Page 359 - The Rough Guide to Myanmar (Burma)

History CONTEXTS 357
History

Myanmar’s past reflects its unique geographical location at the cultural
watershed between China, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, and
the country has been buffeted throughout its history by the rival claims of
competing kingdoms and cultures – not to mention the conflicting demands
of its numerous ethnic groups and the traumatic effects of colonial
occupation. Myanmar’s tendency to disintegrate into competing kingdoms
(often divided along ethnic lines) has been a repeated feature of its history,
like a kind of tropical Yugoslavia, and the threat of imminent Balkanization
continues to hang over the country right up to the present day.
Physically, Myanmar grew up around its great river valleys, particularly the mighty
Ayeyarwady – a cradle of civilization every bit as impressive as the Ganges, Indus or
Nile. Culturally, the unifying effect of Theravada Buddhism has played a major role in
uniting Bamar, Mon and other Burmese peoples throughout their history, although
significant Christian and Muslim minorities remain.
Written records of early Burmese history are slight: much of what is known about
the Pyu – the first recorded settlers – for example, comes from Chinese annals (and the
now extinct Pyu language itself wasn’t deciphered until the early twentieth century),
while even some quite basic assumptions about Burmese history have been repeatedly
questioned. Many details remain politically charged to this day (the exact role of the
Mon in the development of the Bagan Empire, for example). Early dates can also be
problematic – two different dating systems exist for the rulers of Bagan, for instance,
meaning that sources don’t always agree.

Prehistory
The first modern humans, Homo erectus, are thought to have arrived in Myanmar as
BURMESE SCRIPT
early as 750,000 BC, settling around the Ayeyarwady River. Homo sapiens appear to
have been present in Myanmar since at least 11,000 BC, judging by archeological finds
from the Padah-Lin Caves near Taunggyi, including pieces of charcoal, stone tools,
fragments of bone and simple cave paintings in red ochre.
By 1500 BC, the inhabitants of Myanmar had spread along the Ayeyarwady and
Chindwin rivers and out into the areas that now form Shan and Kachin states.
Inhabitants of the copper-rich Shan hills had begun to smelt bronze, while in the river
valleys the art of growing rice had also been mastered – although perhaps the most
notable achievement of the early Burmese is to have been among the first people in
the world to domesticate the chicken. By 500 BC, villages in the vicinity of modern
Mandalay were producing iron, while there is also evidence of trade both locally and
as far afield as China – a precursor of the human migrations from southern China into
Myanmar that were to prove so crucial in the country’s early development.

750,000 BC 11,000 BC 1500 BC c.200 BC
Arrival of Homo erectus Evidence of prehistoric Early human settlement Development of the early
in Myanmar settlement at Padah- of the Ayeyarwady River Pyu city-states along the
Lin Caves valley northern Ayeyarwady River

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