50 Fun Facts About Myanmar

Which British author served in Burma's Imperial Police in the 1920s before turning to writing?

George Orwell left Burma on sick leave in 1927 and, once back in England, resigned from the police to become a writer.

What is the capital city of Myanmar?

Naypyidaw: the government began moving there in 2005, but the new capital was only proclaimed under that name in March 2006.

What is Myanmar's largest city?

Yangon, Myanmar's commercial hub, is where the British exiled Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor, after India's 1857 revolt.

Which Second World War route did Japan force Allied prisoners to build between Thailand and Burma?

The Death Railway ran 415 km from Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma, and more than 12,000 Allied prisoners died building it.

Myanmar holds what distinction among the countries of mainland Southeast Asia?

Largest by area: Britain needed three wars, between 1824 and 1885, to annex all of it.

Which country borders Myanmar to the east, between China and Thailand?

Laos: the Mekong forms their whole border, a line two colonial powers agreed in 1896 would divide their possessions.

What is the principal river of Myanmar, about 2,170 km long?

The Irrawaddy was to be dammed at its headwaters by a Chinese-backed project, until President Thein Sein suspended it in 2011 amid public opposition.

Which peak, at 5,881 m, has long been counted as Myanmar's highest?

Hkakabo Razi's title is disputed: in 2013 a GPS survey measured nearby Gamlang Razi at 5,870 m, and some references now name Gamlang Razi the highest.

Myanmar's 2008 constitution renamed the country's seven divisions as what?

Regions: each has its own legislature, yet its chief minister is chosen by the country's president.

Which 11th-century king became the first to rule all of Burma?

Anawrahta captured the Mon city of Thaton in 1057, and Ceylon's king later asked him for Burmese monks to help revive Buddhism there.

Which ancient capital's plain holds thousands of Buddhist temples and stupas built between the 11th and 13th centuries?

Bagan only became a World Heritage Site in 2019, and UNESCO still notes that restorations in the 1970s and 1990s impaired its authenticity.

Myanmar's Union Day marks which 1947 accord?

The Panglong Agreement was signed in February 1947, and that July Aung San and six colleagues were assassinated.

Which invaders brought down Burma's first empire in 1287?

The Mongols of Kublai Khan had demanded that Burma's king accept them as overlords, and when he refused, their invasions ended his empire.

Which 16th-century king captured the Siamese capital Ayutthaya, making Burma mainland Southeast Asia's most powerful kingdom?

Bayinnaung took Ayutthaya in 1564 and carried the defeated Siamese king back to his own capital, Pegu.

Which Burmese king did Britain exile to India after conquering his kingdom in 1885?

Thibaw: his court had fined a British teak company for underreporting its extractions, and the dispute provoked Britain to invade.

Britain annexed the rest of Burma in 1885 partly out of alarm at which rival's expansion?

French Indochina: Britain feared the Burmese court's dealings with France, and after the war it ran Burma as a province of India until 1937.

In the 1920s, Rangoon overtook which city as the world's busiest immigration port?

Rangoon, then the colonial capital, drew so many migrants from India that by the 1920s it surpassed New York as the world's greatest immigration port; Indians became a majority of its population.

Which special force, formed by Orde Wingate, fought deep behind Japanese lines in Burma?

The Chindits were supplied from the air on their 1943 raid, and Orde Wingate was killed in an air crash the following year.

Unlike India, which association did Burma decline to join at independence?

Commonwealth: Aung San had demanded complete independence rather than dominion status, and Burma became a republic outside it in 1948.

Which Burmese diplomat led the United Nations as Secretary-General through most of the 1960s?

After U Thant died in 1974, students seized his coffin and buried it on a university campus in Burma, until the authorities took it back by force.

Which general seized power in the coup of 2 March 1962?

Ne Win dominated Burma's government for 26 years, until he resigned in July 1988 amid mass protests against his rule.

The mass protests in which Aung San Suu Kyi first rose to prominence are known by what name?

The 8888 Uprising is named for the general strike of 8 August 1988, and that September the military crushed the protests and seized power.

The 2007 protests led by Buddhist monks against fuel prices were called what?

The Saffron Revolution is named for the monks' robes; it began after fuel prices were raised in August 2007 and was crushed by the army in late September.

Which cyclone devastated the rice-growing delta in May 2008, killing at least 138,000 people?

Cyclone Nargis came ashore on 2 May 2008, yet the junta went ahead with its constitutional referendum only days later.

Aung San Suu Kyi won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize while under what?

House arrest: her son Alexander accepted the prize for her in Oslo, and she only gave her Nobel lecture there in June 2012.

Why was Aung San Suu Kyi barred from Myanmar's presidency after the 2015 election?

Her sons' foreign citizenship: her late husband and their two sons were not Myanmar citizens, so she led the government as State Counsellor, a new post.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party, which won landslides in 1990, 2015 and 2020, is called what?

The National League for Democracy, founded in 1988, won the 1990 election by a landslide, but the junta refused to hand over power.

Which military chief took power in the coup of 1 February 2021?

Min Aung Hlaing's troops detained Aung San Suu Kyi, and six months after the coup he made himself prime minister of a caretaker government.

What is the name of Myanmar's armed forces?

The Tatmadaw got a quarter of parliament's seats under the 2008 constitution, enough to block amendments needing more than 75% of members' votes.

Which minority has been denied citizenship under Myanmar's 1982 Citizenship Law?

The Rohingya, mostly Muslims from Rakhine State, are almost all stateless, and in 2017 an army crackdown drove hundreds of thousands into Bangladesh.

What is the name of Myanmar's currency?

Kyat: in 1987 the government suddenly scrapped its 25, 35 and 75-kyat notes without compensation, making most of the country's cash worthless.

Which branch of Buddhism is the most widespread in Myanmar?

Theravada Buddhism, the school shared with Sri Lanka and Thailand, dominates: the 2014 census counted roughly 88% of the population as Buddhist.

Which town in Myanmar is famous as the 'Valley of Rubies'?

Mogok, about 200 km north of Mandalay, has been mined for rubies for centuries and produced the 'pigeon's blood' stones that set world auction records.

Myanmar has long ranked among the world's top two producers of which drug crop?

Opium poppy grows mostly in Shan State, and in 2023 Myanmar overtook Afghanistan as the top producer after the Taliban banned the crop.

What is mohinga, Myanmar's national dish?

Mohinga is a fish soup with rice noodles, usually catfish in a broth flavoured with lemongrass and turmeric, eaten for breakfast across the country.

Lahpet, a staple of Burmese salads, is what?

Pickled tea leaves: under Burmese rule, the two sides in a civil suit ate lahpet together to seal their acceptance of the outcome.

Chinlone and lethwei are traditional Burmese examples of what?

Sports: in traditional lethwei, a bout with no knockout was declared a draw, until newer rules brought in judges to pick a winner.

What relic of Gautama Buddha is the Shwedagon Pagoda believed to enshrine?

His hair: legend says two merchants received eight strands from the Buddha, and their king enshrined them with relics of three earlier Buddhas.

Which lake is famous for its Intha fishermen who row with one leg?

Inle Lake's Intha fishermen stand and wrap one leg around the oar, a style said to let them see over the reeds and keep a hand free for the net.

What did Filipe de Brito carry off from the Shwedagon Pagoda in 1608, then lose in a river?

A giant bell: he meant to melt the Great Bell of Dhammazedi into cannons, but it sank in the river and has never been recovered.

What colours make up the Myanmar flag adopted in 2010?

Yellow, green and red: the 2010 flag revives the colours Burma used under Japanese occupation in 1943–45, with a large white star.

Which sea lies off Myanmar's southern coast?

The Andaman Sea was swept in 2004 by a tsunami from a huge earthquake off Sumatra, which flooded coasts all around it.

Which early city-states of Upper Myanmar were heavily influenced by trade with India, importing Buddhism?

The Pyu built walled cities such as Sri Ksetra and Beikthano in the dry zone from about the 2nd century BC, adopting Buddhism and Indian scripts through trade.

Which kingdom unified the Arakan coastline for the first time in 1437?

Mrauk U, made a capital in 1429 by Min Saw Mon, brought the whole Arakan coast under one rule by 1437; its temple ruins stand in Rakhine State.

Which ancient language is used for the scriptures and liturgy of Burmese Buddhism?

Pali: its written tradition died out in mainland India, but the language lived on as sacred scripture in Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

Which king had reunited all of Myanmar by 1759, founding the Konbaung dynasty?

Alaungpaya, a village headman from Shwebo, rose up after the Mon king of Pegu captured Ava in 1752, and had reunited the country by 1759.

Which international bloc did Myanmar join in 1997?

ASEAN: in 2014 Myanmar took its turn as the bloc's rotating chair and hosted an ASEAN summit.

Hpakant in northern Myanmar is home to the world's biggest mine for which gemstone?

Jade: in July 2020, heavy rain set off a landslide at a Hpakant jade mine that killed more than 160 people.

Roughly how many people live in Myanmar?

Myanmar's population is about 55 million; the 2014 census counted 51.5 million, and UN estimates have since passed 54 million.

Which actress played Aung San Suu Kyi in Luc Besson's 2011 film The Lady?

Michelle Yeoh flew into Myanmar in June 2011 and was deported the same day, officials said, because she was on a blacklist.