late 19th Century
Scotland's deep ties to Myanmar
room United Kingdom
The majority of the top companies in Yangon (then Rangoon) in the late 19th and early 20th century were Scottish. Golf and whiskey in Myanmar are of course legacies of this connection. Thousands of Scots lived and worked in this city over several generations and may have constituted as much as 80 percent of the total European population in colonial times. Many of the old downtown buildings are described as English, but are more accurately Scottish. A small sampling of Scotland's architectural influence on Yangon would include the office buildings these Glasgow-owned companies: the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company (pictured here), the A. Scott Company, Grindlay's Bank, Burmah Oil, and Bombay Burmah. And just opposite the Thamada cinema stands the Scots Kirk (Scottish Presbyterian Church).
The Inland Waterways Department, formerly the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, which was established in Burma in 1865 by Todd, Findlay & Co. and had its head offices in Glasgow. This building was built in 1933 and is located on Pansodan Street, Yangon.