Ramree or Ramarwaddy (, ) also known as Yanbye is a town in Kyaukpyu District,

Rakhine State Rakhine State ( ; , ; ), formerly known as Arakan State, is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Re ...

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 ...

. Ramree (locally pronounced Ram Bray) is situated on Ramree Island. Ramree is the capital of the township of the same name and former capital of the district of Ramree (until 1852 ). It is close to the east coast of the Ramree island, about north of the Tan River. The population of Ramree (Yanbye) Urban area is 9,581 as of 2014, while Ramree Township's population is 97,891. The town was captured by the

Arakan Army The Arakan Army (; Abbreviation, abbreviated AA), sometimes referred to as the Arakha Army is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnic-List of insurgent groups in Myanmar, armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded in April 2009, the Ara ...

in March 2024 from the

Tatmadaw The Tatmadaw, also known as the Sit-Tat, is the armed forces of Myanmar (formerly Burma). It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include ...

during the ongoing

Myanmar civil war Myanmar has been embroiled in armed conflict since 1948, when the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with ethnic armed organisations fighting Myanmar's arm ...

Etymology

The name "Ramree" (ရမ်းဗြဲ) is derived from the former name of island: Ramarwaddy (ရမ္မာဝတီ) which meant Pleasant Region (Rammar= Pleasant) (Wati = Region). The administrative town of Rammar Wati was called "Rammar Wati Pri Myo" and then acronymic way, town's name was shorten to Ram Pri Myo (ရမ်ပြည်မြို့) which was heard by Portuguese firstly landed Europeans to this town as Rama Ree or Rama Ri later it was noted as Ramri or Ramree.

History

During the existence of the kingdom of Arakan, it was the site of a Governor of the island and then it was also called Tan-Myo (name that subsequently subsisted Tan river locally). Under Burmese dominion it was conserved as the capital of a district, but called Yan-bai-myo or Yanbyemyo (abbreviated Yanbye) while the Arakans called it Ran-Breh-myo, abbreviated Ran-breh, from which its current name derives, Corruption of this word for Europeans. At the beginning of the 19th century it was a prosperous city with an intense trade with

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, Vasai and Tavoy ; but a few years later he suffered seriously during the rebellion of Khyin-Bran ( Chinbryan, King Bering) since 1811, and the repressive measures of the Burmese; Khyin-Bran had many supporters in the city and after his defeat and death in 1815 a large number of inhabitants were assassinated or forced to flee the country. In the first Anglo-Burmese War the city was occupied without fighting for the forces of

General MacBean A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Online. Ma ...

, when it had already been evacuated by the Burmese; After the formal annexation of Arakan in 1826 at the end of the war, Ramree was declared a capital of the district of Ramree, until 1852 when the districts of An and Ramree were united and the capital of the new district passed to

Kyaukpyu Kyaukphyu ( ; also spelt Kyaukpyu) is a major town in Rakhine State, in western Myanmar and it is informally addressed to be the second capital of Rakhine State.It is located on the north western corner of Yanbye Island on Combermere Bay, and is ...

that from 1838 was a capital. The population in 1853 was estimated to have 9,000 inhabitants, three-fourths of Arakana, but the loss of capitalism made it lower in importance and in 1877 it appears with only 4,028 inhabitants; The census of 1881 was 3,461. In 1945, Ramree was the site of a

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

between the XV Indian Corps and Japanese soldiers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, resulting in the defeat of the Japanese who had been in control of the town and the island since 1942.

Contemporary era

The town was the site of a battle between the

(AA) and the ruling military junta during Myanmar's civil war. Fighting began in December 2023 and continued for several weeks. On 7 March 2024, it was reported that the Arakan Army had seized Ramree and the surrounding township, with the AA giving confirmation of their success through a statement released on 11 March. Ramree suffered large destruction of heavily bombing by the Burmese Military.

References

Bibliography

External links

19° 5' 0" North, 93° 52' 0" East Satellite map at Maplandia.com
Populated places in Rakhine State Township capitals of Myanmar {{Rakhine-geo-stub