Burma or Myanmar, republic in South-East Asia, bounded on the north by China; on the east by China, Laos, and Thailand; on the south by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal; and on the west by the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, and India. It is officially known as the Union of Myanmar. The coastal region is known as Lower Burma, while the interior region is known as Upper Burma. The total area of the country is 676,552 sq km (261,218 sq mi). Burma's capital and largest city is Rangoon (Yangon).
Land and Resources A horseshoe-shaped mountain complex and the valley of the Irrawaddy river system are the dominant topographical features of Burma. The mountains of the northern margin rise to 5,881 m (19,296 ft) atop Hkakabo Razi, the highest peak in South-East Asia. The two other mountain systems have north-south axes. The Arakan Yoma range, with peaks reaching more than 2,740 m (9,000 ft), forms a barrier between Burma and the subcontinent of India. The Bilauktaung range, the southern extension of the Shan Plateau, lies along the boundary between southwestern Thailand and southeastern Lower Burma. The Shan Plateau, originating in China, has an average elevation of about 910 m (3,000 ft). Generally narrow and elongated in the interior, the central lowlands attain a width of about 320 km (200 mi) across the Irrawaddy-Sittang delta. The deltaic plains, extremely fertile and economically the most important section of the country, cover an area of about 46,620 sq km (18,000 sq mi). Both the Arakan (in the northwest) and the Tenasserim (in the southwest) coasts of Burma are rocky and fringed with islands. The country has a number of excellent natural harbours.
Climate Most of Burma lies within the Tropic Zone. Burma has three seasons: a hot and wet season from mid-May to October, a cooler season from late October to mid-February, and a very hot season from mid-February to early May. During the hot wet season, the period of the Southwest Monsoon, rains usually fall every day and sometimes all day, bringing almost all the annual average of about 5,080 mm (200 in) of rain to Lower Burma and about 760 mm (30 in) to Upper Burma, while temperatures average around 29° C (85° F) in Mandalay and 27° C (80° F) in Rangoon. In the cooler season, January temperatures average around 20° C (68° F) in Mandalay and 25° C (77° F) in Rangoon. By the end of the hot season, average temperatures have risen to over 37.8° C (100° F) in many parts of Burma. Temperatures are generally lower in mountainous regions.
Natural Resources The most important resources of Burma are agricultural. Approximately 250 commercially useful kinds of trees abound, 50 of which have been exploited. The principal forest resource is teak, of which Burma holds the majority of the world's remaining supply. Important mineral deposits are oil and natural gas, along with lead, zinc, tin, tungsten, coal, iron ore, copper, and some marble and limestone. Burma is an outstanding source of jade and natural rubies.
Soils The richest soils are found in a narrow alluvial strip along the Bay of Bengal, where mountain streams irrigate the land; in the wide river valleys; and in the alluvial deposits of the Irrawaddy delta and valley. These deep deposits form a vast, fertile belt especially suitable for rice cultivation because of the abundant moisture.
Plants and Animals Forests and woodland cover about half of Burma. In the regions of maximum precipitation, the dense tropical forests contain extensive stands of timber and oil-bearing trees, including commercially valuable teak forests. Other trees include rubber, cinchona, acacia, bamboo, ironwood, mangrove, coconut, betel palm, and, chiefly in the northern highlands, oak, pine, and many species of rhododendron. Tropical fruits such as citrus, bananas, mangoes, and guavas grow in the coastal regions. Vegetation in the arid regions is sparse and stunted. Jungle animals such as the tiger and leopard are common in Burma. Among the larger native quadrupeds, found mainly in the highlands of Upper Burma, are the elephant, rhinoceros, wild buffalo, wild boar, and several species of deer and antelope. Elephants, tamed or bred in captivity, are used as work animals, particularly in the timber industry. Smaller quadrupeds include the gibbon, several species of monkey, the wildcat, the flying fox, and the tapir. Burma has over 1,200 known varieties of birds, including parrots, peafowl, pheasants, crows, and herons. Among typical reptiles are crocodiles, geckos, cobras, pythons, and turtles. Many edible species of freshwater fish are plentiful.
Population The indigenous population of Burma is essentially Mongoloid. More than two-thirds of the people are Burman, racially akin to the Tibetans and the Chinese. In addition, several indigenous minorities with their own languages and cultures also inhabit the country. The most important of these groups are the Karen (8 per cent), Shan (7 per cent), Mon (2 per cent), Chin (2 per cent), and Kachin (2 per cent). Each group has its own state. The Karen are in lower Burma. The Shan, a people related to the Thai, live mainly in the hills along the Thai border. The Mon, or Mon-Khmer, the first major ethnic group known to have migrated to Burma, live mainly in the delta region and are becoming assimilated with the Burman ethnic majority. The Chin, who are related to ethnic groups of neighbouring Assam State of India, live in the northwestern mountainous region. The Chin live primarily by hunting and fishing. In Chin society, absolute leaders, who are usually also head priests of the traditional religion, rule the groups. The Kachin, a hill people, are concentrated in the far north of Burma, along the Chinese border. They are related ethnically to the Chinese. The Kachin are ruled by hereditary leaders. The Burmese population also includes large immigrant minorities, notably from India and China.
Population Characteristics Burma has a population (1992 official figure) of 43,466,000. The overall population density is 64 people per sq km (166 per sq mi), one of the lowest in the region. The population is more than 75 per cent rural, with almost half the urban population found in the three largest cities: Rangoon, Mandalay, and Moulmein.
Political Divisions The nation comprises Burma proper and the seven states of Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Mon, Rakhine, and Shan. Burma proper consists of seven divisions: Irrawaddy, Magwe, Mandalay, Pegu, Rangoon Sagaing, and Tenasserim. The political capital, largest city, and principal seaport is Rangoon, also called Yangon, (population, 1983, 2,513,023). Mandalay (532,949), in central Burma, is an important trade centre. Other important cities are Moulmein (219,961), on the Gulf of Martaban, and Sittwe (107,621), a major seaport on the Bay of Bengal.
Language Most of the linguistic groups of Burma are monosyllabic and polytonal, similar to those of Tibet and China all of which are Sino-Tibetan Languages. Burmese, the official language, is spoken by the great majority of the poulation, including many of the non-Burman ethnic minorities. The Burmese alphabet is based on Sanskrit. About 15 per cent of the population speaks Shan and Karen. English is spoken among the educated, and the country contains a sizeable number of speakers of Chinese.
Religion More than 85 per cent of all Burmese are Buddhists, most of whom adhere to the Theravada school of Buddhism. Small groups of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians also live here. For the Burman majority population, Buddhism is central to daily life, with the monastery (pongyi kyaung) forming the core of the community, especially in the villages. The shinpyu rite of passage, usual for Burmese boys, involves entering the monastery temporarily as a novice monk, and many return later in life for temporary retreats. Monks normally begin each day by going round the villages begging alms. Underlying the everyday practice of Buddhism is a well-developed culture of Burmese animism, the worship of spirits known as nat. This provides a basis for many nat festivals, and for much traditional medical practice. Muslims have long formed part of the population, and there are also a significant number of Christians (mostly Baptists), particularly in the hill areas.
Education and Culture Burmese civilization is largely an outgrowth of Indian influences. The Burmese have shunned such Indian institutions as the caste system, however, and have retained an indigenous language and literature.
Education Education is free, and is compulsory in primary schools from five to ten years, and optional for a further four to six years of secondary school. Instruction is in Burmese; English is the second language in many secondary schools. In the early 1990s some 6,518,800 pupils attended about 37,500 primary schools, and about 1,633,700 students attended some 2,900 middle schools and high schools. Nearly 80 per cent of the adult population is reportedly literate, but this statistic is believed to be a considerable overestimate. The chief universities of Burma are the University of Rangoon (1920) and the University of Mandalay (1925). Other institutions of higher education include state schools of fine arts and of music and drama in Rangoon and in Mandalay, and the Defence Services Academy (1955) in Maymyo. Universities and colleges in Burma reportedly enrolled more than 260,000 students each year in the early 1990s, but institutes of higher education were closed for most of the time over the seven years since the 1988 rebellion.
Culture Burma is one of the strongest enclaves of Buddhist culture in all of Asia; the numerous temples have led to Burma becoming widely known as the Land of Golden Pagodas.
Libraries and Museums Formal libraries and museums, as such, are limited in number and facilities in Burma. The thousands of Buddhist temples, however, serve as repositories for books and religious artefacts. A particularly noted pagoda is Shwe Dagon, in Rangoon. The National Museum of Art and Archaeology (1952) is in Rangoon, and state museums are in Kyaukpyu, Mandalay, and Moulmein.
Literature Burma has a rich literary tradition, the Burmese language being especially suitable for poetry and puns. The first examples of Burmese literature are found on stone carvings dating from AD 1113. By the 15th century, a rich tradition of historical and religious poetry had developed. Prose works did not become important until the late 19th century, when a proliferation of novels and plays received impetus from a revival of Burmese nationalism. Notable modern writers have included the poet and essayist Thakin Kodaw Hmaine, the novelist and satirist Thakin Thein Pe Myint, and the novelist Ludu U Hla.
Theatre A popular form of entertainment is the pwe. A type of folk opera, it combines generally light storylines with music and dance. The texts are taken from Burmese folk tales or the Hindu Ramayana, interspersed with comic or satirical skits; the musical accompaniment comes from an orchestra of tuned gongs, bamboo clappers, bamboo xylophone, cymbals, and hne (a six-reeded oboe).
Art Secular art is rare in Burma; most sculpture and painting is confined to a Buddhist context. Kings and nobles seeking religious merit would commission ornate pagodas. Architecture, as well as other art forms, displays a dominant Indian influence. Artisans are known for their lacquer ware and woven silks.
Economy Burma is primarily an agricultural country, and more than two-thirds of the working population is engaged in growing or processing crops; before World War II Burma was the world's foremost rice exporter. Industrial development, which was almost nonexistent before World War II, accelerated in the 1960s and 1970s, until now around 10 per cent of the population works in industry. From 1962 until 1988 the Burmese government attempted to develop the economy following a "Burmese way to socialism", with most industries nationalized; the policy was a notable failure, and in recent years the economy has been opened to foreign investment. State enterprises continue to lose money, and there is a flourishing black economy and high inflation (fuelled by heavy military spending). Burma's gross national product is US$16.3 billion (World Bank figure; 1989-1990 prices), or US$400 per capita. The estimated annual national budget in the early 1990s included about US$2.6 billion in revenue and US$3.9 billion in expenditure.
Agriculture About 15 per cent of the total land surface of Burma is suitable for farming; in the early 1990s, however, only a small portion of the arable land was under cultivation. Burma is one of the leading rice producers in the world; about 14 million metric tons of rice were harvested annually in the early 1990s. Much rice is produced in the Irrawaddy delta. Other important crops, grown mainly on small farms in the central lowlands, are corn, cotton, peanuts, legumes, millet, nuts, sesame, sugar cane, and tobacco. A major, though illegal, export crop is opium, with production estimated at 2,575 metric tons in 1993.
Forestry and Fishing The forests of Burma are an important source of wealth, especially in teak and natural rubber. In 1991 and 1992, timber production amounted to about 2,220,000 cu m (2,901,540 cu yd). Important tree products, in addition to rubber, are quinine and catechu, or cutch, the source of a dye. Fish are caught for local consumption and are a main source of protein in the diet. Freshwater fish are preferred, but the government is now encouraging saltwater fishing. In the early 1990s the total catch was estimated at about 770,000 metric tons; nearly 80 per cent consisted of marine fish.
Mining Burma has a rich and varied supply of minerals. Most of the mines are located in the mountainous areas in the west and along the Tenasserim coast. Such precious stones as jade, rubies, and sapphires are mined, as are copper, nickel, silver, lead, and zinc. In the early 1990s, about 6.4 million barrels of crude oil were produced each year. Annual mineral production in the early 1990s also included silver (210,000 fine oz), refined lead (3,500 metric tons), zinc concentrates (5,000 metric tons), and copper concentrates (35,000 metric tons). Large deposits of natural gas and iron ore have also been found.
Manufacturing Rice milling and the processing of agricultural products are the chief manufacturing enterprises. In order to spur the industrial sector of the economy, the government has started a steel mill, a jute mill, a brick and tile factory, and other plants. Timber mills, oil refineries, sugar refineries, plants for extracting vegetable oils, flour mills, and cotton mills are also in operation. In the early 1990s annual manufacturing output included 61,000 metric tons of sugar, 435,000 metric tons of cement, and 12,400 metric tons of cotton yarn.
Energy Burma has great potential for producing hydroelectricity, and in the early 1990s about 25 per cent of its electricity was produced by hydroelectric facilities. Most of the rest was generated by thermal plants using coal or refined petroleum. In the early 1990s the country had an electricity-generating capacity of about 1.2 million kilowatts, and annual output was some 2.8 billion kilowatt-hours.
Currency and Banking The monetary unit of Burma is the kyat of 100 pyas (5.77 kyats equal US$1; 1995). The unofficial exchange rate for the kyat is considerably lower. All banks were nationalized in 1963. In 1969 the banks were amalgamated to form the Union of Burma Bank. The bank regulates banking operations, controls the currency, and acts as banking agent for the government.
Commerce and Trade All foreign trade is controlled by the government, but since 1990 firms have been able to directly participate in trade. The principal exports are teak, rice, pulses, cotton, ores, metals, and rubber. The chief imports are machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, textiles, and foodstuffs. In the early 1990s yearly exports earned about US$600 million, and annual imports cost some US$1 billion. Burma's main trade partners are Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States. In 1991 the United States imposed trade sanctions in response to alleged human-rights violations.
Transport and Communications The railway system, owned and operated by the government, has 3,878 km (2,410 mi) of track. The railway links all the important cities of the country but does not connect with railways outside Burma. Inland waterways, totalling about 12,800 km (7,954 mi) of navigable rivers and canals, are far more important as transport arteries than the railway system; most large towns are river ports. The Irrawaddy River is the chief artery, and sections of the Chindwin and Salween rivers are also navigable. The road system totals 27,000 km (16,777 mi), of which about 3,200 km (2,000 mi) are paved. Several roads cross the border, notably the Burma Road, to China. A government-owned airline provides both domestic and international service. All postal, telegraph, telephone, and broadcasting systems in Burma are controlled by the government. In 1991 about 82,100 telephones (most of them in Rangoon) and 3,200,000 radios were in use; figures for television receivers are uncertain were in use.
Labour In the early 1990s the labour force numbered about 16 million people, according to government figures, of whom about two-thirds were engaged in agriculture and related activities. Few workers are organized into trade unions, and labour disputes are settled by government labour committees.
Government Burma was governed according to the provisions of the constitution of 1948 until the coup d'état of 1962, after which the existing form of government was wiped out. In 1974 a new constitution was adopted. This document served as the basis of governmental organization until its suspension after the military coup of September 1988. Since that time a military State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) has ruled as a de facto government, ignoring the result of the 1990 elections which it lost overwhelmingly. A constitutional convention convened by SLORC in 1993 to rewrite the constitution has so far produced no document.
Central Government Under the 1974 constitution, the country's chief executive official is the president, who is chairman of the 29-member State Council. The State Council and the Council of Ministers (headed by the prime minister) are chosen by the unicameral People's Assembly, Burma's principal legislative body. Since the 1988 coup a military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council, has exercised legislative and executive authority; it is composed chiefly of military figures and their appointees.
Judiciary Under the constitution, the judiciary system is centralized, but all civilian courts were suspended after the 1988 military coup. The central judiciary and the local Law and Order Restoration Councils are appointed by the SLORC; there is a chief judge, a five-member Supreme Court, and an attorney general.
Local Government Burma proper is administered centrally from Rangoon. The country as a whole is organized as seven divisions inhabited by Burman people and seven states populated by national minorities. The constitution provides for people's councils, headed by executive committees, to be elected at all levels of local and regional or state government. In practice, the Law and Order Restoration Councils control local government, and regional commanders have considerable authority over their districts.
Political Parties Following the Burmese coup d'état in 1962, the Revolutionary Council urged that all existing parties unite within a single party, the Burma Socialist Programme party (BSPP). Under the 1974 constitution, the BSPP is recognized as the only legal political party. In 1990 over 90 parties contested the national election. The SLORC has effectively extinguished political parties, aside from its own Union and Solidarity Development Association. The leading opposition group in the 1990s is the National League for Democracy.
Health and Welfare Average life expectancy at birth in Burma in the early 1990s was 56 years for men and 60 years for women. In 1956 the government began a social security programme that seeks to provide accident and illness insurance, free medical care, and survivor's benefits. It is funded by employers, employees, and the government. The health services in the country have been greatly extended, and since 1964 the number of rural health stations, dispensaries, and hospitals has steadily increased. In the early 1990s the country had more than 722 hospitals with a total of 27,800 beds, but these official figures may not be accurate. Burma has long been faced with leprosy, tuberculosis, and venereal diseases. The number of malaria cases has sharply declined, however, as a result of aid provided by the World Health Organization. The rate of HIV infection and the number of people contracting acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) have increased rapidly in the early 1990s. In 1994, international health organizations estimated that 150,000 to 450,000 were infected, and considerable international health aid is devoted to the problem.
Defence In 1994 the armed forces of Burma included about 286,000 personnel; the army had 265,000, the navy had 12,000, and the air force had 9,000. There is also a People's Police Force of 50,000 and a People's Militia of 35,000, both paramilitary units. The political process is dominated by the military.
History Burma's history has been made by a succession of peoples who migrated down along the River Irrawaddy from Tibet and China, and who were influenced by social and political institutions that had been carried across the sea from India. First came the Mon, perhaps as early as 3000 BC. They established centres of settlement in central Burma, in the Irrawaddy delta, and farther down the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal. They constructed irrigation systems and developed commercial and cultural contacts with India, while maintaining loose ties with other Mon civilizations in the Chao Phraya river valley of Siam (now Thailand). The Pyu followed much later, moving down the western side of the Irrawaddy and founding a capital near present-day Prome in AD 628. The Burmans entered the Irrawaddy valley in the mid-9th century, absorbing the nearby Pyu and Mon communities. Later waves brought in the Shan and Kachin, who, along with the indigenous Karen, have all played a part in the country's development.
The Pagan Kingdom The first unified Burmese state was founded by King Anawrahta (reigned 1044-1077) at Pagan in Upper Burma and was brought to full flower by his able son, Kyanzittha (reigned 1084-1112). Their domain advanced from the dry zone to incorporate the delta Mon centres at Pegu and Thaton; they extended political and religious ties overseas to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and fought off a Chinese invasion from the north. The internal structure of the state was that of a Hindu kingdom, with a court at the capital supported by direct household taxes or service obligations drawn from villages, which were under the guidance of hereditary myothugis ("township headmen"). In time, an increasing proportion of the land was donated to Buddhist monasteries in the form of slave villages for the maintenance of the sangha monastic community. Kingship was legitimated by both Hindu ideology and the king's role as defender of the Buddhist faith. During 250 years of relative peace, the devout rulers built the many pagodas for which Pagan is known today. The fall of Pagan to the Mongols under Kublai Khan in 1287 was the beginning of a turbulent period during which Upper Burma led an uncertain existence between Shan domination and tributary relations with China, while Lower Burma reverted to Mon rule based at Pegu.
The Toungoo Dynasty In the second quarter of the 16th century, a new Burmese dynasty emerged from the sleepy principality of Toungoo in central Burma. With the aid of Portuguese adventurers, the Toungoo dynasty established what became under its third king, Bayinnaung (reigned 1551-1581), a reunified and precariously prosperous state. After his death, succession squabbles and encroachment by the Portuguese along the coast, by the Thais on the east, and by Manipuri horsemen from the west brought on the decline of the dynasty, although the system itself endured until the mid-18th century. Its survival was made possible by a stable administrative and legal system at the central and local levels. The dynasty was finally toppled by a Mon rebellion in 1752.
The Konbaung Dynasty and the Anglo-Burmese Wars Increasing European commercial and political pressure set the context for the rise and demise of the last Burmese dynasty. During the 1600s and early 1700s competing British, Dutch, and French interests had established commercial ventures at Syriam, near present-day Rangoon, and elsewhere on the coast. In 1752 Alaungpaya founded the Konbaung dynasty by restoring Burmese rule first at Ava and later in the delta. He moved against the British at the Negrais trading post and then initiated another attack on the Thais, whose capital at Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya was later destroyed by his son King Hsinbyushin (reigned 1763-1776). Another son, Bodawpaya, lost control of Siam but captured the Arakan region. By the early 19th century, political friction over an Arakanese independence movement based in Bengal was compounded by the military successes of the Burmese general Maha Bandula in Assam. The British responded by sea in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826). The ensuing Treaty of Yandabo left the British in control of Arakan to the west and Tenasserim to the east of the Irrawaddy delta. The production of rice and timber flourished in these two areas under the British, while their relative political stability induced massive population growth, a general pattern that was repeated after the remainder of the delta was annexed in the Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852). Commercial ambition and political pretext, heightened by Anglo-French regional rivalry, precipitated the final annexation, when Mandalay fell after a brief battle in 1885. These extensions of British rule were progressively less popular with the resident population, and each in turn required a period of pacification. In the long run, British rule brought widespread administrative and social modernization to a land that, except for the benign efforts of King Mindon, the builder of Mandalay, had been swamped in reclusive policies and wracked by court intrigues.
British Rule Burmese culture, now submerged under a colonial overlay, had three aspects: the language, with accretions from Mon and Pali; Theravada Buddhism, which had come from Ceylon and mixed with local nat ("animist") rituals; and the society of rice-growing peasant villages. Under colonial rule the linkage of government and religion was lost, the monastic orders fell into disarray, and the monastic schools, which had given Burma a higher rate of male literacy than the England of that day, declined as English became the language of social advancement. The indigenous culture nevertheless persisted in the magical world of the pwe (theatre), in the practice of Buddhism and nat worship, and in the language of the peasantry. The British moved the capital from royal Mandalay to the port city of Rangoon in 1886, developing it as a substation of the British Empire in India. This led to large-scale Indian immigration. Rangoon thus became the hub of a "steel frame" of administration spreading out into the hinterland, where district officers maintained law and order, collected revenue, and administered justice. As the country was opened up to the world market, it became the world's major exporter of rice-from 0.5 million metric tons annually before the fall of Mandalay, to 2 million at the turn of the century, and 3 million before World War II began in 1939. British rule and economic penetration gradually engendered social disintegration and provoked a nationalist movement. This movement used modern institutions, such as the Young Men's Buddhist Association, student strikes, and political participation in partial self-government to agitate for immediate reforms, including separation from India, and later for independence. In the countryside, the unrelated antimodern Saya San Rebellion of 1930-1932 drew widespread support, but was crushed. The political leaders who eventually linked capital and countryside into a truly independent Burma had their start as student leaders who flaunted the title Thakin (master), a term that had previously been applied to the British. The Thakin movement, led by U Aung San and U Nu, formed a Burma Independence Army (BIA), which supported the successful Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942, during World War II. This political movement later took advantage of the strains of wartime occupation and the weakness of the Japanese-installed government near the war's end to resist Japanese rule under the name of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL).
The Modern Nation After the war, the returning British discovered that the AFPFL, led by Aung San, had nearly monopolized indigenous political power. The AFPFL negotiated with Britain to gain Burma's independence by 1948. It also compelled the inclusion into a "federal" republic of such peripheral groups as the Shan and Karen, thought to have had special British protection. In elections held in April 1947, Aung San's AFPFL won an overwhelming majority of seats in the constitutional assembly. In July 1947, U Saw, a nationalist political rival of Aung San, had him and six ministers of the new government assassinated. U Nu, former foreign minister in the wartime puppet government of Ba Maw, was asked to head the AFPFL and the government.
Constitutional Democracy Burma's new independence confronted the AFPFL government of U Nu with a series of political and ethnic insurrections, which continued over the next three decades. During the 1950s a major threat created by the Karen revolt was blunted, and Communist insurgents were forced to retreat into the hills. Burma then established a rigorously nonaligned foreign policy. Economic reconstruction was begun and some new growth undertaken with multilateral foreign aid. AFPFL rule was validated in national elections in 1951-1952 and 1956. By 1958, however, a party split required the constitutional intervention of a caretaker army government for 18 months. The government of General Ne Win tightened administrative discipline to promote modernization and curbed separatist tendencies in the Shan states, where some traditional leaders wanted to exercise the secession right built into the 1947 constitution. The 1960 election gave a resounding victory to U Nu's faction, based largely on respect for his personal piety. U Nu's return to power was short-lived, however. His promotion of Buddhism as the state religion and his tolerance for ethnic separatism precipitated a bloodless coup that reestablished military rule under Ne Win in March 1962.
The Ne Win Regime During the 1960s and 1970s, Ne Win attempted to build an effective totalitarian government, establish legitimacy with the Burmese people, and maintain autonomy on the world scene. His Revolutionary Council abolished opposition political parties and independent newspapers, ordered the slaughter of protesting students, and drew up a "Burmese way to socialism" involving wholesale nationalization. Ensuing economic chaos forced some rethinking in the early 1970s. A new constitution was promulgated in 1974, transferring power by referendum and single-party election from the military Revolutionary Council to a People's Assembly, commanded by Ne Win and other former military leaders. Student strikes still erupted at intervals, as when U Thant, a political figure of the constitutional democracy period and United Nations secretary-general, died and was returned to Burma for burial in 1974. Ethnic insurrections, which broke out in the Kachin and Shan states after the army coup, continued to deny major areas to government control, including Burma's part of the Golden Triangle (a major supplier of the world opium market); the Karen insurrection became closely associated with the black market trade on the Thai border. The Burma Communist party insurrection retained official support from China. At one stage, U Nu escaped to Thailand and attempted to rally an overthrow of Ne Win's government. In 1980, however, he was permitted to return to Burma as a private citizen. In 1981 Ne Win relinquished the presidency to San Yu, a retired general, but he continued as chairman of the ruling Burma Socialist Programme party. Burma had some success in the post-World War II period through its ability to keep free of major international political involvements, such as the Vietnam War. While maintaining relations with the People's Republic of China, the government also stressed Burma's autonomy, reducing its dependence on foreign aid and even delaying membership in the Asian Development Bank. U Nu was active in the movement to make the nonaligned nations a factor in Cold War diplomacy. Burma broke with this group in 1979 in protest at its pro-Soviet tilt; it was readmitted in August 1992.
Rebellion and Military Coup Antigovernment riots in March and June 1988, triggered by a surprise currency devaluation which wiped out the value of most people's savings, led Ne Win to resign as party chairman in July, ushering in a period of political instability. The head of the riot police temporarily took over government, leading to unrest which left thousands dead across the country. A civilian coalition with military ties then took power, trying to mediate between the military and the growing opposition movement led by U Aung San's daughter, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and other military and civilian figures. In September General Saw Maung, chief of staff under Ne Win, emerged from a bloody power struggle to head a military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which remained ultimately answerable to Ne Win. His coup was staged partly to close growing splits within the military hierarchy; and is estimated by official foreign sources to have cost over a thousand lives. In June 1989 the country's name was officially changed in English to the Union of Myanmar, and the name of the capital from Rangoon to Yangon. When legislative elections in May 1990 resulted in an overwhelming victory for the opposition National League for Democracy, the SLORC refused to allow the People's Assembly to convene; some opposition leaders fled to the Thai border and set up an alternative government at the headquarters of the Karen insurrection. In October 1991 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who was held incommunicado under house arrest from July 1989. The ailing Saw Maung was replaced as head of the SLORC by General Than Shwe in April 1992. In January 1993 the SLORC convened a constitutional convention to secure a permanent role for the military in the Burmese government, but the convention produced no document. The SLORC also began to court foreign investment, seeking a remedy to the country's economic crises. By 1994 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was engaged in unofficial discussions with the SLORC, but refused to accept the offer of deportation. In February 1995 the final stronghold of the Karen insurrection fell to SLORC forces. In July Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was unexpectedly released from detention; she responded by proposing rapprochement with the SLORC and the army authorities.
"Burma," Microsoft(R) Encarta(R) 96 Encyclopedia. (c) 1993-1995 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. (c) Funk & Wagnalls Corporation. All rights reserved.
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