A post from the archives
16 January 1516
Bayinnaung, the warrior king
Myanmar's archetypal warrior-king, Bayinnaung (personal name Ye Htut), was born on 16 January 1516. His polyglot empire dominated mainland Southeast Asia, integrating the Irrawaddy valley with the Tai-speaking uplands and the Chao Phraya valley to the east.
This map (from G.E. Harvey's 1925 History of Burma) shows Bayinnaung's empire at its height c. 1565 after his conquests of Siam, and the Lanna and Lanxang kingdoms; the even more cosmopolitan empire of Arakan was then a separate and significant power.
What...
Explore Myanmar History through a Timeline
About this project
The aim of this website is to promote interest in Myanmar's amazing history.Our hope is to challenge the often two-dimensional and uncritical views of history taught in Myanmar by reexamining key periods in the country's past. We would like as well to reveal the rich multicultural nature of Myanmar's history and its deep and ongoing ties to global events and trends.Finally, this website will also delve into the history of neighbouring regions, such as Yunnan in China and the Northeast in India, in the hope of introducing these places to a Myanmar audience.We believe that meeting Myanmar's many challenges today will require fresh imaginative thinking. This is turn will only be possible with a clear and critical understanding of Myanmar and global history.