Mongmit State

Mongmit or Möngmit ( Tai Le: ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥤᥖ), also known as Momeik ( my, မိုးမိတ်), was a Shan state in the Northern Shan States in what is today Burma. The capital was Mongmit town. The state included the townships of Mongmit and Kodaung (Kawdaw, now Mabein Township).

History

According to tradition Mongmit has its origins in an ancient state named Gandalarattha that was founded before 1000 AD.
Mongmit, formerly part of Hsenwi State, was founded in 1238. Thirteen villages of the Mogok Stone Tract were given to Mongmit in 1420 as a reward for helping Yunnan raid Chiang Mai. In 1465, Nang Han Lung, the daughter-in-law of the Saopha (''Sawbwa'' in Burmese) of Mongmit, sent ruby as separate tribute from Hsenwi and succeeded in keeping the former possessions of Hsenwi until 1484 when Mogok was ceded to the Burmese kings. It was however not until 1597 that the Saopha of Mongmit was forced to exchange Mogok and Kyatpyin with Tagaung, and they were formally annexed by royal edict.

Earlier in 1542, when the Shan ruler of Ava Thohanbwa (1527–1543) marched with the Saophas of Mongmit, Mongyang, Hsipaw, Mogaung, Bhamo and Yawnghwe to come to the aid of Prome against the Burmese, he was defeated by Bayinnaung. In 1544, Hkonmaing (1543-6), Saopha of Onbaung or Hsipaw and successor to Thohanbwa, attempted to regain Prome, with the help of Mongmit, Mongyang, Monè, Hsenwi, Bhamo and Yawnghwe, only to be defeated by King Tabinshwehti (1512–1550).

Bayinnaung succeeded in three campaigns, 1556–9, to reduce the Shan states of Mongmit, Mohnyin, Mogaung, Mongpai, Saga, Lawksawk, Yawnghwe, Hsipaw, Bhamo, Kalay, Chiang Mai, and Linzin, before he raided up the Taping and Shweli Rivers in 1562.

A bell donated by King Bayinnaung (1551–1581) at Shwezigon Pagoda in Bagan has inscriptions in Burmese, Pali and Mon recording the conquest of Mongmit and Hsipaw on 25 January 1557, and the building of a pagoda at Mongmit on 8 February 1557.

British rule

The Saopha of Mongmit had just died at the time of the British annexation in 1885 leaving a minor as heir, and the administration at Mongmit was weak. It was included under the jurisdiction of the Commissioner of the Northern Division instead of the Superintendent of the Northern Shan States. A pretender named Hkam Leng came to claim the title, but he was rejected by the ministers. A Burmese prince called Saw Yan Naing, who had risen up against the British, fled to the area and joined forces with Hkam Leng, and caused a great deal of problems during 1888–9 to the Hampshire Regiment stationed at Mongmit.

Sao Hkun Hkio, Saopha of Mongmit, was one of the seven Saophas on the executive committee of the Shan State Council formed after the first Panglong Conference in March 1946. On 16 January 1947, they sent two memoranda, whilst a Burmese delegation headed by Aung San was in London, to the British Labour government of Clement Attlee demanding equal political footing as Burma proper and full autonomy of the Federated Shan States. He was not one of the six Saophas who signed the Panglong Agreement on 12 February 1947. The Cambridge-educated Sao Hkun Hkio however became the longest serving Foreign Minister of Burma after independence in 1948 until the military coup of Ne Win