Lower Myanmar (, also called Lower Burma) is a geographic region 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 ...
and includes the low-lying
Irrawaddy Delta (
Ayeyarwady,
Bago and
Yangon Regions), as well as coastal regions of the country (
Rakhine and
Mon States and
Tanintharyi Region).
In the
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 a ...
, people originating from
Upper Myanmar are typically called ''a-nya-tha'' for men and ''a-nya-thu'' for women, whereas those from Lower Myanmar are called ''auk tha'' () for men and ''auk thu'' for women.
100px Green represents Upper Myanmar and Yellow represents Lower Myanmar
History
The territories of present day Lower Myanmar was part of
Pagan Kingdom until the end of 13th century. After the collapse of Pagan Kingdom, the territories become Martaban
Hanthawaddy Kingdom founded by King
Wareru. From the 16th century to the middle of 18th century, Pagu was a province of
Toungoo Dynasty. In 1752,
Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom successfully overthrown Toungoo Dynasty but later conquered by
Konbaung Dynasty led by King
Alaungpaya. So, Pegu became a province of Konbaung Dynasty with the name of Lower Province (). After the loss of
Second Anglo-Burmese War,
East India Company annexed Lower Province,
Prome and
Toungoo. Lower Province was divided into
Irrawaddy Division,
Pegu Division,
Toungoo District and
Salween District of Tenasareim Division.
Historically, Lower Myanmar referred to the 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 ...
annexed by the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
after the end of the
Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852, Arakan Province and Tavoy(Tenasserim) Province which the British had taken control of in 1826 through the
Treaty of Yandabo.
Lower Myanmar was centred at
Rangoon, and composed of all of the coast of modern
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 ...
, and also the lower basin of the
Irrawaddy River, including
Prome. Until the early 19th century, Lower Myanmar was predominantly populated by the
Mon and
Karen tribes and was a historical stronghold of the Mon people.
References
Regions of Myanmar
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{{Burma-geo-stub
