Alaungpaya

The Shwethalyaung Buddha at Pegu in 1881

The Buddha image which is believed to be several centuries old, was 'lost'i in 1757 after Alaungpaya's sack and abandonment of the Mon capital Pegu. It was discovered in 1880 in what had become jungle and restored the following year.

Amarapura

Amarapura was founded on 13 May 1783 by King Bodawpaya. With 53 official wives and 120 children, King Bodawpaya, fifth son of Alaungpaya, was 38 years old when he founded the new citadel. At the time, the Konbaung dynasty was then less than a quarter century old and at the very height of its power. Amarapura is a Pali word meaning "immortal city". "Amara" is a cognate of Latin "immortalis" or "immortal"; "pura" a cognate of Germanic "burg", English "borough"...

The First Anglo-Burmese War (Part 1)

On 5 March 1824 Lord Amherst, then Governor-General of India (later the first Earl Amherst of Arracan), declared war on the kingdom of Burma from Fort William, Calcutta. The war would last more than two years and was one of the most expensive in British imperial history (costing approximately $30 billion in today's money). It led to the deaths of tens of thousands of European, Indian, and Burmese soldiers and civilians, and ended with the annexation of Assam, Manipur, Arakan...