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Toungoo Taungoo Empire is a nation led
by 9this President U Thein Sein on the continent of South America.
Toungoo Taungoo Empire's government is a Absolute Monarchy with
very conservative social policies. Economically, Toungoo Taungoo Empire
favors left wing policies. The official currency of Toungoo Taungoo Empire
is the Antarctica$.
At 158 days old, ToungooTaungoo Empire is a mature nation. ToungooTaungoo Empire has a population of 3,967,990 and a land area of 30,000.00 sq. miles. This gives it a national average population density of 132.27. Pollution in the nation is
almost non-existent. The citizens' faith in the government is completely depleted with an approval rating of 0%.
Pagan Empire c. 1210. Pagan Empire during Sithu II's reign. Kengtung and Chiang Mai are also claimed to be part of the Empire according to the Burmese chronicles. Pagan incorporated key ports of Lower Burma into its core administration by the 13th century.
The bridge was built from wood reclaimed from the former royal palace in Inwa. It features 1,086 pillars that stretch out of the water, some of which have been replaced with concrete. Though the bridge largely remains intact, there are fears that an increasing number of the pillars are becoming dangerously decayed. Some have become entirely detached from their bases and only remain in place because of the lateral bars holding them together. Damage to these supports have been caused by flooding as well as a fish breeding program introduced into the lake which has caused the water to become stagnant. The Ministry of Culture’s Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library plans to carry out repairs when plans for the work are finalised.[1]
From 1 April 2009, eight police force personnel have been deployed to guard the bridge. Their presence is aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour and preventing criminal activities, with the first arrest coming in September 2013 when two men were reported for harassing tourists.[8]
The watershed area for the lake lies to a large extent to the north and west of the lake. The lake drains through the Nam Pilu or Balu Chaung on its southern end. There is also a hot spring on its northwestern shore.
Large sections of the lake are covered by floating plants. Its clear and slightly alkaline waters (pH 7.8–8) are home to a diverse fauna and many species found nowhere else in the world (endemics).[2] There are more than 35 native species of fish, including 17 endemics. Some of these, notably the Sawbwa barb, red dwarf rasbora, emerald dwarf rasbora, Lake Inle danio, Inle loach and the Inle snakehead, are of minor commercial importance for the aquarium trade. Several fish that are not native have been introduced.[2][3] Additionally, the lake is home to about 45 species of freshwater snails, 30 of them endemic,[2] along with a small endemic freshwater crab, Inlethelphusa acanthica.[4] It hosts approximately 20,000 migratory gulls in November to January.[5]
Main articles: Prehistory of Myanmar and Migration period of ancient Burma
Pyu city-states, c. 8th century
Archaeological evidence shows that Homo erectus lived in the region now known as Myanmar as early as 750,000 years ago, with no more erectus finds after 75,000 years ago.[57] The first evidence of Homo sapiens is dated to about 25,000 BP with discoveries of stone tools in central Myanmar.[58] Evidence of Neolithic age domestication of plants and animals and the use of polished stone tools dating to sometime between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE has been discovered in the form of cave paintings in Padah-Lin Caves.[59]
The Bronze Age arrived c. 1500 BCE when people in the region were turning copper into bronze, growing rice and domesticating poultry and pigs; they were among the first people in the world to do so.[60] Human remains and artefacts from this era were discovered in Monywa District in the Sagaing Region.[61] The Iron Age began around 500 BCE with the emergence of iron-working settlements in an area south of present-day Mandalay.[62] Evidence also shows the presence of rice-growing settlements of large villages and small towns that traded with their surroundings as far as China between 500 BCE and 200 CE.[63] Iron Age Burmese cultures also had influences from outside sources such as India and Thailand, as seen in their funerary practices concerning child burials. This indicates some form of communication between groups in Myanmar and other places, possibly through trade.[64]
Early city-states
Main articles: Pyu city-states and Mon kingdoms
Around the second century BCE the first-known city-states emerged in central Myanmar. The city-states were founded as part of the southward migration by the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu people, the earliest inhabitants of Myanmar of whom records are extant, from present-day Yunnan.[65] The Pyu culture was heavily influenced by trade with India, importing Buddhism as well as other cultural, architectural and political concepts, which would have an enduring influence on later Burmese culture and political organisation.[66]
By the 9th century, several city-states had sprouted across the land: the Pyu in the central dry zone, Mon along the southern coastline and Arakanese along the western littoral. The balance was upset when the Pyu came under repeated attacks from Nanzhao between the 750s and the 830s. In the mid-to-late 9th century the Bamar people founded a small settlement at Bagan. It was one of several competing city-states until the late 10th century, when it grew in authority and grandeur.[67]
Pagan Kingdom
Main articles: Pagan Kingdom, Toungoo dynasty, and Konbaung dynasty
See also: Kingdom of Ava, Hanthawaddy Kingdom, Kingdom of Mrauk U, and Shan States
Pagodas and kyaungs in present-day Bagan, the capital of the Pagan Kingdom
Pagan gradually grew to absorb its surrounding states until the 1050s–1060s when Anawrahta founded the Pagan Kingdom, the first ever unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Pagan Empire and the Khmer Empire were two main powers in mainland Southeast Asia.[68] The Burmese language and culture gradually became dominant in the upper Irrawaddy valley, eclipsing the Pyu, Mon and Pali norms[clarification needed] by the late 12th century.[69] Theravada Buddhism slowly began to spread to the village level, although Tantric, Mahayana, Hinduism, and folk religion remained heavily entrenched. Pagan's rulers and wealthy built over 10,000 Buddhist temples in the Pagan capital zone alone. Repeated Mongol invasions in the late 13th century toppled the four-century-old kingdom in 1287.[69]
Temples at Mrauk U
Pagan's collapse was followed by 250 years of political fragmentation that lasted well into the 16th century. Like the Burmans four centuries earlier, Shan migrants who arrived with the Mongol invasions stayed behind. Several competing Shan States came to dominate the entire northwestern to eastern arc surrounding the Irrawaddy valley. The valley too was beset with petty states until the late 14th century when two sizeable powers, Ava Kingdom and Hanthawaddy Kingdom, emerged. In the west, a politically fragmented Arakan was under competing influences of its stronger neighbours until the Kingdom of Mrauk U unified the Arakan coastline for the first time in 1437. The kingdom was a protectorate of the Bengal Sultanate at different time periods.[70]
In the 14th and 15th centuries, Ava fought wars of unification but could never quite reassemble the lost empire. Having held off Ava, the Mon-speaking Hanthawaddy entered its golden age, and Arakan went on to become a power in its own right for the next 350 years. In contrast, constant warfare left Ava greatly weakened, and it slowly disintegrated from 1481 onward. In 1527, the Confederation of Shan States conquered Ava and ruled Upper Myanmar until 1555.
Like the Pagan Empire, Ava, Hanthawaddy and the Shan states were all multi-ethnic polities. Despite the wars, cultural synchronisation continued. This period is considered a golden age for Burmese culture. Burmese literature "grew more confident, popular, and stylistically diverse", and the second generation of Burmese law codes as well as the earliest pan-Burma chronicles emerged.[71] Hanthawaddy monarchs introduced religious reforms that later spread to the rest of the country.[72]
Taungoo and Konbaung
Portuguese ruler mounting an Elephant and his soldiers . Philips, Jan Caspar (draughtsman and engraver)
Toungoo Empire under Bayinnaung in 1580
Myanmar (缅甸国) delegates in Peking in 1761, at the time of Emperor Qianlong. 萬國來朝圖/万国来朝图
Political unification returned in the mid-16th century, through the efforts of Taungoo, a former vassal state of Ava. Taungoo's young, ambitious King Tabinshwehti defeated the more powerful Hanthawaddy in the Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War. His successor Bayinnaung went on to conquer a vast swath of mainland Southeast Asia including the Shan states, Lan Na, Manipur, Mong Mao, the Ayutthaya Kingdom, Lan Xang and southern Arakan. However, the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia unravelled soon after Bayinnaung's death in 1581, completely collapsing by 1599. Ayutthaya seized Tenasserim and Lan Na, and Portuguese mercenaries established Portuguese rule at Thanlyin (Syriam).
The dynasty regrouped and defeated the Portuguese in 1613 and Siam in 1614. It restored a smaller, more manageable kingdom, encompassing Lower Myanmar, Upper Myanmar, Shan states, Lan Na and upper Tenasserim. The restored Toungoo kings created a legal and political framework whose basic features continued well into the 19th century. The crown completely replaced the hereditary chieftainships with appointed governorships in the entire Irrawaddy valley and greatly reduced the hereditary rights of Shan chiefs. Its trade and secular administrative reforms built a prosperous economy for more than 80 years. From the 1720s onward, the kingdom was beset with repeated Meithei raids into Upper Myanmar and a nagging rebellion in Lan Na. In 1740, the Mon of Lower Myanmar founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. Hanthawaddy forces sacked Ava in 1752, ending the 266-year-old Toungoo Dynasty.
A British 1825 lithograph of Shwedagon Pagoda shows British occupation during the First Anglo-Burmese War.
After the fall of Ava, the Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War involved one resistance group under Alaungpaya defeating the Restored Hanthawaddy, and by 1759 he had reunited all of Myanmar and Manipur and driven out the French and the British, who had provided arms to Hanthawaddy. By 1770, Alaungpaya's heirs had subdued much of Laos and fought and won the Burmese–Siamese War against Ayutthaya and the Sino-Burmese War against Qing China.[73]
With Burma preoccupied by the Chinese threat, Ayutthaya recovered its territories by 1770 and went on to capture Lan Na by 1776. Burma and Siam went to war until 1855, but all resulted in a stalemate, exchanging Tenasserim (to Burma) and Lan Na (to Ayutthaya). Faced with a powerful China and a resurgent Ayutthaya in the east, King Bodawpaya turned west, acquiring Arakan (1785), Manipur (1814) and Assam (1817). It was the second-largest empire in Burmese history but also one with a long ill-defined border with British India.[74]
In 1826, Burma lost Arakan, Manipur, Assam and Tenasserim to the British in the First Anglo-Burmese War. In 1852, the British easily seized Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War. King Mindon Min tried to modernise the kingdom and in 1875 narrowly avoided annexation by ceding the Karenni States. The British, alarmed by the consolidation of French Indochina, annexed the remainder of the country in the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885.
Konbaung kings extended Restored Toungoo's administrative reforms and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion.
Geography
Continent:
South America
Land Area:
48,280.20 sq. km
Terrain:
The Irrawaddy, the main river of Burma, flows from north to south through the Central Burma Basin and ends in a wide delta. The Mekong river runs from the Tibetan Plateau through China's Yunnan and northeastern Burma into Laos. The basin has significant mining resources and forest ecosystems. Its fertile delta also create 60% of annual rice harvests. The river is historically significant with the Bagan temples on their banks and the Kachin people's homeland near the river's source- the confluence of the N'mai and Mali rivers.[29][4]Myanmar's Southeastern Hills and see the Tenasserim Plains have western shores backed by the Tenasserim Range respectively.[3] The Tenessarim Plains consists largely of the western slopes of the Bilauktaung, the highest part of the Tenasserim Range, which extends southwards forming the central range of the Malay Peninsula.[28] The Dawna Range also stretches along the northern parts of the Tenasserim tail of Myanmar. Many hills in this area, like Mount Zwegabin and Kyaiktiyo, are important cultural and religious sites. The coastal islands rise prominently from the sea and form multiple island archipelago with coral reefs, especially in the Mergui Archipelago.Tropical monsoon in the lowlands below 1,000 m (3,281 ft); cloudy, rainy, hot, humid summers (southwest monsoon, June to September); less cloudy, scant rainfall, mild temperatures, lower humidity during winter (northeast monsoon, December to April).
Myanmar has three seasons: the cool and drier northeast monsoon running from late October to mid-February, the hot and dry intermonsoonal season from mid-February to mid-May and the rainy southwest monsoon from mid-May to late-October.[3] Colloquially, they are called the winter, summer and rainy seasons respectively.[6] The alternating mountain ranges and valleys create alternate zones of heavy and subdued precipitation during the monsoon season, with the majority of the country's precipitation coming from the southwest monsoons.
Climate varies in the highlands depending on elevation; subtropical temperate climate at around 2,500 m (8,202 ft), temperate at 3,000 m (9,843 ft), cool, alpine at 3,500 m (11,483 ft) and above the alpine zone, cold, harsh tundra and Arctic climate. The higher elevations are subject to heavy snowfall, especially in the north. Distance from the sea also affects temperature and inland highlands can experience daily temperature ranges spanning 22'F (12'C) despite the tropical latitude.[3]
Highest Peak:
Mt.Hkakabo Razi, 5,881 meters
Lowest Valley:
, 0 meters
Climate:
Environmental issues include deforestation; industrial pollution of air, soil, and water; inadequate sanitation and water treatment that contributes to disease. Climate change is also projected to have major impacts on Myanmar, such as increasing the prevalence and intensity of drought and extreme weather.[37]
An IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Assessment was conducted for Myanmar in 2020 that assessed 64 terrestrial ecosystem types across 10 biomes. Of these 64 ecosystem types, 1 was confirmed as collapsed, 8 were considered Critically Endangered, 9 were considered Endangered, 12 were considered Vulnerable, 3 were considered Near Threatened, 14 were considered of Least Concern, and 17 were deemed Data Deficient.[38] The 64 terrestrial ecosystem types included five brackish tidal systems, one dry subterranean system, one lake, five palustrine wetlands, four polar/alpine systems, twelve savannas and grasslands, two shoreline systems, two supralittoral coastal systems, seven temperate-boreal forests and woodlands, and twenty five tropical and subtropical forests.[39]
A recent global remote sensing analysis suggested that there were 3,316 km2 of tidal flats in Myanmar, making it the 8th ranked country in terms of tidal flat area.[40]Area
Total: 676,578 km2 (261,228 sq mi)
country rank in the world: 39th
Land: 653,508 km2 (252,321 sq mi)
Water: 23,070 km2 (8,910 sq mi)
The southern maritime boundary follows coordinates marked by both Myanmar and Thailand towards the maritime tripoint with India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The maritime India-Myanmar border resumes end south of Coco Islands before heading towards Myanmar's narrow boundary with international Bay of Bengal waters. Myanmar has a total coastline of 1,384 mi (2,227 km) and has several islands and archipelagos- most notably the Mergui Archipelago. The county has a total water area is 8,910 square miles (23,100 km2) and an Exclusive Economic Zone covering 205,706 sq mi (532,780 km2).[2]The major agricultural product is rice which covers about 60% of the country's total cultivated land area. Rice accounts for 97% of total food grain production by weight. Through collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), 52 modern rice varieties were released in the country between 1966 and 1997, helping increase national rice production to 14 million tons in 1987 and to 19 million tons in 1996. By 1988, modern varieties were planted on half of the country's rice fields, including 98% of the irrigated areas.[59] In 2011, Myanmar's total milled rice production accounted for 10.60 million tons, an increase from the 1.8 per cent back in 2010.[60]
In northern Burma, opium bans have ended a century old tradition of growing poppy. Between 20,000 and 30,000 ex-poppy farmers left the Kokang region as a result of the ban in 2002.[61]
Rubber plantations are being promoted in areas of high elevation like Mong Mao. Sugar is grown in the lowlands such as Mong Pawk District.[61]
The lack of an educated workforce skilled in modern technology contributes to the country's economic problems.[62]
Lately, the Myanmar lacks adequate infrastructure. Goods travel primarily across Thai and China borders and through the main port in Yangon.
Railroads are old and dilapidated, with few repairs since their construction under British rule in the late nineteenth century.[63] Presently China and Japan are providing aid to upgrade rail transport. Highways are normally paved, except in remote border regions.[63] Energy shortages are common throughout the country including in Yangon. About 30 percent of the country's population does not have access to electricity, with 70 per cent of people living in rural areas. The civilian government has indicated that electricity will be imported from Laos to fulfil demand.[64]
Other industries include agricultural goods, textiles, wood products, construction materials, gems, metals, oil and natural gas.
The private sector dominates agriculture, light industry, and transport activities, while the government controls energy, heavy industry, and military industries.[65]
Garment production
edit
The garment industry is a major job creator in the Yangon area, with around 200,000 workers employed in total in mid-2015.[66] The Myanmar Government has introduced minimum wage of MMK 4,800 (US$3.18) per day for the garment workers from March 2018.[67]
The Myanmar garments sector has seen significant influx of foreign direct investment, if measured by the number of entries rather than their value. In March 2012, six of Thailand's largest garment manufacturers announced that they would move production to Myanmar, principally to the Yangon area, citing lower labour costs.[68] In mid-2015, about 55% of officially registered garment firms in Myanmar were known to be fully or partly foreign-owned, with about 25% of the foreign firms from China and 17% from Hong Kong.[66] Foreign-linked firms supply almost all garment exports, and these have risen rapidly in recent years, especially since EU sanctions were lifted in 2012.[66] Myanmar exported $1.6 billion worth of garments and textiles in 2016.
Illegal drug trade
edit
Further information: Opium production in Burma
See also: Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)
A world map of the world's primary opium or heroin producers. The Golden Triangle region, which Burma is part of, is pinpointed in this map.
Burma (Myanmar) is the largest producer of methamphetamines in the world, with the majority of ya ba found in Thailand produced in Burma, particularly in the Golden Triangle and Northeastern Shan State, which borders Thailand, Laos and China.[69] Burmese-produced ya ba is typically trafficked to Thailand via Laos, before being transported through the northeastern Thai region of Isan.[70]
In 2010, Burma trafficked 1 billion tablets to neighbouring Thailand.[69] In 2009, the Chinese authorities seized over 40 million tablets that had been illegally trafficked from Burma.[71] Ethnic militias and rebel groups (in particular the United Wa State Army) are responsible for much of this production; however, the Burmese military units are believed to be heavily involved in the trafficking of the drugs.[69]
Burma is also the second largest supplier of opium (following Afghanistan) in the world, with 95% of opium grown in Shan State.[72][73] Illegal narcotics have generated $1 to US$2 billion in exports annually, with estimates of 40% of the country's foreign exchange coming from drugs.[69][74] Efforts to eradicate opium cultivation have pushed many ethnic rebel groups, including the United Wa State Army and the Kokang to diversify into methamphetamine production.
Prior to the 1980s, heroin was typically transported from Burma to Thailand, before being trafficked by sea to Hong Kong, which was and still remains the major transit point at which heroin enters the international market. Now, drug trafficking has shifted to southern China (from Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong) because of a growing market for drugs in China, before reaching Hong Kong.[75]
The prominence of major drug traffickers have allowed them to penetrate other sectors of the Burmese economy, including the banking, airline, hotel and infrastructure industries.[76] Their investment in infrastructure have allowed them to make more profits, facilitate drug trafficking and money laundering.[77] The share of informal economy in Myanmar is one of the largest in the world that feeds into trade in illegal drugs.[65]
Oil and gas
edit
Main article: Oil and gas industry in Myanmar
A petrol station in Naypyidaw
Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) is the national oil and gas company of Burma. The company is a sole operator of oil and gas exploration and production, as well as domestic gas transmission through a 1,900-kilometre (1,200 mi) onshore pipeline grid.[78][79]
The Yadana Project is a project to exploit the Yadana gas field in the Andaman Sea and to carry natural gas to Thailand through Myanmar.
Sino-Burma pipelines refers to planned oil and natural gas pipelines linking Burma's deep-water port of Kyaukphyu (Sittwe) in the Bay of Bengal with Kunming in Yunnan province, China.
The Norwegian company Seadrill owned by John Fredriksen is involved in offshore oildrilling, expected to give the Burmese government oil and oil export revenues.
Myanmar exported $3.5 billion worth of gas, mostly to Thailand in the fiscal year up to March 2012.[80]
Initiation to bid on oil exploration licenses for 18 of Myanmar's onshore oil blocks has been released on 18 January 2013.[80]
Renewable energy
edit
Myanmar has rich solar power and hydropower potential. The country's technical solar power potential is the greatest among the countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion. Wind energy, biogas and biomass have limited potential and are weakly developed.[81]
Gemstones
edit
The Union of Myanmar's economy depends heavily on sales of precious stones such as sapphires, pearls and jade. Rubies are the biggest earner; 90% of the world's rubies come from the country, whose red stones are prized for their purity and hue. Thailand buys the majority of the country's gems. Burma's "Valley of Rubies", the mountainous Mogok area, 200 km (120 mi) north of Mandalay, is noted for its rare pigeon's blood rubies and blue sapphires.[82]
Myanmar is famed for its production of Golden South Sea Pearls. In recent years, the countries has auctioned its production in Hong Kong, first organized by Belpearl company in 2013 to critical acclaim and premium prices due to strong Chinese demand. Notable pearls include the New Dawn of Myanmar, a 19mm round golden pearl which sold to an anonymous buyer for undisclosed price.
In 2007, following the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Myanmar, human rights organisations, gem dealers, and US First Lady Laura Bush called for a boycott of a Myanmar gem auction held twice yearly, arguing that the sale of the stones profited the dictatorial regime in that country.[83] Debbie Stothard of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma stated that mining operators used drugs on employees to improve productivity, with needles shared, raising the risk of HIV infection: "These rubies are red with the blood of young people." Brian Leber (41-year-old jeweller who founded The Jewellers' Burma Relief Project)
Average Yearly Income:
$219.69
Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
$4,751,954,481.00
GDP per Capita:
$1,197.57
Gross National Income (GNI):
$2,979,313,595.00
Industries:
The major agricultural product is rice which covers about 60% of the country's total cultivated land area. Rice accounts for 97% of total food grain production by weight. Through collaboration with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), 52 modern rice varieties were released in the country between 1966 and 1997, helping increase national rice production to 14 million tons in 1987 and to 19 million tons in 1996. By 1988, modern varieties were planted on half of the country's rice fields, including 98% of the irrigated areas.[59] In 2011, Myanmar's total milled rice production accounted for 10.60 million tons, an increase from the 1.8 per cent back in 2010.[60]
In northern Burma, opium bans have ended a century old tradition of growing poppy. Between 20,000 and 30,000 ex-poppy farmers left the Kokang region as a result of the ban in 2002.[61]
Rubber plantations are being promoted in areas of high elevation like Mong Mao. Sugar is grown in the lowlands such as Mong Pawk District.[61]
The lack of an educated workforce skilled in modern technology contributes to the country's economic problems.[62]
Lately, the Myanmar lacks adequate infrastructure. Goods travel primarily across Thai and China borders and through the main port in Yangon.
Railroads are old and dilapidated, with few repairs since their construction under British rule in the late nineteenth century.[63] Presently China and Japan are providing aid to upgrade rail transport. Highways are normally paved, except in remote border regions.[63] Energy shortages are common throughout the country including in Yangon. About 30 percent of the country's population does not have access to electricity, with 70 per cent of people living in rural areas. The civilian government has indicated that electricity will be imported from Laos to fulfil demand.[64]
Other industries include agricultural goods, textiles, wood products, construction materials, gems, metals, oil and natural gas.
The private sector dominates agriculture, light industry, and transport activities, while the government controls energy, heavy industry, and military industries.[65]
Garment production
edit
The garment industry is a major job creator in the Yangon area, with around 200,000 workers employed in total in mid-2015.[66] The Myanmar Government has introduced minimum wage of MMK 4,800 (US$3.18) per day for the garment workers from March 2018.[67]
The Myanmar garments sector has seen significant influx of foreign direct investment, if measured by the number of entries rather than their value. In March 2012, six of Thailand's largest garment manufacturers announced that they would move production to Myanmar, principally to the Yangon area, citing lower labour costs.[68] In mid-2015, about 55% of officially registered garment firms in Myanmar were known to be fully or partly foreign-owned, with about 25% of the foreign firms from China and 17% from Hong Kong.[66] Foreign-linked firms supply almost all garment exports, and these have risen rapidly in recent years, especially since EU sanctions were lifted in 2012.[66] Myanmar exported $1.6 billion worth of garments and textiles in 2016.
Illegal drug trade
edit
Further information: Opium production in Burma
See also: Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)
A world map of the world's primary opium or heroin producers. The Golden Triangle region, which Burma is part of, is pinpointed in this map.
Burma (Myanmar) is the largest producer of methamphetamines in the world, with the majority of ya ba found in Thailand produced in Burma, particularly in the Golden Triangle and Northeastern Shan State, which borders Thailand, Laos and China.[69] Burmese-produced ya ba is typically trafficked to Thailand via Laos, before being transported through the northeastern Thai region of Isan.[70]
In 2010, Burma trafficked 1 billion tablets to neighbouring Thailand.[69] In 2009, the Chinese authorities seized over 40 million tablets that had been illegally trafficked from Burma.[71] Ethnic militias and rebel groups (in particular the United Wa State Army) are responsible for much of this production; however, the Burmese military units are believed to be heavily involved in the trafficking of the drugs.[69]
Burma is also the second largest supplier of opium (following Afghanistan) in the world, with 95% of opium grown in Shan State.[72][73] Illegal narcotics have generated $1 to US$2 billion in exports annually, with estimates of 40% of the country's foreign exchange coming from drugs.[69][74] Efforts to eradicate opium cultivation have pushed many ethnic rebel groups, including the United Wa State Army and the Kokang to diversify into methamphetamine production.
Prior to the 1980s, heroin was typically transported from Burma to Thailand, before being trafficked by sea to Hong Kong, which was and still remains the major transit point at which heroin enters the international market. Now, drug trafficking has shifted to southern China (from Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong) because of a growing market for drugs in China, before reaching Hong Kong.[75]
The prominence of major drug traffickers have allowed them to penetrate other sectors of the Burmese economy, including the banking, airline, hotel and infrastructure industries.[76] Their investment in infrastructure have allowed them to make more profits, facilitate drug trafficking and money laundering.[77] The share of informal economy in Myanmar is one of the largest in the world that feeds into trade in illegal drugs.[65]
Oil and gas
edit
Main article: Oil and gas industry in Myanmar
A petrol station in Naypyidaw
Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) is the national oil and gas company of Burma. The company is a sole operator of oil and gas exploration and production, as well as domestic gas transmission through a 1,900-kilometre (1,200 mi) onshore pipeline grid.[78][79]
The Yadana Project is a project to exploit the Yadana gas field in the Andaman Sea and to carry natural gas to Thailand through Myanmar.
Sino-Burma pipelines refers to planned oil and natural gas pipelines linking Burma's deep-water port of Kyaukphyu (Sittwe) in the Bay of Bengal with Kunming in Yunnan province, China.
The Norwegian company Seadrill owned by John Fredriksen is involved in offshore oildrilling, expected to give the Burmese government oil and oil export revenues.
Myanmar exported $3.5 billion worth of gas, mostly to Thailand in the fiscal year up to March 2012.[80]
Initiation to bid on oil exploration licenses for 18 of Myanmar's onshore oil blocks has been released on 18 January 2013.[80]
Renewable energy
edit
Myanmar has rich solar power and hydropower potential. The country's technical solar power potential is the greatest among the countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion. Wind energy, biogas and biomass have limited potential and are weakly developed.[81]
Gemstones
edit
The Union of Myanmar's economy depends heavily on sales of precious stones such as sapphires, pearls and jade. Rubies are the biggest earner; 90% of the world's rubies come from the country, whose red stones are prized for their purity and hue. Thailand buys the majority of the country's gems. Burma's "Valley of Rubies", the mountainous Mogok area, 200 km (120 mi) north of Mandalay, is noted for its rare pigeon's blood rubies and blue sapphires.[82]
Myanmar is famed for its production of Golden South Sea Pearls. In recent years, the countries has auctioned its production in Hong Kong, first organized by Belpearl company in 2013 to critical acclaim and premium prices due to strong Chinese demand. Notable pearls include the New Dawn of Myanmar, a 19mm round golden pearl which sold to an anonymous buyer for undisclosed price.
In 2007, following the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Myanmar, human rights organisations, gem dealers, and US First Lady Laura Bush called for a boycott of a Myanmar gem auction held twice yearly, arguing that the sale of the stones profited the dictatorial regime in that country.[83] Debbie Stothard of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma stated that mining operators used drugs on employees to improve productivity, with needles shared, raising the risk of HIV infection: "These rubies are red with the blood of young people." Brian Leber (41-year-old jeweller who founded The Jewellers' Burma Relief Project) stated that: "For the time being, Burmese gems should not be something to be proud of. They should be an object of revulsion. It's the only country where one obtains really top quality rubies, but I stopped dealing in them. I don't want to be part of a nation's misery. If someone asks for a ruby now I show them a nice pink sapphire."[84]
Richard W. Hughes, author of Ruby and Sapphire, a Bangkok-based gemologist who has made many trips to Burma makes the point that for every ruby sold through the junta, another gem that supports subsistence mining is smuggled over the Thai border.
Military
History:
The Tatmadaw (Burmese: တပ်မတော်; MLCTS: tatma.taw, IPA: [taʔmədɔ̀], lit. 'Grand Armed Forces') or Sit-Tat (Burmese: စစ်တပ်; MLCTS: cactap., IPA: [sɪʔtaʔ], lit. 'Armed Forces') is the military of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include the Myanmar Police Force, the Border Guard Forces, the Myanmar Coast Guard, and the People's Militia Units.[14] Since independence in 1948, the Tatmadaw has faced significant ethnic insurgencies, especially in Chin, Kachin, Kayin, Kayah, and Shan states. General Ne Win took control of the country in a 1962 coup d'état, attempting to build an autarkic society called the Burmese Way to Socialism. Following the violent repression of nationwide protests in 1988, the military agreed to free elections in 1990, but ignored the resulting victory of the National League for Democracy and imprisoned its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.[15] The 1990s also saw the escalation of the conflict involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State due to RSO attacks on the Tatmadaw forces, which saw the Rohingya minority facing oppression and, starting in 2017, genocide.
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