Myaungmya Township ( ) is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Myaungmya District Myaungmya District () is a district of the Ayeyarwady Division in south western Myanmar. It consists of 5 cities. Myaungmya is the chief town of the district. Myaungmya district in Ayeyarwady region 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 principal town is

Myaungmya Myaungmya ( ) is the principal town of Myaungmya Township, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar. The town is home to the Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary, a Seventh-day Adventist seminary and Myaungmya Education College. As of 2014 the population was ...

. It has an area of . Myaungmya has high Karen population. Among the population were about 40,739

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, mostly Karens. The district is a deltaic tract, bordering south on the sea and traversed by many

tidal creek A tidal creek or tidal channel is a narrow inlet or estuary that is affected by the ebb and flow of ocean tides. Thus, it has variable salinity and electrical conductivity over the tidal cycle, and flushes salts from inland soils. Tidal creeks a ...

s. 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 in Myaungmya. The Township is the site of the Myaungmya Incident, the first large-scale armed ethnic clashes between Karens and

Burmans The Bamar people (Burmese language, Burmese: ဗမာလူမျိုး, ''ba. ma lu myui:'' ) (formerly known as Burmese people or Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan-speaking ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). With an esti ...

in 1942.

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 ...

cultivation and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

occupy practically all the inhabitants of the district. Myaungmya Township is located in south-central Ayeyarwady Region and comprises the western portion of Myaungmya District. To its west, it is bordered by the Panmawaddy and Ngawan Rivers and Kangyidaunt Township and Ngapudaw Township across the rivers respectively. To the south, the township borders

Labutta Township Labutta Township or Laputta Township () is one of the two townships in Labutta District in southern Ayeyarwady Region in lower Myanmar. It is located in the Irrawaddy Delta and suffered many casualties from Cyclone Nargis in 2008. The principa ...

. To the southeast, across the Pyamalaw River lies

Wakema Township Wakema Township ( ) is a township of Myaungmya District in central Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar. The first Prime Minister of Burma, U Nu was born in the principal town, Wakema. Wakema Township is bordered to its west by the other townships within ...

. To the northeast, the township borders Einme Township following smaller streams like the Pula and Zagamya streams. Myaungmya Township is divided into 16 wards, 98 village tracts and 492 villages.

History

Myaungmya Township was originally the ancestral homeland of the Mon Nya, a subgroup of the Mon people. It was referenced the ', 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 (), . 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. Myaungmya and other territories held by Laukpya eventually surrendered to 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 ...

, after a battlefield loss in 1390. The Township itself was formed in 1893 out of a portion of Bassein district, and reconstituted until 1903. The Township was the site of the '' Myaungmya Incident'', one of the first large-scale armed clashes between Burmans and Karens. The incident saw the Burmese Independence Army kill about 5,000 ethnic Karen and destruction of 15-30% of 2,000 villages in the Myaungmya District. The more Buddhist Pwo Karen who suffered from these attacks began to see themselves as part of Karen nationalist causes.

Geography

Myaungmya Township is mostly a flat low-lying delta area. The Thilla Hills lie in the western part of the township with much of that area being characterized by low-lying valleys and deltaic streams. The peaks of the Thilla hills average around 200 ft (60 m). The Township has many prominent waterways including the Panmawaddy, Ngawan and Yway Rivers providing freshwater and transportation pathways. The township has very few wildlife but a diverse abundance of trees including the Pyinkado trees, Eugenia trees, Thitpok trees, Nipa Palms, Showy Silk Cotton trees and various saltwater

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen and remove sal ...

. Myaungmya Township is in a mostly hot and tropical climate with a heavy

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

presence. The record high in the Township is and the record low was due to the sight elevation in the Thilla Hills. In a typical year, the township's temperatures range from with more extreme variation in recent years.

Demographics

The 2014 Myanmar Census reported that Myaungmya Township had a population of 298,637. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was 259.2 people per km². The census reported that the median age was 26.7 years, and a

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 96 males per 100 females. There were 66,172 households; the mean household size was 4.4. Myaungmya Township is mostly rural with 81.7% of the township living outside of urban centres in 2019.

Ethnic makeup

The

Bamar The Bamar people (Burmese language, Burmese: ဗမာလူမျိုး, ''ba. ma lu myui:'' ) (formerly known as Burmese people or Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan-speaking ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). With an esti ...

make up the majority of the township's population, while the Karen form the largest minority group.

Religion

The predominant religion is

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

with 84.5% of the township adhering to the faith.

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

is second with 13.4% (40,719 people) as of 2019. There are also small numbers adherents of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

within the township. 57.86% of the township is

and 40.33% Karen. Whilst many Christians are ethnic Karen, Buddhist Karen also make up a significant part of the township. The Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary was founded in and is located in Myaungmya. It is a private Christian college and part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system. The Township also has various Buddhist

stupas In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

, including a Shwezigon Pagoda unrelated to the more famous Shwezigon Pagoda in Bagan and a monastic population of 2,301.

Economy

The primary economic activity within the township is agriculture with the major markets of

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 ...

Pathein Pathein ( ; , ; , ), formerly called Bassein, is the largest city and the capital of the Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar. It is located 190 km (120 mi) west of Yangon within Pathein Township on the bank of the Pathein River—a western branc ...

and

Labutta Labutta or Laputta (, ) is a town in the Ayeyarwady Region of south-west Myanmar. It is the administrative seat of Labutta Township and the capital of Labutta District, Ayeyarwady Region. Labutta lies on the western bank of the Yway River. The town ...

accessible by road and waterways. Yangon is also the source for many of the town's consumer goods trade. The main agricultural product, by far, is

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 ...

sent primarily to Yangon and markets in Upper Burma. The off-season sees minimal activity with some peanuts and green peas produced. Besides crops, there are several coconut, cashew and rubber plantations within the township. The town also engages in animal husbandry, including poultry farming and fisheries. To aid in the town's agriculture, the township has various irrigation channels and dams to direct the monsoon rains effectively.

Notable People

* Laukpya, viceroy of Myaungmya in the 14th century Myaungmya-based rebellion against the Hanthawaddy Kingdom *

Saw E Binnya Burmese honorific, Saw E Binnya (, ; –1390) was governor of Tari from to 1387. Over his long tenure, he actively participated in two separate rebellions by his father Viceroy Laukpya of Ayeyarwady Region, Myaungmya and his uncle Viceroy Byatt ...

, governor of Tari during the same Myaungmya-based rebellion * Po Sein, an influential 20th-century traditional leading Burmese dance actor, was born in Myaungmya Township.

References

{{Ayeyarwady Division Townships of Ayeyarwady Region