lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

Two Burmese kings later, Bagan Min started his reign in the samemanner that many did: with mass executions to rid the capital of hispotential rivals. An 1852 incident involving the possible kidnapping oftwo British sea captains (some argue it never happened) gave the Britisha welcome excuse for igniting another conflict, and an opportunityfor more land. The British quickly seized all of southern Burma, includingYangon and Pathein (Bassein). They then marched north to Pyay(Prome), facing little opposition.The Final Two KingsThe unpopular Bagan Min was ousted in favour of the more capableand revered Mindon Min, who moved the capital to Mandalay. Palace intrigues,including the murder of Mindon's powerful half-brother by Mindon'sown sons, stayed the king's hand in naming his successor. WhenMindon suddenly died following an attack of dysentery in 1878, the new(rather reluctant) king, Thibaw Min, was propelled to power by his ruthlesswife and scheming mother-in-law. The following massive ‘massacreof kinsmen’ (79 of Thibaw Min’s rivals) made many British papers. Alas,previous kings hadn’t had to face the consequences of world media attention,and this act did little to generate public backlash in the UK againstBritain’s final, decisive war against the Burmese.In 1885 it took Britain just two weeks to conquer Upper Burma, exileThibaw and his court to India and establish control over all the country.The conflict is sometimes called ‘the war over wood’, as Britain’s victoryallowed it to secure rights to Burma’s plentiful teak forests. Direct colonialrule was implemented only where the Bamar were the majority (ie in thecentral plains). The hill states of the Chin, Kachin, Shan, Kayin and Kayahwere allowed to remain largely autonomous – a decision that would haveramifications in the run up to independence in 1948 and beyond.The Impact of British RuleBurma was henceforth administered as part of 'British India'. A flood ofIndian immigrants were allowed into the country, where they acted likesecond colonisers: building businesses and taking rare, low-level governmentjobs from the hostile indigenous population. In 1927 the majority ofYangon’s population was Indian. Chinese immigration was also encouraged,further subjugating and marginalising the Burmese people.Cheap British imports poured in, fuelled by rice profits. Many key citiesand towns were renamed by the British with Yangon becoming Rangoon,Pyay became Prome and Bagan was renamed Pagan.Much of Burma was considered a hardship posting by British colonialofficials, who found the locals difficult to govern. On the other hand, manyof the British officials were incompetent and insensitive, and refused toOne of thebiggest meteorshowers inmodern historyfilled Burma’s skyin 1885. Localssaw it as an omenof the end of theirkingdom.Despite a Britishheldban againstvisiting Buddhistsites (becauseof the traditionof visitors beingasked to removetheir shoes),aviator AmeliaEarhart visitedthem anyway(and took off hershoes).297HISTORY COLONIAL BURMA1540Lower Burma isreunifi ed afterTabinshwehti, theambitious and youngking of Taungoo,defeats the Monkingdom at Bago –helped by Burmansfl eeing the Shan inInwa.1551B a y i n n a u n g b e c o m e sking and, havingconquered the Shanin 1557, reunifi es allof Myanmar as theSecond BurmeseEmpire; his forces takethe Siam capital ofAyuthaya in 1569.1599Following his defeatof Bago, the Kingof Rakhaing grantsthe Portuguesemercenary Filipede Brito e Nicotegovernorship ofthe port of Syriam(Thanlyin), which hecontrols until 1613.1760Burmese KingAlaungpaya, havingconquered Inwa, Pyay(Prome), Dagon (whichhe renames ‘Yangon’)and Tenasserim(Tanintharyi), fails totake Ayuthaya in Siamand dies during theretreat.