Myaungmya ( ) is the principal town of

Myaungmya Township Myaungmya Township ( ) is a township of Myaungmya District in the Ayeyarwady Region of Myanmar. The principal town is Myaungmya. It has an area of . Myaungmya has high Karen population. Among the population were about 40,739 Christians, mostly K ...

Ayeyarwady Region Ayeyarwady Region ( , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division) is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bordered by the Rakhine State to the northwest, the Bago Region to ...

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 town is home to the Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary, a

Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

and Myaungmya Education College. As of 2014 the population was 58,698.

History

Myaungmya was referenced earliest in the ''Jambūdipa'', a text dating to the reign of

Kyansittha Kyansittha (, ; also spelt as Kyanzittha or Hti-Hlaing Min; 21 July 1030 – 1112/13) was king of the Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1084 to 1112/13, and is considered one of the greatest Burmese monarchs. He continued the social, econom ...

. The name "Myaungmya" originates from the

Mon language The Mon language, formerly known as Peguan and Talaing, is an Austroasiatic language spoken by the Mon people. Mon, like the related Khmer language, but unlike most languages in mainland Southeast Asia, is not tonal. The Mon language is a recogn ...

name Mongmale (မံၚ်မၠ, lit. "where the '' Myaya plants'' are.") The old town of Myaungmya is an archaeological zone and a heritage preservation zone today. The Viceroy of Myaungmya, Laukpya, rebelled against the Hanthawaddy Kingdom during the reign of

Binnya U Binnya U (, , ; also known as Hsinbyushin; 1323–1384) was king of Martaban–Hanthawaddy from 1348 to 1384. His reign was marked by several internal rebellions and external conflicts. He survived the initial rebellions and an invasion by Lan ...

in 1364 CE. By 1371, he had successfully taken control of the Bassein province and became the ruler of the

Irrawaddy Delta The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Irrawaddy Division, the lowest expanse of land in Myanmar (Burma) that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, to the south at the mout ...

as the Viceroy of Bassein-Myaungmya. During this period, Myaungmya was a heavily fortified city that resisted the siege of Binnya U's successor

Razadarit Razadarit (, ; , or ; also spelled Yazadarit, "king of kings"; 1368–1421) was king of Kingdom of Hanthawaddy, Hanthawaddy Pegu from 1384 to 1421. He successfully unified his Mon language, Mon-speaking kingdom, and fended off major assaults ...

during the

Forty Years' War The Forty Years' War (; 1385 – 1423; also Ava–Pegu War or the Mon–Burmese War) was a military war fought between the Burmese-speaking Kingdom of Ava and the Mon-speaking Kingdom of Hanthawaddy. The war was fought during two separat ...

. Despite this, Myaungmya eventually surrendered to Razadarit after a battlefield loss in 1390. Myaungmya is where Daw

Khin Kyi Maha Thiri Thudhamma Khin Kyi (; 16 April 1912 – 27 December 1988) was a Burmese politician and diplomat, best known for her marriage to the country's leader, Aung San, with whom she had four children, including Aung San Suu Kyi. She served as ...

, the wife of national leader General

Aung San Aung San (, ; 13 February 191519 July 1947), known honorifically as '' Bogyoke'' Aung San, was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he w ...

was born. It was also one of the towns where anti-colonial nationalistic education was implemented, with future Prime Minister

U Nu Nu (; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as Burmese names#Honorifics, U Nu and also by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a prominent Burmese people, Burmese statesman and the first Prime Minister of Union of Burma. He was ...

serving as district education officer. Another prominent independence figure and one of the martyrs remembered on Martyr's Day, Dee Doke U Ba Cho, was born in Myaungmya Myaungmya city is the main exporter of rice in Myanmar.

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

served as assistant superintendent of police in Myaungmya in 1924.

Demographics

In 2014, the population of the city was 55,270. In 2019, it had increased to 56,018 people.

Climate

References

{{Ayeyarwady Division Populated places in Ayeyarwady Region Township capitals of Myanmar