Ethnic Groups In Myanmar
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Ethnic Groups In Myanmar
Myanmar (Burma) is an ethnically diverse nation with 135 distinct ethnic groups officially recognised by the Burmese government, which are grouped into eight "major national ethnic races" — the Bamar, Kayin, Arakanese, Shan, Mon, Chin, Kachin, and Karenni. The Bamar (Burman) comprise about 68% of the population, and the rest belonging to numerous major and minor ethnic and language groups. The "major national ethnic races" are grouped primarily according to geographic region rather than ethnolinguistic affiliation. For example, the Shan national race includes 33 ethnic groups that live in Shan State and speak languages in at least four language families. Myanmar's contemporary politics around ethnicity surround treating ethnicity as a minoritising discourse, pitting a "pan-ethnic" national identity against minority groups. Often ethnicity identities in practice are flexible — sometimes as flexible as simply changing clothes — in part due to a lack of religious or et ...
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Mon–Khmer Languages
The Austroasiatic languages ( ) are a large language family spoken throughout Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia and East Asia. These languages are natively spoken by the majority of the population in Vietnam and Cambodia, and by minority populations scattered throughout parts of Thailand, Laos, India, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and southern China. Approximately 117 million people speak an Austroasiatic language, of which more than two-thirds are Vietnamese speakers. Of the Austroasiatic languages, only Vietnamese, Khmer, and Mon have lengthy, established presences in the historical record. Only two are presently considered to be the national languages of sovereign states: Vietnamese in Vietnam, and Khmer in Cambodia. The Mon language is a recognized indigenous language in Myanmar and Thailand, while the Wa language is a "recognized national language" in the de facto autonomous Wa State within Myanmar. Santali is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. ...
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Konbaung Dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty (), also known as the Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်), was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. It created the second-largest empire in history of Myanmar, Burmese history and continued the administrative reforms begun by the Toungoo dynasty, laying the foundations of the modern state of Burma. The reforms, however, proved insufficient to stem the advance of the British Empire, who defeated the Burmese in all three Anglo-Burmese Wars over a six-decade span (1824–1885) and ended the millennium-old Burmese monarchy in 1885. Pretenders to the dynasty claim descent from Myat Phaya Lat, one of Thibaw's daughters. An expansionist dynasty, the Konbaung kings waged campaigns against the Mizo Chieftainship, Lushai Hills, Möng Mao, Manipur, Assam, Kingdom of Mrauk U, Arakan, the Mon people, Mon kingdom of Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom, Pegu, Siam, and the Qing dynasty of China—thus establis ...
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Kingdom Of Ava
The Ava Kingdom (, ; INN-wa pyi) also known as Inwa Kingdom or Kingdom of Ava was the dominant kingdom that ruled upper Burma (Myanmar) from 1365 to 1555. Founded in 1365, the kingdom was the successor state to the petty kingdoms of Myinsaing, Pinya and Sagaing that had ruled central Burma since the collapse of the Pagan Kingdom in the late 13th century. Like the small kingdoms that preceded it, Ava may have been led by Bamarised Shan kings who claimed descent from the kings of Pagan.Htin Aung 1967: 84–103Phayre 1883: 63–75 Scholars debate that the Shan ethnicity of Avan kings comes from mistranslation, particularly from a record of the Avan kings' ancestors ruling a Shan village in central Burma prior to their rise or prominence. Names The Burmese name for the Kingdom is (Inwa Naypyidaw) which is equivalent to Ava Kingdom in English language. History The kingdom was founded by Thado Minbya in 1364Coedès 1968: 227 following the collapse of the Sagaing and ...
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Burmese Gurkha
Burmese Gurkhas (; ) are a group of Nepali language speaking Burmese people of Khas/ Gurkha ethnic group living in Myanmar (formerly Burma). While the Gurkhas have lived in Burma for many centuries, it was during the British rule in Burma, that the majority of the Gurkha migrated from Nepal. The estimated population of Gurkha is nearly 1 million. The majority of Gurkha now reside in Yangon (Rangoon), Mandalay, Pyin U Lwin, Mogok, Tamu, Kalaymyo, Taunggyi, Myitkyina and other parts of the country. History and demography Like many other people who reside in Myanmar and who have their origin in Nepal, the majority of Gurkha came along with the British administration. Many Gurkhas served during the Second World War in the Burma Campaign, especially as rear guard units for the British retreat from Burma. After Burma's independence in 1948, the Gurkhas joined the new Burma Army. Many Gurkhas have served in the new republic's various campaigns against ethnic insurgents a ...
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Anglo-Burmese People
The Anglo-Burmese people, also known as the Anglo-Burmans, are a community of Eurasians of Burmese and European descent; they emerged as a distinct community through mixed relationships (sometimes permanent, sometimes temporary) between the British and other Europeans with Burmese people from 1826 until 1948 when Myanmar gained its independence from the British Empire. Those who could not adjust to the new way of life after independence and the ushering in of military dictatorship are dispersed throughout the world. The term "Anglo-Burmese" is also used to refer to Eurasians of European and other Burmese ethnic minority groups (e.g. Karen, Mon, Shan, and Sino-Burmese etc.) descent. It also, after 1937, included Anglo-Indian residents in Myanmar. Collectively, in the Burmese language, Eurasians are specifically known as ''bo kabya''; the term ''kabya'' refers to persons of mixed ancestry or dual ethnicity. History Earliest settlement The first "Euro-Burmese" community eme ...
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Burmese Indians
Burmese Indians are a group of people of Indian origin who live in Myanmar (Burma). The term 'Burmese Indian' refers to a broad range of people from South Asia, most notably from present-day countries such as India and Bangladesh. While Indians have lived in Burma for many centuries, most of the ancestors of the current Burmese Indian community emigrated to Burma from the start of British rule in the mid-19th century to the separation of British Burma from British India in 1937. During colonial times, ethnic Indians formed the backbone of the government and economy serving as soldiers, civil servants, merchants, moneylenders, mobile laborers and dock workers. A series of anti-Indian riots in the 1930s and mass emigration at the onset of the Japanese invasion of Burma in 1942 were followed in the 1960s by the forced migration of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Indians, exacerbated by internal conflict in Myanmar. Burmese Indians today are estimated to account for approximately 5% ...
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Panthay
Panthays ''Pāntàirén''; are a Chinese Muslim ethnic group in Myanmar. They are one of the oldest groups of Muslims in Burma. The exact proportion of the Chinese Muslim group in the local Chinese population remains unknown due to a lack of data. However, they are concentrated particularly in the northern part of Myanmar, closer to Yunnan, China, from where the Panthays historically originated. They particularly reside in the towns of Tangyan, Maymyo, Mogok, and Taunggyi in Mandalay and Shan State. Etymology The name ''Panthay'' is a Burmese word, which is said to be identical with the Shan word ''Pang hse''. It was the name by which the Burmese refer to Chinese Muslims who came with caravans to Burma from the Chinese province of Yunnan. The name was not used or known in Yunnan itself. The predominant Muslim ethnic group living in Yunnan are the Hui ( zh, c=回族) and identify as Hui or Huihui ( zh, 回回), but never as Panthay. Notably, the Panthay Rebellion in Yunna ...
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Burmese Chinese
Chinese Burmese, also Sino-Burmese or Tayoke (), are Burmese citizens of Han Chinese ethnicity. They are a group of overseas Chinese born or raised in Myanmar (Burma). Burmese Chinese are a well established ethnic group and are well represented in all upper levels of Burmese society. They play a leading role in Burma's business sector and dominate the Burmese economy. They also have a strong presence in Burma's political scene with several having been major political figures, including San Yu, Khin Nyunt, and Ne Win. Etymology In the Burmese language, the Chinese are called ''Tayoke'' (, ''tarut'', ) and formerly spelt (''tarup''). The earliest evidence of this term dates to the Bagan Era, in the 13th century, during which it referred to the territory and a variety of peoples to the north and northeast of Myanmar. Various scholars have proposed that it comes from the Chinese term for "Turk" (突厥, ''Tūjué'' / ''tú jué''); from the name of Dali City, Yunnan, Dali (大� ...
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Burmese People
Burmese people or the Myanmar people () are citizens from Myanmar (Burma), irrespective of their ethnic or religious background. Myanmar is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country. The Burmese government officially recognises 135 ethnic groups, who are grouped into eight 'national races,' namely the Bamar (Burmans), Shan, Karen, Rakhine (Arakanese), Mon, Kachin, Chin, and Kayah (Karenni). Many ethnic and ethnoreligious communities exist outside these defined groupings, such as the Burmese Chinese and Panthay, Burmese Indians, Anglo-Burmese, and Gurkhas. The 2014 Myanmar Census enumerated 51,486,253 persons. There is also a substantial Burmese diaspora, the majority of whom have settled in neighbouring Asian countries. Refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar make up one of the world's five largest refugee populations. Terminology The term "Burmese people" is often used to refer to all citizens of Myanmar, regardless of their ethnic background ...
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Ethnicity
An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they Collective consciousness, collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history or social treatment. Ethnicities may also have a narrow or broad spectrum of genetic ancestry, with some groups having mixed genetic ancestry. ''Ethnicity'' is sometimes used interchangeably with nation, ''nation'', particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism. It is also used interchangeably with ''Race (human categorization), race'' although not all ethnicities identify as racial groups. By way of cultural assimilation, assimilation, acculturation, Cultural amalgamation, amalgamation, language shift, Heterogamy#Social science, intermarriage, adoption and religious conversion, individuals or groups may over time shift from one ethnic group to another. Ethnic groups may be divided into subgroups or tr ...
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Burmese Language
Burmese (; ) is a Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman language spoken in Myanmar, where it is the official language, lingua franca, and the native language of the Bamar people, Bamar, the country's largest ethnic group. Burmese dialects are also spoken by the indigenous tribes in Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts, India's Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura states and the Burmese diaspora. The Constitution of Myanmar officially refers to it as the Myanmar language in English, though most English speakers continue to refer to the language as ''Burmese'', after ''Burma''—a name with co-official status until 1989 (see Names of Myanmar). Burmese is the most widely-spoken language in the country, where it serves as the lingua franca. In 2019, Burmese was spoken by 42.9 million people globally, including by 32.9 million speakers as a first language, and an additional 10 million speakers as a second language. A 2023 World Bank survey found that 80% of the country's population speaks Burmese ...
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