LAND & PEOPLE

GEOGRAPHY

Myanmar is situated on the west of the Southeast Asian peninsula, bordering India on the northwest and China on the northeast. Bangladesh lies to the west and Thailand and Laos to the east. The country has a 1,770-mile (2,832-km) coastline that faces west and borders the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea.

The country used to be known as Burma. Following a military coup, the military rulers ordained in 1989 that it should in future be known internationally as Myanmar, which is close to its Burmese-language name, Myanma. This reflects the fact that the land is populated by many different peoples, not just the Burmese who make up the overwhelming majority. "Bama" continues to be used in Burmese as the country's colloquial name, and internationally "Burma" remains in common use. The word "Burmese" is widely used to describe both the dominant language and Myanmar's inhabitants — not totally accurately in the second instance. The adjective "Myanmarese," is, in any case, rather unwieldy in English.

The names in English of several of the country's cities have also changed. For example, the main commercial city and former capital, Rangoon, is now known as Yangon in both Burmese and English; the historical city of Pagan is now usually written as Bagan, while Pegu, another historical city, is written as Bago. Mandalay, the former royal capital in the heart of the country, has retained its original name. In 2005 the newly built city of Naypyidaw in the central plain became Myanmar's new capital.

Myanmar is roughly the size of the state of Texas, and larger than any European country, excluding Russia, with an area of 261,228 square miles (678,500 sq. km). It is the largest country in mainland Southeast Asia, but is also one of the poorest. Its shape resembles that of a kite, with a long tail drifting down the peninsula toward Malaysia.

Myanmar's most prominent geographical feature is the 1,350-mile (2,170-km) Irrawaddy River, or Ayeyarwaddy, flowing north to south, which Rudyard Kipling famously called "the Road to Mandalay." Other important rivers nourishing this rice-growing land are the Salween and the Chindwin. The rivers serve as Myanmar's arteries, while the mountain ranges of East Yoma, Bago Yoma, and West Yoma stand like sentries on guard duty. Myanmar's highest peak, Hkakabo Razi in Kachin State, reaches 19,295 feet (5,881 m). Snow-capped mountain ranges mark Myanmar's northernmost frontier with China.

The Shan plateau has its famous natural attraction, Inle Lake, situated 2,900 feet (880 m) above sea level. A freshwater lake, where the inhabitants live in stilted homes surrounded by floating islands, Inle Lake is nearly fourteen miles (22.4 km) long and more than six miles (10.2 km) across at its widest point. A unique feature of the lake is the way the people who live on its shores, the Inthas, use their legs to paddle their boats.

CLIMATE

Myanmar stretches from the sparsely populated mountainous north, where it borders China, to the tropical south, and there are huge variations in climate. In the extreme north winters can be bitterly cold, but the inhabited parts of the country never experience extreme cold.

There are three seasons a year. Most of the country lies within the tropics and enjoys a hot season from March to mid-May, with temperatures reaching 95°F (35°C). The rainy season begins from the third week of May, when monsoon rains envelop the country. The rains are heaviest during July and August, and taper off in October. The cool months are from November to February. While temperatures at this time dip below the freezing point in the north, for Yangon and other big cities in central Myanmar it is pleasantly warm, around 68–77°F (20–25°C).

THE PEOPLE

Myanmar's population of more than fifty million is made up of about 135 indigenous races spread all over the country. The largest group is the Bama, or Burmese, race, which constitutes about 69 percent of the population. The next most numerous are the Shan (about 9 percent), the Kayin, or Karen (7 percent), and the Rakhine, Mon, Chin, Kachin, and Kayah. Less numerous groups include the Salon, Kaman, Mio, Jingphaw, Lisu, Paye, Po, Sakaw, Pa-O, Kokang, Danu, and Palaung, who live mostly in the northern hilly areas or the southern part of the country. The largest nonindigenous race is the Chinese, believed to constitute around 3.5 percent of the population, many of whom have arrived recently. A significant number of people of Indian origin arrived in colonial times, when Burma came under British-ruled India. The largest concentration of people lives in Yangon, which has a population of six million, and the nearby Irrawaddy Delta.

STATES AND REGIONS

Myanmar is divided into seven states and seven regions. Each state and region has an assembly, or hluttaw, and a state or regional government led by its own prime minister.

The states are ethnically based: Kachin, Kayah, Kayin (Karen), Chin, Mon, Rakhine (formerly Arakan), and the largest, Shan State.

The remainder of the country is divided into regions, of which Yangon, the most populous, is the business hub. The historical region of Mandalay is renowned for its traditional crafts and arts. Its inhabitants are proud of their culture and traditions. The other regions are Ayeyarwaddy, Sagaing, Magway, Bago, and Tanintharyi.

As a Myanmar saying has it, Mandalay is known for its sagar (words), Yangon for its ah-kywar (boast), and Mawlamyine, the capital of Mon, for its ah-sar (food).

Until 2005 Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon, was Myanmar's capital. It remains the largest and most heavily populated city and the country's main commercial center. With its neat colonial architecture, it used to be a fairly quiet backwater compared to other Southeast Asian capitals. Nowadays, with the relaxation of international sanctions, it has become a bustling business center with an ever-expanding population and has several satellite towns or suburbs. Besides business and, at least for now, foreign embassies, Yangon is a center of learning and a transport hub from which trains and buses connect with all parts of the country. It is also home to the golden Shwedagon Pagoda, the most sacred Buddhist structure in Myanmar, which gave the city its earlier name, Dagon.

The new capital, Naypyidaw, two hundred miles north of Yangon, was built only ten years ago and boasts six-lane-wide roads, a new parliament, various government ministries, housing for government staff, a replica of the Shwedagon Pagoda, a zoological garden, many big hotels, and a huge shopping mall for its residents. It is vast, but looks rather like a ghost town because the ministries are quite far from one another and there is very little traffic on the roads. Apart from government workers, families have been reluctant to uproot themselves and...