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Bago River (; Pegu River) is a river of southern
page 60
The source of the Bago river comes from many streams in the hills of the Pegu RangeSeekins, Donald M. (2006) ''Historical dictionary of Burma (Myanmar)'' Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland
page 357
with the traditional choice for the source being Sinhnamaung Mountain in Letpadan Township. Modern hydrological surveys find streams further north in Phyu Township that feed into the Bago River Basin. The Bago River flows into Yangon Region meeting the Yangon River at Monkey Point, Botahtaung Township, below which the river is called the Yangon River.
In 1608, the Portuguese mercenary 
Many people have tried to find the bell in the murky waters of the river, so far without success. Professional deep sea diver James Blunt has made 115 exploratory dives, using
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 ...
. It flows through Bago and 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 ...
, joining the Yangon River south of downtown Yangon.Schellinger, Paul E. and Salkin, Robert M. (editors) (1996) "Bago (Myanmar)" ''International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania'' (volume 5) Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago, pp. 60-65page 60
The source of the Bago river comes from many streams in the hills of the Pegu RangeSeekins, Donald M. (2006) ''Historical dictionary of Burma (Myanmar)'' Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland
page 357
with the traditional choice for the source being Sinhnamaung Mountain in Letpadan Township. Modern hydrological surveys find streams further north in Phyu Township that feed into the Bago River Basin. The Bago River flows into Yangon Region meeting the Yangon River at Monkey Point, Botahtaung Township, below which the river is called the Yangon River.
In 1608, the Portuguese mercenary Filipe de Brito e Nicote
Filipe de Brito e Nicote or Burmese honorifics, Nga Zinga (, ; c. 1566 – April 1613) was a Portuguese people, Portuguese adventurer and mercenary in the service of the Rakhine people, Arakanese kingdom of Mrauk U, and later of the Thai people, ...
, known as Nga Zinka to the Burmese, plundered the Shwedagon Pagoda
The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ; ), officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' (, , ), and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda, is a gilded stupa located in Yangon, Myanmar.
The Shwedagon is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanma ...
. His men took the 300-ton Great Bell of Dhammazedi using elephants and forced labour. De Brito's intention was to melt the bell down to make cannons. but it fell into this river when he was carrying it across.
Many people have tried to find the bell in the murky waters of the river, so far without success. Professional deep sea diver James Blunt has made 115 exploratory dives, using sonar
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...
images of objects in the area for guidance. To this date, it has not been recovered. Several Myanmar divers have died looking for it, including two navy divers who were trapped in a nearby wreck. The bell has since become an object of national superstition believing the search to be cursed and the bell's retrieval to be the key to the nation's rise out of poverty
References
Rivers of Myanmar {{Myanmar-river-stub