Irrawaddy River summary

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Irrawaddy River.

Sagaing
Sagaing, Myanmar, on the Irrawaddy River.

Irrawaddy River, River, Myanmar (Burma). It flows 1,350 mi (2,170 km) across the centre of the country and empties into the Andaman Sea. The country’s most important commercial waterway, it is formed by the confluence of the Nmai and the Mali rivers, and in the central dry zone it is joined by its major tributary, the Chindwin River. Chief ports are Mandalay, Chauk, Prome (Pyay), and Henzada.

Ava Summary

Ava, ancient capital of central Myanmar (Burma), on the left bank of the Irrawaddy River at the Myitnge confluence. It is linked by a road and rail bridge, 5,894 feet (1,796 m) long, to the town of Sagaing; this is the only place where the Irrawaddy is bridged. Its name is a corruption of the

Pagan Summary

Pagan, village, central Myanmar (Burma), situated on the left bank of the Irrawaddy River and approximately 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Mandalay. The site of an old capital city of Myanmar, Pagan is a pilgrimage centre and contains ancient Buddhist shrines that have been restored and redecorated

Myanmar Summary

Myanmar, country, located in the western portion of mainland Southeast Asia. In 1989 the country’s official English name, which it had held since 1885, was changed from the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar; in the Burmese language the country has been known as Myanma (or, more precisely,

river Summary

River, (ultimately from Latin ripa, “bank”), any natural stream of water that flows in a channel with defined banks . Modern usage includes rivers that are multichanneled, intermittent, or ephemeral in flow and channels that are practically bankless. The concept of channeled surface flow, however,