Irrawaddy delta
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The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the
Irrawaddy Division Ayeyarwady Region ( my, ဧရာဝတီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division), is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bor ...
, the lowest expanse of land in
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the
Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...
and
Andaman Sea The Andaman Sea (historically also known as the Burma Sea) is a marginal sea of the northeastern Indian Ocean bounded by the coastlines of Myanmar and Thailand along the Gulf of Martaban and west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated from ...
, to the south at the mouth of the
Ayeyarwady 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. Origi ...
. The
delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...
region is densely populated, and plays a dominant role in the cultivation of rice in rich
alluvial soil Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...
as low as just above sea level, although it also includes fishing communities in a vast area full of rivers and streams. On 2 May 2008, the delta suffered a major disaster, devastated by
Cyclone Nargis Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis ( my, နာဂစ်, ur, نرگس ) was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone m ...
, which reportedly killed at least 77,000 people with over 55,900 missing, and left about 2.5 million homeless.


Geography


Arms and terrain

The Irrawaddy Delta comprises the main arms of Pathein River, Pyapon River, Bogale River, and Toe River. Mawtin Point, formerly
Cape Negrais Cape Negrais (, also known as Pagoda Point (ဆံတော်ရှင်မြတ်ငူ) or Mawtin Point (မော်တင်စွန်း, Mawtin Soon), is a cape in Burma (Myanmar), west of the Irrawaddy Delta. It is located 133 km ...
, is a famous landmark in the Irrawaddy Division, and it also marks the south west end of Myanmar. The highest point of the delta, Waphu Mount () lies between Pathein and Mawtin Zun (point), on the western strip of the delta. A major portion of the area is covered with low-lying lands just above sea level. This alluvial plain is bounded to the west by the Rakhine
Yoma Yoma (Aramaic: יומא, lit. "The Day") is the fifth tractate of ''Seder Moed'' ("Order of Festivals") of the ''Mishnah'' and of the ''Talmud''. It is concerned mainly with the laws of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, on which Jews atone for their ...
and to the east by 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 rang ...
Yoma Yoma (Aramaic: יומא, lit. "The Day") is the fifth tractate of ''Seder Moed'' ("Order of Festivals") of the ''Mishnah'' and of the ''Talmud''. It is concerned mainly with the laws of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, on which Jews atone for their ...
. It is dissected into peninsulas and islands by the large southward flowing rivers which are subject to tidal intrusion. The lower seaward third of the delta is completely flat with no local relief and stretches for from east to west. The waters of these rivers are very
turbid Turbidity is the cloudiness or haziness of a fluid caused by large numbers of individual particles that are generally invisible to the naked eye, similar to smoke in air. The measurement of turbidity is a key test of water quality. Fluids can ...
due to a heavy silt load they carry and the sea is very shallow with depths less than across the coastline and in the east for a distance of up to offshore. As a result of constant accretion into the sea, the delta is advancing at a rate of per 100 years, equivalent to about 1,000 hectares per year.


Climate

Annual rainfall in the delta region is approximately , with a mean temperatures of . Most of the rain falls during the
monsoons A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
between mid-May and mid-November. It is cool and dry from mid-October to mid-February when temperatures begin to rise with premonsoon squalls in April and early May.


Ecosystems

Water purity lies within the pH range of
alkaline In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a base (chemistry), basic, ionic compound, ionic salt (chemistry), salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as ...
condition due to early natural resources and weak environmental control.
Mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...
or ''lamu'' and
nipa palm ''Nypa fruticans'', commonly known as the nipa palm (or simply nipa, from ms, nipah) or mangrove palm, is a species of palm native to the coastlines and estuarine habitats of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the only palm considered adapte ...
or ''dani'' are the major vegetation of the delta. Moreover, control of weeds is less active as local farmers make mats during the summer. Destruction of mangroves and
deforestation Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
in the coastal region due to the Cyclone Nargis put it more at risk in future."Mangrove loss 'put Burma at risk'"
''
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...
'', 6 May 2008


River banks


Islands

The principal islands include Haingyi Kyun, Leit Kyun (Turtle Island), Pyin Salu Kyun, and Meinmahla Kyun (Pretty Women Island).


Major cities

Major cities include
Bogale Bogale ( my, ဘိုကလေးမြို့ ; also spelled Bogalay) is a small city located in the Bogale Township, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar (Burma). It is located on the south-western part of Myanmar/Burma on the mainland section of ...
,
Maubin Maubin ( my, မအူပင် ) is a town in the Ayeyarwady Division of south-west Myanmar. It is the seat of the Maubin Township in the Maubin District. The population as of 2021 was 51,542. The inhabitants of the town, as well as the district a ...
,
Myaungmya Myaungmya ( my, မြောင်းမြမြို့ ) is a town in Myaungmya Township, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar. The town is home to the Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary, a Seventh-day Adventist seminary and Myaungmya Education College. ...
,
Moulmeingyun Mawlamyinegyun ( my, မော်လမြိုင်ကျွန်း; also spelt Moulmeingyun and known as Mawgyun), is a town in the Ayeyarwady Region of south-west Burma. It is the seat of the Mawlamyinegyun Township in the Labutta Distri ...
,
Pantanaw Pantanaw ( my, ပန်းတနော်မြို့ ) is a town in the Ayeyarwady Region of south-west Myanmar. It is the seat of the Pantanaw Township in the Maubin District. It is the hometown of former United Nations Secretary-General U T ...
,
Pathein Pathein (, ; mnw, ဖာသီ, ), formerly called Bassein, is the largest city and the capital of the Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar (Burma). It is located 190 km (120 mi) west of Yangon within Pathein Township on the bank of the Pathei ...
,
Pyapon Pyapon ( my, ဖျာပုံမြို့; Mon: , ) is a town and seat of Pyapon District in the Ayeyarwady Division of Myanmar, along the Pyapon River, a tributary of the Ayeyarwady River. It is located about inland from the Andaman Sea ...
, Dedaye up to
Twante Twante Township also Twantay Township ( my, တွံတေး မြို့နယ်, ) is a township in the Yangon Region of Burma (Myanmar). It is located west across the Hlaing River from the city of Yangon. The principal town and administra ...
, and Kyauktan.


Canals

There is no extensive system of irrigation or water transport canals except Twante Canal, constructed during the colonial period. It is much beneficial to the delta region for communication and commerce through water transportation with Yangon. Delta culture hence shifted to Yangon, its influence evident in places and products such as Bogale Market, Mortin Quarter, Yay Kyaw Quarter, Danubyu Restaurants, Pathein Halawa (
halva 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 ...
dessert), Tinphyu mats from
Pantanaw Pantanaw ( my, ပန်းတနော်မြို့ ) is a town in the Ayeyarwady Region of south-west Myanmar. It is the seat of the Pantanaw Township in the Maubin District. It is the hometown of former United Nations Secretary-General U T ...
, and Pathein umbrella.


History

The delta was historically populated by the Mon. Politically, the
Burman Burman is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anneli Burman (born 1963), Swedish curler *Barney Burman, American make-up artist * Barry Burman (1943–2001), English figurative artist * Ben Lucien Burman (1896–1984), American ...
kingdoms in farther north 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. Origi ...
had controlled the delta area since the mid-11th century with few exceptions. The control of the fertile area reverted to
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 rang ...
-based
Mon kingdoms Mon kingdoms were polities established by the Mon-speaking people in parts of present-day Myanmar and Thailand. The polities ranged from Dvaravati and Haripuñjaya in present-day northern Thailand to Thaton, Hanthawaddy (1287–1539), and the ...
in the 13th to 15th centuries (1287–1539) and briefly in the 18th century (1747–1757). The delta was also where 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, ...
first got a toe-hold in Burma. The British seized Haingyi Kyun or Negrais Island in 1753, after the Mon resisted their request to establish a trading post. The Burmese 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 ...
ceded the island to the British in 1757, but retook the island in 1759 by force when the king felt he had been betrayed by the British in his war against the Mon. The battle of Danubyu in 1825 in the delta was the last major stand by the Burmese against the advancing British forces in the
First Anglo-Burmese War The First Anglo-Burmese War ( my, ပထမ အင်္ဂလိပ်-မြန်မာ စစ်; ; 5 March 1824 – 24 February 1826), also known as the First Burma War, was the first of three wars fought between the British and Burmese ...
(1824–1826). The delta was seized by the British in the
Second Anglo-Burmese War The Second Anglo-Burmese War or the Second Burma War ( my, ဒုတိယ အင်္ဂလိပ် မြန်မာ စစ် ; 5 April 185220 January 1853) was the second of the Anglo-Burmese Wars, three wars fought between the Konbaung dy ...
of 1852 and became part of British Burma. The British colonial administration drained the marshes and swamps that dominated the area, and built dykes and embankments starting from 1861 for rice cultivation as the Burmans began to migrate south into British Burma in search of greener pastures. Now, of major embankments in the delta protect 600,000
hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ab ...
of paddyland.


Inhabitants

It is mainly populated by farming and fishing communities in several villages besides market towns, mostly located along the main rivers. At 100 per km2, it is one of the most densely populated regions in the country with a total population of 3.5 million. Current inhabitants include, apart from the Mon and
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 ...
, a majority Pwo Kayin.


Economy and development

The region is Myanmar's largest rice producer, so its infrastructure of road transportation has been greatly developed during the 1990s and 2000s. Two-thirds of the total arable land is under rice cultivation with a yield of about per hectare. Fishing is carried out from fixed fishing frames as well as from small boats. Prawn fishery and harvesting sea turtle eggs are also major commercial activities both of which are now threatened by the loss of mangrove forests as clearing of land proceeds for agriculture. Since communication throughout the delta is easiest by water, almost every household possesses a boat and major towns such as
Bogale Bogale ( my, ဘိုကလေးမြို့ ; also spelled Bogalay) is a small city located in the Bogale Township, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar (Burma). It is located on the south-western part of Myanmar/Burma on the mainland section of ...
, Mawlamyinegyun and
Myaungmya Myaungmya ( my, မြောင်းမြမြို့ ) is a town in Myaungmya Township, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar. The town is home to the Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary, a Seventh-day Adventist seminary and Myaungmya Education College. ...
are served by steamer.


National heritage sites and nature reserves

Meinmahla Kyun Reservation is a national heritage site as well as a
natural habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...
to many mangrove forests and diverse sea life. The
Irrawaddy dolphin The Irrawaddy dolphin (''Orcaella brevirostris'') is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. It closely resembles the ...
(Orcaella brevirostris) is not a true river dolphin native to the Delta region, but it was named after the river, and these sea dolphins are known to enter the rivers of
South East Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...
.


See also

*
Ayeyarwady Division Ayeyarwady Region ( my, ဧရာဝတီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division), is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bor ...
*
Irrawaddy dolphin The Irrawaddy dolphin (''Orcaella brevirostris'') is a euryhaline species of oceanic dolphin found in scattered subpopulations near sea coasts and in estuaries and rivers in parts of the Bay of Bengal and Southeast Asia. It closely resembles the ...
*
Cyclone Nargis Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis ( my, နာဂစ်, ur, نرگس ) was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone m ...


Notes


References


National Geographic Magazine

National Geographic Magazine1

UNOSAT Myanmar map


External links


UN:Myanmar's Food Bowl Devastated, May 9 2008
{{coord missing, Myanmar Ayeyarwady Region River deltas of Asia Landforms of Myanmar