The unification of Myanmar

Nanzhao acted as a buffer against Chinese power to the north and allowed the infant Burman kingdom to grow. The Burmans learned much from the Pyu, but they were still cut off from the trade revenues of southern Myanmar. Theravada Buddhism had disappeared from India, and in its place were Mahayana Buddhism and a resurgent Hinduism.

In 1044 Anawrahta came to the throne at Pagan and began the unification process in Myanmar that would recur in cyclic fashion until the British conquered the country in 1886. Anawrahta first strengthened his defenses on the north—the “front door” of Myanmar—and created alliances through marriage with the neighbouring Shan to the east. He then harnessed the economic resources of northern Myanmar by repairing old irrigation works and building new ones. Finally, he declared himself the champion of Theravada Buddhism and used that ideology to justify his conquest of southern Myanmar, which was accomplished with the defeat of the Mon city of Thaton in 1057.

Thus, by the mid-11th century the core of present-day Myanmar had been united into a single kingdom centred at Pagan, and Myanmar’s longest-surviving dynasty had been established. Anawrahta’s work was continued by his great commander Kyanzittha (ruled 1084–c. 1112) and by another great ruler, Alaungsithu (ruled c. 1112–c. 1167). Pagan’s consolidation of the Irrawaddy valley southward to the ports of southern Myanmar divided most of mainland Southeast Asia into two great empires, Khmer and Burman. Anawrahta’s dynasty of kings lasted until the 13th century. By that time, their great temples had been built, and their message of Theravada Buddhism had been carried not only to the Shan but also to the Khmer.

Centuries of temple building and of donations of land and manpower to the tax-exempt sangha (monkhood), however, had diverted many of the state’s most valuable resources. Yet the legitimacy of state and society depended on continued patronage of the sangha. As a result, Pagan had become weakened by the end of the 13th century, precisely when a threat arose from the Mongols of Central Asia. Pagan had lost its northern buffer in the early 1250s when Nanzhao was destroyed and subjugated by the Mongols under Kublai Khan. The Mongols demanded submission by and tribute from Pagan, which refused to comply. It is not clear that the Mongol armies actually reached Pagan, but by 1300 Pagan no longer was the centre of power in Myanmar.

Pagan state and society

Pagan was a fabulous kingdom even to its contemporaries; although he did not visit it, the 13th–14th-century Venetian traveler Marco Polo was impressed by the tales of its splendour that were recounted to him. By the time of its conquest, Pagan had an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 temples and monasteries. Hundreds of these still stand today and testify to the prosperity of its people and the richness of its culture. The conquest of the Mon kingdom of Thaton was the foundation of both Pagan’s economy and its culture, for it delivered into Burman hands all the ports of the country and the core of artisans who built Pagan’s magnificent temples. These artisans were paid in wages of gold and silver, as well as in kind (food, horses, and elephants). Their clothing, shelter, health, comfort, and safety were the responsibility of their employers (as evidenced by details provided in contemporaneous inscriptions).

The Mon craftsmen, artisans, artists, architects, goldsmiths, and wood-carvers who were captured at Thaton and taken to Pagan taught their skills and arts to the Burmans. Mon monks and scholars taught the Burmans the sacred Pali language and the Buddhist scriptures, and the Burmans soon became scholars themselves, making Pagan the centre of Theravada learning. Some of their religious commentaries came to be accepted as part of the Pali canon by other Theravada countries. The women of Pagan also took part in these activities, particularly in the building and endowment of temples and monasteries.

While the people of Pagan made Buddhism their way of life, they retained many indigenous and other unorthodox beliefs. The result was a unique blend of principles that persisted for generations as the foundation of religion, government, and society in Myanmar.

The first Ava kingdom, 1364–1527

After the decline of Pagan as a major political force, small centres of power emerged by the first decade of the 14th century from polities that once had been under Pagan suzerainty. The political situation remained fragmented, however, until one of these centres, Ava, became the seat of authority in 1364. Ava was located in the northern Irrawaddy valley at the entrance to the rice-producing region of Kyaukse, near present-day Mandalay. The kings of Ava resurrected the traditions of Pagan, encouraging scholarship and learning and making the period a great age of Burmese literature. Without a northern buffer, however, they could not control the coasts for any length of time and were thus deprived of shipping revenues.

Also following Pagan’s fall from political authority, the Mon reestablished themselves at Bago, and by the 15th century they were experiencing their own golden age under leaders such as Dhammazedi (ruled 1472–92). Bago became a major centre of Theravada scholarship and of commerce in Southeast Asia, attributes that protected it from conquest. Ava, however, was vulnerable; it was sacked in 1527 by the Shan, who had been moving southward down the Irrawaddy and Chao Phraya valleys since the destruction of Nanzhao several decades earlier. Refugees from Ava fled south to Toungoo, a city on the Sittang River that had been a seat of Pagan and Ava authority.

The Toungoo dynasty, 1531–1752

The Toungoo dynasty, although considered by some to have been founded by King Minkyinyo (ruled 1485–1531), was inarguably solidified by his successor Tabinshwehti (ruled 1531–50). By the time Tabinshwehti took power, the new kingdom had become strong enough to wrest control of northern Myanmar from the Shan and southern Myanmar from the Mon. In 1511 the great trading entrepôt of Malacca (now Melaka) on the Malay Peninsula was conquered by the Portuguese, which led to a renewal of interest in trade in Myanmar’s coastal waters. Tabinshwehti transferred his capital southward to Bago in order to tap this commercial potential, and he attempted to unite Burmans, Mon, and Shan into a single state. He died in 1550, however, and was succeeded by his brother-in-law, Bayinnaung (ruled 1551–81).

Meanwhile, the Shan in the Chao Phraya valley had consolidated their power under the Tai kingdom of Ayutthaya (Ayudhia, Ayudhya), at the time known regionally as Siam. Like the Burmans, the Shan recognized the potential value of controlling the renewed commercial activity in the area; Ayutthaya and Bago thus became rivals. In addition, the Ming-dynasty Chinese were active in Southeast Asian waters during the 14th and 15th centuries, further stimulating economic growth—and competition—in the region.

Bayinnaung twice marched on Ayutthaya and had conquered the entire Chao Phraya valley by 1569, using Portuguese mercenaries and Portuguese cannon to accomplish his goals. Bayinnaung’s wars exhausted Myanmar’s resources, however, and after his death the kingdom began to break up. Manipur—a Hindu princely state to the northwest of Myanmar (now in India) that had been subjugated in 1560—declared itself independent, and Ayutthaya also regained its independence. Toungoo, joined by forces from the Rakhine (Arakan) region, proceeded to ravage Bago. When the Portuguese subsequently founded a small centre of power at Syriam, on the Bago River across from the site of present-day Yangon, the rulers of Toungoo decided to return to the predictability, security, and comfort of the agrarian dry zone of northern Myanmar.

By the end of the 16th century, Ava had been resurrected and the second Ava dynasty established, and by 1613 Bayinnaung’s grandson Anaukpetlun had reunited Myanmar. Anaukpetlun’s successor, Thalun, reestablished the principles of the Myanmar state created half a millennium earlier at Pagan. Heavy religious expenditures, however, weakened Ava politically, much as they had done in Pagan. In the meantime, southern Myanmar had been rejuvenated by the new commercial activity spurred by the British and the Dutch. Bago had grown stronger while Ava was preoccupied with reviving the northern region. Finally, encouraged by the French in India, Bago rose in rebellion. Assailed internally as well as externally, Ava—and the Toungoo dynasty—fell in 1752.

The Alaungpaya dynasty, 1752–1885

It was soon apparent that with the sacking of Ava only the centre of power had been destroyed, not the system or the wherewithal for power; before the year had ended, a popular Burman leader, Alaungpaya (ruled 1752–60), had driven Bago’s forces out of northern Myanmar, regained the Shan states, and established the Alaungpaya (also called Konbaung) dynasty. By 1759 he also had regained Manipur and defeated Bago. The Siamese became alarmed and attempted to rouse the Shan chiefs to rebel. In the south, Alaungpaya overtook Tenasserim, the site of the old portage kingdoms, and invaded Siamese territory. Although Alaungpaya’s invasion failed and he himself died during the retreat in 1760, the people and rulers of Myanmar now felt that, unless the Siamese were conquered, the coastal cities of southern Myanmar could not be retained. Alaungpaya’s son Hsinbyushin (ruled 1763–76) sent his armies into Siam in 1766, and they captured Ayutthaya in 1767. China, agitated by the growing power of Myanmar, invaded the country four times during the period 1766–69, but without success.

Myanmar then conquered Rakhine and occupied the princely state of Assam to the northwest of Manipur, thus coming face to face with British power in India. The result was the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26), in which the Siamese fought on the British side. Myanmar eventually had to sue for peace and relinquish Assam, Manipur, Rakhine, and Tenasserim.

The Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852) was provoked by the British, who wanted access to the teak forests in and around Bago and also wanted to secure the gap in their coastline stretching from Calcutta (Kolkata) to Singapore; it resulted in the British annexation of Bago province, which they renamed Lower Burma. As the British became increasingly interested in the legendary trade with China through its back door—as well as in the teak, oil, and rubies of northern Myanmar—they waited for a suitable pretext to attack. In 1885 Britain declared war on Myanmar for the third and final time. To meet the criticism of this action that arose in Parliament, the British government gave the excuses that the last independent king of Myanmar, Thibaw (ruled 1878–85), was a tyrant and that he was conspiring to give France greater influence over the country. Neither of these charges seems to have had much foundation.