Myanmar

The first urban civilization of the region was that of the Pyu, speakers of a Tibeto-Burman language who entered the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) valley from the north and, over roughly a thousand years between about 200 BCE and 900 CE, raised a constellation of city-states in the dry central zone. The greatest of these were Beikthano, Halin and Sri Ksetra, each a brick-walled and moated city set amid irrigated farmland. Their excavated palace citadels, burial grounds, manufacturing sites and great brick stupas survive today as the Pyu Ancient Cities, which in 2014 became Myanmar's first UNESCO World Heritage site.

Through contact with the Indic world the Pyu embraced Buddhism, and their cities provide the earliest testimony to the religion's introduction into Southeast Asia, almost two thousand years ago. Theravada Buddhism, along with Indian scripts, ritual and statecraft, took root among the Pyu and shaped the economic, social and cultural transformations that produced the region's first large and long-lived urban settlements. The monumental stupas and water-management works of these cities mark the beginning of a religious and agricultural civilization that would define Burmese life for centuries.

Pyu power waned in the 9th century, weakened by raids from the Nanzhao kingdom to the northeast and by the southward migration of the Burman people into the valley. As the city-states declined, the Burmans gathered at a settlement on a bend of the Irrawaddy that would become Bagan. The Pyu legacy, Buddhism, irrigated rice agriculture and the city as a sacred and political center, passed to these newcomers, who would build upon it the first kingdom to unify the land.

Turning points

1. c. 200 BCEFormation

   Rise of the Pyu city-states

   Tibeto-Burman Pyu peoples establish walled, moated cities such as Beikthano, Halin and Sri Ksetra in the Irrawaddy basin, founding the region's first urban civilization.

   [2] [1]

2. early centuries CEReligion

   Buddhism takes root

   The Pyu cities provide the earliest evidence of Buddhism's introduction into Southeast Asia, embedding the religion in the region's culture and statecraft.

   [2]

3. 9th century CEPeoples & Migration

   Decline of the Pyu

   Raids from the Nanzhao kingdom and the southward migration of the Burman people erode Pyu power, clearing the way for the rise of Bagan.

   ↗See the data

   [1] [3]

Tradition dates the founding of the city of Bagan to the 9th century, but it became a great power only under Anawrahta, who reigned from 1044 to 1077 and is counted the first king of all Myanmar. Anawrahta united the Burman heartland in the north with the Mon kingdoms of the south, and was converted to Theravada Buddhism by the Mon monk Shin Arahan. Primarily through his efforts Theravada Buddhism became the dominant religion of the country and the inspiration of its culture, displacing earlier Mahayana and Tantric forms.

Anawrahta's conquest of the Mon city of Thaton, by tradition in 1057, is said to have brought back the Buddhist scriptures, monks and craftsmen who enriched Pagan's civilization. Over the following two centuries his successors covered the plain of Bagan with an extraordinary density of stupas, temples and monasteries, financed by a wealthy agrarian economy and the merit-making piety of kings and commoners alike. The surviving monuments, more than three thousand recorded structures with their murals, sculptures and inscriptions, bear spectacular witness to the peak of Bagan civilization between the 11th and 13th centuries and were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2019.

The kingdom's strength ebbed in the 13th century as religious endowments drained royal revenues and frontier pressures mounted. The decisive blow came from the Mongol empire of Kublai Khan: after Burmese provocations, Mongol armies invaded, and by 1287 the kingdom had effectively collapsed, with a further incursion in 1297 ending Pagan as a unifying power. The land fragmented into rival principalities, but the religious and cultural framework Anawrahta had built, Theravada Buddhism and the temple-centered kingship, endured as the foundation of every later Burmese state.

Turning points

1. 849 CE (traditional)Formation

   Founding of Bagan

   The city of Bagan is traditionally established on a bend of the Irrawaddy, later to become the seat of the first Burmese kingdom.

   [3] [5]

2. 1044-1077 CEFormation

   Reign of Anawrahta

   Anawrahta unifies the Burman north and the Mon south into the first Burmese kingdom and adopts Theravada Buddhism as the state religion.

   [4] [3]

3. 1057 CE (traditional)Religion

   Conquest of Thaton

   Anawrahta captures the Mon city of Thaton, by tradition bringing Buddhist scriptures, monks and artisans that enrich Pagan's culture.

   [4] [1]

4. 1287 CEWar & Rupture

   Mongol invasion and collapse

   Armies of Kublai Khan's Mongol empire invade and shatter the kingdom; a further incursion in 1297 ends Bagan as a unifying power.

   ↗See the data

   [3] [1]

Figures of the era

After more than two centuries of fragmentation, the Toungoo dynasty reunified the land in the 16th century. Its greatest ruler, Bayinnaung, who reigned from 1551 to 1581, restored the territory of old Pagan and pushed far beyond it, conquering the Shan states and the kingdom of Siam to make Toungoo Myanmar the most powerful state in mainland Southeast Asia. A devoted patron of Buddhism, he built pagodas, endowed monasteries and maintained diplomatic ties with Buddhist Ceylon. His overstretched empire fragmented after his death, and the dynasty finally fell in 1752 when its capital, Ava, was captured by Mon forces from the south.

From this collapse rose the last and, at its height, largest of the Burmese empires. In 1752 a village chief named Alaungpaya raised a rebellion against the Mon, founded the Konbaung dynasty, and within a few years had reconquered Lower Burma, capturing Pegu in 1757. His militaristic successors expanded relentlessly: they invaded Siam, annexed the Shan states, and pressed against the western frontiers of Arakan and Manipur. By the early 19th century the Konbaung empire stretched across most of mainland Southeast Asia and abutted the territory of the expanding British East India Company in Bengal.

The Konbaung kings governed a centralized Buddhist monarchy in which the king was the chief patron of the sangha, the monastic order, and the guarantor of the religion's purity. Court chronicles, law codes and a flourishing monastic education sustained a distinctive civilization. But the dynasty's aggressive westward expansion into Assam and Manipur brought it into direct collision with British India. The clash of two expanding empires along the Bay of Bengal set the stage for a series of wars that the Burmese monarchy, for all its power, would not survive.

Turning points

1. 1551-1581 CEWar & Rupture

   Reign of Bayinnaung

   Bayinnaung of the Toungoo dynasty reunifies Myanmar and conquers the Shan states and Siam, building the most powerful empire in mainland Southeast Asia.

   ↗See the data

   [7] [6]

2. 1752 CEFormation

   Alaungpaya founds the Konbaung dynasty

   The village chief Alaungpaya leads a revolt against Mon overlords and establishes the Konbaung dynasty, the last royal house of Burma.

   [8] [1]

3. 1757 CEWar & Rupture

   Reconquest of Lower Burma

   Alaungpaya's forces capture Pegu and subdue the Mon south, reuniting the country under Konbaung rule.

   ↗See the data

   [8]

4. 1784-1785 CEWar & Rupture

   Annexation of Arakan

   Konbaung expansion absorbs the kingdom of Arakan on the western coast, bringing the Burmese frontier up against British-held Bengal.

   ↗See the data

   [1] [9]

Figures of the era

British conquest came in three stages. The First Anglo-Burmese War of 1824-26, sparked by friction along the Arakan and Assam frontiers, ended with the Treaty of Yandabo, by which Burma ceded Arakan and Tenasserim. The Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, provoked by British commercial and strategic interests, brought the annexation of Lower Burma, including the rice-rich Irrawaddy delta and the renamed province of Pegu. The Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885 lasted barely two weeks: British forces took the royal capital of Mandalay, deposed and exiled King Thibaw, and on 1 January 1886 annexed Upper Burma, extinguishing the Burmese monarchy.

Britain governed Burma as a province of its Indian Empire, detaching the state from religious affairs and so depriving the sangha of its traditional royal patronage and status. Colonial rule reoriented the economy around the export of rice, teak and, later, oil; the Irrawaddy delta was transformed into one of the world's great rice bowls, and large-scale Indian immigration reshaped commerce and labor. Yet the dismantling of the monarchy and the marginalization of Burmese elites bred deep resentment, and from the early 20th century a nationalist movement grew, rooted in Buddhist revival and in the student politics of Rangoon University.

In 1937 Burma was separated from British India and made a distinct crown colony with a measure of self-government. The Second World War then transformed the independence struggle. Japan invaded in 1942, and young nationalists led by Aung San at first allied with the Japanese before turning against them and rejoining the Allies as liberation neared. After the war Aung San emerged as the dominant national leader; in January 1947 he negotiated independence with British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, but in July 1947 he and most of his cabinet were assassinated. U Nu carried the settlement to completion, and on 4 January 1948 the Union of Burma became fully independent outside the Commonwealth.

Turning points

1. 1824-1826 CEWar & Rupture

   First Anglo-Burmese War

   War over the Arakan and Assam frontiers ends with the Treaty of Yandabo (1826), forcing Burma to cede Arakan and Tenasserim to Britain.

   ↗See the data

   [9] [10]

2. 1852 CEWar & Rupture

   Second Anglo-Burmese War

   British forces annex Lower Burma, including the Irrawaddy delta and the province renamed Pegu, tightening control of the coastline.

   ↗See the data

   [9]

3. November 1885Colonisation

   Third Anglo-Burmese War and the end of the monarchy

   Britain takes Mandalay, exiles King Thibaw, and annexes Upper Burma on 1 January 1886, abolishing the Burmese monarchy and completing the conquest.

   ↗See the data

   [9] [11]

4. 1937 CEPolitics & Power

   Burma separated from British India

   Burma is made a distinct crown colony with limited self-government, administered separately from the Indian Empire.

   [11] [1]

5. 19 July 1947Politics & Power

   Assassination of Aung San

   Aung San, who had negotiated independence with Britain, is assassinated with most of his cabinet months before the transfer of power.

   [12] [13]

Figures of the era

The Union of Burma began independent life in 1948 under Prime Minister U Nu as a parliamentary democracy, but it was beset from the start by communist insurgency and by ethnic rebellions among the Karen, Shan and others that have never fully ceased. After a caretaker military administration in the late 1950s, the experiment in democracy ended on 2 March 1962, when General Ne Win seized power in a coup, imprisoned U Nu, and established a Revolutionary Council drawn almost entirely from the armed forces. Military rule, in one form or another, would dominate the country for the next half-century.

Ne Win imposed the Burmese Way to Socialism, nationalizing industry and commerce, expelling much of the Indian and Chinese merchant class, and sealing the country off from the world. The result was deepening poverty and isolation. By 1988 economic collapse and political repression ignited a nationwide pro-democracy uprising, the 8888 movement, which the military crushed with great bloodshed in September 1988 while the State Law and Order Restoration Council seized power. Out of this moment rose Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of the independence hero Aung San, who became the leading voice of the democracy movement.

In 1990 the military permitted elections that Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won overwhelmingly, but the generals annulled the result and kept her under house arrest for much of the next two decades; in 1991 she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The junta, which renamed the country Myanmar in 1989, ruled through repression and isolation, weathered international sanctions, and brutally suppressed a monk-led 'Saffron Revolution' in 2007. Only in 2008, after a devastating cyclone, did it advance a new constitution and a 'roadmap' that would, in 2011, hand nominal power to a quasi-civilian government.

Turning points

1. 4 January 1948Independence

   Independence of the Union of Burma

   Burma becomes a fully independent republic outside the Commonwealth under Prime Minister U Nu, soon facing communist and ethnic insurgencies.

   ↗See the data

   [1] [13]

2. 2 March 1962Politics & Power

   Ne Win's coup

   General Ne Win overthrows the elected government, imprisons U Nu, and inaugurates decades of military rule under the Burmese Way to Socialism.

   [14] [1]

3. 1988 CEPolitics & Power

   The 8888 uprising

   A nationwide pro-democracy uprising is crushed by the military, which forms a new junta; Aung San Suu Kyi emerges as the democracy movement's leader.

   [15] [16]

4. 1990 CEPolitics & Power

   Annulled NLD election victory

   Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy wins elections in a landslide, but the junta ignores the result and detains her for years.

   [16] [15]

5. 2007 CEReligion

   The Saffron Revolution

   Buddhist monks lead mass protests against the regime that are violently suppressed, drawing renewed international condemnation.

   [15]

Figures of the era

In 2011 a quasi-civilian government under former general Thein Sein launched unexpected reforms: it freed political prisoners, eased censorship, signed cease-fires with ethnic armies, and restored Aung San Suu Kyi's civil liberties, allowing her to win a parliamentary seat in 2012. Her National League for Democracy then swept open elections in 2015, and she became state counsellor and de facto leader of a power-sharing government, though the military retained a constitutional grip on key ministries and a quarter of the legislature. For a few years Myanmar appeared to be emerging from isolation.

That promise was overshadowed by catastrophe in Rakhine State. In August 2017, after attacks by a Rohingya militant group, Myanmar's military launched 'clearance operations' that drove more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh. A United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission concluded in 2018 that the military had carried out mass killings, gang rapes and the burning of hundreds of villages with what it called genocidal intent, and called for the prosecution of the army's commander-in-chief. The treatment of the Rohingya, a long-stateless minority, became one of the gravest human-rights crises of the era.

The opening ended abruptly. After the NLD won another landslide in November 2020, the military, alleging fraud, seized power on 1 February 2021, detaining Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders and vesting authority in a State Administration Council under Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. Mass protests met brutal repression; Aung San Suu Kyi was later sentenced to lengthy imprisonment in trials widely condemned as politically driven. The coup ignited a nationwide armed resistance and civil war that, by 2026, has displaced millions, devastated the economy, and left Myanmar fractured between the military and a patchwork of opposition and ethnic forces.

Turning points

1. 2011 CEPolitics & Power

   Reforms under Thein Sein

   A quasi-civilian government begins political and economic liberalization, releasing prisoners, easing censorship, and restoring Aung San Suu Kyi's freedoms.

   [17] [15]

2. November 2015Politics & Power

   NLD wins free elections

   Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy wins Myanmar's first fairly contested elections; she becomes state counsellor in a government sharing power with the army.

   [16] [15]

3. August 2017Peoples & Migration

   Rohingya crisis in Rakhine State

   Military 'clearance operations' drive more than 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh; a UN fact-finding mission later finds evidence of genocidal violence.

   ↗See the data

   [18]

4. 1 February 2021Politics & Power

   Military coup

   The army seizes power, detains Aung San Suu Kyi and the elected leadership, and installs a junta under Min Aung Hlaing, triggering mass protests and civil war.

   [19] [20]

Figures of the era