Short answers, pulled from the story.
The name Yangon translates to 'End of Strife' and the settlement was founded as Dagon in the early 11th century by the Mon people. This etymology emerged from the combination of Burmese words for 'enemies' and 'run out of' when the Mon people established the settlement as a significant pilgrimage town under the Hanthawaddy kingdom.
Shin Saw Pu was the only female queen regnant in Burmese history and she ruled from 1364 to 1392. She built a palace next to the Shwedagon Pagoda in 1460 and spent her semi-retired life there until her death in 1471.
The British captured Yangon following the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852 and the population had swelled to approximately 30,000 people by 1823. Army engineer Lt. Alexander Fraser designed a new city on a grid plan bounded to the east by the Pazundaung Creek and to the south and west by the Yangon River.
The military government designated Naypyidaw as the new administrative capital in November 2005 and moved much of the government to the newly developed city. This decision left the former capital as a ghost of its former administrative self and Yangon remains the largest city and the most important commercial center of Myanmar.
No building in Yangon should be more than 75% the height above sea level of the Shwedagon Pagoda which rises about 99 meters. The city does not have any skyscrapers due to this rule and a luxury housing project was cancelled in 2015 for its proximity to the pagoda.
Over 4.4 million passengers are carried daily by over 300 public and private bus lines operating about 6,300 crowded buses around the city. The vast majority of Yangon residents cannot afford a car and rely on this extensive network of buses to get around.