Myanmar

  

Republic of the Union of Myanmar ပြည်ထောင်စု သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်‌ Pyidaunzu Thanmăda Myăma Nainngandaw
Flag State seal
Anthem: ကမ္ဘာမကျေ Kaba Ma Kyei "Till The World Ends"
Capital	Naypyidaw
Largest city	Yangon
Official languages	Burmese
Demonym(s)	Burmese / Myanma
Government	Unitary assembly-independent republic
• President	TBD
• Prime Minister	TBD
Legislature	Assembly of the Union
• Upper house	House of Nationalities
• Lower house	House of Representatives
History
• Pagan Kingdom	23 December 849
• Toungoo Dynasty	16 October 1510
• Konbaung dynasty	29 February 1752
• Annexation by Great Britain	1 January 1886
• Independence from the United Kingdom	4 January 1943
Area
• Total	261,227 km2 (100,860 sq mi)
Population
• 2021 estimate	55,526,449
GDP (PPP)	2018 estimate
• Total	$ billion
• Per capita	$
GDP (nominal)	2018 estimate
• Total	$ billion
• Per capita	$
Currency	Kyat (MMK)
Time zone	UTC+6:30 (Myanmar Standard Time)
Driving side	right
Internet TLD	.mm

Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စု သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်‌; Pyidaunzu Thanmăda Myăma Nainngandaw), and commonly known by its former name Burma, is a country in Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by land area in mainland Southeast Asia and has a population of 55 million as of 2021. It borders India to the northwest, China to the northeast, the Indian Ocean to the west and southwest, and Laos and Thailand to the east and southeast. The country's capital city is Naypyidaw, and its largest city is Yangon (formerly Rangoon).

Early civilisations in the area included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Myanmar and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Myanmar. In the 9th century, the Bamar people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley, and following the establishment of the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language, culture, and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country. The Pagan Kingdom fell to Mongol invasions, and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo dynasty, the country became the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia for a short period. The early 19th-century Konbaung dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur and Assam as well. The British East India Company seized control of the administration of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century, and the country became a British colony. During the Great War, Myanmar was invaded by the Empire of Japan in what would become the Burma campaign lasting from 1933 until Japan's surrender in 1938. Britain would continue to govern Myanmar until granting it independence in 1943.

Myanmar's history as an independent country has been characterized by political instability and internal conflict. It was ruled by military governments from 1949 to 1962, when a coup d'etat brought to power the Burmese Socialist Program Party (BSPP). Myanmar became an ally of the People's Republic of China, Laos, North Vietnam, and the wider communist bloc during the Cold War until the military overthrew the government following the 8888 Uprising in 1988. The country's official name was changed from Burma to Myanmar the following year. The transition to civilian rule led to multi-party elections in 1990, however the military, the Tatmadaw, has continued to intervene in politics, forcing civilian governments out of office on several occasions since 1990. In 2008 the military council was dissolved and a fully civilian government was established, with elections in 2015 and 2020 solidifying civilian rule and control over the Tatmadaw. In 2009, Myanmar fought a brief border conflict with China, and the country has continued to face ethnic and religious conflicts, which have been ongoing since 1939 and are the world's longest running civil war. In the 2020 general election, the National Unity Party, the former BSPP, won the majority of seats running on a program of reducing government corruption and ending the civil war.

Myanmar is a member of the League of Nations and ASEAN. 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 region. However, Myanmar has a low human development index due to decades of civil war, lack of infrastructure and access to medicine, and government corruption. It has one of the highest levels of wealth inequality in the world, due to much of the wealth being concentrated in the military governments.