rule, economic stagnation, and superstition. Ne Win resigned in July 1988 in response to the 8888 Uprising that overthrew the Burma Socialist Programme Party, and was replaced by the military junta of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). He held minor influence in the 1990s but was eventually placed under house arrest, under which he died in 2002. (Full article...)

  • Image 6 Aung San Suu Kyi in 2017 Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2021. She has served as the general secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD) since the party's founding in 1988 and was registered as its chairperson while it was a legal party from 2011 to 2023. She played a vital role in Myanmar's transition from military junta to partial democracy in the 2010s. The youngest daughter of Aung San, Father of the Nation of modern-day Myanmar, and Khin Kyi, Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Rangoon, British Burma. After graduating from the University of Delhi in 1964 and St Hugh's College, Oxford in 1968, she worked at the United Nations for three years. She married Michael Aris in 1972, with whom she had two children. (Full article...)

    Aung San Suu Kyi (born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and political activist who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2021. She has served as the general secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD) since the party's founding in 1988 and was registered as its chairperson while it was a legal party from 2011 to 2023. She played a vital role in Myanmar's transition from military junta to partial democracy in the 2010s.

    The youngest daughter of Aung San, Father of the Nation of modern-day Myanmar, and Khin Kyi, Aung San Suu Kyi was born in Rangoon, British Burma. After graduating from the University of Delhi in 1964 and St Hugh's College, Oxford in 1968, she worked at the United Nations for three years. She married Michael Aris in 1972, with whom she had two children. (Full article...)

  • Image 7 Myanmar (also known as Burma) is the northwesternmost country of mainland Southeast Asia located on the Indochinese peninsula. With an area of 261,228 sq mi (676,578 km2), it is the second largest country in Southeast Asia and the largest on mainland Southeast Asia. The kite-shaped country stretches from 10'N to 20'N for 1,275 miles (2,050 km) with a long tail running along the western coast of the Malay Peninsula. Myanmar lies along the Indian and Eurasian Plates, to the southeast of the Tibetan Plateau. To its west is the Bay of Bengal and to its south is the Andaman Sea. The country is nestled between several mountain ranges with the Arakan Mountains on the west and the Shan Plateau dominating the east. The central valley follows the Irrawaddy River, the most economically important river to the country with 39.5 million people, including the largest city Yangon, living within its basin. The country is home to many diverse ethnic groups, with 135 officially recognized groups. It is strategically located near major Indian Ocean shipping lanes and was historically home to overland trade routes into China from the Bay of Bengal. The neighboring countries are China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos. (Full article...)

    Myanmar (also known as Burma) is the northwesternmost country of mainland Southeast Asia located on the Indochinese peninsula. With an area of 261,228 sq mi (676,578 km2), it is the second largest country in Southeast Asia and the largest on mainland Southeast Asia. The kite-shaped country stretches from 10'N to 20'N for 1,275 miles (2,050 km) with a long tail running along the western coast of the Malay Peninsula.

    Myanmar lies along the Indian and Eurasian Plates, to the southeast of the Tibetan Plateau. To its west is the Bay of Bengal and to its south is the Andaman Sea. The country is nestled between several mountain ranges with the Arakan Mountains on the west and the Shan Plateau dominating the east. The central valley follows the Irrawaddy River, the most economically important river to the country with 39.5 million people, including the largest city Yangon, living within its basin. The country is home to many diverse ethnic groups, with 135 officially recognized groups. It is strategically located near major Indian Ocean shipping lanes and was historically home to overland trade routes into China from the Bay of Bengal. The neighboring countries are China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and Laos. (Full article...)

  • Image 8 Ava c. 1450 The Ava Kingdom (Burmese: အင်းဝပြည်, pronounced [ʔɪ́ɰ̃wa̰ kʰɪʔ]; INN-wa pyi) also known as Inwa Kingdom or Kingdom of Ava was the dominant kingdom that ruled upper Burma (Myanmar) from 1365 to 1555. Founded in 1365, the kingdom was the successor state to the petty kingdoms of Myinsaing, Pinya and Sagaing that had ruled central Burma since the collapse of the Pagan Kingdom in the late 13th century. Like the small kingdoms that preceded it, Ava may have been led by Bamarised Shan kings who claimed descent from the kings of Pagan. Scholars debate that the Shan ethnicity of Avan kings comes from mistranslation, particularly from a record of the Avan kings' ancestors ruling a Shan village in central Burma prior to their rise or prominence. (Full article...)

  • Image 9 The railway bridge over the Khwae Yai River in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a 415 km (258 mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 by Southeast Asian civilians abducted and forced to work by the Japanese and a smaller group of captured Allied soldiers, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. The name used by the Imperial Japanese Government was Tai–Men Rensetsu Tetsudō (泰緬連接鉄道), which means Thailand-Burma-Link-Railway. At least 250,000 Southeast Asian civilians were subjected to forced labour to ensure the construction of the Death Railway and more than 90,000 civilians died building it, as did around 12,000 Allied soldiers. The workers on the Thai side of the railway were Tamils, Malays, and fewer Chinese civilians from Malaya. (Full article...)

    The Burma Railway, also known as the Siam–Burma Railway, Thai–Burma Railway and similar names, or as the Death Railway, is a 415 km (258 mi) railway between Ban Pong, Thailand, and Thanbyuzayat, Burma (now called Myanmar). It was built from 1940 to 1943 by Southeast Asian civilians abducted and forced to work by the Japanese and a smaller group of captured Allied soldiers, to supply troops and weapons in the Burma campaign of World War II. It completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand, and Rangoon, Burma. The name used by the Imperial Japanese Government was Tai–Men Rensetsu Tetsudō (泰緬連接鉄道), which means Thailand-Burma-Link-Railway.

    At least 250,000 Southeast Asian civilians were subjected to forced labour to ensure the construction of the Death Railway and more than 90,000 civilians died building it, as did around 12,000 Allied soldiers. The workers on the Thai side of the railway were Tamils, Malays, and fewer Chinese civilians from Malaya. (Full article...)

  • Image 10 Aung San, c. 1940s Bogyoke Aung San (Burmese: ဗိုလ်ချုပ် အောင်ဆန်း; MLCTS: aung hcan:, pronounced [àʊɰ̃ sʰáɰ̃]; 13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he was assassinated just six months before his goal was realized. Aung San is considered to be the founder of modern-day Myanmar and the Tatmadaw (the country's armed forces), and is commonly referred to by the titles "Father of the Nation", "Father of Independence", and "Father of the Tatmadaw". Devoted to ending British Colonial rule in Burma, Aung San founded or was closely associated with many Burmese political groups and movements and explored various schools of political thought throughout his life. He was a life-long anti-imperialist and studied socialism as a student. In his first year of university he was elected to the executive committee of the Rangoon University Students' Union and served as the editor of its newspaper. He joined the Thakin Society in 1938 and served as its general secretary. He also helped establish the Communist Party of Burma in 1939 but quit shortly afterwards due to vehement disagreements with the rest of the party leadership. He subsequently co-founded the People's Revolutionary Party (later the Burma Socialist Party) with the primary goal of Burmese independence from the British. (Full article...)

    Bogyoke Aung San (Burmese: ဗိုလ်ချုပ် အောင်ဆန်း; MLCTS: aung hcan:,

    pronounced [àʊɰ̃ sʰáɰ̃]; 13 February 1915 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he was assassinated just six months before his goal was realized. Aung San is considered to be the founder of modern-day Myanmar and the Tatmadaw (the country's armed forces), and is commonly referred to by the titles "Father of the Nation", "Father of Independence", and "Father of the Tatmadaw".

    Devoted to ending British Colonial rule in Burma, Aung San founded or was closely associated with many Burmese political groups and movements and explored various schools of political thought throughout his life. He was a life-long anti-imperialist and studied socialism as a student. In his first year of university he was elected to the executive committee of the Rangoon University Students' Union and served as the editor of its newspaper. He joined the Thakin Society in 1938 and served as its general secretary. He also helped establish the Communist Party of Burma in 1939 but quit shortly afterwards due to vehement disagreements with the rest of the party leadership. He subsequently co-founded the People's Revolutionary Party (later the Burma Socialist Party) with the primary goal of Burmese independence from the British. (Full article...)

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