Myanmar
Capital: Naypyidaw · South-Eastern Asia
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia.
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A street in Naypyidaw - new capital of Myanmar
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The Umbrella Workshop. Woman working on paper umbrellas in an umbrella workshop in Myanmar.
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Early civilisations in the area included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Myanmar and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Myanmar. In the 9th century, the Bamar people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley, and following the establishment of the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language and culture and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country. The Pagan Kingdom fell to Mongol invasions, and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo dynasty, the country became the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia for a short period.
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Ayeyarwady River seen from Bupaya Pagoda, Bagan.
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Phaung Daw U Pagoda in Meiktila, Myanmar
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Etymology
The name of the country has been a matter of dispute and disagreement, particularly in the early 21st century, focusing mainly on the political legitimacy of those using Myanmar versus Burma. Both names derive from the earlier Burmese Mranma or Mramma, an ethnonym for the majority Burman ethnic group, of uncertain etymology. The terms are also popularly thought to derive from Sanskrit Brahma Desha, 'land of Brahma'.
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Drying the cotton silk fabric
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Mahar Sadan Cave, Hpa An, Myanmar.
Photo: kallerna, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
History
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. The first evidence of Homo sapiens is dated to about 25,000 BP with discoveries of stone tools in central Myanmar. 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.
The Bronze Age arrived c.
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Geography
Myanmar has a total area of 678,500 square kilometres (262,000 sq mi). It lies between latitudes 9° and 29°N, and longitudes 92° and 102°E. Myanmar is bordered in the northwest by the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh and the Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh states of India. Its north and northeast border is with the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan for a Sino-Myanmar border total of 2,185 km (1,358 mi). It is bounded by Laos and Thailand to the southeast. Myanmar has 1,930 km (1,200 mi) of contiguous coastline along the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea to the southwest and the south, which forms one quarter of its total perimeter.
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Government and politics
Myanmar operates as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. The country is governed as a parliamentary system with a bicameral legislature (including an executive president accountable to the legislature), with 25% of the legislators appointed by the military and the rest elected in general elections.
The legislature, called the Assembly of the Union, is bicameral and made up of two houses: The 224-seat upper House of Nationalities and the 440-seat lower House of Representatives.
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Economy
Myanmar's economy is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with a nominal GDP of US$76.09 billion in 2019 and an estimated purchasing power-adjusted GDP of US$327.629 billion in 2017 according to the World Bank. Foreigners can legally lease but not own property. In December 2014, Myanmar set up its first stock exchange, the Yangon Stock Exchange.
The informal economy's share in Myanmar is one of the biggest in the world and is closely linked to corruption, smuggling, and illegal trade activities.
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Demographics
The provisional results of the 2014 Myanmar Census showed that the total population was 51,419,420. This figure includes an estimated 1,206,353 persons in parts of northern Rakhine State, Kachin State and Kayin State who were not counted. People who were out of the country at the time of the census are not included in these figures. There are over 600,000 registered migrant workers from Myanmar in Thailand, and millions more work illegally. Burmese citizens account for 80% of all migrant workers in Thailand. At the beginning of the 20th century, Burma's population was approximately 10 million.
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Culture
A diverse range of indigenous cultures exists in Myanmar, with the majority culture primarily Buddhist and Bamar. Bamar culture has been influenced by the cultures of neighbouring countries, manifested in its language, cuisine, music, dance, and theatre. The arts, particularly literature, have historically been influenced by the local form of Theravada Buddhism. Considered the national epic of Myanmar, the Yama Zatdaw, an adaptation of India's Ramayana, has been influenced greatly by Thai, Mon, and Indian versions of the play. Buddhism is practised along with nat worship, which involves elaborate rituals to propitiate one from a pantheon of 37 nats.
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