, conventional_long_name = Toungoo dynasty , common_name = Taungoo dynasty , era = , status = Empire , event_start = Independence from Ava , year_start = 1510 , date_start = 16 October , event_end = End of dynasty , year_end = 1752 , date_end = 23 March , event_pre = , date_pre = 1485 , event1 = , date_event1 = 1510–99 , event2 = , date_event2 = 1599–1752 , event3 = , date_event3 = , event4 = , date_event4 = , p1 = Ava Kingdom , p2 = Hanthawaddy Kingdom , p3 = Shan states , p4 = Lan Na Kingdom , p5 = Ayutthaya Kingdom , p6 = Lan Xang Kingdom , p7 = Manipur (princely state)Manipur Kingdom , s1 = Konbaung dynasty , s2 = Ayutthaya Kingdom , s3 = Lan Xang Kingdom , s4 = Manipur (princely state)Manipur Kingdom , s5 = Lan Na Kingdom , image_flag = , flag = , flag_type = , image_coat = , image_map = Map of Taungoo Empire (1580).png , symbol = , symbol_type = Flag , image_map_caption = Toungoo Empire at its greatest extent (1580) , image_map2 = Restored Taungoo Dynasty.png , image_map2_caption = The restored Taungoo or Nyaungyan Dynasty c. 1650 , capital = Toungoo (Taungoo) (1510–39)
Pegu (Bago) (1539–99)
Ava (Inwa) (1599–1613)
Pegu (Bago) (1613–35)
Ava (Inwa) (1635–1752) , common_languages = Official
Burmese , religion = Official
Theravada Buddhism , government_type = Monarchy , leader1 =

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 ...

, year_leader1 = 1530–50 , leader2 =

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 Tou ...

, year_leader2 = 1550–81 , leader3 =

Anaukpetlun Anaukbaklun ( my, အနောက်ဘက်လွန် ; 21 January 1578 – 9 July 1628) was the sixth king of Taungoo Burma and was largely responsible for restoring the kingdom after it collapsed at the end of 16th century. In his 22–yea ...

, year_leader3 = 1605–28 , leader4 =

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 ...

, year_leader4 = 1629–48 , leader5 =

Mahadhammaraza Dipadi Maha Dhammaraza Dipati ( my, မဟာ ဓမ္မရာဇာ ဓိပတိ, ; pi, Mahādhammarājadhipati; 1714–1754), was the last king of Toungoo dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1733 to 1752. The young king inherited a kingdom already i ...

, year_leader5 = 1733–52 , currency = Ganza kyat and silver kyat , legislature =

Hluttaw The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စု လွှတ်တော် lit. Assembly of the Union) is the ''de jure'' national-level bicameral legislature of Myanmar (officially known as the ''Republic of the Union of M ...

, demonym = , area_rank = , GDP_PPP = , GDP_PPP_year = , HDI = , HDI_year = , today = , population_census=1,982,000 - 2,313,000 The Toungoo dynasty ( my, တောင်ငူမင်းဆက်, ; also spelt Taungoo dynasty), and also known as the Restored Toungoo dynasty, was the ruling dynasty of

Burma 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 ...

(Myanmar) from the mid-16th century to 1752. Its early kings

and

succeeded in reunifying the territories of the Pagan Kingdom for the first time since 1287 and in incorporating the

Shan States The Shan States (1885–1948) were a collection of minor Shan kingdoms called '' muang'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' in British Burma. They were analogous to the princely states of British India. The term "Shan States" was fi ...

for the first time. , in addition to including

Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...

, Chinese Shan States,

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

and Lan Xang. But the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia collapsed in the 18 years following Bayinnaung's death in 1581. The dynasty quickly regrouped under the leadership of

Nyaungyan Min Nyaungyan Min ( my, ညောင်ရမ်းမင်း ; 8 November 1555 – ) was king of the Toungoo Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1599 to 1605. He is also referred to as the founder of the Restored Toungoo Dynasty or Nyaungyan Dynast ...

and his son,

, who succeeded in restoring a smaller, more manageable kingdom, encompassing Lower Burma, Upper Burma, Shan States and

Lan Na The Lan Na Kingdom ( nod, , , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; th, อาณาจักรล้านนา, , ), also known as Lannathai, and most commonly called Lanna or Lanna Kingdom, was an Indianized state centered in present-day ...

by 1622. The Restored Toungoo kings, now based in Ava (Inwa), created a legal and political system whose basic features would continue under the

Konbaung dynasty The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...

well into the 19th century. The crown completely replaced the hereditary chieftainships with appointed governorships in the entire Irrawaddy valley and greatly reduced the hereditary rights of Shan chiefs. Its trade and secular administrative reforms built a prosperous economy for more than 80 years. The kingdom entered a gradual decline due to the "palace rule" of its kings. Starting from the 1720s, the kingdom was beset with raids by the Meitei people of the

Chindwin River , , image = Homalin aerial.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = The Chindwin at Homalin. The smaller, meandering Uyu River can be seen joining the Chindwin. , map = Irrawaddyrivermap.jpg , map_size = , map_alt = , map_caption ...

, and a rebellion in Chiang Mai. Raids by the Meitei intensified in the 1730s, reaching increasingly deeper parts of central Burma. In 1740, the

Mon people The Mon ( mnw, ဂကူမည်; my, မွန်လူမျိုး‌, ; th, wikt:มอญ, มอญ, ) are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy ...

Lower Burma Lower Myanmar ( my, အောက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Lower Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar and includes the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta ( Ayeyarwady, Bago and Yangon Regions), as well as coastal regions of the c ...

began a rebellion, founding the

Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom The Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom ( my, ဟံသာဝတီ နေပြည်တော်သစ်), also known as the Neo-Ramanic State () was the kingdom that ruled Lower Burma and parts of Upper Burma from 1740 to 1757. The kingdom grew o ...

. The Hanthawaddy armies captured Inwa in 1752 and ended the 266-year-old Toungoo dynasty.

History

King Mingyi Nyo founded the First Taungoo Dynasty (1485–1569) at Taungoo far up the Sittaung River south of Inwa towards the end of the

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 Sagai ...

in 1510. After the conquest of Inwa by the Mohnyin-led Shan '' sawbwas'' in 1527, many Burmese-speakers migrated to Taungoo, which became a new centre. Mingyi Nyo's son, King

, unified most of Burma, consolidating his power and pushing southward, over-running the

Irrawaddy Delta The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Irrawaddy Division, the lowest expanse of land in Myanmar that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, to the south at the mouth of the ...

and crushing the Hanthawaddy capital of Bago. In 1544, Tabinshwehti was crowned as king of all Burma at the ancient capital of Bagan. By this time, the geopolitical situation in Southeast Asia had changed dramatically. The Shan gained power in a new kingdom in the north, the

Ayutthaya Kingdom The Ayutthaya Kingdom (; th, อยุธยา, , IAST: or , ) was a Siamese kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is consi ...

had established itself as a suzerain power around the Chao Phraya river basin, while the

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the ...

had arrived in the south and conquered Malacca. With the coming of European traders, Burma was once again an important trading centre, and Tabinshwehti moved his capital to Bago due to its strategic position for commerce. He then began assembling an army for an attack on coastal

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

to the west. Tabinshwehti's forces were defeated at Arakan but he was able to gain control of

up to Pyay. He led his retreating army eastward to the

, where he was again defeated in the Burmese–Siamese War (1547–49). A period of unrest and rebellions among other conquered peoples followed and Tabinshwehti was assassinated in 1550.

Bayinnaung's Empire

Tabinshwehti's brother-in-law,

, succeeded to the throne in 1550 and reigned 30 years, launching a campaign of conquest invading several states, including

(1560) and Ayutthaya (1564). An energetic leader and effective military commander, he made Toungoo the most powerful state in Southeast Asia and extended his borders from

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist s ...

to Ayutthaya. Bayinnaung was poised to deliver a final, decisive assault on the kingdom of Arakan when he died in 1581. His son Nanda Bayin and his successors were forced to quell rebellions in other parts of the kingdom, and the victory over Arakan was never achieved.

Restored Taungoo

Faced with rebellion by several cities and renewed Portuguese incursions, the Toungoo rulers withdrew from southern Burma and founded a second dynasty at Ava, the Nyaungyan or Restored Taungoo Dynasty (1597–1752). Bayinnaung's grandson,

(1605–1628), once again reunited Burma in 1613 and decisively defeated Portuguese attempts to take over Burma. Anaukpetlun's successor

(1629–1648) rebuilt the war torn country. Based on Thalun's revenue inquest in 1635, the Irrawaddy valley's population was estimated to be around 2 million. The dynasty survived for another century and a half until the death of Mahadhammayaza in 1752. Encouraged by the French in India, Bago finally rebelled against Inwa, further weakening the state, which fell in 1752. The downfall of the Toungoo dynasty has been more broadly ascribed to institutional weaknesses in the capital, which intensified factionalism and succession disputes, and the uneven impact of growing trade and potential price inflation, on the elite's income streams.

Family tree

Governance

During the Toungoo dynasty, the Burmese crown undertook a series of reforms that strengthened the stability and relative longevity of the dynasty. While the First Toungoo empire had established the precedent of stitching together independent kingdoms under a single monarch, Restored Toungoo monarchs more successfully subordinated lowland principalities under the Burmese throne's direct control. Senior princes of these principalities were required to live at the Burmese capital under close supervision, and the ceremonial insignia of these provincial rulers was downgraded. Other reforms included direct central control of provincial deputies, more effective links with provincial village chiefs, and expansion of the ''ahmudan'' system around the capital. Beginning in 1635, the Burmese crown began to conduct comprehensive censuses, and consolidated access to provincial manpower and tax collections. The Burmese monkhood in Upper Burma was also subject to more effective personnel and financial regulations.

References

* Victor B. Lieberman, "Burmese Administrative Cycles: Anarchy and Conquest, c. 1580–1760", Princeton University Press, 1984. {{authority control Former countries in Burmese history Former kingdoms Burmese monarchy 15th century in Burma First Toungoo Empire 17th century in Burma 18th century in Burma States and territories established in 1486 States and territories disestablished in 1752 1480s establishments in Asia 1750s disestablishments in Asia History of Chittagong Division Former monarchies of Southeast Asia