The Geology of Burma - Zomi Online Library

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Bibliography of Burman Earth Science Geography The life expectancy in Burma is: Male 58 years; Female 63. Hospitals 1:1,586. The literacy rate is 78%. The major ethnic groups in Burma are: Burman 68%, Shan 9%, Karen 7%, Rakhine 4%, Chinese 3%, Indian 2%, Mon 2%, other 5%. Complicating national unity, over half of Burma's population consists of diverse ethnic groups who have substantial numbers of kin living in neighboring countries. Thailand must deal with Karen and other ethnic refugees, asylum seekers, and rebels, as well as illegal cross-border activities from Burma. India also seeks cooperation from Burma to keep Indian Nagaland separatists, such as the United Liberation Front of Assam, from hiding in the remote Burmese Uplands. Image taken from: “Burma: A Country Study.” 1984. Foreign Area Studies, the American University. 3 rd edition. US GPO. September 2008 14
Bibliography of Burman Earth Science The Burmans, who form the largest ethnic group, account for more than half of the population. They are concentrated in the Irrawaddy River valley and in the coastal strips, with an original homeland in the central dry zone. The Shans (shahns) are about 9% of the population. “Once the masters of the Burmans when they ruled after the collapse of the Pagan-based monarchy, the Shans have no historical inferiority complex. In the centuries after the Pagan period, the Shans developed their own monarchies where Shan mandalas of power oscillated constantly as more powerful Burmese and Thai kings contested each other. Deference to outside royalty was a small price to pay for considerable Shan independence internally. The Shans in 1983 were basically rice farmers, skillful traders, and a valley people. In matters of governance, historically they have allowed an aristocratic elite to rule them.” The Shan of the Shan Plateau have little ethno-linguistic affinity with the Burmans, and, although historically led by hereditary rulers, their society was less elaborately structured than that of the plains peoples. The Shan represent a small but significant portion of the country’s population. The ethnographic complexity of the highlands occasionally leads to mis-groupings of some of the smaller communities with their more prominent neighbors. For example, the Wa and the Palaung of the Shan Plateau are often grouped with the larger, but ethnically and linguistically distinct, Shan community. The Karen ethnic group is about 7% of the Brumese population. “It has been fashionable to call the traditional religion of people like the Karens a form of animism, or ‘spirit worship.’ The word never does justice to such beliefs, which may be as complex and lofty as those of the major religions of the world. Traditional Karens, like so many other peoples, believe that both matter and spirit are realities, each possibly inhabiting the same entity at a given time or perhaps later separated but still linked. There are Karen gods, rituals, and oral religious traditions so impressive that early missionaries toyed with the belief that the Karens were a lost tribe of Israel. No matter where Karens live, they characteristically have a strong sense of ethnic pride.” The Karen are the only hill people who have settled in significant numbers in the plains. Constituting about one-tenth of the population, they are the second largest ethnic group in Burma. They are found in the deltas among the Burmans, in the Bago Mountains, and along both sides of the lower Salween River. The Kayah, who live on the southern edge of the Shan Plateau, were once known as the Red Karen, or Karenni, apparently for their red robes. Although ethnically and linguistically Karen, they tend to maintain their own identity and hereditary leadership. The Chin (pronounced “JIN”): In the western hills and the Chindwin River valley are various groups called by the comprehensive name of Chin. “Turbulent, competitive, legalistic, and yet very social, the Chins did not take to Christianity as well as did the Karens. Like the Karens, those who are Christians (possibly one-quarter of the population) have hoped to use their new faith to link with outside powers to protect their people from being engulfed by Burmans. The Chin religion, in which the door to paradise is opened by hinting done in the proper way to honor and contend with the spirits of what is killed, can be seen in contrast to the Buddhism of their neighbors, where taking life is normatively scorned. Animal sacrifice, so common among hill peoples, is likewise condemned by valley Buddhists.” The Naga on the Burma side of the frontier with India sometimes are mistakenly placed with the Chin September 2008 15
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