officially known as the Union of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, republic, SE Asia, bounded on the N by Tibet Autonomous Region of China; on the E by China, Laos, and Thailand; on the S and SW by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal; and on the W by Bangladesh and India. The coastal region is known as Lower Myanmar (formerly Lower Burma), while the interior region is known as Upper Myanmar (formerly Upper Burma). The total area of Myanmar is 676,577 sq km (261,228 sq mi).

LAND AND RESOURCES

A horseshoe-shaped mountain complex and the valley of the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) R. system are the dominant topographical features of Myanmar. The mountains of the N margin rise to 5881 m (19,294 ft) atop Hkakabo Razi, the highest peak in Myanmar. The two other mountain systems have N to S axes. The Arakan (Rakhine) Yoma range, with peaks reaching more than 2740 m (more than 9000 ft), forms a barrier between Myanmar and the subcontinent of India. The Bilauktaung Range, the S extension of the Shan Plateau, lies along the boundary between SW Thailand and SE Lower Myanmar. The Shan Plateau, originating in China, has an average elevation of about 910 m (about 3000 ft).

Generally narrow and elongated in the interior, the central lowlands attain a width of about 320 km (about 200 mi) across the Irrawaddy-Sittang delta. The deltaic plains, extremely fertile and economically the most important section of the country, cover an area of about 46,620 sq km (18,000 sq mi). Both the Arakan (Rakhine) coast, in the NW, and the Tenasserim (Tanintharyi) coast, in the S, are rocky and fringed with islands. The country has a number of excellent natural harbors.

Climate.

Most of Myanmar lies within the Tropic Zone. The hot season extends from March through October; and the cool season, the period of the Northeast Monsoon, from November through February. Temperatures from the cool to hot seasons range from 15.6° to 37.8° C (60° to 100° F) in Lower Myanmar and from less than 15.6° C (60° F) to more than 37.8° C (100° F) in Upper Myanmar. Temperatures are generally lower in mountainous regions. The country receives practically all its rainfall between mid-May and October, the period of the Southwest Monsoon. Annual precipitation in most of Upper Myanmar averages about 890 mm (about 35 in), and in Lower Myanmar about 5080 mm (about 200 in).

Natural Resources.

The most important resources of Myanmar are agricultural. Approximately 250 commercially useful kinds of trees abound, 50 of which have been exploited. Important mineral deposits, such as lead, zinc, tin, tungsten, coal, iron ore, natural gas, and petroleum, also exist, as do deposits of precious stones such as rubies and lapis lazuli.

Soils.

The richest soils are found in a narrow alluvial strip along the Bay of Bengal, where mountain streams irrigate the land; in the wide river valleys; and in the alluvial deposits of the Irrawaddy delta. These deep deposits form a vast, fertile belt especially suitable for rice cultivation by virtue of the abundant moisture.

Plants and Animals.

Forests and woodland cover about half of Myanmar. In the regions of maximum precipitation, the dense tropical forests contain extensive stands of timber and oil-bearing trees, including commercially valuable teak forests. Other trees include rubber, cinchona, acacia, bamboo, ironwood, mangrove, coconut, betel palm, and, chiefly in the N highlands, oak, pine, and many species of rhododendron. Tropical fruits, such as citrus, bananas, mangoes, and guavas, grow in the coastal regions. Vegetation in the arid regions is sparse and stunted.

Jungle animals, such as the tiger and leopard, are indigenous to Myanmar. Among the larger native quadrupeds, found mainly in the highlands of Upper Myanmar, are the elephant, rhinoceros, wild buffalo, wild boar, and several species of deer and antelope. Elephants, tamed or bred in captivity, are used as work animals, particularly in the lumbering industry. Smaller quadrupeds include the gibbon, several species of monkey, the wildcat, the flying fox, and the tapir. Myanmar has over 1200 known varieties of birds, including parrots, peafowl, pheasants, crows, herons, and paddybirds. Among typical reptiles are crocodiles, geckos, cobras, pythons, and turtles. Many edible species of freshwater fish are plentiful.

POPULATION

The indigenous population of Myanmar is essentially Mongoloid. More than two-thirds of the people are Burman, racially akin to the Tibetans and the Chinese. In addition, several indigenous minorities with their own languages and cultures also inhabit the country. The most important of these groups are the Karen, Shan, Mon, Chin, and Kachin. The Karen live mostly in Kayah, in Lower Myanmar. The Shan, a people related to the Thai, live mainly in the hills along the Thai border. The Mon, or Mon-Khmer, the first major ethnic group known to have migrated to Myanmar, live mainly in the delta region and are becoming assimilated with the Burman ethnic majority.

The Chin, who are related to ethnic groups of neighboring Assam State of India, live in the NW mountainous region. The Chin live primarily by hunting and fishing. In Chin society, absolute leaders, who are usually also head priests of the traditional religion, rule the groups. The Kachin, a hill people, are concentrated in the far N of Myanmar, along the Chinese border. They are related ethnically to the Chinese. The Kachin are ruled by hereditary leaders. The Burmese population also includes large immigrant minorities, notably from India, China, and Bangladesh.

Population Characteristics.

The population of Myanmar (1983 census) was 35,313,905. The population in 2005 was estimated at 42,909,000; the overall population density was 63 persons per sq km (164 per sq mi), one of the lowest in the Far East. The population is about 70% rural; many urban areas are actually agricultural villages.

Political Divisions and Principal Cities.

The nation comprises Myanmar proper and the seven states of Chin, Kachin, Karen, Kayah, Mon, Rakhine, and Shan. Myanmar proper consists of the seven divisions of Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady), Magwe (Magway), Mandalay, Pegu (Bago), Sagaing, Tenasserim (Tanintharyi), and Yangon (Rangoon).

The capital, largest city, and principal seaport is Yangon, or Rangoon (pop., 2004 est., 4,454,500). Other important cities include Mandalay (1,176,900), an important trade center in central Myanmar; Moulmein, or Mawlamyine (405,800), on the Gulf of Martaban; and Sittwe (161,400), a major seaport on the Bay of Bengal.

Language and Religion.

Most of the linguistic groups of Myanmar are monosyllabic and polytonal, similar to those of Tibet and China (see Sino-Tibetan Languages). Burmese, the official language, is spoken by a large majority of the people. The Burmese alphabet is based on Sanskrit and a form of the alphabet of Pali, which is the sacred tongue of Buddhism. Minority languages include Shan, Karen, and Mon. English is spoken among the educated, and the country contains a sizable number of speakers of Chinese.

More than 85% of all Burmese are Buddhists, most of whom adhere to the Theravada school of Buddhism. Smaller groups of Hindus, Muslims, and Christians also live here. More than 230,000 Muslims fleeing persecution in Rakhine State sought refuge in Bangladesh in the early 1990s; most of the refugees, known as Rohingyas, have since been repatriated.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Burmese civilization is largely an outgrowth of Indian influences. The Burmese have shunned such Indian institutions as the caste system, however, and have retained an indigenous language and literature.

Education.

Education is free, and is compulsory in primary schools. Instruction is in Burmese; English is the second language in many secondary schools. In the late 1990s some 5,145,400 pupils attended about 35,900 primary schools, and about 1,545,600 students attended some 2100 secondary schools. More than 85% of the adult population is literate.

The chief universities of Myanmar are the University of Yangon (1920), the University of Mandalay (1925), and Mawlamyine University (1953). Other institutions of higher education include state schools of fine arts and of music and drama, in Rangoon and in Mandalay, and the Defense Services Academy (1955), in Maymyo (Pyin Oo Lwin). Universities and colleges enrolled more than 385,000 students annually in the late 1990s.

Culture.

Myanmar is one of the strongest enclaves of Buddhist culture in all of Asia; the numerous temples have led to Myanmar's becoming widely known as the Land of Golden Pagodas.

Libraries and museums.

Formal libraries and museums are limited in number and facilities in Myanmar. The thousands of Buddhist temples, however, serve as repositories for books and religious artifacts. A particularly noted pagoda is Shwe Dagon, in Yangon. The National Museum of Art and Archaeology (1952) is in Yangon; state museums are in Mandalay, Moulmein, Sittwe, and Taunggyi.

Literature.

The first examples of Burmese literature are found on stone carvings dating from ad 1113. By the 15th century a rich tradition of historical and religious poetry had developed. Prose works did not become important until the late 19th century, when the proliferation of novels and plays received impetus from a revival of Burmese nationalism.

Theater.

A popular form of entertainment is the pwe. A type of folk opera, it combines generally pleasant story lines with light music and graceful dance.

Art.

Secular art is rare in Myanmar; most sculpture and painting is confined to a Buddhist context. Architecture displays a dominant Indian influence, as do other art forms. Artisans are known for their lacquer ware and woven silks.

ECONOMY

Myanmar is primarily an agricultural country, and about two-thirds of the working population is engaged in growing or processing crops. Industrial development, which was almost nonexistent before World War II, accelerated in the 1960s and '70s but has lagged since that time. Despite efforts to liberalize the economy in the early 1990s, the government still holds monopoly power over key industries. Stringent U.S. sanctions have hindered investment and trade. According to Western estimates, the annual national budget in the mid-2000s included about $475 million in general revenues, $955 million in general expenditures, and $5.7 billion in capital spending.

Labor.

In the early 2000s the labor force numbered some 27 million persons, of whom about two-thirds were engaged in agriculture and related activities. Few workers are organized into labor unions, and strikes are forbidden.

Agriculture.

About 15% of the total land surface is suitable for farming, which accounts for more than half of Myanmar's annual gross domestic product. Myanmar is one of the leading rice producers in the world; about 21.9 million metric tons of rice were harvested annually in the early 2000s. Much rice is grown in the Irrawaddy delta. In the central lowlands, corn, cotton, peanuts, legumes, millet, nuts, sesame, sugarcane, and tobacco are grown. Myanmar is also a leading producer of opium. In the early 2000s there were 11.6 million cattle, 2.3 million buffalo, and 4.5 million pigs.

Forestry and Fishing.

Myanmar's forests are an important source of wealth, especially in teak and natural rubber. In the early 2000s, timber production amounted to about 39.4 million cu m (about 1.4 billion cu ft) annually. Important tree products, in addition to rubber, are quinine and catechu, or cutch, the source of a dye.

Fish are caught for local consumption and are a main source of protein in the diet. Freshwater fish are preferred, but the government has also encouraged saltwater fishing. In the early 2000s the total catch was estimated at about 1.3 million metric tons.

Mining.

Myanmar has a rich and varied supply of minerals. Most of the mines are located in the mountainous areas in the W and along the Tenasserim coast. Such precious stones as jade, rubies, and sapphires are mined, as are copper, nickel, silver, lead, and zinc. In the early 2000s, about 5 million barrels of crude petroleum were produced each year. Annual mineral production in the early 2000s also included silver (1,500 kg), refined lead (1000 metric tons), zinc concentrates (500 metric tons), and copper concentrates (27,900 metric tons). Large deposits of natural gas and iron ore have also been found.

Manufacturing.

Rice milling and the processing of farm and forest products are the chief traditional industries. State-owned factories turn out steel and aluminum products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, cement, paper, clothing and textiles, jute carpets, processed foods and beverages, and a variety of other consumer products; automotive equipment is manufactured in Yangon. In the early 2000s annual manufacturing output included 101,000 metric tons of sugar, 384,000 metric tons of cement, and 60,100 metric tons of fertilizers.

Energy.

Myanmar has great potential for producing hydroelectricity. In the early 1990s about 48% of its electricity was produced by hydroelectric facilities; in 2005, the governments of Thailand and Myanmar agreed to develop hydroelectric facilities on the Salween (Thanlwin) R. Electricity is also generated by thermal plants using fossil fuels. In the early 2000s, annual output of electricity was some 5.1 billion kwh.

Currency and Banking.

The unit of currency is the kyat (6.25 kyats equal U.S.$1; 2005). All banks were nationalized in 1963. A liberalized policy allowing for private and foreign bank operations within Myanmar took effect in 1990; problems at private banks triggered a major financial crisis in Myanmar in 2003. The Central Bank of Myanmar (1976) is the sole bank of issue.

Commerce and Trade.

Foreign trade is controlled by the government. The principal exports are natural gas, forest products (including teak), clothing, farm and fishery products, and gems. The chief imports include machinery, transportation equipment, refined petroleum, chemicals, textiles, and foodstuffs. In the early 2000s yearly exports earned about $2.1 billion, and annual imports cost some $1.8 billion. Myanmar's main trade partners are Thailand, China, Japan, Singapore, India, and Malaysia.

Transportation and Communications.

The rail system, owned and operated by the government, has about 3955 km (about 2460 mi) of track. It links the important cities of the country but does not connect with railroads outside Myanmar. Inland waterways, totaling about 5800 km (about 3600 mi) of navigable rivers and canals, are far more important as transportation arteries; most large towns are river ports. The Irrawaddy R. is the chief artery, and sections of the Chindwin and Salween rivers also are navigable. The highway system totals about 28,200 km (about 17,520 mi), of which about 12% is paved. Several roads cross the border, notably the Burma Road, to China. Domestic airlines serve more than 25 airports. Myanmar Airways International, linking Yangon with other Asian capitals, was privatized in 1993.

All postal, telegraph, telephone, and broadcasting systems in Myanmar are controlled by the government, as are the country's newspapers. The telecommunications network in the early 2000s included more than 357,000 main telephone lines, 66,000 cellular telephone subscribers, 250,000 personal computers, 28,000 Internet users, 390,000 televisions, and 2.8 million radios.

GOVERNMENT

Myanmar was governed according to the provisions of the constitution of 1948 until the coup d'état of 1962, after which the existing form of government was wiped out. In 1974 a new constitution was adopted. This document served as the basis of governmental organization until its suspension after the military coup of September 1988.

Central Government.

Under the 1974 constitution, the country's chief executive official was the president, who chaired the 29-member State Council. The State Council and the Council of Ministers (headed by the prime minister) were chosen by the unicameral People's Assembly, Myanmar's principal legislative body. Following the 1988 coup, a military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Committee (SLORC), exercised legislative and executive authority. In 1997 the SLORC officially reconstituted itself as the State Peace and Development Council.

Judiciary.

Under the constitution the judiciary system was centralized. The highest court was the Council of People's Justices, which was elected by the People's Assembly. Lesser courts included state, divisional, and township courts. All civilian courts were suspended after the 1988 military coup.

Local Government.

Myanmar proper is administered centrally from Yangon. The country as a whole is organized as seven divisions inhabited by Burman people and seven states populated by national minorities. The constitution provided for people's councils, headed by executive committees, to be elected at all levels of local and regional or state government.

Political Parties.

Following the Burmese coup d'état in 1962, the Revolutionary Council urged that all existing parties unite within a single party, the Burma Socialist Program party (BSPP). Under the 1974 constitution, the BSPP was recognized as the only legal political party. More than 90 parties contested the general election of May 1990, in which the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) won about 60% of the vote. The SLORC subsequently ruled that the elected representatives would have the power to draft a new constitution but not to pass any laws. The military government has restricted NLD activities and detained and harassed party leaders.

Health and Welfare.

In 1956 the government launched a social security program to provide accident and illness insurance, free medical care, and survivor's benefits. It was funded by employers, employees, and the government.

The health services in the country have been greatly extended, and since 1964 the number of rural health stations, dispensaries, and hospitals has increased substantially. In the late 1990s the country had about 14,600 physicians and 28,900 hospital beds. In the mid-2000s, average estimated life expectancy from birth was 58 years for women and 54 for men; the infant mortality rate was 67 per 1000 live births.

Defense.

In the early 2000s, Myanmar's armed forces had about 488,000 persons. The army had about 457,000 members, the navy 16,000, and the air force 15,000. The military has ruled Myanmar through the SLORC and State Peace and Development Council since 1988.

International Organizations.

Myanmar is a member of the United Nations (UN), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the World Trade Organization.

HISTORY

Myanmar's history has been made by a succession of peoples who migrated down along the Irrawaddy River from Tibet and China, and who were influenced by social and political institutions that had been carried across the sea from India. First came the Mon, perhaps as early as 3000 bc. They established centers of settlement in central Myanmar, in the Irrawaddy delta, and farther down the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal. They constructed irrigation systems and developed commercial and cultural contacts with India, while maintaining ties with other Mon civilizations in the Chao Phraya River valley of Siam (now Thailand). The Pyu followed later, moving down the western side of the Irrawaddy and founding a capital near present-day Prome (Pyay) in ad 628. The Burmans entered the Irrawaddy River valley in the mid-9th century, absorbing the nearby Pyu and Mon. Later waves brought in the Shan and Kachin, who, along with the indigenous Karen, have played a part in Myanmar's development.

The Pagan Kingdom.

The first unified Burmese state was founded by King Anawrahta (r. 1044–77) at Pagan (Bagan) in Upper Myanmar and was brought to full flower by his able son, Kyanzittha (r. 1084– 1112). Their domain advanced from the dry zone to incorporate the delta Mon centers at Pegu and Thaton; they extended political and religious ties overseas to Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) and fought off a Chinese invasion from the north. The internal structure of the state was that of a Hinduized kingdom, with a court at the capital supported by direct household taxes or service obligations drawn from villages, which were under the guidance of hereditary myothugis (“township headmen”). In time, more land was donated to Buddhist monasteries in the form of slave villages for the maintenance of the sangha (“monkhood”). Kingship was legitimated by Hindu ideology and the king's role as defender of the Buddhist faith. During 250 years of peace the rulers built the pagodas for which Pagan is known today.

The fall of Pagan to the Mongols under Kublai Khan in 1287 was the beginning of a turbulent period during which Upper Myanmar led an uncertain existence between Shan domination and tributary relations with China, while Lower Myanmar reverted to Mon rule based at Pegu.

The Toungoo Dynasty.

In the second quarter of the 16th century a new dynasty emerged from the sleepy principality of Toungoo in central Myanmar. With the aid of Portuguese adventurers, the Toungoo dynasty established what became under its third king, Bayinnaung (r. 1551–81), a reunified and precariously prosperous state. After his death, succession squabbles and encroachment by the Portuguese along the coast, by the Thais on the east, and by Manipuri horsemen from the west brought on the decline of the dynasty, although the system itself endured until the mid-18th century. Its survival was made possible by a stable administrative and legal system at the central and local levels. The dynasty was finally toppled by a Mon rebellion in 1752.

The Konbaung Dynasty and the Anglo-Burmese Wars.

Increasing European commercial and political pressure set the context for the rise and demise of the last Burmese dynasty. During the 1600s and early 1700s competing British, Dutch, and French interests had established commercial ventures at Syriam, near present-day Yangon, and elsewhere on the coast. In 1752 Alaungpaya (1715–60) founded the Konbaung dynasty by restoring Burmese rule first at Ava and later in the delta. He moved against the British at the Negrais trading post and then initiated another attack on the Thais, whose capital at Ayutthaya was later destroyed by his son King Hsinbyushin (r. 1763–76). Another son, Bodawpaya (1740?–1819), lost control of Siam but captured the Arakan, a rich coastal province bordering on Bengal. By the early 19th century, political friction over an Arakanese independence movement based in Bengal was compounded by the military successes of the Burmese general Maha Bandula (1780?–1825) in Assam. The British responded by sea in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26). The ensuing Treaty of Yandabo left the British in control of Arakan to the west and Tenasserim to the east of the Irrawaddy delta. The production of rice and timber flourished in these two areas under the British, while their relative political stability induced massive population growth, a general pattern that was repeated after the remainder of the delta was annexed in the Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852). Commercial ambition and political pretext, heightened by Anglo-French regional rivalry, precipitated the final annexation, when Mandalay fell after a brief battle in 1885. These extensions of British rule were progressively less popular with the resident population, and each in turn required a period of pacification. In the longer run, British rule brought administrative and social modernization to a land that, except for the benign efforts of King Mindon (1814?–78), the builder of Mandalay, had been swamped in reclusive policies and wracked by court intrigues.

British Rule.

Burmese culture, now submerged under a British colonial overlay, had three aspects: the language, with accretions from Mon and Pali; Theravada Buddhism, which had come from Ceylon and mixed with local nat (“animist”) rituals; and the society of rice-growing peasant villages. Under colonial rule the linkage of government and religion was lost, the monastic orders fell into disarray, and the monastic schools, which had given British Burma a higher rate of male literacy than the England of that day, declined as English became the language of social advancement. The indigenous culture nevertheless persisted: in the magical world of the pwe (“theater”), in the practice of Buddhism and nat worship, and in the language of the peasantry.

The British moved the capital in 1886 from royal Mandalay to the port city they called Rangoon, developing it as a substation of the British Empire in India. This led to large-scale Indian immigration. Rangoon thus became the hub of a “steel frame” of administration spreading out into the hinterland, where district officers maintained law and order, collected revenue, and administered justice. As the country was opened up to the world market, it became the world's major exporter of rice—from 0.5 million metric tons before the fall of Mandalay, to 2 million at the turn of the century, and 3 million before World War II. British rule and economic penetration gradually engendered social disintegration and provoked a nationalist movement. This movement used modern institutions, such as the Young Men's Buddhist Association, student strikes, and political participation in partial self-government to agitate for immediate reforms, including separation from India, and later for independence. In the countryside, the unrelated antimodern Saya San Rebellion of 1930–32 drew widespread support but was crushed.

The political leaders who eventually linked capital and countryside into a truly independent Burma had their start as student leaders who flaunted the title Thakin (master), a term that had previously been applied to the British. The Thakin movement formed a Burma Independence Army (BIA), which supported the successful Japanese invasion of Burma in World War II. This political movement later took advantage of the strains of wartime occupation and the weakness of the Japanese-installed government near the war's end to resist Japanese rule under the name of the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL).

The Modern Nation.

After the war the returning British discovered that the AFPFL, led by former student leader and BIA head U Aung San, had nearly monopolized indigenous political power. Despite the assassination of Aung San in 1947, the AFPFL negotiated with Britain to gain independence in 1948. It also compelled the inclusion into a “federal” republic of such peripheral groups as the Shan and Karen, thought to have had special British protection.

Constitutional democracy.

The new independence confronted the AFPFL government of U Nu with a series of political and ethnic insurrections, which continued over the next three decades. During the 1950s a major threat created by the Karen revolt was blunted, and the Communist insurgents were forced to retreat into the hills. Burma then established a rigorously nonaligned foreign policy. Economic reconstruction was begun and some new growth undertaken with multilateral foreign aid. AFPFL rule was validated in national elections in 1951–52 and 1956. By 1958, however, a party split required the constitutional intervention of a caretaker army government for 18 months. Gen. Ne Win's government tightened administrative discipline to promote modernization and curbed separatist tendencies in the Shan states. The 1960 election gave a resounding victory to U Nu's faction, based largely on respect for his personal piety. His return to power was short-lived; a bloodless coup reestablished military rule under Ne Win in March 1962.

The Ne Win regime.

During the 1960s and '70s Ne Win attempted to build an effective, totalitarian government, establish legitimacy with the Burmese people, and maintain autonomy on the world scene. Socialization of the economy during the first dozen years cut agricultural production and exports, which recovered marginally following liberalization in the late 1970s. A new constitution was promulgated in 1974, transferring power by referendum and single-party election from the military Revolutionary Council to a People's Assembly, commanded by Ne Win and other former military leaders. Student strikes still erupted at intervals, as when U Thant, a political figure of the constitutional democracy period and UN secretary-general, died and was returned to Burma for burial in 1974. Ethnic insurrections, which broke out in the Kachin and Shan states after the army coup, continued to deny major areas to government control, including Burma's part of the Golden Triangle (a major supplier of the world opium market). The Burma Communist party insurrection retained official support from China. At one stage, U Nu escaped to Thailand and tried to rally an overthrow of Ne Win's government. In 1980, however, he was permitted to return to Burma as a private citizen. In 1981 Ne Win relinquished the presidency to San Yu (1919–96), a retired general, but he continued on as chairman of the ruling Burma Socialist Program party.

Burma had some success in the post–World War II period through its ability to keep free of major international political involvements. The government stressed Burma's autonomy, reducing its dependence on foreign aid and even delaying membership in the Asian Development Bank. U Nu was, with India's Nehru, Egypt's Nasser, Yugoslavia's Tito, and other leaders, active in the movement to make the Nonaligned Nations a factor in cold war diplomacy. Burma broke with this group in 1979 in protest at its pro-Soviet tilt; it was readmitted in August 1992.

Military coup.

Antigovernment riots in March and June 1988 led Ne Win to resign as party chairman in July, ushering in a period of political instability. In September Gen. Saw Maung, chief of staff under Ne Win, emerged from a bloody power struggle to head a military government, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which remained ultimately answerable to Ne Win. In June 1989 the country's name was officially changed in English to the Union of Myanmar, and the name of the capital from Rangoon to Yangon. When legislative elections in May 1990 resulted in an overwhelming victory for the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), the SLORC refused to allow the People's Assembly to convene. The U.S. responded by downgrading its diplomatic representation in Yangon, imposing economic sanctions, and blocking aid to Myanmar by international lending agencies. In October 1991 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to U Aung San's daughter, opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, for leading a “nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights”; she was held under house arrest for six years, from July 1989 to July 1995.

The ailing Saw Maung was replaced as head of the SLORC by Gen. Than Shwe (1933–    ) in April 1992. The economy performed sluggishly in the 1990s, in part because human-rights abuses by the SLORC, sanctions imposed by the U.S., and continuing insurgencies by Myanmar's ethnic minorities discouraged Western investment. The decision in July 1996 by ASEAN to grant observer status to Myanmar bolstered the prestige of the SLORC government; a year later, the country was admitted to full membership. The SLORC reestablished itself as the State Peace and Development Council in November 1997, but the junta continued to harass opposition leaders. Aung San Suu Kyi was again placed under house arrest in September 2000. After negotiating secretly with her, government leaders announced her unconditional release in May 2002, which was in part the result of international pressure. Her release was viewed as an indication that the country's political climate had begun to change, and at a press conference at NLD headquarters in Yangon, Aung San Suu Kyi proclaimed “a new dawn for the country.”

The democratic resurgence did not last long. In May 2003, pro-government demonstrators in northern Myanmar stormed a motorcade carrying Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters. The violent attack supplied a pretext for the government to return the Nobel laureate to house arrest and to launch a new crackdown on pro-democracy activists. International condemnation was swift, and the U.S. toughened economic sanctions against the Yangon regime. The Indian Ocean tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, killed at least 61 people in Myanmar, according to an official government estimate; other sources indicated that the toll may have been significantly higher, especially in the Irrawaddy delta.

Aung San Suu Kyi remained in detention as of mid-2005, when the continued focus on Myanmar's human-rights record led the country to announce that it would forgo its turn to chair ASEAN the following year.       J.F.G., JAMES F. GUYOT, M.A., Ph.D.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, sections 120. Buddhism, 668. Oriental art and architecture, 1092. Southeast Asia – 1093. Burma (Myanmar).