Portal:Myanmar

ကြိုဆိုပါတယ်။ / Welcome to the Myanmar Portal

Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also rendered 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 to its west, Bangladesh to its southwest, 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

Win Myint in 2020

Win Myint (Burmese: ဝင်းမြင့်; MLCTS: wang: mrang. [wɪ́ɰ̃ mjɪ̰ɰ̃]; born 8 November 1951) is a Burmese politician who served as the 10th president of Myanmar from 2018 to 2021. Win Myint was removed from office in the 2021 coup d'état. He was the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Myanmar from 2016 to 2018. He also served as a member of parliament in the House of Representatives (Pyithu Hluttaw) from 2012 to 2018. Win Myint was viewed as an important ally and of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, who served as the head of government. (Full article...)
Image 2

P. labiata from Hong Kong

Portia labiata is a jumping spider (family Salticidae) found in Sri Lanka, India, southern China, Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia, Singapore, Java, Sumatra and the Philippines. In this medium-sized jumping spider, the front part is orange-brown and the back part is brownish. The conspicuous main eyes provide vision more acute than a cat's during the day and 10 times more acute than a dragonfly's, and this is essential in P. labiata′s navigation, hunting and mating.

The genus Portia has been called "eight-legged cats", as their hunting tactics are as versatile and adaptable as a lion's. All members of Portia have instinctive hunting tactics for their most common prey, but often can improvise by trial and error against unfamiliar prey or in unfamiliar situations, and then remember the new approach. While most jumping spiders prey mainly on insects and by active hunting, females of Portia also build webs to catch prey directly and sometimes join their own webs on to those of web-based spiders. Both females and males prefer web spiders as prey, followed by other jumping spiders, and finally insects. In all cases females are more effective predators than males. (Full article...)
Image 3

A plate of mont kywe the, a rice flour cake sweetened with jaggery and garnished with grated coconut

In the Burmese language, the term mont (Burmese: မုန့်; pronounced [mo̰ʊɴ]) translates to "snack", and refers to a wide variety of prepared foods, ranging from sweet desserts to savory food items that may be cooked by steaming, baking, frying, deep-frying, or boiling. Foods made from wheat or rice flour are generally called mont, but the term may also refer to certain varieties of noodle dishes, such as mohinga. Burmese mont are typically eaten with tea during breakfast or afternoon tea time.

Each variety of mont is designated by a descriptive word or phrase that precedes or follows the word mont, such as htoe mont (lit. 'snack that is prodded') or mont lone yay baw (lit. 'floating snack balls'). The term mont has been borrowed into several regional languages, including into Shan as မုၼ်း and into Jingpho as muk. (Full article...)
Image 4
Hkakaborazi National Park is a national park in northern Myanmar with an area of 1,472 sq mi (3,810 km²). It was established in 1998.
It surrounds Hkakabo Razi, the highest mountain in the country.

It ranges in elevation from 2,950 to 18,730 ft (900 to 5,710 m) comprising evergreen forest and mixed deciduous forests in Nogmung Township, Kachin State. It is managed by the Nature and Wildlife Conservation Division.
It is contiguous with Bumhpa Bum Wildlife Sanctuary and Hukaung Valley Wildlife Sanctuary. These protected areas together with Hponkanrazi Wildlife Sanctuary comprise the largest continuous expanse of natural forest called the Northern Forest Complex stretching over an area of 11,624 sq mi (30,110 km²). Its objective is to conserve the biodiversity of the Ayeyarwady and Chindwin river basins. (Full article...)
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The Early Pagan Kingdom (Burmese: ခေတ်ဦး ပုဂံ ပြည်) was a city-state that existed in the first millennium CE before the emergence of the Pagan Empire in the mid 11th century. The Burmese chronicles state that the "kingdom" was founded in the second century CE. The seat of power of the small kingdom was first located at Arimaddana, Thiri Pyissaya, and Tampawaddy until 849 CE when it was moved to Pagan (Bagan).

Radiocarbon dating shows the earliest human settlement in the Pagan region dates only from the mid-7th century CE. It existed alongside Pyu city-states that dominated Upper Burma. The city-state of Pagan, according to mainstream scholarship, was founded in the mid 9th century by the Mranma of Nanzhao Kingdom. Burmans at Pagan expanded irrigation-based cultivation while borrowing extensively from the Pyus' predominantly Buddhist culture. It was one of many competing city-states in the Pyu realm until the late 10th century when the principality began absorbing its surrounding states. The expansion accelerated in the 1050s and 1060s when King Anawrahta founded the Pagan Empire, the first ever unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery. (Full article...)
Image 6

The railroad 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 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...)
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Atula Thiri Maha Yaza Dewi (Burmese: အတုလသီရိ မဟာရာဇ ဒေဝီ [ʔətṵla̰ θìɹḭ məhà jàza̰ dèwì]; Pali: Atulasīrimahārājadevī; c. 1518–1568) was the chief queen consort of King Bayinnaung of Burma (Myanmar) from 1550 to 1568. The queen was of Toungoo royalty, daughter of King Mingyi Nyo and younger half-sister of King Tabinshwehti. She was the mother of King Nanda. Her 1534 marriage to Bayinnaung, a commoner, solidified an unfailing alliance between Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung who together would go on to found the Toungoo Empire (or the Second Burmese Empire). (Full article...)
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Forrest's pika (Ochotona forresti) is a species of mammal in the pika family, Ochotonidae. It is found in Bhutan, China, India, and Myanmar. The summer dorsal pelage and ventral pelage are dark rufous or blackish brown, and the winter dorsal pelage is a grayish brown, slightly lighter in tone than the ventral pelage. It is a generalist herbivore. It was assessed by the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species as insufficiently known in 1994, as near threatened in 1996, and re-assessed in 2008 as a species of least concern. (Full article...)
Image 9
Wing of the dragonfly Burmalindenia in a cabochon of Burmese amber, showing typical red colouration of the amber. Scale bar = 5mm

Burmese amber, also known as Burmite or Kachin amber, is amber from the Hukawng Valley in northern Myanmar. The amber is dated to around 100 million years ago, during the latest Albian to earliest Cenomanian ages of the mid-Cretaceous period. The amber is of significant palaeontological interest due to the diversity of flora and fauna contained as inclusions, particularly arthropods including insects and arachnids but also birds, lizards, snakes, frogs and fragmentary dinosaur remains. The amber has been known and commercially exploited since the first century AD, and has been known to science since the mid-nineteenth century. Research on the deposit has attracted controversy due to the potential role of the amber trade in funding internal conflict in Myanmar and hazardous working conditions in the mines where it is collected. (Full article...)
Image 10
On 2 July 2020, a major landslide at the Wai Khar jade mining site in the Hpakant area of Kachin State, Myanmar, killed between 175 and 200 miners in the country's deadliest-ever mining incident. At 06:30 local time (MMT) heavy rains triggered the collapse of a heap of mining waste, which came tumbling down into a lake. This generated a 6.1-meter (20 ft) wave of mud and water that buried those working at the Wai Khar mine. The miners killed or injured by the landslide were independent "jade pickers", who scavenge tailings from larger operators and who live in ramshackle quarters at the base of large mounds of rubble.

Myanmar's jade industry supplies 70% to 90% of the world jade supply. The industry had become known for its fatal accidents in the preceding years, with the previous deadliest accident in 2015 killing 116 people. While the government responded with promises of reforms in the jade mining industry, activists claim that little has been done in practice since then. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... 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 squatters in Myanmar were punished for protesting against the 2021 coup d'état by being evicted?
... that Rangoon kept its own time for more than two decades after Burma Standard Time first came into effect?
... that Rolling Stone named Mission of Burma's "Academy Fight Song" as one of the 100 greatest debut singles of all time?
... 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 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 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?
... that the talabaw soup, which consists primarily of bamboo shoots, is the essential dish of Myanmar's Karen people, who use it to supplement rice?

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The following are images from various Myanmar-related articles on Wikipedia.

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)
Image 2A group of Buddhist worshipers at Shwedagon Pagoda, an important religious site for Burmese Buddhists (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 3Myanmar (Burma) map of Köppen climate classification (from Geography of Myanmar)
Image 4Saint Mary's Cathedral in Downtown Yangon is the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in Burma. (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 5Myinhkin thabin - equestrian sport (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 6Protesters in Yangon with a banner that reads non-violence: national movement in Burmese, in the background is Shwedagon Pagoda. (from History of Myanmar)
Image 7Sculpture of Myanmar mythical lion (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 8Two female musicians play the saung at a performance in Mandalay. (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 9Salween river at Mae Sam Laep on the Thai-Myanmar border (from Geography of Myanmar)
$Image 10A large fracture on the Mingun Pahtodawgyi caused by the 1839 Ava earthquake. (from Geography of Myanmar)$

Image 10A large fracture on the Mingun Pahtodawgyi caused by the 1839 Ava earthquake. (from Geography of Myanmar)
Image 11View of Hpa-An from Mount Zwegabin in Southeastern Hills (from Geography of Myanmar)
Image 12Vegetable stall on the roadside at the Madras Lancer Lines, Mandalay, January 1886. Photographer: Hooper, Willoughby Wallace (1837–1912). (from History of Myanmar)
Image 13Temples at Mrauk U, was the capital of the Mrauk U Kingdom, which ruled over what is now Rakhine State. (from History of Myanmar)
Image 14Mount Popa, a dormant volcano in the Central Lowlands (from Geography of Myanmar)
Image 15Deforestation in Myanmar during the British colonial era. (from Geography of Myanmar)
Image 16An ear-piercing ceremony at Mahamuni Buddha in Mandalay (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 17British soldiers on patrol in the ruins of the Burmese town of Bahe during the advance on Mandalay, January 1945. (from History of Myanmar)
Image 18Jade Mine in Hpakant (from Geography of Myanmar)
Image 19Recorder's Court on Sule Pagoda Road, with the Sule Pagoda at the far end, Rangoon, 1868. Photographer: J. Jackson. (from History of Myanmar)
Image 20A bull fight, 19th-century watercolour (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 21Boxing match, 19th-century watercolour (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 22Aerial view of a burned Rohingya village in Rakhine state, September 2017 (from History of Myanmar)
Image 2319th-century funeral cart and spire, which would form part of the procession from the home to the place of cremation (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 24Mountains near Pindaya on the Shan Plateau (from Geography of Myanmar)
Image 25A theatrical performance of the Mon dance (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 26Hlei pyaingbwè - a Burmese regatta (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 27A wide range of Burmese lacquerware from Bagan (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 28Aung San Suu Kyi addresses crowds at the NLD headquarters shortly after her release. (from History of Myanmar)
Image 29British 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)
Image 30The 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)
Image 31Political Map of Burma (Myanmar) c. 1450 CE. (from History of Myanmar)
Image 32Protesters in Yangon carrying signs reading "Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi" on 8 February 2021. (from History of Myanmar)
Image 33A wedding procession, with the groom and bride dressed in traditional Burmese wedding clothes, reminiscent of royal attire (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 34Sculpture of Thagyamin nat (from Culture of Myanmar)
Image 35The shores of Irrawaddy River at Nyaung-U, Bagan (from Geography of Myanmar)
Image 36The restored Taungoo or Nyaungyan dynasty c. 1650 CE. (from History of Myanmar)
Image 37Portuguese ruler and soldiers mounting an Elephant. Philips, Jan Caspar (draughtsman and engraver) (from History of Myanmar)
Image 38British 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)
Image 39Grandfather Island, Dawei (from Geography of Myanmar)
Image 40Pagan 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)