For those of us who are beginning to discover the beautiful country of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, we have thought of giving a short introduction of this Southeast Asian nation, so we are able to locate it and get to know a little about its history in order to understand all the processes that the country is going through.
First of all, let's place Myanmar in the map.
Source: http://www.operationworld.org/
Situated between India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Laos and China, it has received a great amount of external influences from its powerful neighbours, for example South India’s Theravada style of Buddhism, which is now the most important religion in Myanmar with an 80 percent of the population as followers.
The country was united by King Anawrahta by 1057 and the previous city states where succeeded by an increasingly centralized government. Internal fights teared the country once again into small kingdoms until the mid sixteenth century when Bayinnaung conquered a big empire and unified the country. This soldier-king is very important because is highly regarded by modern-day Myanmarese generals and is the symbol of Myanmarese power and aggresion. It would not be until the end of the 19th century when Myanmar was occupied by the British after three wars caused by the clash of their borders. They introduced far-reaching reforms concerning the civil administration and the economy, which would later turn against them because the nationalist movements mainly took place in the universities in the 1920's instigated by Buddhist leaders.
After the Japanese invasion during World War Two, the Myanmarese finally won their long sought independence and created a democratic government that only lasted for fourteen years before there was a military coup headed by Ne Win. The civil unrest caused by a continued economic downturn in 1988 was ended in a blood bath but it started a very slow movement towards democracy that still carries on today represented by the Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The military junta has stepped down from power but they still hold very important positions in the government, for example in both the upper and the lower house 25% of seats are reserved for representatives of the military.
Sources: New Internationalist magazine
The Economist Intelligence Unit
