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 2Image 3Image 4Image 5Image 6Severe flooding inOCHA figures. (Full article...)Image 7
The State Administration Council (Burmese: နိုင်ငံတော်စီမံအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးကောင်စီ; abbreviated SAC or နစက) is the military junta currently governing Myanmar, established by Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Min Aung Hlaing following the February 2021 coup d'état and the declaration of a state of emergency by the National Defence and Security Council. Under the constitution, the Commander-in-Chief holds absolute legislative, executive, and judicial power during a state of emergency. Min Aung Hlaing has delegated his legislative power to the SAC, which he chairs. It has formed a provisional administration, also led by Min Aung Hlaing as Prime Minister of Myanmar.
The Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH) has designated the SAC as a "terrorist group", and SAC's legitimacy is contested by the competing National Unity Government of Myanmar (NUG). (Full article...)Image 8
The Saffron Revolution (Burmese: ရွှေဝါရောင်တော်လှန်ရေး) 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 9glaciers dominate. At around 17,500 ft (5,300 m), there is a large ice cap with several outlet glaciers. (Full article...)Image 10
Mandalay International Airport (IATA: MDL, ICAO: VYMD), located 35 km south of Mandalay in Tada-U, is one of three international airports in Myanmar. Completed in 1999, it replaced the old Mandalay Chanmyathazi Airport as the city's main airport and it was the largest and most modern airport in the country until the modernization of Yangon International Airport in 2008. The airport connects 11 domestic and seven international destinations. Its 4,267 m (13,999 ft) runway is the longest runway in use in Southeast Asia and has the capacity to handle up to 3 million passengers a year. (Full article...)Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch
- ... 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 Maw Htun Aung, a Shan Nationalities League for Democracy candidate in the 2020 Myanmar general election, is Kachin, not Shan?
- ... that Molly Burman resumed releasing music three years later after finding that "Happy Things" had accrued a million streams on Spotify?
- ... that the Myanmar Photo Archive (example photograph shown) revealed "a side of modern Myanmar that, until very recently, remained hidden in dusty attics"?
- ... that Esther Ze Naw, who appeared on the 2021 Time 100, was one of the few people in Myanmar who protested against Aung San Suu Kyi's defence of the military at the International Court of Justice in December 2019?
- ... that squatters in Myanmar were punished for protesting against the 2021 coup d'état by being evicted?
- ... that Thinzar Shunlei Yi hid in the Burmese jungle for a month and joined a rebel militia following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état?
- ... 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?
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The following are images from various Myanmar-related articles on Wikipedia.-
Image 1Vegetable 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 2Protesters in Yangon carrying signs reading "Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi" on 8 February 2021. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 3Saint Mary's Cathedral in Downtown Yangon is the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in Burma. (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 419th-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 5A bull fight, 19th-century watercolour (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 6Portuguese ruler and soldiers mounting an Elephant. Philips, Jan Caspar (draughtsman and engraver) (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 8Boxing match, 19th-century watercolour (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 9Sculpture ofnat (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 10An ear-piercing ceremony atMahamuni Buddha in Mandalay (from Culture 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 12A theatrical performance of the Mon dance (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 14A 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 15The 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 16Salween river at Mae Sam Laep on the Thai-Myanmar border (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 17A large fracture on the Mingun Pahtodawgyi caused by the 1839 Ava earthquake. (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 18Temples atMrauk U Kingdom, which ruled over what is now Rakhine State. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 20The restored Taungoo or Nyaungyan dynasty c. 1650 CE. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 21Recorder'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 22Political Map of Burma (Myanmar) c. 1450 CE. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 23Aung San Suu Kyi addresses crowds at the NLD headquarters shortly after her release. (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 24Hlei pyaingbwè - a Burmese regatta (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 25Protesters 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 26British 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 28British 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 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)
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Image 30Myinhkin thabin - equestrian sport (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 31The shores of Irrawaddy River at Nyaung-U, Bagan (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 32Two female musicians play the saung at a performance in Mandalay. (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 33Aerial view of a burned Rohingya village inRakhine state, Myanmar, September 2017 (from History of Myanmar)
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Image 34Former 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 35Myanmar (Burma) map of Köppen climate classification (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 36Grandfather Island, Dawei (from Geography of Myanmar)
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Image 37Pagan 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 38Sculpture of Myanmar mythical lion (from Culture of Myanmar)
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Image 39View ofHpa-An from Mount Zwegabin in Southeastern Hills (from Geography of Myanmar)
Major topics
Myanmar is also known as BurmaHistory - Prehistory
- Pyu city-states
- Thaton Kingdom
- Bagan Kingdom
- Myinsaing Kingdom
- Pinya Kingdom
- Sagaing Kingdom
- Kingdom of Ava
- Prome Kingdom
- Hanthawaddy Kingdom
- Kingdom of Mrauk U
- Toungoo dynasty (First Toungoo Empire)
- Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom
- Konbaung dynasty
- Shan States
- Karenni States
- British rule
- Japanese occupation
- Union of Burma
- Socialist Republic
- 8888 Uprising
- State Peace and Development Council
- 2007 protests
- 2011–2015 political reforms
- 2021 coup
- 2021–22 protests
- 2021–22 insurgency
Geography Politics Economy - Agriculture
- Central bank
- Opium production
- Telecommunications
- Burmese kyat (currency)
- Tourism
- Transportation
- Units of measurement
Society Culture - Anthem
- Coat of arms
- Calendar
- Censorship
- Cinema
- Clothing
- Cuisine
- Dance
- Etymology
- Festivals
- Flag
- Folklore
- Literature
- Media
- Photography
- Music
- National symbols
- Public holidays
- Tattooing
- Twelve Auspicious Rites
Categories
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