BUDDHIST CIRCUIT OF MYANMAR
YANGON – HEHO – PINDAYA – INLE LAKE – MANDALAY (Amarapura, Inwa, Sagaing, Mingun) – BAGAN – YANGON
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Archaelogical findings reveal that parts of Myanmar were inhibition some five thousand years ago. The ancestors of present-day Myanmar, the Pyus and the Mons established serval kingdoms throughout the country from the 1st century A.D to the 10th century A.D. From the early beginning, there are today a fascinating 135 nationalities who call Myanmar home.
Myanmar history dates back to the early 11th Century when King Anawrahta unified the country and founded the First Myanmar Empire in Bagan more than 20 years before the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 (i.e 1044 A.D.). The Bagan Empire encompassed the areas of the presents day Myanmar and the entire Menam Valley in Thailand and Lasted two centuries.
The Second Myanmar Empire was founded in mid 16th Century by King Bayinnnaung (1551 – 1581). King Alaungpaya founded the last Myanmar Dynasty in 1752 and it was during the zenith of this Empire that the British moved into Myanmar. Like India, Myanmar became a British colony but only after three Anglo-Myanmar Wars in 1825, 1852, and 1885.
During the Second World War, Myanmar was occupied by the Japanese from 1942 till the return of the Allied Forces in 1945. Myanmar has become a sovereign independent state since 4th January 1948 after more than 100 years under the colonial administration.
Myanmar is situated in Southeast Asia and is bordered on the north and northeast by China, on the east and southeast by Laos and Thailand, on the south by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal and on the west by Bangladesh and India.
The country covers an area of 676,577 square kilometers (261,228 square miles) in the shape of a diamond, 936 kilometers (582 miles) from east to west and 2,051 kilometers (1,275 miles) from north to south. It is the land of hills and valleys and is rimmed in the north, east and west by mountain ranges forming a gaint horseshoe. Enclosed within the mountain barrier are the flat lands of Ayeyarwady, Chindwin and Sittaung Rivers valleys where most of the country’s agricultural land and population are concentrated.
Each Longitude 96 13′ and North Latitude 16 45′ run through Yangon, the capital of Myanmar.
