Thonze (, also spelt Thonse) is a town in

Tharrawaddy Township Tharrawaddy Township is a township in Tharrawaddy District in the Bago Region of Burma 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 northw ...

in western

Bago Region Bago Region (, ; formerly Pegu Division and Bago Division) is an administrative divisions of Myanmar, administrative region of Myanmar, located in the southern central part of the country. It is bordered by Magway Region and Mandalay Region to ...

, Myanmar. The town borders the town of Tharrawaddy's south side. It is divided into 13 urban wards and had a population of 22,482 people in 2019.

History

During

British colonial rule The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts establish ...

, Thonze was a logging hub where the ''taungya'' variety of

teak Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panic ...

was first grown in plantation style. In 1883, the Thonze forests were mapped and divided into compartments for the purpose of creating forest resource reserves. The missionary

Marilla Baker Ingalls Marilla Baker Ingalls (, Baker; November 25, 1828 – 17 December 1902) was an American Baptist Missionary Union missionary and writer. After marrying the widower, Rev. Lovell Ingalls, they sailed for Burma in 1851. Widowed in 1856, she continued ...

settled in Thonze in 1859, describing it as a remote village, requiring a two-day boat trip from

Rangoon 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 ...

up the Hlaing River. She set up a mission and created a community of

Baptists Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

through her life in the village. The first rail line to Thonze was built in 1877, and the village grew into a station town.

References

{{Bago Region Populated places in Tharrawaddy District