Thandwe ("Thandway" in Arakanese; ; formerly Sandoway), historically called Dwaraddy, is a town and major

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

Rakhine State Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...

, the westernmost part of

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 ...

Recent history

During the

Myanmar civil war Myanmar has been embroiled in armed conflict since 1948, when the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with ethnic armed organisations fighting Myanmar's arm ...

, the town was the site of clashes between the

Arakan Army The Arakan Army (; Abbreviation, abbreviated AA), sometimes referred to as the Arakha Army is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnic-List of insurgent groups in Myanmar, armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded in April 2009, the Ara ...

and Myanmar's military, with the Arakan Army taking control of

Ngapali Beach Ngapali Beach (Burmese language, Burmese: ငပလီကမ်းခြေ) is a coastal beach located in Rakhine State, western Myanmar, approximately 7 kilometers (4 miles) from the town of Thandwe. It is considered Myanmar’s premier beach d ...

and several military outposts surrounding the town. According to reports, the Arakan Army seized the town's prison on 15 July 2024, with the town's remaining military battalions falling the next day and giving the Arakan Army full control of the town.

Geography

Thandwe is very ancient, and is said to have been at one time the

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 ...

of Rakhine State, then called Arakan. The district has an area of . The area is mountainous, and spurs of the Arakan Mountains reach the coast. Some of the peaks in the north are over high. The streams are only mountain torrents to within a few miles of the coast; the mouth of the Khwa forms a good anchorage for small boats. The rocks in the Arakan Range and its spurs are

metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...

, and include

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be c ...

and indurated

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

; towards the south, ironstone, trap and rocks of

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

ic character are common; veins of

steatite Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium-rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in subdu ...

and white fibrous

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

are also found. Nearby Ngapali Beach is popular among tourists.

Climate

Thandwe has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Am''). Temperatures are very warm throughout the year. There is a winter dry season (November–April) and a summer wet season (May–October). Torrential rain falls from June to September, with over falling in each of the months of June, July and August. Between 1991 and 2020, the mean annual rainfall was . The

rainfall Rain is a form of precipitation where water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. ...

in 1905 was .

References

External links

18° 28' 0" North, 94° 22' 0" East Satellite map at Maplandia.com
{{Coord, 18, 28, N, 94, 22, E, display=title, region:MM_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Populated places in Rakhine State Tourist attractions in Myanmar Township capitals of Myanmar