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Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the
Bago Region Bago Region ( my, ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး, ; formerly Pegu Division and Bago Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar, located in the southern central part of the country. It is bordered by Magway Region ...
in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon.


Etymology

The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon language place name Bagaw ( mnw, ဗဂေါ, ). Until the Burmese government renamed English place names throughout the country in 1989, Bago was known as Pegu. Bago was formerly known as Hanthawaddy (; ; ; lit. "she who possesses the sheldrake"), the name of a Burmese-Mon kingdom. An alternative etymology from the 1947 Burmese encyclopedia derives Bago (ပဲခူး) from Wanpeku ( my, ဝမ်းပဲကူး) as a shortening of Where the Hinthawan Ducks Graze ( my, ဟင်္သာဝမ်းဘဲများ ကူးသန်းကျက်စားရာ အရပ်). This etymology relies on the non-phonetic Burmese spelling as its main reasoning.


History


Foundation

Various Mon language
chronicles Chronicles may refer to: * ''Books of Chronicles'', in the Bible * Chronicle, chronological histories * ''The Chronicles of Narnia'', a novel series by C. S. Lewis * ''Holinshed's Chronicles'', the collected works of Raphael Holinshed * '' The Idh ...
report widely divergent foundation dates of Bago, ranging from 573 CE to 1152 CEA version of the 18th century chronicle ''
Slapat Rajawan ''Slapat Rajawan Datow Smin Ron'' ( mnw, သုပတ် ရာဇာဝင် ဒတောဝ် သ္ငီ ရောင်; ), more commonly known as ''Bago Yazawin'', is a Mon language chronicle that covers 17 dynasties from the legendary tim ...
'' as reported by Arthur Phayre (Phayre 1873: 32) states that the settlement was founded in 1116
Buddhist Era The Buddhist calendar is a set of lunisolar calendars primarily used in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, India, Sri Lanka, and Thailand as well as in Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam by Chinese populations for religious or official occasions. While the ...
(572/573 CE). But another version of the ''Slapat'', used by P.W. Schmidt (Schmidt 1906: 20, 101), states that it was founded on 1st waxing of Mak (Tabodwe) 1116 BE ( 19 January 573 CE), which it says is equivalent to year 514 of "the third era", without specifying what the era specifically was. However, per (Phayre 1873: 39), one of the "native records" used by Maj. Lloyd says that Pegu was founded in 514 Burmese (Myanmar) Era (1152/1153 CE).
If the year 514 is indeed the Burmese Era, then the ''Slapat's'' 1st waxing of Tabodwe 514 would be 27 December 1152, equivalent to 1st waxing of Tabodwe 1696 BE (not 1116 BE).
while the ''
Zabu Kuncha The ''Zabu Kun-Cha'' ( my, ဇမ္ဗူကွန်ချာ ကျမ်း, ; also spelled Zambu Kungya) is a late 14th to early 15th century court treatise on Burmese statecraft and court organization. The text also includes a section on ea ...
'', an early 15th century Burmese administrative treatise, states that Pegu was founded in 1276/77 CE.Aung-Thwin 2017: 332 The earliest possible external record of Bago dates to 1028 CE. The Thiruvalangadu plate describe
Rajendra Chola I Rajendra Chola I (; Middle Tamil: Rājēntira Cōḻaṉ; Classical Sanskrit: Rājēndradēva Cōla; Old Malay: ''Raja Suran''; c. 971 CE – 1044 CE), often referred to as Rajendra the Great, and also known as Gangaikonda Chola (Middle Tamil ...
, the
Chola The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE ...
Emperor from South India, as having conquered "Kadaram" in the fourteenth year of his reign- 1028 CE. According to one interpretation, Kadaram refers to Bago. More modern interpretations understand Kadaram to be Kedah in modern day Malaysia, instead of Bago. The earliest reliable external record of Bago comes from Chinese sources that mention Jayavarman VII adding
Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon langu ...
to the territory of the Khmer Empire in 1195. The earliest extant evidence of Pegu as a place dates only to the late Pagan period (1212 and 1266)(Aung-Thwin 2005: 59) cites the inscription found at the Min-Nan-Thu village near
Bagan Bagan (, ; formerly Pagan) is an ancient city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mandalay Region of Myanmar. From the 9th to 13th centuries, the city was the capital of the Bagan Kingdom, the first kingdom that unified the regions that wou ...
, which as shown in (SMK Vol. 3 1983: 28–31) was donated by daughter of Theingathu, dated Thursday, 7th waxing of Nanka (Wagaung) 628 ME (8 July 1266), and lists Pegu as Pe-Ku. (Aung-Thwin 2017: 200, 332) updates by saying that the earliest extant inscriptions that mention Pegu date to 1212 and 1266 but does not provide the source of the 1212 inscription. It must be a recent discovery as none of the inscriptions listed in the ''Ancient Burmese Stone Inscriptions'' (SMK Vol. 1 1972: 93–102) for years 573 ME (1211/1212) or 574 ME (1212/1213) shows Pe-Ku or Pegu.
when it was still a small town, not even a provincial capital. After the collapse of the Pagan Empire, Bago became part of the breakaway Kingdom of Martaban by the 1290s.


Growth

The small settlement grew increasingly important in the 14th century as the region became most populous in the Mon-speaking kingdom. In 1369, King
Binnya U Binnya U ( mnw, ဗညာဥူ, my, ဗညားဦး, ; also known as Hsinbyushin; 1323–1384) was king of Martaban–Hanthawaddy from 1348 to 1384. His reign was marked by several internal rebellions and external conflicts. He survived th ...
made Bago the capital. According to the writings of Persian Abdur Razzak, Bago submitted tribute to the South Indian Vijayanagara Empire sometime in the 15th century. During the reign of King Razadarit, Bago and
Ava Kingdom The Kingdom of Ava ( my, အင်းဝခေတ်, ) was the dominant kingdom that ruled upper Burma (Myanmar) from 1364 to 1555. Founded in 1365, the kingdom was the successor state to the petty kingdoms of Myinsaing, Pinya and Sagaing th ...
were engaged in the
Forty Years' War The Forty Years' War ( my, အနှစ်လေးဆယ်စစ်; 1385 – 1424; also Ava-Pegu War or the Mon-Burmese War) was a military war fought between the Burmese-speaking Kingdom of Ava and the Mon-speaking Kingdom of Hanthawad ...
. The peaceful reign of Queen
Shin Sawbu Shin Sawbu ( my, ရှင်စောပု, ; mnw, မိစဴဗု; 1394–1471) was queen regnant of Hanthawaddy from 1454 to 1471. Queen Shin Sawbu is also known as Binnya Thau ( mnw, ဗညားထောဝ်; mnw, ဨကရာဇ� ...
came to an end when she chose the Buddhist monk
Dhammazedi Dhammazedi ( my, ဓမ္မစေတီ, ; c. 1409–1492) was the 16th king of the Hanthawaddy Kingdom in Burma from 1471 to 1492. Considered one of the most enlightened rulers in Burmese history, by some accounts call him "the greatest" of al ...
(1471–1492) to succeed her. Under Dhammazedi, Bago became a centre of commerce and Theravada
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. In 1519, António Correia, then a merchant from the Portuguese ''casados'' settlement at
Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Ke ...
landed in Bago, then known to the Portuguese as Pegu, looking for new markets for pepper from Cochin. A year later, Portuguese India Governor
Diogo Lopes de Sequeira D.Diogo Lopes de Sequeira (1465–1530) was a Portuguese fidalgo, sent to analyze the trade potential in Madagascar and Malacca. He arrived at Malacca on 11 September 1509 and left the next year when he discovered that Sultan Mahmud Shah was pla ...
sent an ambassador to Pegu.


Toungoo Dynastic Capital

The city remained the capital until the kingdom's fall in 1538. The ascendant
Toungoo dynasty , conventional_long_name = Toungoo dynasty , common_name = Taungoo dynasty , era = , status = Empire , event_start = Independence from Ava , year_start ...
under
Tabinshwehti Tabinshwehti ( my, တပင်‌ရွှေထီး, ; 16 April 1516 – 30 April 1550) was king of Burma (Myanmar) from 1530 to 1550, and the founder of the First Toungoo Empire. His military campaigns (1534–1549) created the largest ki ...
made numerous raids that the much larger kingdom could not muster its resources against. While the kingdom would have a brief resurgence for 2 years in the 1550s, Tabinshwehti's successor
Bayinnaung , image = File:Bayinnaung.JPG , caption = Statue of Bayinnaung in front of the National Museum of Myanmar , reign = 30 April 1550 – 10 October 1581 , coronation = 11 January 1551 at Toun ...
would firmly come to control Bago in 1553. In late 1553, Bago was proclaimed the new capital with commissioning of a new palace, the Kanbawzathadi Palace and Bayinnaung's coronation itself in January 1554. Over the next decade, Bago gradually become the capital of more land and eventually the largest empire in Indochina. A 1565 rebellion by resettled Shans in Bago burnt down major swaths of the city and the palace complex and the Kanbawzathadi Palace was rebuilt. Bayinnaung, this time, added 20 gates to the city named after the vassal who built it After the 1565 rebellion by resettled Shans in Pegu, he faced no new rebellions for the next two years (1565–1567). Because the rebellion burned down major swaths of the capital, including the entire palace complex, he had the capital and the palace rebuilt. The new capital had 20 gates, each named after the vassal who built it. Each gate had a gilded two-tier '' pyatthat'' and gilded wooden doors. The newly rebuilt Kanbawzathadi Palace was officially opened on 16 March 1568, with every vassal ruler present. He even gave upgraded titles to four former kings living in Pegu: Mobye Narapati of Ava,
Sithu Kyawhtin Sithu Kyawhtin ( my, စည်သူကျော်ထင်, ; also known as Narapati Sithu (နရပတိ စည်သူ, )) was the last king of Ava from 1551 to 1555. He came to power by overthrowing King Narapati III in 1551, the culmi ...
of Ava,
Mekuti Mekuti Sutthiwong ( th, เมกุฏิสุทธิวงศ์; died 1581) or Mae Ku ( th, แมกุ) was king of Lan Na from 1551 to 1564.Rajanubhab, D., 2001, Our Wars With the Burmese, Bangkok: White Lotus Co. Ltd., His reign saw t ...
of Lan Na, and
Maha Chakkraphat Maha Chakkraphat ( th, มหาจักรพรรดิ, ; lit.: 'The Great Emperor'; 1509 – 1569) was king of the Ayutthaya kingdom from 1548 to 1564 and 1568 to 1569. Originally called Prince Thianracha, or Prince Tien, he was put on the t ...
of Siam. As a major seaport, the city was frequently visited by Europeans, among these, Gasparo Balbi and Ralph Fitch in the late 1500s. The Europeans often commented on its magnificence. Pegu also established maritime links with the Ottomans by 1545. The Portuguese conquest of Pegu, following the destruction caused by the kings of Tangot and Arrakan in 1599, was described by Manuel de Abreu Mousinho in the account called "Brief narrative telling the conquest of Pegu in eastern India made by the Portuguese in the time of the viceroy Aires de Saldanha, being captain Salvador Ribeiro de Sousa, called Massinga, born in Guimarães, elected as their king by the natives in the year 1600", published by Fernão Mendes Pinto in the 18th century. The 1599 destruction of the city and the crumbling authority of Bayinnaung's successor
Nanda Bayin , image = , caption = , reign = 10 October 1581 – , coronation = 15 October 1581 , succession = , predecessor = Bayinnaung , successor = Nyaungyan , suc-type = Successor , reg-t ...
saw the Toungoo Dynasty flee their capital to Ava. The capital was looted by the viceroy of
Toungoo Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ; also spelled Toungoo) is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east and west. The main industry ...
,
Minye Thihathu II of Toungoo Minye Thihathu II of Toungoo ( my, မင်းရဲ သီဟသူ, ; c. 6 August 1550 – 11 August 1609) was king of the breakaway kingdom of Toungoo (Taungoo) from 1597 to 1609. His kingdom was one of several small states that emerged follo ...
, and then burned by the viceroy of
Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it acces ...
during the Burmese–Siamese War (1594–1605). Anaukpetlun wanted to rebuild Hongsawadi and the glories of Bago, which had been deserted since Nanda Bayin had abandoned it. He was only able to build a temporary palace, however.Rajanubhab, D., 2001, Our Wars With the Burmese, Bangkok: White Lotus Co. Ltd., The Burmese capital's return to Bago was short lived as the royal capital was once again relocated to Ava in 1634 by the next king
Thalun Thalun ( my, သာလွန်မင်း, ; 17 June 1584 – 27 August 1648) was the eighth king of Toungoo dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). During his 19-year reign, Thalun successfully rebuilt the war-torn country which had been under constant wa ...
to focus on the core of the smaller Burmese empire.


The Fall of Toungoo and Konbaung Dynasty

In 1740, the Mon revolted and founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. However, a
Bamar The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, constituting 68% of th ...
king,
Alaungpaya Alaungpaya ( my, အလောင်းဘုရား, ; also spelled Alaunghpaya or Alaung-Phra; 11 May 1760) was the founder of the Konbaung Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar). By the time of his death from illness during his campaign in Siam, this f ...
, captured the city in May 1757. Bago was rebuilt by King
Bodawpaya Bodawpaya ( my, ဘိုးတော်ဘုရား, ; th, ปดุง; 11 March 1745 – 5 June 1819) was the sixth king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. Born Maung Shwe Waing and later Badon Min, he was the fourth son of Alaungpaya, fou ...
(r. 1782-1819), but by then the river had shifted course, cutting the city off from the sea. It never regained its previous importance. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War, the
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
annexed Bago in 1852. In 1862, the province of
British Burma British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...
was formed, and the capital moved to Yangon. The substantial differences between the colloquial and literary pronunciations, as with Burmese words, was a reason of the British corruption "Pegu". In 1911, Hanthawaddy was described as a district in the
Bago Bago may refer to: Places Myanmar * Bago, Myanmar, a city and the capital of the Bago Region * Bago District, a district of the Bago Region * Bago Region an administrative region * Bago River, a river * Bago Yoma or Pegu Range, a mountain range ...
(or ''Pegu'') division of Lower Burma. It lay in the home district of Yangon, from which the town was detached to make a separate district in 1880. It had an area of , with a population of 48,411 in 1901, showing an increase of 22% in the past decade. Hanthawaddy and
Hinthada Hinthada ( my, ဟင်္သာတမြို့; formerly Henzada) is a city located on the Irrawaddy River in Ayeyarwady Region, Burma (Myanmar). In the 1983 census the city itself had a population of 82,005. By 2010 it had grown to 170,312. ...
were the two most densely populated districts in the province. Hanthawaddy, as it was constituted in 1911, consisted of a vast plain stretching up from the sea between the mouth of the
Irrawaddy River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Orig ...
and the Pegu Range. Except the tract of land lying between the Pegu Range on the east and the Yangon River, the country was intersected by numerous
tidal creek A tidal creek or tidal channel is a narrow inlet or estuary that is affected by the ebb and flow of ocean tides. Thus, it has variable salinity and electrical conductivity over the tidal cycle, and flushes salts from inland soils. Tidal cree ...
s, many of which were navigable by large boats and some by steamers. The headquarters of the district was in Rangoon, which was also the sub-divisional headquarters. The second sub-division had its headquarters at Insein, where there were large railway works. Cultivation was almost wholly confined to rice, but there were many vegetable and fruit gardens. Bago was severely damaged during earthquakes in
May May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, Ma ...
and
December December is the twelfth and final month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the last of seven months to have a length of 31 days. December got its name from the Latin word ''decem'' (meaning ten) because it was ori ...
1930. The May earthquake killed at least 500 people and triggered a tsunami.


Modern history

Today, Hanthawaddy is one of the wards of Bago city. In April 2021 during the Myanmar protests, it was reported that over 80 people had been killed by security forces during a crackdown on a protest in Bago.


Demographics


2014

The
2014 Myanmar Census Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unrele ...
reported that Bago had a population of 254,424, representing 51.8% of
Bago Township Bago Township or Pegu Township is a township in Bago District in the Bago Region of Burma.
's total population. The town of Bago is subdivided into 34 wards.


2019

As of 2019, the city has 220,387 people based on the
General Administration Department The General Administration Department ( my, အထွေထွေအုပ်ချုပ်ရေးဦးစီးဌာန, abbreviated GAD) is a civil service body that staffs all regional and state-level governments in Myanmar and provides adm ...
's estimates. 88.73% of the Township is
Bamar The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, constituting 68% of th ...
with a significant
Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic la ...
, Mon, Palaung and Burmese Indian population. Buddhists make up 94.2% of the city with Christianity being the second most populous at 4.2%. There are 749 monasteries, 92 nunneries and 134 stupas of various sizes including the tallest pagoda in Myanmar, the
Shwemawdaw Pagoda The Shwemawdaw Pagoda ( my, ရွှေမောဓော ဘုရား ; mnw, ကျာ်မုဟ်တ ) is a stupa located in Bago, Myanmar. It is often referred to as the Golden God Temple. At in height, the Shwemadaw holds the record ...
. The city also has 9 churches, 6 mosques, 16 Hindu temples and 3 Chinese Mahayana temples.


Economy and Transport

The main industries of Bago Township are agriculture and service sector employment. Bago city has an industrial zone with several factories, mostly in textiles and shoe-making. Smaller factories and workshops within the city also create food products, plastics, electric meters, motors, wood products, tea and
halwa Halva (also halvah, halwa, and other spellings, Persian : حلوا) is a type of confectionery originating from Persia and widely spread throughout the Middle East. The name is used for a broad variety of recipes, generally a thick paste made f ...
. Bago also has a small, but thriving tourism industry with many tourists from nearby Yangon. The Bago Development Committee manages 11 markets around the city. There are no airports within the township, and the city is served mostly by
Yangon International Airport Yangon International Airport ( ) is the primary and busiest international airport of Myanmar. The airport is located in Mingaladon, north of central Yangon. All ten Myanmar carriers and about 30 international airlines operate at Yangon Interna ...
but the proposed Hanthawaddy International Airport serving Yangon and Bago may be located within Bago Township. There are 2 rail lines that pass through Bago, one going to
Mandalay Mandalay ( or ; ) is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. Located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631km (392 miles) (Road Distance) north of Yangon, the city has a population of 1,225,553 (2014 census). Mandalay was fou ...
and another south to
Mawlamyine Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at t ...
. Bago also has several bus depots on its outskirts with intercity buses providing regular service. Bago is served by the Yangon–Mandalay Expressway as well as the old highways going to Taungoo and Myeik. Bago has 7 major bridges crossing the
Bago River , native_name_lang = , name_other = , name_etymology = , image = , image_size = , image_caption = , map = , map_size = , map_caption = , pushpin_m ...
in and around the city.


Climate

Bago has a tropical monsoon climate (
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Am''), similar to most of coastal Myanmar, with a hot, dry season from mid-November to mid-April and a, hot, extremely humid, and exceedingly rainy wet season from May to October.


Places of interest

* Shwethalyaung Buddha (
Reclining Buddha A reclining Buddha is an image that represents Buddha lying down and is a major iconographic theme in Buddhist art. It represents the historical Buddha during his last illness, about to enter the parinirvana. He is lying on his right side, his he ...
) *
Shwemawdaw Pagoda The Shwemawdaw Pagoda ( my, ရွှေမောဓော ဘုရား ; mnw, ကျာ်မုဟ်တ ) is a stupa located in Bago, Myanmar. It is often referred to as the Golden God Temple. At in height, the Shwemadaw holds the record ...
* Kyaikpun Buddha * Kanbawzathadi Palace site and museum * Kalyani Ordination Hall * Mahazedi Pagoda * Shwegugyi Pagoda * Shwegugale Pagoda * Bago Sittaung Canal * Butterfly lake (Lake-pyar-kan)


Sports

Bago has a 400 meter football field and 1 public fitness center. * Grand Royal Stadium


Health care

The most common illness within the Township is diarrhea. Between 2017 and 2018, Bago Township saw 617 cases of
HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
leading to 16 deaths. * Bago General Hospital (500-bedded Public Hospital) * Bago Traditional Medicine Hospital


Education

Bago also has 9 high schools and a university. Bago's larger high schools have branches within the city. There are 28 monastic schools within the Township. Bago has a school attendance rate of 99.82% and 33% attendance rate for university. Overall, the literacy rate is 99.55%. * Bago University * Basic Education High School No. 1 Bago * Basic Education High School No. 3 Bago


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * * *


Further reading


International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania
{{Coord, 17, 20, N, 96, 29, E, type:city, display=title Township capitals of Myanmar Populated places in Bago Region Old Cities of Mon people