Myanmar,[a] officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စု သမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်; stated [pjìdàʊɴzṵ θàɴməda̰ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴdɔ̀]), also called Burma, is a rustic in Southeast Asia. It is the largest country in Mainland Southeast Asia, and has a populace of about 54 million as of 2017.[7] Myanmar is bordered by way of Bangladesh and India to its northwest, China to its northeast, Laos and Thailand to its east and southeast, and the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to its south and southwest. The us of a’s capital city is Naypyidaw, and its biggest town is Yangon (Rangoon).[3]
Early civilisations in the location included the Tibeto-Burman-talking Pyu city-states in Upper Myanmar and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Myanmar.[eleven] In the ninth century, the Bamar human beings entered the top Irrawaddy valley, and following the established order of the Pagan Kingdom within the 1050s, the Burmese language, culture, and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant within the u . s . a .. The Pagan Kingdom fell to Mongol invasions, and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified with the aid of the Taungoo dynasty, the u . s . became the most important empire inside the history of Southeast Asia for a short period.[12]
The early nineteenth-century Konbaung dynasty dominated over a place that covered cutting-edge Myanmar and in short managed Manipur and Assam as properly. The British East India Company seized control of the management of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century, and the us of a became a British colony. After a quick Japanese occupation, Myanmar turned into reconquered via the Allies and gained independence in 1948. Following a coup d’état in 1962, it have become a military dictatorship underneath the Burma Socialist Programme Party.
For most of its unbiased years, the u . s . a . has been engrossed in rampant ethnic strife and its myriad ethnic agencies have been concerned in one of the world’s longest-jogging ongoing civil wars. During this time, the United Nations and several other organizations have said consistent and systemic human rights violations in the united states of america.[13] In 2011, the navy junta turned into formally dissolved following a 2010 widespread election, and a nominally civilian government become set up. This, together with the discharge of Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners and successful elections in 2015, stepped forward the country’s human rights file and overseas members of the family and led to the easing of trade and different economic sanctions,[14] despite the fact that the u . s . a .’s remedy of its ethnic minorities, particularly in connection with the Rohingya warfare, continued to be condemned by way of worldwide groups and many nations.[15]
Following the 2020 Myanmar popular election, in which Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday party gained a clear majority in both homes, the Burmese army (Tatmadaw) once more seized electricity in a coup d’état.[sixteen] The coup, which become broadly condemned, led to continuous ongoing enormous protests in Myanmar and has been marked via violent political repression by the military.[17] The navy additionally arrested Aung San Suu Kyi and charged her with crimes starting from corruption to the violation of Covid protocols, all of that have been labeled as “politically motivated” by independent observers, to be able to take away her from public existence.[18]
Myanmar is a member of the East Asia Summit, Non-Aligned Movement, ASEAN, and BIMSTEC, but it isn’t a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in spite of once being part of the British Empire. It is a rustic rich in jade and gemstones, oil, natural gasoline, teak and different mineral assets. Myanmar is also endowed with renewable electricity; it has the very best sun electricity potential in comparison to other international locations of the Great Mekong Subregion.[19] In 2013, its GDP (nominal) stood at US$56.7 billion and its GDP (PPP) at US$221.five billion.[20] The income gap in Myanmar is some of the widest inside the global, as a huge share of the economy is managed via cronies of the navy junta.[21] As of 2020, in step with the Human Development Index, Myanmar ranks 147 out of 189 nations in terms of human development.[10]Etymology
The call of the united states has been a depend of dispute and war of words, specifically within the early 21st century, focusing in particular at the political legitimacy of those the use of Myanmar as opposed to Burma.[22][23] Both names derive from the earlier Burmese Mranma or Mramma, an ethnonym for the majority Burman ethnic institution, of unsure etymology.[24] The terms are also popularly thought to derive from Brahma Desha orब्रह्मादेश/ब्रह्मावर्त (Sanskrit) after Brahma.[25]
In 1989, the navy government formally changed the English translations of many names relationship lower back to Burma’s colonial period or earlier, consisting of that of the united states itself: Burma became Myanmar. The renaming stays a contested issue.[26] Many political and ethnic opposition agencies and nations continue to apply Burma due to the fact they do no longer realize the legitimacy of the ruling navy authorities or its authority to rename the country.[27]
In April 2016, quickly after taking workplace, Aung San Suu Kyi commented at the query of which name ought to be used and stated that “it’s far up to you due to the fact there is not anything within the constitution of our country that asserts that you need to use any term specially”. She persisted, “I use Burma very often because I am used to the usage of it. But it does no longer imply that I require other human beings to do that as nicely. And I’ll make an effort to say Myanmar once in a while so that you all feel cushty.”[28]
The usa’s respectable full name is “Republic of the Union of Myanmar” (ပြည်ထောင်စုသမ္မတ မြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်, Pyihtaungsu Thamada Myanma Naingngantaw, reported [pjìdàʊɴzṵ θàɴməda̰ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴdɔ̀]). Countries that don’t officially understand that name use the lengthy form “Union of Burma” as a substitute.[three][29] In English, the usa is popularly known as either Burma or Myanmar. In Burmese, the pronunciation relies upon at the check in used and is both Bama (pronounced [bəmà]) or Myamah (reported [mjəmà]).[26] The call Burma has been in use in English because the 18th century.
Official United States coverage retains Burma because the united states of america’s name despite the fact that the State Department’s internet site lists the country as Burma (Myanmar).[30] The CIA’s World Factbook lists the us of a as Burma as of February 2021.[three] The government of Canada has within the past used Burma,[31] which includes in its 2007 law implementing sanctions[32] but as of August 2020 commonly uses Myanmar.[33] The Czech Republic formally makes use of Myanmar, even though its Ministry of Foreign Affairs makes use of each Myanmar and Burma on its website.[34] The United Nations makes use of Myanmar, as does the ASEAN and as do Australia,[35] Russia, Germany,[36] China, India, Bangladesh, Norway,[37] Japan[31] and Switzerland.[38] Most English-speakme worldwide information media talk over with the country by way of the call Myanmar, such as the BBC,[39] CNN,[40] Al Jazeera,[41] Reuters,[42] and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)/Radio Australia.[43]
Myanmar is known by means of a call deriving from Burma as opposed to Myanmar in Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Greek – Birmania being the local version of Burma in each Italian and Spanish, Birmânia in Portuguese, and Birmanie in French.[44] As in the past, French-language media today continually use Birmanie.[forty five][46]
There isn’t any installed pronunciation of the English call Myanmar, and at least nine distinctive pronunciations exist. Those with two syllables are indexed as extra commonplace with the aid of principal UK and US dictionaries besides Collins: , , , . Dictionaries and different resources also document pronunciations with three syllables , , , , .[47]