Minbu () is a city in Magwe Division,

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 ...

. , the city has an urban population of 22,962. The area consists of low

plain In geography, a plain, commonly known as flatland, is a flat expanse of land that generally does not change much in elevation, and is primarily treeless. Plains occur as lowlands along valleys or at the base of mountains, as coastal plains, and ...

-land towards the Ayeyarwady River, and of undulating country inland rising higher and higher westwards towards the Arakan Mountains. Between the plain and the Arakan Yoma range is a distinct line of hills running north and south, and usually called the Nwa-Madaung hills. The chief

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s besides the Ayeyarwady are the Mon, the Maw, and the Salin, which are largely used for

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...

. At Minbu the Ayeyarwady is wide, with many

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s and sandbanks. There are considerable fisheries along the Ayeyarwady and on the Paunglin Lake, which is a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

fed from the Ayeyarwady. Oil has been discovered near the

mud volcano A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or Slurry, slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true Igneous rock, igneous volcanoes as th ...

es of Minbu, but it seems to lie at too great a depth to be profitably worked. There is a large area of reserved forest near Minbu. The chief crops raised are

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

gram The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a Physical unit, unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth of a kilogram. Originally defined in 1795 as "the absolute Mass versus weight, weight of a volume ...

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

s, peas, sesamum and

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

. The betel-vine is largely cultivated along the Mon River. The annual rainfall varies greatly in the area. It is very considerable on and under the Arakari Yomas, and very slight towards the Ayeyarwady. The temperature rises to over in the hot months, and the mean of minimum in December is about .

Points of interest

*Shin Min Selinte Pagoda Agoda *Naga Pwet Hill (Mud Volcano) *Mann Shwe Settaw Pagoda

Minbu Shwe Settaw

A pair of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

's footprints are located in Settawya, a forest retreat which is west of Minbu on the opposite bank of Magwe and is from

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 ...

by road. The footprints are well preserved and shrines have been constructed nearby. The place is known as the Pagoda site of the forest. The pilgrimage is combined with photography for young people, as the scenery is picturesque. One can go there also by Minbu- A Road following branches lane at post. The site is on the river Man. The festival is held on the fifth waxing moon of the

calendar month, Tabodwe (February and March) annually. Many people, from different parts of the country, gather there and make meritorious deeps singly or collectively. On the way from Minbu, visitors can pay homage to Sandalwood Monastery at Legging where the Buddha had visited in his lifetime. The history of that Footprint Pagoda dated back to the time of Buddha. Once the Buddha came to that site in the country of Sunapranta. He met the Orahat Sicca Vanda and Naga Nammada on his way and on their humble request, he granted their reverence. The footprints were enshrined ever since. The lower footprint on the slat is under water during the monsoon months as the river Man is flooded. Therefore, the festival is celebrated in the later winter months. Minbu is very hot in summer. There are series of stalls marketing different things for the pilgrims and villagers nearly. The souvenirs can be bought there also. Minbu new market is very cheap to buy things. Shops are sell with wholesale price. A lot of motorcycles are going around in Minbu. People use motorcycles for their transportation. From Minbu, there is a road can transport to Rakhine State and you can go the most famous pagoda Kyaungdawya Pagoda (ကျောင်းတော်ရာ). In Minbu, there is a lot of crab and dried fish and dried shrimp (ပုဇွန်) you can buy. This is transport from Rakhine. One of the Asian elephants at Twycross Zoo in the United Kingdom was named after the city of Minbu, as it is originally from Myanmar.

Climate

Minbu, as part of the central Myanmar “dry zone” in the

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...

of the -high Arakan Mountains, has a

hot semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of sem ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BSh''). The climate is hot to sweltering year-round and has two seasons, wet and dry, of similar length. Unlike most monsoonal semi-arid climates, the rainy season is relatively long at around five to six months, while variability and extreme monthly and daily rainfalls are much lower than usual with this type of climate.See

Notable resident

Ohn Maung Ohn Maung ( ; 2 February 1913 – 19 July 1947) was a Burmese civil servant who served as the Permanent secretary of Transport in Burma's pre-independence government. He, along with seven other cabinet ministers (including Prime Ministe ...

References

* {{Authority control Populated places in Magway Region Township capitals of Myanmar