Shwebo ( ) is a city in

Sagaing Region Sagaing Region (, ; formerly Sagaing Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative region of Myanmar, located in the north-western part of the country between latitude 21° 30' north and longitude 94° 97' east. It is border ...

, Burma, 110 km north-west of

Mandalay Mandalay is the second-largest city in Myanmar, after Yangon. It is located on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, 631 km (392 mi) north of Yangon. In 2014, the city had a population of 1,225,553. Mandalay was founded in 1857 by Ki ...

between the

Irrawaddy Irrawaddy or Ayeyarwady may refer to: *Irrawaddy River, the main river of Burma *Irrawaddy Delta, a rice growing region of the country *Irrawaddy, an alternative spelling of Ayeyarwady Region, an administrative division of Burma *''The Irrawaddy'' ...

and the Mu rivers. The city was the origin of the

Konbaung Dynasty The Konbaung dynasty (), also known as the Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်), was the last dynasty that ruled Burma from 1752 to 1885. It created the second-largest empire in history of Mya ...

, established by King

Alaungpaya Alaungpaya (, ; also spelled Alaunghpaya or Alaung-Phra; 11 May 1760) was the founder and first emperor of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. By the time of his death from illness during his Burmese–Siamese War (1759–60), campaign in Siam, this ...

in 1752, that was the dominant political force in Burma after the mid-18th century. It served as Alaungpaya's capital from 1752 to 1760. As of 2021, it has a population of 88,914. It is the site of

Shwebo University Shwebo University () is a public liberal arts university located in Shwebo, Myanmar. The university offers B.A and M.A degree programs in common liberal arts and sciences. History Shwebo University was established as Shwebo Regional College, an ...

and

Shwebo Palace Shwebon Yadana Mingala Palace () is a royal palace in Shwebo, Myanmar. The palace was originally built in 1753 AD by Alaungpaya, King Alaungphaya U Aung Zeya, who was the founder of the Konbaung dynasty and was capital city until 1760 when the cap ...

History

Up to 1752, Shwebo was a village, called Moksobo ( ; ) of about 300 houses. It lies near the site of the ancient

Pyu Pyu, also spelled Phyu or Phyuu, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. is a town in Taungoo District, Bago Region in Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (th ...

city-state of Hanlin. On 29 February 1752, the chief of the village Aung Zeya founded the

to resist the upcoming invasion of

Lower Burma Lower Myanmar (, also called Lower Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar and includes the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta ( Ayeyarwady, Bago and Yangon Regions), as well as coastal regions of the country ( Rakhine and Mon States and Tanintharyi ...

-based Hanthawaddy forces. Aung Zeya, who also assumed the royal title of

, gained the allegiance of 46 surrounding villages, and organized defenses building a stockade and digging a moat around Moksobo. He renamed his village, Shwebo (). Over the next eight years, Alaungpaya led the reunification of Burma with Shwebo as his

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

. Shwebo lost its status as capital after Alaungpaya's death in 1760. The successor

Naungdawgyi Dabayin Min (), commonly known as Naungdawgyi ( ; 10 August 1734 – 28 November 1763) was the second king of Konbaung Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar), from 1760 to 1763. He was a top military commander in his father Alaungpaya's reunification campai ...

moved the capital to

Sagaing Sagaing (, ) is a town in the Sagaing Region of Myanmar. It is located on the Irrawaddy River, to the south-west of Mandalay on the opposite bank of the river. Sagaing, with its numerous Buddhist monasteries, is an important religious and ...

closer to the

Irrawaddy river The Irrawaddy River (, , Ayeyarwady) is the principal river of Myanmar, running through the centre of the country. Myanmar’s most important commercial waterway, it is about 1,350 miles (2,170 km) long. Originating from the confluence of the ...

. Nonetheless, Shwebo continued to be an important region throughout the Konbaung era (1752–1885), providing a disproportionate share of soldiers that served in Konbaung's armies. The region was usually held as an

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a monarch, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture (where only the eldest inherits). It was ...

by the most senior princes, usually the

crown prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

. It was to Shwebo that Prince of Mindon went in 1853 to raise the standard of rebellion in his successful bid to overthrow his half brother

Pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

Names of Shwebo

Shwebo is famous for its five names. Five titles had been conferred to the city namely: # Moksobo (), its original name # Yadana-Theinhka () # Konbaung () # Yangyi-Aung (), and # Shwebo (), its modern name. Most of the people know the above names but the name "အယုစြ်ဇပူရ" and "မြေဘုံသာ" ("Ayuhcyajpuur" and "Myaybhonesar") are rarely known.

Geography

Climate

Located in the “Dry Valley” 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

Arakan Mountains The Arakan Mountains, natively referred as Rakhine Yoma () and technically known as the Southern Indo-Burman Range, are a mountain range in western Myanmar, between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the Irra ...

, Shwebo lies on the boundary between a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(

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 ...

''Aw'') and 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 ...

(''BSh''). The city received of rainfall on 19 October 2011. It was the record breaking rainfall within 24 hours of October for past 48 years. The previous record was of 24 October 1993.http://www.mrtv3.net.mm/newpaper/2110newsm.pdf Page 10 Col 2

Transport

Shwebo is served by

Myanmar Railways Rail transport in Myanmar consists of a railway network with 960 stations. The network, generally spanning north to south with branch lines to the east and west, is the second largest in Southeast Asia, and includes the Yangon Circular Railway ...

's Mandalay-

Myitkyina Myitkyina (, ; Jingpho language, Jinghpaw: ''Myitkyina'', ; , ''Sèna'') is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located from Yangon, and from Mandalay. In Burmese language, Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina i ...

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

line.

References

External links

"Shwebo, Burma"
Falling Rain Genomics, Inc.
"Shwebo Map — Satellite Images of Shwebo"
Maplandia
A community website about Shwebo
{{Use dmy dates, date=August 2019 Township capitals of Myanmar Populated places in Sagaing Region Shwebo District