Myanmar

Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and long known in English as Burma until 1989, occupies a vast swath of mainland Southeast Asia. Extending from the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea in the southwest to the mountain ranges abutting China in the northeast, its 678,500 square kilometres encompass tropical coastlines, fertile river valleys and towering peaks. With a population approaching fifty-five million, the country’s capital, Naypyidaw, sits at the geographic heart of a nation whose largest city, Yangon, retains the echoes of colonial grandeur alongside gilded Buddhist pagodas.

Myanmar’s terrain is divided by a series of north–south mountain chains that trace the eastern periphery of the Indian subcontinent. To the west, the Rakhine Yoma separates the coastal strip from inland plains; farther east, the Bago Yoma and Shan Hills confine the Irrawaddy and Salween river systems to distinct corridors. Hkakabo Razi, in the far north of Kachin State, rises to 5,881 metres, marking the roof of the country and a nexus between the eastern Himalaya and the Hengduan Mountains. These uplands birth the Irrawaddy, Salween (Thanlwin) and Sittaung rivers, whose valleys nurture the bulk of the population and yield the paddy fields that have underpinned successive Burmese polities.

Coastal regions experience monsoonal deluges exceeding 5,000 millimetres annually, while the central dry zone sees less than 1,000 millimetres. Temperatures range from a mild 21 °C in the northern highlands to highs above 32 °C in the delta. Restive tectonic forces also define the setting: the Sagaing Fault, a boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates, has produced earthquakes up to magnitude 8, rendering Myanmar one of the world’s most seismically active nations.

The earliest urban centres in Myanmar emerged as two distinct civilizational strands. In the north, Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states flourished along the Irrawaddy from as early as the second century CE. To the south, the Mon people established kingdoms whose trade networks reached the Bay of Bengal. In the 9th century, waves of Bamar migration into the upper valley initiated a process by which Burmese language, culture and the Theravada form of Buddhism gradually attained primacy. The Pagan Kingdom, founded in the mid-11th century, commissioned thousands of temples in its capital plain, establishing a cultural template that persisted long after Mongol invasions in the late 13th century fractured central authority.

In the centuries that followed, rival states jostled for supremacy until the rise of the Taungoo dynasty in the 16th century briefly welded most of present-day Myanmar into Southeast Asia’s largest empire. By the early 19th century, the Konbaung dynasty extended its sway beyond the Irrawaddy basin to Assam, Manipur and the Lushai Hills. Yet, successive defeats in three Anglo-Burmese wars ultimately made Myanmar a possession of the British East India Company, and later a province within British India.

Under colonial rule, Burma’s agricultural economy was refashioned to supply rice and teak to global markets. The introduction of a Western education system coexisted with missionary efforts and the growth of an urban middle class, especially in Yangon (then Rangoon). The disruption of World War II brought a brief Japanese occupation (1942–45), after which Allied forces retook the territory. On 4 January 1948, Burma declared independence under the Burma Independence Act, inaugurating a parliamentary system that would endure only until 1962.

A bout of post-war instability culminated in General Ne Win’s coup d’état in 1962. The new Burma Socialist Programme Party imposed isolationist economic policies and suppressed dissent, weaving military command into every institutional fabric. The 8888 Uprising of August 1988 saw nationwide protests, followed by another crackdown and establishment of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Although a nominal transition to multiparty elections occurred in 1990, the military refused to relinquish power. During ensuing decades, ethnic insurgencies multiplied, producing one of the longest-running civil wars in the world. Reports by the United Nations and human-rights organisations have documented systemic abuses against civilians, particularly among Karen, Kachin and Shan communities.

A semblance of reform appeared after a 2010 election: the military junta dissolved in 2011, political prisoners were freed, and the 2015 polls brought Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) to power. International sanctions eased, yet the government’s handling of the Muslim Rohingya minority in Rakhine State generated fresh condemnation and refugee flows. The NLD secured another mandate in 2020, only to be overthrown in a coup on 1 February 2021. The Tatmadaw detained Aung San Suu Kyi under charges widely deemed politically motivated, and widespread anti-junta protests were met with lethal force. The coup reignited armed conflicts and displaced more than 600,000 people internally; as of December 2024, over 3.5 million were internally displaced and 1.3 million registered as refugees or asylum seekers.

Myanmar’s internal geography is codified into seven regions (predominantly Bamar) and seven states (home to major ethnic groups). These tiers subdivide into 63 districts, 324 townships, over 300 cities and towns, and more than 65,000 villages. The Irrawaddy delta region — Ayeyarwady Region — comprises six districts and supports rice cultivation across flat wetlands. In contrast, Shan State, the largest by area, contains eleven districts and over 15,000 villages, many perched atop the Shan Plateau.

Roughly 76 people per square kilometre populate Myanmar, among the lowest densities in Southeast Asia. The 2014 census recorded just over 51 million residents, excluding significant uncounted populations in conflict zones. Fertility has fallen precipitously over recent decades — from 4.7 children per woman in 1983 to around 2.2 in 2011 — driven by delayed marriage and access to family planning. Consequently, over one-quarter of adults aged 25–34 remain unmarried.

The state recognises 135 ethnic groups, arrayed into at least 108 ethnolinguistic categories. Four major language families coexist: Sino-Tibetan (including Burmese, Karen and Kachin tongues), Tai-Kadai (principally Shan), Austroasiatic (such as Mon and Palaung) and Indo-European (notably Pali for liturgy and English). Burmese, written in a rounded script descended from Mon and ultimately from southern Indian alphabets, is both the mother tongue of the Bamar majority (about 68 percent) and the lingua franca for government, media and education.

Theravada Buddhism commands the spiritual landscape: nearly nine in ten citizens profess the faith. Pagodas pierce every horizon — most famously the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, gilded with hundreds of gold plates. Monasteries form village nuclei wherein boys typically ordain as novice monks before the age of twenty in a shinbyu ritual; a minority proceed to full monkhood. Alongside Buddhist devotion, animist traditions persist through nat worship — homage to a pantheon of 37 spirits integrated into local practice.

Christianity and Islam exist in smaller enclaves, particularly among Kachin, Chin and Karen minorities, who often face obstacles in military and civil service recruitment. Hindu temples endure marginally, while animistic customs imprint everyday life, from guardian-spirit shrines at roadside to annual pagoda festivals that knit communities together.

Burmese culture manifests in its performing arts. The Yama Zatdaw, an indigenous version of the Ramayana, incorporates Thai, Mon and Indian influences and remains the national epic. Traditional music features arched harps and bamboo xylophones; dancers enact Jataka tales in delicate, stylised motions. Literary works frequently draw upon Buddhist parables and folk narratives, weaving moral instruction with poetic flair.

Myanmar harbours some of Southeast Asia’s most intact ecosystems. Its 64 terrestrial habitats span tropical moist forests, inland wetlands, coastal mangroves and alpine meadows. Over 16,000 plant species and a wealth of fauna — including more than 1,100 birds, 314 mammals and 293 reptiles — find sanctuary here. Yet land-use intensification and logging threaten nearly half of these ecosystems; one-third of the land has already transitioned to anthropogenic use over the last two centuries. Seismic activity, climate change and monsoonal extremes compound environmental stress.

Recognising these pressures, Myanmar has joined regional efforts to expand renewable energy, especially solar, which offers the highest potential among Greater Mekong nations. Partnerships with the UN Environment Programme and domestic agencies produced a national climate-change policy, guiding infrastructure upgrades, resilient farming techniques and greenhouse-gas reductions. In 2015, the World Bank formalised a framework to extend electricity access to six million people and enhance healthcare for pregnant women and children.

A storehouse of natural wealth, Myanmar yields jade, gems, teak, oil and natural gas. Yet decades of conflict, corruption and underinvestment have stymied development. In 2013, nominal GDP stood at US $56.7 billion (US $221.5 billion PPP), and by 2019 it rose to US $76 billion; however, income inequality is among the world’s widest, as military-aligned cronies dominate key sectors. The Yangon Stock Exchange, opened in 2014, symbolizes nascent capital markets, but the informal economy — tied to smuggling and illicit trades — remains vast.

Myanmar occupies a central place in the Golden Triangle, second only to Afghanistan in opium production. Although opium cultivation declined after 2015, in 2022 acreage expanded by one-third, yielding nearly 790 tonnes of potential output. At the same time, Shan State has emerged as a hub for methamphetamine manufacture, with seizures of over 193 million tablets recorded in spring 2020, along with precursor chemicals and equipment. The UN warns that economic dislocation from COVID-19 and political upheaval may spur further revival of these illicit industries.

Despite volatility, Myanmar’s cultural and natural riches draw adventurous travellers. Air travel provides the main gateway: direct flights remain limited, though connections via regional hubs continue to expand. Overland crossings exist between certain Thai and Chinese border points, but foreign access is restricted and subject to frequent change. Tourist visas, internal travel permits and occasional bans on peripheral states require careful planning.

Within permissible zones, a tapestry of destinations unfolds. Yangon’s colonial architecture and the resplendent Shwedagon Pagoda stand alongside bustling markets. Bago’s Buddhist temples, the pottery workshops of Twante and the pilgrimage site of Kyaiktiyo — a golden boulder balanced on a cliff — offer day trips from the former capital. Inle Lake’s floating villages and the ethereal plain of Bagan, with its thousands of pagodas, top many itineraries. Hill stations such as Pyin U Lwin recall British-era cool retreats; beach resorts at Ngapali, Ngwe Saung and the Mergui Archipelago deliver sun and sand.

Northern reaches, from Putao’s Himalayan foothills to Shan State’s trekking trails, beckon hikers among hill-tribe villages. Archeological sites at Mrauk U and Pyay reveal early Pyu and Rakhine Kingdom epochs. Yet highland frontiers can be off-limits amid ongoing conflicts, so updated local advice is indispensable.

Visitors must navigate social norms with care. Modest dress is mandatory in religious settings: shoulders and knees covered, footwear removed before entering any temple precinct. Both genders may don the longyi, a tubular sarong tied differently for men and women. Public displays of affection are extremely rare; even business cards must be exchanged with the right hand supported by the left elbow.

Tourists often enjoy courteous treatment; many Burmese regard foreigners as “bo” (“officer”), a lingering colonial term. Elders merit respectful addresses — U or “Uncle” for men, Daw or “Auntie” for women. Conversations about the Rohingya crisis, religious matters or politics, especially relations with China, are best avoided. Monks command profound reverence: their bowls must never hold money, and alms should be offered as food before noon. Photographing or touching monks without permission breaches custom and can provoke censure.

Chinlone, Myanmar’s national sport, typifies local leisure: players pass a rattan ball by foot, striving for elegance rather than competition. Festivals punctuate the year, celebrating everything from pagoda anniversaries to agricultural cycles, each reinforcing communal bonds through dance, music and ritual.

Myanmar’s narrative is one of shifting contours — geographic, cultural and political. Its landscapes and peoples testify to centuries of intercultural exchange, dynastic ambition and colonial interlude. Today’s struggles over governance, rights and resources unfold against a backdrop of extraordinary biodiversity and profound spiritual life. The country’s future hinges on its ability to reconcile competing visions: to harness its resource wealth for broad-based prosperity, to preserve its fragile ecosystems, and to forge a social compact that embraces its myriad ethnic identities. For all its challenges, Myanmar endures as a place of exhilarating complexity and enduring hope, awaiting the chapters yet to be written.