Kawlin (ကောလင်းမြို့) is a town in the

Sagaing Division Sagaing Region (, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and longitude 94° 97' east. It is border ...

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 ...

. (page 43 in part B of volume 1 in the pdf file) Since December 2018 it has been the administration headquarters for Kawlin District as well as Kawlin Township. As of 2019, the town had a population of 25,254, up from 21,431 in 2014. The town is further subdivided into 8 wards. In late 2023, Kawlin became the first

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

capital to fall to resistance forces in the 2021 Myanmar civil war.

History

Under the

Burmese monarchy The history of Myanmar ( ) covers the period from the time of first-known human settlements 13,000 years ago to the present day. The earliest inhabitants of recorded history were a Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman-speaking people who esta ...

governors of Kawlin were by royal appointment. The site of the old town where they ruled is about a mile west of Kawlin, and is reduced to a village. The new town of Kawlin was formed by consolidating the former villages of Taungin (တောင်အင်း) and Northin (မြောက်အင်းခေါ်). On 6 November 2023, the town came fully under control of the People’s Defense Forces (PDF) during the ongoing

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. By December 2023, it was restored to full civilian rule. However,

Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...

forces recaptured the town on February 10, 2024. Around 80 percent of the town has reportedly been destroyed when

forces started burning homes in the aftermath of their recapture of the town.

References

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

History

See also

References