Myanmar facts for kids

Republic of the Union of Myanmar
Republic of the Union of Myanmar; ပြည်ထောင်စု သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်
Flag	State seal
	Anthem: Kaba Ma Kyei; Till the End of the World;
	Location of Myanmar (green) in ASEAN (dark grey) — [Legend]
Capital	Naypyidawa;
Largest city	Yangon (Rangoon)
Official languages	Burmese
Recognised regional languages	Jingpho; Kayah; Karen; Chin; Mon; Rakhine; Shan;
Official scripts	Burmese script
Ethnic groups	68% Bamar; 9% Shan; 7% Karen; 4% Rakhine; 3% Chinese; 2% Indian; 2% Mon; 5% other;
Demonym	Burmese / Myanma
Government	Unitary presidential constitutional republic
Area
Population

Myanmar is a country in South East Asia. Its full name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. It is also sometimes called Burma. Myanmar is the largest country in South East Asia that is not an island. It is also part of South Asia.

It is bordered by China on the north, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, and the India on the northwest, with the Andaman Sea to the south, and the Bay of Bengal to the southwest. There are over 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) of coast line.

Government

The country was ruled by a military junta led by General Ne Win from 1962 to 1988. Its political system today stays under the tight control of its military government. In 1992, Senior General Than Shwe began ruling the country. In 2016 Htin Kyaw became the first elected civilian leader. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is prevented from becoming President by the constitution of Myanmar, will act as an advisor to Kyaw.

In March 2018, Win Myint became the country's tenth and current President.

Origin and history of the name

In 1989, the military junta officially changed the English version of its name from Burma to Myanmar. It also made a new name in English for places in the country, such as its former capital city, from Rangoon to Yangon. The official name of the country in the Burmese language, Myanma did not change, however. The renaming was controversial, seen by some as linguistically bad. Accepting the name change in the English-speaking world has been slow, with many people still using the name Burma to refer to the country. Major news organizations like the BBC still call it Burma. Some question the military junta's authority to "officially" change the name in English in the first place. Aung San Suu Kyi, however, calls the country Myanmar now.

History

The landing of British forces in Mandalay after the last of the Anglo-Burmese Wars, which resulted in the abdication of the last Burmese monarch, King Thibaw Min.

Myanmar had a strong kingdom in ancient times, but the nation was taken over by the British in the 1800s. It was occupied by the Empire of Japan in the 1940s. Myanmar became independent in 1948 as the Union of Burma, and had a democratic government at first. However, in 1962, a coup d'état brought the military into power, where it has been ever since. The founder of modern Myanmar, Aung San was assassinated months before independence. His daughter Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest many times for leading the democracy movement.

In 1991, the military junta agreed to democratic elections, which were won by the National League for Democracy, and should have made Aung San Suu Kyi the Prime Minister. However, the dictatorship ignored the results of the elections and continued ruling. In November 2005, the military government stated that the national capital would be moved from Yangon to a location near Pyinmana, which was renamed Naypyidaw in March 2006.

Since independence in 1948 and the assassination of Aung San Burma has had civil wars between its governments and minority ethnic groups like the Kachin, Karen, Shan and others. These conflicts are known as the Internal conflict in Burma.

National symbols of Myanmar

National animal of Myanmar
National bird of Myanmar
National flower of Myanmar

Land

Downtown Yangon

Mandalay, Myanmar

Bago

Today, there are 14 sections. 7 are called states and the other 7 are called divisions.

The divisions are split into townships. The townships are divided into villages and wards.

Largest cities of Myanmar

Yangon - Population: 5,211,431

Mandalay - Population: 1,225,546

Naypyidaw - Population: 1,160,242

Bago, Burma - Population: 491,434

Hpa-An - Population: 421,575

Taunggyi - Population: 381,636

Monywa - Population: 372,095

Myitkyina - Population: 306,949

Mawlamyine - Population: 289,388

Magway, Burma - Population: 289,247

Culture

Burmese Kinnayi Kinnaya dance

A diverse range of indigenous cultures exist in Myanmar, the majority culture is primarily Buddhist and Bamar. Bamar culture has been influenced by the cultures of neighbouring countries. This is manifested in its language, cuisine, music, dance and theatre. The arts, particularly literature, have historically been influenced by the local form of Theravada Buddhism. Considered the national epic of Myanmar, the Yama Zatdaw, an adaptation of India's Ramayana, has been influenced greatly by Thai, Mon, and Indian versions of the play. Buddhism is practised along with nat worship, which involves elaborate rituals to propitiate one from a pantheon of 37 nats.

A Buddhist Shinbyu ceremony in Mandalay.

In a traditional village, the monastery is the centre of cultural life. Monks are venerated and supported by the lay people. A novitiation ceremony called shinbyu is the most important coming of age events for a boy, during which he enters the monastery for a short time. All male children in Buddhist families are encouraged to be a novice (beginner for Buddhism) before the age of twenty and to be a monk after the age of twenty. Girls have ear-piercing ceremonies at the same time. Burmese culture is most evident in villages where local festivals are held throughout the year, the most important being the pagoda festival. Many villages have a guardian nat, and superstition and taboos are commonplace.

An Arakan (Rakhine) girl pours water at revellers during the Burmese New Year Thingyan Water Festival in Yangon.

British colonial rule introduced Western elements of culture to Myanmar. Myanmar's education system is modelled after that of the United Kingdom.

Colonial architectural influences are most evident in major cities such as Yangon. Many ethnic minorities, particularly the Karen in the southeast and the Kachin and Chin who populate the north and northeast, practice Christianity.

Cuisine

Burmese cuisine is characterised by extensive use of fish products such as fish sauce, ngapi (fermented seafood) and dried prawn.

Mohinga is the traditional breakfast dish and is Myanmar's national dish. Seafood is a common ingredient in coastal cities such as Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, Mawlamyaing (formerly Moulmein), Mergui (Myeik) and Dawei, while meat and poultry are more commonly used in landlocked cities like Mandalay. Freshwater fish and shrimp have been incorporated into inland cooking as a primary source of protein and are used in a variety of ways, fresh, salted whole or filleted, salted and dried, made into a salty paste, or fermented sour and pressed.

Burmese cuisine also includes a variety of salads (a thoke), centred on one major ingredient, ranging from starches like rice, wheat and rice noodles, glass noodles and vermicelli, to potato, ginger, tomato, kaffir lime, long bean, lahpet (pickled tea leaves), and ngapi (fish paste).

Related pages

Images for kids

Pyu city-states c. 8th century; Pagan is shown for comparison only and is not contemporary.
Pagodas and kyaungs in present-day Bagan, the capital of the Pagan Kingdom.
Temples at Mrauk U.
Bayinnaung's Empire in 1580.
A British 1825 lithograph of Shwedagon Pagoda shows British occupation during the First Anglo-Burmese War.
British troops firing a mortar on the Mawchi road, July 1944.
British governor Hubert Elvin Rance and Sao Shwe Thaik at the flag raising ceremony on 4 January 1948 (Independence Day of Burma).
Cyclone Nargis in southern Myanmar, May 2008.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Aung San Suu Kyi and her staff at her home in Yangon, 2012
Map of Myanmar and its divisions, including Shan State, Kachin State, Rakhine State and Karen State.
The limestone landscape of Mon State.
Assembly of the Union (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw)
Myanmar President Thein Sein meets US President Barack Obama in Yangon, 2012.
A Myanmar Air Force Mikoyan MiG-29 multirole fighter.
Mae La camp, Tak, Thailand, one of the largest of nine UNHCR camps in Thailand where over 700,000 refugees, asylum seekers, and stateless persons have fled.
Rohingya people of Myanmar displaced by decades long human rights abuses. More than 100,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar continue to live in camps for internally displaced persons. Rohingyas have received international attention in the wake of 2012 Rakhine State riots and its aftermath.
A proportional representation of Burma's exports.
Rice is Myanmar's largest agricultural product.
Stilt houses at Inle Lake.
A block of flats in down-town Yangon, facing Bogyoke Market. Much of Yangon's urban population resides in densely populated flats.
Students on their way to school, Kalaymyo, Sagaing Region, Myanmar.
Men playing chinlone
Kayan women in a village near Inle Lake, 2010.