Pyapon (; , ) is a town and seat of Pyapon District as well as Pyapon Township in the

Ayeyarwady Region Ayeyarwady Region ( , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division) is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bordered by the Rakhine State to the northwest, the Bago Region to ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

, along the

Pyapon River Pyapon (; , ) is a town and seat of Pyapon District as well as Pyapon Township in the Ayeyarwady Region of Myanmar, along the Pyapon River, a distributary of the Ayeyarwady River. It is located about inland from the Andaman Sea, about south of t ...

, a distributary of the

Ayeyarwady River The Irrawaddy River (, , Ayeyarwady) is the principal river of Myanmar, running through the centre of the country. Myanmar’s most important commercial waterway, it is about 1,350 miles (2,170 km) long. Originating from the confluence of the ...

. It is located about inland from the

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 the west side of the Malay Peninsula, and separated f ...

, about south of the previous

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

. In 2023, it had a population of 47,082. It serves as a center for collecting

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

from the surrounding agricultural areas, and is home to a diesel-run power plant, using equipment by the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

firm

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

. The natural beauty of Pyapon attracts tourists to cruise nearby backwaters where nearby mangroves are home to birds, crocodiles and, occasionally, dolphins.

History

The city's name is believed to derive from the Mon name, , which literally translates to "rice market." The Mon were the first to settle the city on the Pyapon River, choosing the furthest inland a ship could travel on low tide. In 1782, Badon Min declared Pyapon as a town. The modern city of Pyapon was formally elevated to city status in 1972. In the early 20th century, Pyapon reclaimed

alluvial Alluvium (, ) 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. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

marshlands In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in general ...

for rice cultivation, attracting a large number of settlers.

Climate

Culture

Since 1878, Pyapon's theatrical troupe has hosted annual performances of the

Yama Zatdaw Yama Zatdaw (, ), unofficially Myanmar's national epic, is the Burmese version of the Ramayana and Dasaratha Jataka. There are nine known pieces of the Yama Zatdaw in Myanmar. The Burmese name for the story itself is ''Yamayana'', while ''zatdaw ...

, Myanmar's adaptation of the

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

, a Sanskrit epic.

Notable people

* San Hlaing, artist

References

Populated places in Ayeyarwady Region Township capitals of Myanmar {{Ayeyarwady-geo-stub