Myanmar: the story on HearLore

Myanmar

The name Myanmar, derived from the Sanskrit term Brahma Desha meaning land of Brahma, has sparked decades of political contention since the military government officially changed the country's English name from Burma in 1989. This linguistic shift was not merely a matter of translation but a deliberate political maneuver by the State Law and Order Restoration Council to legitimize their rule and erase colonial-era identifiers. While the United Nations and most international media adopted Myanmar, political opposition groups and countries like the United States continued to use Burma to deny the junta's legitimacy. The pronunciation of the name itself remains a point of confusion, with at least nine different variations existing in English dictionaries, ranging from two-syllable to three-syllable pronunciations that often confuse non-rhotic speakers accustomed to the letter r serving only to indicate a long vowel. This dispute over nomenclature reflects the deeper struggle for identity that has defined the nation since the 9th century when the Bamar people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and began to establish a cultural dominance that would eventually eclipse the earlier Pyu city-states and Mon kingdoms. The country's geography, stretching from the Hengduan Mountains in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south, has long served as a crossroads for trade and migration, making it a target for empires from India, China, and Southeast Asia. The sheer scale of the nation, covering 676,578 square kilometers, makes it the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia, yet its population of approximately 55 million remains one of the least developed in the world, creating a stark contrast between its immense natural resources and its chronic instability.

Empires of the Irrawaddy

The Pagan Kingdom, founded in the 1050s by King Anawrahta, stands as the first true unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery, establishing a legacy that would shape Burmese identity for centuries. During the 12th and 13th centuries, Pagan grew to become one of the two main powers in mainland Southeast Asia, rivaling the Khmer Empire, and its rulers built over 10,000 Buddhist temples in the capital zone alone, creating a landscape of pagodas and kyaungs that still defines the region today. The kingdom's dominance was built on the spread of Theravada Buddhism to the village level, although Tantric, Mahayana, Hinduism, and folk religion remained heavily entrenched in the population. However, the four-century-old kingdom fell to Mongol invasions in 1287, triggering 250 years of political fragmentation that saw the rise of competing Shan States and the eventual emergence of the Ava Kingdom and Hanthawaddy kingdom. The balance of power shifted again in the mid-16th century when the Taungoo dynasty, a former vassal state of Ava, reunified the country under the ambitious King Tabinshwehti and his successor Bayinnaung. Bayinnaung conquered a vast swath of mainland Southeast Asia, including the Shan states, Lan Na, Manipur, Mong Mao, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, and Lan Xang, creating the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia. Yet, this empire unraveled soon after Bayinnaung's death in 1581, completely collapsing by 1599, leaving behind a legacy of administrative reforms that would persist well into the 19th century. The Konbaung dynasty, which rose to power in 1752, extended Restored Toungoo's administrative reforms and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion, making the Burmese language and culture predominate the entire Irrawaddy valley for the first time in history. Despite these achievements, the Konbaung kings faced constant warfare with Siam and China, and by the 19th century, the kingdom was unable to stem the advance of British colonialism.

Common questions

What is the origin of the name Myanmar and when was it officially adopted?

The name Myanmar derives from the Sanskrit term Brahma Desha meaning land of Brahma and was officially adopted on the 18th of June 1989 by the State Law and Order Restoration Council. This change replaced the colonial-era name Burma to legitimize the military government's rule and erase colonial identifiers. The United Nations and most international media adopted the new name while political opposition groups and countries like the United States continued to use Burma to deny the junta's legitimacy.

Who founded the Pagan Kingdom and when did it fall to Mongol invasions?

King Anawrahta founded the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s as the first true unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery. The four-century-old kingdom fell to Mongol invasions in 1287 which triggered 250 years of political fragmentation. During its peak in the 12th and 13th centuries the kingdom rivalled the Khmer Empire and rulers built over 10,000 Buddhist temples in the capital zone alone.

When did the British East India Company seize control of Myanmar and what was the result?

The British East India Company seized control of the administration of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century. The annexation of the entire country was completed on the 1st of January 1886 with the fall of Mandalay and the abdication of the last Burmese monarch King Thibaw Min. Throughout the colonial era many Indians arrived as soldiers civil servants construction workers and traders and dominated commercial and civil life in Burma.

On what date did Myanmar become an independent republic and who were its first leaders?

The nation became an independent republic on the 4th of January 1948 under the terms of the Burma Independence Act 1947. Sao Shwe Thaik served as the first president and U Nu served as the first prime minister. Aung San negotiated the Panglong Agreement with ethnic leaders that guaranteed the independence of Burma as a unified state before his assassination in July 1947.

What happened during the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état and what are the current consequences?

In the early morning of the 1st of February 2021 the Tatmadaw detained Suu Kyi and other members of the ruling party handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing. The military declared a state of emergency for one year and began closing borders restricting travel and electronic communications nationwide. Since 2021 more than 600,000 people have been displaced across Myanmar due to the civil war with more than three million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

The Colonial Shadow

The British East India Company seized control of the administration of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century, culminating in the annexation of the entire country on the 1st of January 1886 with the fall of Mandalay and the abdication of the last Burmese monarch, King Thibaw Min. Throughout the colonial era, many Indians arrived as soldiers, civil servants, construction workers, and traders, and along with the Anglo-Burmese community, they dominated commercial and civil life in Burma, creating a social hierarchy that placed Europeans at the top and Buddhist Burmese at the bottom. Rangoon became the capital of British Burma and an important port between Calcutta and Singapore, exceeding New York City as the greatest immigration port in the world in the 1920s, with Indian immigrants forming a majority of the population in most of Burma's largest cities. Burmese resentment was strong and was vented in violent riots that periodically paralyzed Rangoon until the 1930s, with some of the discontent caused by a disrespect for Burmese culture and traditions. Buddhist monks became the vanguards of the independence movement, with U Wisara, an activist monk, dying in prison after a 166-day hunger strike. On the 1st of April 1937, Burma became a separately administered colony of Britain, and Ba Maw became the first Prime Minister and Premier of Burma, an outspoken advocate for Burmese self-rule who opposed the participation of Britain, and by extension Burma, in World War II. The Japanese invasion during World War II devastated the country, with battles that laid waste to much of Burma and resulted in the deaths of 170,000 to 250,000 Burmese civilians. Although many Burmese fought initially for the Japanese as part of the Burma Independence Army, many Burmese, mostly from the ethnic minorities, served in the British Burma Army, and the Burma National Army and the Arakan National Army fought with the Japanese from 1942 to 1944 before switching allegiance to the Allied side in 1945.

The Military's Iron Grip

On the 7th of July 1962, the government broke up demonstrations at Rangoon University, killing 15 students, and in 1974, the military violently suppressed anti-government protests at the funeral of U Thant. Student protests in 1975, 1976, and 1977 were quickly suppressed by overwhelming force, and in 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 8888 Uprising. Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and formed the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). In 1989, SLORC declared martial law after widespread protests and changed the country's official English name from the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar on the 18th of June 1989. In May 1990, the government held free multiparty elections for the first time in almost 30 years, and the National League for Democracy, the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, won 392 out of a total 492 seats, earning 80% of the seats. However, the military junta refused to cede power and continued to rule the nation, first as SLORC and, from 1997, as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) until its dissolution in March 2011. General Than Shwe took over the Chairmanship from General Saw Maung in 1992 and held it until 2011. On the 23rd of June 1997, Myanmar was admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and on the 27th of March 2006, the military junta officially named the new capital Naypyidaw, meaning city of the kings, after moving the national capital from Yangon to a site near Pyinmana in November 2005. In August 2007, an increase in the price of fuel led to the Saffron Revolution led by Buddhist monks that were dealt with harshly by the government, with reports of barricades at the Shwedagon Pagoda and monks killed. In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis caused extensive damage in the densely populated rice-farming delta of the Irrawaddy Division, with reports of an estimated 200,000 people dead or missing, damages totaling 10 billion US dollars, and as many as 1 million left homeless.

The Reforms and the Coup

A general election in 2010, the first for twenty years, was boycotted by the NLD, and the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party declared victory, stating that it had been favored by 80 per cent of the votes, though fraud was alleged. A nominally civilian government was then formed, with retired general Thein Sein as president, and a series of liberalizing political and economic actions took place. By the end of 2011, these included the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, the establishment of the National Human Rights Commission, the granting of general amnesties for more than 200 political prisoners, new labor laws that permitted labor unions and strikes, a relaxation of press censorship, and the regulation of currency practices. In response, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Myanmar in December 2011, the first visit by a US Secretary of State in more than fifty years, meeting both President Thein Sein and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party participated in the 2012 by-elections, and in the April 2012 by-elections, the NLD won 43 of the 45 available seats. General elections were held on the 8th of November 2015, the first openly contested elections held in Myanmar since the 1990 general election, and the results gave the NLD an absolute majority of seats in both chambers of the national parliament. The new parliament convened on the 1st of February 2016, and on the 15th of March 2016, Htin Kyaw was elected as the first non-military president since the military coup of 1962. On the 6th of April 2016, Aung San Suu Kyi assumed the newly created role of state counsellor, a role akin to a prime minister. In Myanmar's 2020 parliamentary election, the ostensibly ruling National League for Democracy, the party of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, competed with various other smaller parties, and Suu Kyi's NLD won the 2020 Myanmar general election on the 8th of November in a landslide, capturing 392 out of 476 elected seats. The USDP, regarded as a proxy for the military, suffered a humiliating defeat, capturing only 33 of the 476 elected seats. As the election results began emerging, the USDP rejected them, urging a new election with the military as observers, and more than 90 other smaller parties contested the vote, including more than 15 who complained of irregularities. However, election observers declared there were no major irregularities, and despite the election commission validating the NLD's overwhelming victory, the USDP and Myanmar's military persistently alleged fraud.

The State of Emergency

In the early morning of the 1st of February 2021, the day parliament was set to convene, the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's military, detained Suu Kyi and other members of the ruling party, handing power to military chief Min Aung Hlaing and declaring a state of emergency for one year. The military began closing the borders, restricting travel and electronic communications nationwide, and announced it would replace the existing election commission with a new one, with a military media outlet indicating new elections would be held in about one year. The military expelled NLD party Members of Parliament from the capital city, Naypyidaw, and by the 15th of March 2021, the military leadership continued to extend martial law into more parts of Yangon, while security forces killed 38 people in a single day of violence. By the second day of the coup, thousands of protesters were marching in the streets of Yangon, and other protests erupted nationwide, largely halting commerce and transportation. Despite the military's arrests and killings of protesters, the first weeks of the coup found growing public participation, including groups of civil servants, teachers, students, workers, monks, and religious leaders, and even normally disaffected ethnic minorities. The coup was immediately condemned by the United Nations Secretary General and leaders of democratic nations, with the U.S. threatening sanctions on the military and its leaders, including a freeze of US$1 billion of their assets in the U.S. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Russia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, and China refrained from criticizing the military coup. A United Nations Security Council resolution called for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and the other detained leaders, a position shared by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. The National Unity Government then declared the formation of an armed wing on the 5th of May 2021, a date that is often cited as the start of a full-scale civil war, and this armed wing was named the People's Defence Force to protect its supporters from military junta attacks and as a first step towards a Federal Union Army. The civil war is ongoing as of 2025, and since 2021, more than 600,000 people have been displaced across Myanmar due to the civil war, with more than three million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are over 1.3 million people counted as refugees and asylum seekers, and 3.5 million people displaced internally as of December 2024. The military again arrested Aung San Suu Kyi in order to remove her from public life, and charged her with crimes ranging from corruption to violation of COVID-19 protocols, all of the charges against her are politically motivated according to independent observers. The SAC imposed a state of emergency from 2021 to 2025, after which it transferred power back to the NDSC, and in November 2024, the ICC prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC filed an arrest warrant application of Senior General, Acting President and Commander-in-Chief of the Myanmar Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing for criminal responsibility for the crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya, committed in Myanmar, and in part in Bangladesh.