History
On dates of publication: where documents have no date of publication, I have used the date, or approximate date, of creation of the document, if known. Where several documents are contained in an entry, the date of the most recent is used.
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Historiography
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Ecology of Burman-Mon Warfare and the Premodern Agrarian State (1383-1425)1 |
| Date of publication: | | December 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "...The present study is broken into five sections as follows. First, it looks at conflicts over the middle
Irrawaddy (1389-1411) from various perspectives with different sets of historical data, including changes in
chronicle lists of settlements; the observations of a British colonial-era gazetteer, the narrative of Kalà’s Great
Chronicle and the Rajadirat epic. Previous papers (Fernquest 2006a, 2006b) have discussed in detail the larger
context of these conflicts in the Ava-Pegu War (1383-1426).
Second, it then describes the historical geography of Lower Burma and the middle Irrawaddy River
basin and draws out the implications for military power. Historically, the north-to-south orientation of the
Irrawaddy River has broken the east-to-west orientation of settlements in Lower Burma. This fragmented
geography together with the limited farming potential and difficult terrain of the Irrawaddy Delta, contributed
to an underlying localism in Lower Burma’s geography. Viewed in this context, the middle Irrawaddy River
region is a pivotal thoroughfare providing access to the delta region, Lower Burma, and food supply located
along the river. Battles over this strategically important stretch of river are a crucial turning point in the Ava-
Pegu War with food supply and adjustments in military logistics playing a crucial role in the course of the
conflicts. Apparently, because of the difficult nature of Lower Burma’s geography, the Burmans never
established a military outpost any further south than Tharrawaddy on the Irrawaddy River, before the delta
even begins.
Third, ecological patterns conditioned the long-term conduct of warfare. The regular yearly cycle of
changing climate and agriculture conditioned the way wars were fought if manpower was to be optimally
conserved. The subsistence crisis was used as an extension or weapon of war. Long-term climate patterns
may have increased the potential for these subsistence crises.
Fourth, from the underlying constraints of environment and ecology in warfare the paper passes to
the dynamics of warfare. A cycle of expansionary warfare explains how military success fueled further military
success through the accumulation of geopolitical resources such as land, food supply, and manpower. A
marchland factor also was operative in which enemies on fewer fronts aided the expansionary warfare of a
state. Eventually, imperial overstretch and logistical overload resulted in a reverse process of state contraction
in which the resources accumulated during expansionary warfare were quickly lost. Scorched earth tactics in
which local food supplies were destroyed were part of the offensive strategy of expansionary warfare, whereas
flight to the hinterland was part of the defensive response.
Finally, in the conclusion the paper re-examines the agrarian nature of the Burmese state suggesting
that general cross-cultural models of premodern agrarian states lead to richer explanations than the regionspecific
mandala or “galactic polity” models traditionally employed in Southeast Asian history. Cross-cultural
models allow for more realistic multi-causal explanations of historical events. They also allow for the posing
and testing of a wide variety of different hypotheses and the possibility that disparate, geographically
unrelated cultures, have shared historical experiences and processes. A Bayesian approach that brings in and
VOLUME 6 (2008)
7 5
integrates knowledge of other premodern agrarian states in the form of a priori probabilities is suggested as
one approach to crafting such a multi-threaded history of what-might-have-happened.
Taken together, the six sections of this paper demonstrate how various seemingly fictional elements
typically found in Southeast Asian historical chronicles, fictional elements often conceived of as a historical
deficit, rather provide rich details that should be conceived instead as a historical surfeit worthy of study in
and of itself..." |
| Author/creator: | | Jon Fernquest |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research 6, 2008 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (6.2MB, 1.4MB)) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 27 January 2009 |
|
| Title: | | ROMANCE AND TRAGEDY IN BURMESE HISTORY: A READING OF G. E. HARVEY’S "THE HISTORY OF BURMA" |
| Date of publication: | | 20 March 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | "In 1919 G. E. Harvey delivered a speech to staff and students of Rangoon College.
Entitled “The Writing of Burmese History,” his lecture exhorted local students to
look to the glories’ and shames’ of their past, for “in the beauty of old time you
will find an ideal for the future.”2 Harvey encouraged the students to appreciate the
“beauty” of their past, yet also to take guidance from their modern English
education. In concluding his lecture he exhorted the students to write the history of
their own people, stating: “It is for the younger generation with its superior mental
training to justify its education, to help these men of an older generation and to take
up the magnificent task of writing a fitting History of Burma.”
Six years later a history in a form consistent with Harvey’s description was
published under the title History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to March 1824
The Beginning of the English Conquest.4 The author of this history, however, was
not a local student who was inspired by Harvey’s lecture, but rather Harvey
himself. The History of Burma sets out to describe the histories, art and literature of
the pre-colonial kingdoms in Burma. In this work Harvey combines the narratives
of earlier European travellers to Burma with tales from the local chronicles, and
evidence from the local inscriptions. Harvey’s text is an academic account of Burmese history, but it is also a highly literary and sometimes contradictory
narrative. 5 Harvey, in his introduction to the book, describes it as “a little pioneer
work,” as much of the written evidence of pre-colonial Burma remains
“untranslated or unprinted.”6 Yet this book, which was originally published in
London in 1925, was not just a “little pioneer work,” it became one of the standard
Burmese history texts in the late colonial period..." |
| Author/creator: | | Alyssa Phillips |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol.3, No. 1, Spring 2005, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (106K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Text and Context: Another Look at "Burmese Days" |
| Date of publication: | | 20 March 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | "Students of colonial Burma inevitably turn to Burmese Days. The frequent
pedagogical use of George Orwell’s (1903-1950) novel has meant that the text has
become a part of the mythology of imperial experience not only for Burma, but for the
British Empire as a whole...this paper will raise the possibility that repositioning Burmese Days within the stream of discourse about Burma shows
that while it was an important work of social criticism, it also bore the biases which
some scholars prefer to label as `orientalist.’ Having said as much, it remains beyond
the boundaries of this discussion to decide whether Orwell’s novel warrants its
mythological reputation...With its emphasis on the cunning
of U Po Kyin and ultimate unknowable character of the Burmans Orwell’s novel repeats the constructions of stereotypes which scholars have come to associate with
`orientalism.’ To be sure, Orwell did not write to create categories of difference or to
promote racial hierarchies, but his novel has the effect of supporting some of these
patterns of discourse. Burma, both the land and its peoples, remains as `the other’; the
main emphasis is on the presentation of the generic evils associated with imperialism. |
| Author/creator: | | Stephen L. Keck |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (63K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | THE FLIGHT OF LAO WAR CAPTIVES FROM BURMA BACK TO LAOS IN 1596: A COMPARISON OF HISTORICAL SOURCES |
| Date of publication: | | 20 March 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | "In 1596, one thousand Lao war captives fled from Pegu, the capital of the kingdom
of Burma, back to their native kingdom of Lan Sang. This incident is insignificant
when compared to more cataclysmic changes like the founding or fall of dynasties,
but it has attracted the attention of Western, Thai, and Burmese historians since the
17th century.
The incident is noteworthy and exceptional in several ways. First, the flight
was to a remote destination: Laos. Second, the incident involved two traditional
enemies: Burmese and ethnic Tai's. "Tai" will be used to emphasize that this is an
autonomous history of pre-modern states ranging from Ayutthya in the South,
through Lan Sang, Lan Na, Kengtung, and Sipsong Panna in the North, to the Shan
states of Burma in the far north. Third, the entries covering the incident in the
Ayutthya, Chiang Mai, and Lan Sang chronicles are short, ambiguous, and beg to
be explained. All of this gives the incident great dramatic potential and two
historians of note have made use of these exceptional characteristics to further their
literary and ideological goals: de Marini, a Jesuit priest, in a book published in
1663, and Prince Damrong, a Thai historian, in a book published in 1917. Sections
2 and 5 will analyze the works of these historians..." |
| Author/creator: | | Jon Fernquest |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (115K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
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Oral History
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Learning to Listen: A Manual for Oral History Projects |
| Date of publication: | | May 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "Learning to Listen" is a manual designed specifically for those who want to develop oral history and oral testimony projects with people in or from Burma. The manual, produced by OSI grantee The Green Centre for Non-Western Art, has been developed with the support of Panos Oral Testimony Programme, who permitted incorporation of training materials that have been developed by them worldwide for use in NGOs and community groups. The manual gives a basic introduction to the planning, implementation and assessment of oral projects, as well as guidelines on dissemination and preservation of oral and visual materials in settings where only basic technologies are available. The principles, however, are adaptable to a range of different contexts and examples are included in the text of a wide range of projects for those who want more detailed discussion of some of the issues raised. "Learning to Listen" will be a valuable tool for all those interested in pursuing oral research with communities from Burma, and the Burmese translation of the text will be of benefit both to local researchers and to those who want to develop their work collaboratively. |
| Author/creator: | | Manday Sadan |
| Language: | | Burmese, English |
| Source/publisher: | | The Green Centre for Non-Western Art |
| Format/size: | | pdf (6.4MB - English; 4MB - Burmese) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.soros.org/initiatives/bpsai/articles_publications/publications/learning_20080407/b_learn... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 30 March 2009 |
|
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Kachin history
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Kachin History |
| Description/subject: | | Comprising six ethnic sub-groups (Jinghpaw, Lawngwaw, Lashi, Zaiwa, Rawang, Lisu) are called Kachin. These six groups are the same traditions, customs, dialects and practices live mainly in northern Burma, as well as parts of China and India. The Kachin in Burma are estimated to number between 1 - 1.5 million. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Kachin National Organization |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 12 November 2010 |
|
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Karenni history
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Highlights in Karenni History to 1948 |
| Date of publication: | | 14 November 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | Karenni State is believed to have been established in BC 739.
From 739 BC until the 17th century AD communities within Karenni States were ruled over by elected leaders.
In the 18th century, troops from one of the feudal states in Yun intruded into Karenni State, but the Karenni people united to repel these invaders.
In the 18th century Poe Bya Da was elected as chief of the whole Karenni. Buok Poe Du (Pah Paw Gyi) established Sao Lon City on the east of the Pon River and ruled East Karenni. At that time, Karenni was divided into five sub-states, namely Eastern Karenni Kantarawadi, and Western Karenni, made up of Kyebogyi, Bawlake, Nanmakhon, and Naung Pale. Each state was ruled by its own chief after Poe Bya Da passed away. |
| Author/creator: | | Khu Oo Reh |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karenni Homeland |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 14 November 2010 |
|
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Historical periods
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Mon kingdom [9th - 11th, 13th - 16, 18th]
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Ecology of Burman-Mon Warfare and the Premodern Agrarian State (1383-1425)1 |
| Date of publication: | | December 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "...The present study is broken into five sections as follows. First, it looks at conflicts over the middle
Irrawaddy (1389-1411) from various perspectives with different sets of historical data, including changes in
chronicle lists of settlements; the observations of a British colonial-era gazetteer, the narrative of Kalà’s Great
Chronicle and the Rajadirat epic. Previous papers (Fernquest 2006a, 2006b) have discussed in detail the larger
context of these conflicts in the Ava-Pegu War (1383-1426).
Second, it then describes the historical geography of Lower Burma and the middle Irrawaddy River
basin and draws out the implications for military power. Historically, the north-to-south orientation of the
Irrawaddy River has broken the east-to-west orientation of settlements in Lower Burma. This fragmented
geography together with the limited farming potential and difficult terrain of the Irrawaddy Delta, contributed
to an underlying localism in Lower Burma’s geography. Viewed in this context, the middle Irrawaddy River
region is a pivotal thoroughfare providing access to the delta region, Lower Burma, and food supply located
along the river. Battles over this strategically important stretch of river are a crucial turning point in the Ava-
Pegu War with food supply and adjustments in military logistics playing a crucial role in the course of the
conflicts. Apparently, because of the difficult nature of Lower Burma’s geography, the Burmans never
established a military outpost any further south than Tharrawaddy on the Irrawaddy River, before the delta
even begins.
Third, ecological patterns conditioned the long-term conduct of warfare. The regular yearly cycle of
changing climate and agriculture conditioned the way wars were fought if manpower was to be optimally
conserved. The subsistence crisis was used as an extension or weapon of war. Long-term climate patterns
may have increased the potential for these subsistence crises.
Fourth, from the underlying constraints of environment and ecology in warfare the paper passes to
the dynamics of warfare. A cycle of expansionary warfare explains how military success fueled further military
success through the accumulation of geopolitical resources such as land, food supply, and manpower. A
marchland factor also was operative in which enemies on fewer fronts aided the expansionary warfare of a
state. Eventually, imperial overstretch and logistical overload resulted in a reverse process of state contraction
in which the resources accumulated during expansionary warfare were quickly lost. Scorched earth tactics in
which local food supplies were destroyed were part of the offensive strategy of expansionary warfare, whereas
flight to the hinterland was part of the defensive response.
Finally, in the conclusion the paper re-examines the agrarian nature of the Burmese state suggesting
that general cross-cultural models of premodern agrarian states lead to richer explanations than the regionspecific
mandala or “galactic polity” models traditionally employed in Southeast Asian history. Cross-cultural
models allow for more realistic multi-causal explanations of historical events. They also allow for the posing
and testing of a wide variety of different hypotheses and the possibility that disparate, geographically
unrelated cultures, have shared historical experiences and processes. A Bayesian approach that brings in and
VOLUME 6 (2008)
7 5
integrates knowledge of other premodern agrarian states in the form of a priori probabilities is suggested as
one approach to crafting such a multi-threaded history of what-might-have-happened.
Taken together, the six sections of this paper demonstrate how various seemingly fictional elements
typically found in Southeast Asian historical chronicles, fictional elements often conceived of as a historical
deficit, rather provide rich details that should be conceived instead as a historical surfeit worthy of study in
and of itself..." |
| Author/creator: | | Jon Fernquest |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research 6, 2008 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (6.2MB, 1.4MB)) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 27 January 2009 |
|
| Title: | | RAJADHIRAT’S MASK OF COMMAND: MILITARY LEADERSHIP IN BURMA (C. 1348-1421) |
| Date of publication: | | March 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | "The reign of the Mon king Rajadhirat (r. 1383-1421) was
an exceptional period in Burma’s history. Rarely has one
person exerted so much influence over the events of an
era. Lower and Upper Burma were locked in endemic
warfare for almost forty years during his reign. Unlike
his father and predecessor, Rajadhirat was forced to
wage war to obtain power. Once in power, he had to
continue fighting to maintain power. During the critical
first seven years of his rule, Rajadhirat consolidated
power in a series of conflicts with other members of the
ruling elite..." |
| Author/creator: | | Jon Fernquest |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research 4.1 (Spring 2006) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (275K - reduced; 1.97MB - original) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612023842/http://web.soas.ac.uk/burma/4.1files/4.1fernquest.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 16 July 2006 |
|
| Title: | | THE BUDDHIST KINGS OF CHIENGMAI AND PEGU, THE PURIFICATION OF THE SANGHA, AND THE MAHABODHI REPLICAS IN THE LATE FIFTEENTH CENTURY |
| Date of publication: | | December 1996 |
| Description/subject: | | "In the late fifteenth century two similar and interesting events took place. Two Southeast Asian kings, both claiming to be Buddhist world rulers, built replicas of the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodhgaya, India. The first king was Dhammacetti (1462-1492) of Pegu, who built the Shwegugyi Temple in Pegu in 1479. The other king was Tilokaraja (1441-1487), of Chiengmai, who began building the Wat Cet Yot in 1455 (although the building went on for over a decade). Both the Shwegugyi and the Wat Cet Yot are replicas of the Mahabodhi temple at Bodhgaya, India, in their general architectural design, their use of the seven stations in their layout, and their association with the bodhi tree.
The Mahabodhi temple is important to Buddhism, because it was built next to the bodhi tree under which the Buddha sat when he was enlightened. The seven stations at that temple refer to the seven different sites where the Buddha spent each of the seven weeks after enlightenment. This means that the Mahabodhi temple, the bodhi tree, and the seven stations there are directly tied to the foundation of the sasana and to the purity of the sasana. The construction of the two Mahabodhi replicas is even more interesting because only two other replicas of the Mahabodhi were built in Southeast Asia, one in Pagan built in 1215 by Nadaunmya (Htilominlo), and a minor one at Chiengrai, which cannot be dated or attributed.
It is difficult to find out, however, why two kings in neighboring areas built Mahabodhi replicas at about the same time and why such replicas were not built in Southeast Asia for the 250 years before this time or at anytime afterwards.6 The chronicles and inscriptions explain that Tiloka and Dhammacetti were performing meritorious acts by building the Mahabodhi replicas. The chronicles and inscriptions also claim that these two kings were trying to unify and purify the sangha in their lands. However, the chronicles and inscriptions do not say why Mahabodhi replicas were built by Dhammacetti and Tilokaraja around the same time and not by every king before and after who tried to gain merit or be a dhammaraja by purifying and uniting the sangha. I think it is important to find the underlying reasons for the similar event occurring in Chiengmai and Pegu in the late fifteenth century.
I will try, using the information that is available, and general information regarding the social, political, commercial, religious, agricultural, and demographic trends of that period, to provide the best possible answer to the questions (1) why the Mahabodhi replicas in Chiengmai and Pegu were built, (2) why they were built in these two places and not somewhere else, and (3) why they were built at this time.
My argument, which I will develop and explain more fully below, is that the most significant factor in the adoption of Mahabodhi replicas and the repurification of the sangha in late fifteenth century Chiengmai and Pegu was international trade. During the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries, mainland Southeast Asia was politically (small and numerous states) and religiously (small and numerous sects) divided and not many kings had the resources or power to prove their claims of being dhammarajas by unifying or purifying the sangha or support the construction of temples on the same scale as Pagan. During the same period, however, trade grew as did agricultural
cultivation and the population). By the late fifteenth century, central kings gained money for religious patronage of the sangha and for political patronage of (and more prestige in the eyes of) local rulers and probably better control of their kingdoms outside of the capital. The links that Chiengmai and Pegu had with international trade also brought ideas for rulers and monks. The religious reform and the building of Mahabodhi replicas of the late fifteenth century in Pegu and in Chiengmai came from ideas, brought along trade routes (maritime and within Southeast Asia), strengthening the prestige of Sri Lanka as a center of pure Buddhism. Also, Buddhist monks travelling along Southeast Asian trade routes seem to have spread beliefs in the royal capitals (as trade centers) that religious reform should also include a replica of the Mahabodhi temple. The monks who took advantage of these ideas won the support of the central ruler over rival sects since they had a better claim to religious purity. The central kings had more resources and control than their predecessors over their kingdoms and could make the selection of a particular sect and the religious repurification more significant throughout the kingdom. Finally, to reinforce their image as dhammarajas who unified and purified the sangha, and as cakravartins or world Buddhist rulers, Dhammacetti and Tilokaraja tried to replace Pagan with their own capitals as the chief center of Buddhism (which meant that their capitals also had to have Mahabodhi replicas)." |
| Author/creator: | | ATSUKO NAONO |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.2MB-low res; 2.3MB-medium res; 4.3MB - high res) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/Naono1996-ocr-mr.pdf
http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/Naono1996-ocr-hr.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 04 October 2010 |
|
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Pagan (Bagan) period [849-1287 AD]
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Intra-dynastic and Inter-Tai Conflicts in the Old Kingdom of Moeng Lü in Southern Yunnan |
| Date of publication: | | March 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "...Power struggles within ruling houses are a classic problem causing the
weakening of dynasties and inviting foreign invasions. The Tai polities in
pre-modern Asia were no exception. This recurrent problem is
documented not only in contemporary Chinese sources, but also in the
various versions of the Tai chronicles that the present writer has
investigated. The present article focuses on the example of the Tai Lü
polity, namely Moeng Lü (better known as Sipsòng Panna), which was
founded in the twelfth century in present-day southern Yunnan along
what Jon Fernquest has called the “Tai Frontier.”2 When waging
fratricidal wars or committing fratricide to gain the throne was
concerned, the traditional Tai polities in this frontier between China and
the large lowland polities of mainland Southeast Asia were no better than
the ruling houses of medieval Europe and China...The Chronicles of Moeng Lü (CML) is replete with killings and civil
wars. Recorded above are seven major conflicts involving disputes
related to succession to the throne of Saenwi Fa. The CML’s coverage of
the successive reigns is not equal. The records of about one third of the
reigns are very brief but that does not mean that there was no fighting
during these reigns. Moeng Lü or Cheli was not a unified Tai kingdom.
As recorded in the “Basic Annals” of the History of the Yuan Dynasty
(Yuanshi), as early as around 1297/98 there were the Greater Cheli and
Lessser Cheli. Moeng Lü was partitioned into two by the Mekong River
long before Burmese expansion in the sixteenth century." |
| Author/creator: | | Foon Ming Liew-Herres (Hamburg) |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS BULLETIN OF BURMA RESEARCH VOL. 5, 2007 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (518K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Pagan and Early Burma |
| Date of publication: | | October 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | "Pagan, today a small town of perhaps 2,000 inhabitants, was the capital of the first
Burmese kingdom for about 250 years between the mid-eleventh and the end of the
thirteenth centuries. During this period, more than 2,500 religious monuments, mostly
Buddhist temples, stupas and monasteries, were constructed in and around the city. At the
end of the thirteenth century, the city ceased to be a political center, having falled victim
to demographic disruptions, economic exhaustion, and military pressure from the
Mongols, though it kept its status as a sacred center and a place of learning until the end
of the last Burmese kingdom..." |
| Author/creator: | | Tilman Frasch |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Newsletter, Issue 25, International Institute for Asian Studies |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | The Pwa Saws of Bagan/ ပုဂံခေတ် ဖွားစောများ |
| Date of publication: | | 23 March 1996 |
| Description/subject: | | Title(Book/Serial): Burma Historical Research Department Silver Jublice publication;
1. Pwa Saw, 1st (Min Waing Pwa Saw) 1230 - 1287;
2. Pwa Saw, 2nd (Saw Hla Wun Pwa Saw) 1262 - 1296;
3. Pwa Saw, 3rd (Thitmathi Pwa Saw) 1295 - 1334;
4. Myanmar - History - Bagan period, 1044 - 1287.
Place/Publisher:Historical Research Department
Ed. Date:1982
Pagination:p. 22 - 25
"Paper read at the first Union of Burma Literary and Social Sciences Conference held on 23rd March 1966. In the Bagan period three queens named Pwa Saw were well known. They were important advisors to the kings who ruled during their lives. The author observes that Bagan inscriptions document several queens named Saw; three Pwa Saws were described: (1) Min Waing Pwa Saw (2) Saw Hla Wun Pwa Saw, and (3) Thitmathi Pwa Saw. They were clever and participated in the administration of the country. |
| Author/creator: | | Col. Ba Shin/ ဗိုလ်မှူးဘရှင် |
| Language: | | Burmese |
| Source/publisher: | | Burma Historical Research Dept. via ANU Library |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.85MB) 35 pages |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.lib.washington.edu/myanmar/detail/article_title/The%20Pwa%20Saws%20of%20Bagan/?page=1&am... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Notice of Pugan, the Ancient Capital of the Burmese Empire. |
| Date of publication: | | 04 July 1835 |
| Description/subject: | | "...The celebrated Venetian traveller, MARCO POLO, (see MARSDEN'S edition of his Travels, pages
441 to 451,) has given us an account of the war between the Tartars and the people of Mien
(the Chinese name for Burmah), which occurred some time after 1272, and led the former to
take possession of the then capital of the latter nation. SYMES and CRAWFORD, in the Journals of
their Missions to Ava, as well as HAVELOCK and TRANT in their accounts of the late war, have
described the extensive remains of Pagan, the former capital of the Burmese empire, lying
between Prome and Ava, with its innumerable ruins of temples and columns. Perhaps the
following account of the destruction of that city, translated from the 5th volume of the large
edition of the Royal Chronicles of the Kings of Ava, (Maha Yazawen wen dan gyee,) may be
deemed curious..." |
| Author/creator: | | Lieut.-Col. Henry Burney, H. C.'s Resident In Ava |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 4 (vol. 4, July, 1835, pp. 400-404) via SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, Autumn 2003 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (38K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070609092430/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/vol__i,_no__2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 August 2004 |
|
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The Toungoo Dynasty [1486-1752]
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Addendum: The Shan Realm in the Late Ava Period (1449-1503) |
| Date of publication: | | September 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | Note:
The following addendum to Jon Fernquest, (2005) “Min-gyi-nyo,
the Shan Invasions of Ava (1524-27), and the Beginnings of
Expansionary Warfare in Toungoo Burma: 1486-1539,” SOAS
Bulletin of Burma Research 3.2 (Autumn 2005): 35-142, was
submitted after the journal was off to press (so to speak). We have
added it here at the end of the volume. It is hoped that readers of
Jon’s article, earlier in this journal, will also take note of this
additional and revised material.
M.W.C...."Several factors conditioned the relation between the Shan Realm,
China, and Burmese Ava before Min-gyi-nyo’s accession to power:... |
| Author/creator: | | John Fernquest (Fernquist) |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (152K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Min-gyi-nyo, the Shan Invasions of Ava (1524-27), and the Beginnings of Expansionary Warfare in Toungoo Burma: 1486-1539 |
| Date of publication: | | September 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | Conclusion:
"The main purpose of this paper has been to provide a narrative
history charting the forces at work behind state expansion in the
early Toungoo period. Both the reign of Min-gyi-nyo and the Shan
invasions of Ava played important roles in this expansion. From the
very beginning of Min-gyi-nyo’s reign, after seizing the throne of
Toungoo in 1486, Min-gyi-nyo built an ever widening sphere of
influence in Upper Burma. After conquering the Pyinmana area near
Toungoo, during the 1490s Min-gyi-nyo attacked the rebellious
vassal Yamethin on behalf of his overlord the king of Ava and made
exploratory military probes along the frontier of Mon Ramanya to the
south. In 1501-03, there was a succession struggle at Ava as well as
an invasion and occupation of the northern part of the Mu River
valley, an important part of Ava’s food supply. In the wake of these
events, the new king of Ava attempted to draw Min-gyi-nyo closer to
him through a marriage alliance and a gift of strategically important
territory near Kyaukse, another important part of Ava’s food supply.
Min-gyi-nyo entered into a state of rebellion for the first time,
spurned Ava’s gift and depopulated the territory. Ava sent a military
expedition against Toungoo in retaliation, but Min-gyi-nyo
intercepted it ahead of time and defeated it. Shortly afterwards, in
1505, Toungoo joined with Prome and attacked towns in the
Myingyan area near Pagan. Toungoo was defeated and humbled by a joint military expedition sent by Ava and Hsipaw. In 1505, three
princes rebelled and seized the town of Pakan-gyi at the confluence
of the Irrawaddy and Chindwin rivers. Instead of making an
immediate move to help the rebels, Toungoo and Prome bided their
time with expeditions against settlements like Magwe to the south.
Their caution was vindicated when the princes were defeated and
executed. During his trips from Toungoo to and from these
campaigns, Min-gyi-nyo attacked and raided settlements along the
way, in some instances establishing marriage alliances. In 1510, the
king of Ava built a new capital and palace and Min-gyi-nyo followed
his example. After 1510, while Ava was burdened by Shan raids of
increasing intensity, Toungoo settled back to a period of peace. Only
in 1523 did Min-gyi-nyo venture out of Toungoo again in a military
expedition. During the Shan invasions of Ava (1524-27), he gained
many loyal vassals in the area south of Ava. Min-gyi-nyo died in
1531. The new Shan state at Ava invaded Prome in 1532 and in
1535 Toungoo under a new king Tabinshweihti started a series of
attacks against Pegu, the capital of Mon Ramanya, that led to
Toungoo’s conquest and control over the southern Ramanya region
and its lucrative maritime trade.
Several demographic factors that played a role in state
formation together with a model of state formation have been
assessed for their relevance to early Toungoo state expansion
(1486-1539). Although many might regard the lack of primary
sources for the First Toungoo Dynasty as limiting research
possibilities, it is hoped that shining the light of disciplines such as
historical demography, political anthropology, the anthropology of
war, as well as economic theory (Schmid, 2004; Van Tuyll and
Brauer, 2004) on the evidence combined with a continued search for
new primary sources will allow new advances to be made in this
important but understudied period of Burmese history. Perhaps
archaeological evidence will also one day supplement the evidence
that is now almost entirely textual." |
| Author/creator: | | Jon Fernquest |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (800K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | THE FLIGHT OF LAO WAR CAPTIVES FROM BURMA BACK TO LAOS IN 1596: A COMPARISON OF HISTORICAL SOURCES |
| Date of publication: | | 20 March 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | "In 1596, one thousand Lao war captives fled from Pegu, the capital of the kingdom
of Burma, back to their native kingdom of Lan Sang. This incident is insignificant
when compared to more cataclysmic changes like the founding or fall of dynasties,
but it has attracted the attention of Western, Thai, and Burmese historians since the
17th century.
The incident is noteworthy and exceptional in several ways. First, the flight
was to a remote destination: Laos. Second, the incident involved two traditional
enemies: Burmese and ethnic Tai's. "Tai" will be used to emphasize that this is an
autonomous history of pre-modern states ranging from Ayutthya in the South,
through Lan Sang, Lan Na, Kengtung, and Sipsong Panna in the North, to the Shan
states of Burma in the far north. Third, the entries covering the incident in the
Ayutthya, Chiang Mai, and Lan Sang chronicles are short, ambiguous, and beg to
be explained. All of this gives the incident great dramatic potential and two
historians of note have made use of these exceptional characteristics to further their
literary and ideological goals: de Marini, a Jesuit priest, in a book published in
1663, and Prince Damrong, a Thai historian, in a book published in 1917. Sections
2 and 5 will analyze the works of these historians..." |
| Author/creator: | | Jon Fernquest |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (115K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Ming China and Southeast Asia in the 15th Century: A Reappraisal |
| Date of publication: | | July 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | Abstract / Description:
"The 15th century was a period of intense interaction between Ming China and Southeast Asia. The period saw the Ming invade Ðại Việt, expand the scope of the Chinese polity by exploiting and then incorporating Tai polities of upland Southeast Asia, and launch a succession of hugely influential maritime armadas which travelled through Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. It is argued that these three aspects of Ming policy can be seen as differing types of Ming colonialism greatly affecting Southeast Asia during the 15th century and beyond.
A chronological study of the policies relating to Southeast Asia of the successive Ming rulers is followed by a thematic overview of how the Ming policies actually affected Southeast Asia in the 15th century. This includes reference to effects in the political, economic and cultural topography of Southeast Asia The beginnings of a non-state-sponsored maritime trade between China and Southeast Asia is also investigated."...Keywords: Ming, Southeast Asia, 15th century, Zheng He, Dai Viet, Tai, Malacca.....20 references to Burma |
| Author/creator: | | Geoffrey Wade |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Asia Research Institute National University of Singapore Working Paper 28 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.42MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 12 March 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Voyage to Pegu, and Observations There, Circa 1583 |
| Date of publication: | | 1626 |
| Description/subject: | | “Gaspero Balbi his Voyage to Pegu, and observations there, gathered
out of his owne Italian Relation,” in Samuel Purchas (ed.), Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas His
Pilgrimes Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells by Englishmen
and Others", volume 10, (1626). "Gaspero Balbi, an Italian travelling to Southeast Asia in the sixteenth century, has left for us a
valuable account of Burma during the reign of Bayinnaung..." |
| Author/creator: | | Gaspero Balbi |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | “Gaspero Balbi his Voyage to Pegu..." via SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, Autumn 2003, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (58K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070609092430/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/vol__i,_no__2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
-
The Konbaung Dynasty and the Anglo-Burmese Wars [1753-1885]
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Despot and the Diplomat |
| Date of publication: | | September 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "The experiences of Capt Michael Symes, the first official British emissary to the Burmese court, offer lessons for diplomats dealing with the country’s current rulers...
MILITARY-ruled Burma is surely one of the world’s least rewarding assignments for a United Nations diplomat. Visiting envoys are routinely refused contact with the country’s dictator, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, in his remote capital of Naypyidaw, the “Royal Abode.” Months or years may pass with no signs of progress before an envoy finally abandons his mission in frustration—and the regime claims another victory in its war of wills against the outside world.
Much has been made of Than Shwe’s monarchical pretensions, and in his approach to diplomacy it is not difficult to see the influence of rulers of an earlier age, when Burmese kings believed they could keep the world at bay by treating foreign emissaries with studied disdain. Indeed, any diplomat who wishes to understand the mindset of Burma’s current rulers should probably go back at least as far as Bodawpaya, the king who perfected a brand of diplomacy still practiced in Burma today..." |
| Author/creator: | | Neil Lawrence |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 16, No. 9 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 13 November 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Ruling the Rulers |
| Date of publication: | | May 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | Efforts to limit the powers of Burma’s absolute monarchs failed. So did the monarchy...
"THROUGHTOUT Asia, the middle of the 19th century was a period of political turmoil, as Western imperial powers pressed in upon countries that were subject to various forms of pre-modern rule. Burma was no exception, as it was forced to come to terms with a nation that was not only militarily superior, but also politically more advanced.
Under the country’s last two monarchs, King Mindon (1853-78) and King Thibaw (1878-85), there were attempts to reform Burmese polity in the face of growing external challenges. At the center of these efforts was Yaw Atwinwun U Hpo Hlaing, the author of “Rajadhammasangaha,” a treatise which would have laid the basis for a constitutional monarchy in Burma, and which, in the words of respected scholar Maung Htin, “might have kept King Thibaw in the enjoyment of his throne..."” |
| Author/creator: | | Min Lwin |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 16, No. 5 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 May 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Specialists for Ritual, Magic and Devotion: The Court Brahmins (Punna) of the Konbaung Kings (1752-1885) |
| Date of publication: | | 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | Abstract: "Though they formed an essential part of Burmese court life, the Brahmins
have hitherto attracted no scholarly interest outside Burma. Based on a
study of royal orders and administrative compendia as well as recent
Burmese research, this article gives for the first time an overview of
the origins, the ritual and ceremonial functions and the organization
of the punna. The main section is preceded by an overview of sources
and research questions. Special emphasis is given in the last part to the
noteworthy role played by punna in King Bodawphaya�s reform policies." |
| Author/creator: | | Jacques P. Leider |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Journal of Burma Studies" Vol. 10, 2005/06 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (804K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.niu.edu/burma/publications/jbs/vol10/index.shtml (JBS Vol. 10) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 31 December 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Was “Yadza” Really Ro(d)gers? |
| Date of publication: | | September 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | "Under the terms of the Treaty of Yandabo, which ended the first
Anglo-Burmese war of 1824-26, the Government of India sent
Henry Burney to Burma as Resident Minister to the Court of Ava.
Arriving at post in April 1830 he kept a journal in which, a few
months later, he recorded the following:
August 12
I paid a visit this morning to an extraordinary character, an
uncle of the King, named Mekkhra Mon tha or Prince of
Mekkhra. He has been taught to read and understand
English by the late Mr Rogers, and he evinces a very
laudable desire of becoming acquainted with European
science and literature.
(Tarling, ed.1995:59)
Burney goes on to say that he and his associates considered the
Prince to be certainly the most extraordinary man we have seen in
this country’ in that he possessed an impressive English library,
was already well informed in scientific matters, had translated
extracts from Rees’s Cyclopaedia and – with the help of an
American missionary – had well-nigh completed an English-
Burmese dictionary.
According to Burney, then, the tutor credited with enabling the
Prince to do all this was the late Mr Rogers.’ But how did this
intriguing English-born character come to be there, and who
exactly was he? I raise the question because, while most of the
information we have about Rogers is based on his own accounts of
his background, those accounts are not consistent. I shall
therefore, working backwards from 1830, collate various pieces of
information about him in an attempt to establish the truth about
his past. We must first jump back four years..." |
| Author/creator: | | Gerry Abbott |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (111K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | "Adoniram Judson and the Creation of a Missionary Discourse in Pre-Colonial Burma" |
| Date of publication: | | 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | In the following paper I argue that Adoniram Judson, the first American Baptist Missionary to Burma, was strongly empathetic with his adopted country. His work as interpreter-translator during the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Yandabo in 1826 and his visits to Ava both immediately before and after the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826), although coached in the language of Christian mission, exhibited characteristics markedly different from the perspective of Ann Judson's memoir and from those of certain missionary narratives subsequent to his own. I propose to examine aspects of three texts: Ann Judson's An Account of the American Baptist Mission to the Burman Empire; Henry Gouger's Personal Narrative of Two Years Imprisonment in Burmah; and Adoniram Judson's deposition to John Crawfurd. I shall also refer to J. Snodgrass' Narrative of the Burmese War (1824-1826) and Henry Trant's Two Years in Ava for other perspectives of some events. |
| Author/creator: | | Helen James |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of Burma Studies Vol. 7 (2002) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.2MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.grad.niu.edu/burma/webpgs/abstractsVol7.html# |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 March 2009 |
|
| Title: | | The Fall of Ayutthaya: A Reassessment |
| Date of publication: | | 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | Conventional views of the 1760-1767 Burmese attacks on Ayutthaya contend that the Burmese were taking advantage of an opportunity to attack a politically and economically weak kingdom. This article adduces evidence from the Burmese chronicles, from accounts by contemporary foreign observers, and from economic history to argue that Burma's campaigns against Ayutthaya were part of an epic struggle between the two polities that began in the 1500s and continued until the Anglo-Burmese War of 1824-1826. Control of trade was one of the central factors motivating this centuries-long conflict. It was the very strength and wealth of the Siamese kingdom, not its alleged weakness, that motivated the Burmese invaders, who hoped to strike a blow that would knock Ayutthaya out of contention as the trading hub of mainland Southeast Asia. |
| Author/creator: | | Helen James |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of Burma Studies Vol. 5 (2000) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.19MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 March 2009 |
|
| Title: | | The Mandalay Palace |
| Date of publication: | | 1963 |
| Description/subject: | | Mandalay Palace - Historical Sites;
Mandalay - Description and Travel;
Mandalay - History;
Myanmar - History - Later Konbaung Period;
Contents:
(1) Foundation of the Palace and City p. 10-15;
(2) The City's Defensive Walls p. 16-19;
(3) Building outside the palace platform p. 22-24;
(4) The Buildings within the palace platform p. 25-35;
(5) Appendix - Kings of the Alaungpaya Dynasty p. 37;
This book was published with the grant of 1962 Asia; Foundation. Text by Mon C. Durosielle former Superintendent of the Directorate of Archaeological Survey. Supplemented with thirty one plates of photographs, plans and measured drawings of the palace structures and architectural motifs as preserved in the Archaeological Department. |
| Author/creator: | | Mon C. Durosielle |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | The Directorate of Archaeological Survey |
| Format/size: | | PDF (3.84MB) 57pages |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Zh_zzAF5zUgJ:https://www.myanmarisp.com/ABR/Ma... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 July 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Mandalay in 1878-1879: The Letters of James Alfred Colbeck, Originally Selected and Edited by George H. Colbeck in 1892 |
| Date of publication: | | 1892 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s note:
Present in 1878 and early 1879 and then returning again to Mandalay in 1885 with
British forces, James Alfred Colbeck, mission priest for the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel and latterly military chaplain, provides a unique look at the beginning and end
of Thibaw’s reign (1878-1885). The letters included were originally selected and edited
by George H. Colbeck, mission priest at Mandalay and were published under the title of
Letters from Mandalay, A Series of Letters For the Most Part Written From the Royal City
of Mandalay During the Troublous Years of 1878-79; Together with Letters Written
During the Last Burmese Campaign of 1885-88 (Knavesborough: Alfred W. Lowe, 1892).
The natural division and balance of the letters included warrants their division into two
separate groupings, with the 1878-1879 letters included here and the 1885-1888 letters
included in the forthcoming issue of SBBR. According to George H. Colbeck, the senior
Colbeck died four days after his correspondence of 27th February 1888, the last letter in
the published collection. Unfortunately, the original editor included few details on the
circumstances of the correspondence, with some exceptions, beyond date and general
point of origin (in most cases Mandalay). We are not told, for example, to whom the
letters were written. Aside from these limitations, however, these letters offer valuable
information not available in other source materials on Mandalay during the Kon-baung
dynasty’s last, and arguably most troubled reign. |
| Author/creator: | | James Alfred Colbeck |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, Autumn 2003, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (139K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070609092430/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/vol__i,_no__2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 August 2004 |
|
| Title: | | Mandalay in 1885-1888: The Letters of James Alfred Colbeck, Originally Selected and Edited by George H. Colbeck in 1892, Continued |
| Date of publication: | | 1892 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s note:
This is the second increment in the two-part series on the letters of James Alfred
Colbeck. While the first part covered the years 1878-1879, the present letters include
the years 1885-1888, when Colbeck returned to Upper Burma with British forces and
served as both mission priest and as acting chaplain for British forces.
M.W.C. |
| Author/creator: | | James Alfred Colbeck |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 1, Spring 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (101K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Mandalay in 1878-1879: The Letters of James Alfred Colbeck, Originally Selected and Edited by George H. Colbeck in 1892 |
| Date of publication: | | 16 July 1878 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s note:
Present in 1878 and early 1879 and then returning again to Mandalay in 1885 with
British forces, James Alfred Colbeck, mission priest for the Society for the Propagation of
the Gospel and latterly military chaplain, provides a unique look at the beginning and end
of Thibaw’s reign (1878-1885). The letters included were originally selected and edited
by George H. Colbeck, mission priest at Mandalay and were published under the title of
Letters from Mandalay, A Series of Letters For the Most Part Written From the Royal City
of Mandalay During the Troublous Years of 1878-79; Together with Letters Written
During the Last Burmese Campaign of 1885-88 (Knavesborough: Alfred W. Lowe, 1892).
The natural division and balance of the letters included warrants their division into two
separate groupings, with the 1878-1879 letters included here and the 1885-1888 letters
included in the forthcoming issue of SBBR. According to George H. Colbeck, the senior
Colbeck died four days after his correspondence of 27th February 1888, the last letter in
the published collection. Unfortunately, the original editor included few details on the
circumstances of the correspondence, with some exceptions, beyond date and general
point of origin (in most cases Mandalay). We are not told, for example, to whom the
letters were written. Aside from these limitations, however, these letters offer valuable
information not available in other source materials on Mandalay during the Kon-baung
dynasty’s last, and arguably most troubled reign. |
| Author/creator: | | JAMES ALFRED COLBECK |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, Autumn 2003 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (240.04 K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Some Documents of Tharrawaddy’s Reign: 1837-1846, Part I |
| Date of publication: | | October 1841 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor's note: "The following documents drawn from the reign of King Tharrawaddy are intended as one
contribution of many forthcoming to the project of organizing and publishing the source
accounts for one of the Kon-baung dynasty’s most obscure, yet critical reigns. Thus,
documents included have not been selected on the basis of their high rate of interest
relative to other documents of the period, but rather more with the view of making the
documentary record complete."...“Letter of Mr. Simons, Dated Rangoon, June 20, 1838: Relations Between Burmah and
British India—The “heir apparent” and others put to death”
By
Mr. Simons
American Baptist Missionary Magazine 29.2 (February 1839)...[Letter of Mr. Simons, 23 June 1838]
By
Mr. Simons
American Baptist Missionary Magazine 29.2 (February 1839)...[Events at Amarapura, December 1837]
Maulmain Chronicle, 9 December 1837...[Letter from Maulmain, 6 April 1839]
By
Eugenio Kincaid
American Baptist Missionary Magazine 20.1. (January 1840)...[Letter from Maulmain, 9 April 1839]
By
Eugenio Kincaid
American Baptist Missionary Magazine 20.1. (January 1840)...“Amarapura, 23rd March 1839”
American Baptist Missionary Magazine 20.1 (January 1840)...[Letter from Maulmain, 3 July 1839]
By
Eugenio Kincaid
American Baptist Missionary Magazine 20.3 (March 1840)...[Letter From Maulmain, 20 January 1840]
By
Eugenio Kincaid
American Baptist Missionary Magazine 20.11 (November, 1840)...[Letter From Maulmain, 20 January 1840]
By
Eugenio Kincaid
American Baptist Missionary Magazine 20.11 (November, 1840)...[Report on the Kayens]
Maulmain Chronicle, September 22, 1841...[Tharrawaddy’s March to Rangoon]
Maulmain Chronicle, September 22, 1841...[Preparations for Tharrawaddy’s Arrival at Rangoon]
Maulmain Chronicle, September 29, 1841...[Suggestions for a Show of Force Against Tharrawaddy, 2 October 1841]
by
“Prevantative”
Letter to the Editor
Maulmain Chronicle, October 13 1841... |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, Autumn 2003 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (63K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070609092430/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/vol__i,_no__2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 August 2004 |
|
| Title: | | NARRATIVE OF THE BURMESE WAR, DETAILING THE OPERATIONS OF MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL'S ARMY, FROM ITS LANDING AT RANGOON IN MAY 1824, TO THE.CONCLUSION OF A TREATY OF PEACE AT YANDABOO, IN FEBRUARY 1826. |
| Date of publication: | | 1827 |
| Description/subject: | | CONTENTS: .
CHAPTER I.
Junction of the combined forces from Bengal and Madras, at Port Cornwallis—Capture of Rangoon, and release of the British and Americans, who were made prisoners by the enemy
..
CHAPTER II.
Description of Rangoon, and the situation of the Army after landing there
..
CHAPTER III.
State and position of the Burmese forces at the period of our landing in Pegu, and exertions of the court of Ava in calling out the military resources of the country—First encounter with the Burmese troops
..
CHAPTER IV.
Arrival at Rangoon of two Deputies from the Burmese camp—Continuation of the military operations, and situation of the army up to the first of July
..
CHAPTER V.
Feeble attack of the enemy on the British lines—Attack and capture of his fortified camp at Kummeroot — Expedition sent against Mergui and Tavoy on the
Coast of Tenasserim
..
CHAPTER VI. The King's two brothers, the Princes of Tonghoo and Sarrawaddy, with Astrologers, and a corps of Invulnerables, join the army—Operations of the British Force up to the end of August
..
CHAPTER VII.
Recal of Maha Bandoola and the Burmese army from Arracan—Continuation of hostilities at Rangoon— Their effect upon the court of Ava
..
CHAPTER VIII.
Friendly assurances of the Siamese—Their preparations for war, and probable line of policy—Capture of Martaban and Yeh
..
CHAPTER IX.
State of the force at the conclusion of the rains— Reinforcements and equipment for taking the field sent from India—Approach of the grand army under Maha Bandoola
.. CHAPTER X.
Actions in front of Rangoon, from the first to the seventh of December
..
CHAPTER XI.
Attack on the enemy's fortified camp at Kokeen.on the 15th December, and his final retreat to Donoobew
..
CHAPTER XII. Plan of operations—Force equipped for field service
..
CHAPTER XIII.
Journal of the march from Rangoon to Donoohew
..
CHAPTER XIV.
Operations before Donoohew—Its evacuation by the enemy—Journal of the march to Prome
.. CHAPTER XV.
March of a detachment towards Tonghoo, and close of the Campaign
..
CHAPTER XVL
Winter-quarters at Prome—State of the country— Conduct of the inhabitants; with some remarks on their character and government
..
CHAPTER XVII. Renewed exertions of the Burmese, government, in preparations for the prosecution of the war—Meeting of the British and Burmese Commissioners at Neoun-ben zeik, and their ineffectual efforts to conclude a peace
..
CHAPTER XVIII.
Strength and position of the British and Burmese armies—Defeat of the enemy in front of Prome
..
CHAPTER XIX.
Preparations for an advance'upon Ava—Plan of the campaign
..
CHAPTER XX.
Journal of the march from Prome to Melloone
..
CHAPTER XXI.
Conclusion of a treaty of peace—Is not ratified by the king—And the Burmese army, in consequence, is again defeated, and driven from Melloone
..
CHAPTER XXII.
Continuation of the march upon Ava—Renewal of negotiations—Battle of Fagahm-mew—Conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace....
CHAPTER XXIII. Concluding Remarks....
APPENDIX......N.B. THE GOOGLE NOTE, PAGES AND COVERS PRECEEDING THE TITLE PAGE HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE END OF THE TEXT. FOR THE ORIGINAL ORDER, SEE THE ALTERNATE URL. |
| Author/creator: | | MAJOR JOHN JAMES SNODGRASS, |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | JOHN MURRAY via Google Books |
| Format/size: | | pdf (5.2MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://books.google.com/books?id=NYs2AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Burmese&as_brr=1#PPR3,M1 (pdf 10MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 05 April 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Gleanings on Burma, December 1826 |
| Date of publication: | | December 1826 |
| Description/subject: | | "The following two entries appeared in The Gentleman’s Magazine in
December 1826. They offer some useful information both on Burma’s
looted textual heritage and on the confusion among the population after the
war."
M.W.C. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | The Gentleman’s Magazine via SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (13K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | DIARY OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF AN EMBASSY TO BURMA IN 1760 |
| Date of publication: | | 1808 |
| Description/subject: | | "The following account is derived from Alexander Dalrymple, Oriental Repertory,
1808: I.351-393. Dalrymple has left us the following succinct introduction to the
account below (M. W. C)...Capt. Alves was sent back to Burma in 1760; and on his return to Bengal,
transmitted to Governor Pigot, at Madrass, the following Diary of his Proceedings. |
| Author/creator: | | Captain Walter Alves |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (111K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | A CONCISE ACCOUNT OF THE KINGDOM OF PEGU |
| Date of publication: | | 1785 |
| Description/subject: | | "The following account, written by the surgeon, William Hunter, relates his
experiences in Pegu in 1782-1783. The observations were made on a voyage that
had been ordered by the British East India Company. The account was originally
printed at Calcutta in 1785 by John Hay under the title of A Concise Account of the
Kingdom of Pegu; Its Climate, Produce, Trade, and Government; The Manners
and Customs of its Inhabitants. Interspersed with remarks Moral and Political. The
additional appendices, one on “An Enquiry into the cause of the variety observable
in the fleeces of sheep, in different climates,” and “A Description of the Caves at
Elephanta, Ambola, and Canara” are unrelated to Burma and are thus not included
in the text below."
M. W. C. |
| Author/creator: | | William Hunter |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (103K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
|
| Title: | | PROCEEDINGS OF AN EMBASSY TO THE KING OF AVA, PEGU, &C. IN 1757 |
| Date of publication: | | August 1757 |
| Description/subject: | | "Ensign’s Robert Lester’s account of his embassy to Ava in 1757 was originally
published in Alexander Dalrymple’s Oriental Repertory. It provides one of the few
first-hand accounts of Alaung-hpaya and thus remains a valuable source on the
reign and the beginnings of the Kon-baung Dynasty. Dalrymple’s italicization has
been removed and dates have been expanded to include the month and year in
order to avoid confusion.
M. W. C....
[Begins with an opening letter from Thomas Newton to Robert Lester dated 24
June 1757] |
| Author/creator: | | Ensign Robert Lester |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (59K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
-
British rule in India 1757-1947
Individual Documents
| Title: | | British Ruled India 1757-1947 |
| Date of publication: | | 02 January 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | 1. Documentary Sources, Libraries and other Institutions...2. Bibliography of Books Articles and Dissertations...
3. Wikipedia Articles (main Category - British rule in India)...4. Other Links |
| Author/creator: | | David Steinberg |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | House of David |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 17 March 2010 |
|
-
British Colonial Period [1824-1948]
-
British colonial period - images
Individual Documents
| Title: | | A Burmese Album 1824-1948 |
| Date of publication: | | 1948 |
| Description/subject: | | 96 bklack and white photos of Burma, 1824-1948 |
| Author/creator: | | P. Klier |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Colgate University digital library |
| Format/size: | | jpeg |
| Date of entry/update: | | 19 September 2010 |
|
-
British colonial period - novels
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Burmese Days |
| Date of publication: | | 1934 |
| Description/subject: | | "U Po Kyin, Sub-divisional Magistrate of Kyauktada, in Upper Burma,
was sitting in his veranda. It was only half past eight, but the
month was April, and there was a closeness in the air, a threat of
the long, stifling midday hours. Occasional faint breaths of wind,
seeming cool by contrast, stirred the newly drenched orchids that
hung from the eaves. Beyond the orchids one could see the dusty,
curved trunk of a palm tree, and then the blazing ultramarine sky.
Up in the zenith, so high that it dazzled one to look at them, a
few vultures circled without the quiver of a wing..." |
| Author/creator: | | George Orwell |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Project Gutenberg, Australia |
| Format/size: | | html (547K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 05 May 2008 |
|
-
Pre-Independence documents
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Our Fraternal Greetings to the Siamese people |
| Date of publication: | | May 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | "This speech was delivered by Burmese independence hero Aung San at the Orient Club, Rangoon, on April 17, 1947�three months before his assassination. Aung San founded the Burma Independence Army in Bangkok on Dec 26, 1941." |
| Author/creator: | | Aung San |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 10, No. 4, May 2002 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom and the Provisional Government of Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 17 October 1947 |
| Description/subject: | | "The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Provisional Government of Burma;
Considering that it is the intention of the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to invite Parliament to pass legislation at an early date providing that Burma shall become an independent State;
Desiring to define their future relations as the Governments of independent States on the terms of complete freedom, equality and independence and to consolidate and perpetuate the cordial friendship and good understanding which subsist between them; and
Desiring also to provide for certain matters arising from the forthcoming change in the relations between them,
Have decided to conclude a treaty for this purpose and have appointed as their plenipotentiaries:-
The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: The Right Hon. Clement Richard Attlee, C.H., M.P., Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.
The Provisional Government of Burma: The Hon'ble Thakin Nu, Prime Minister
Who have agreed as follows:- ..."
Includes, as an annex, the Britain-Burma Defence Agreement of 29 August 1947 and other associated documents. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Public Records Office (London) |
| Format/size: | | html (80K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | REPORT OF THE FRONTIER AREAS COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY, 1947 |
| Date of publication: | | 24 April 1947 |
| Description/subject: | | "A Committee of Enquiry shall be set up forthwith as to the best method of associating the Frontier peoples with the working out of the new constitution for Burma. Such Committee will consist of equal numbers of persons from the Frontier Areas, nominated by the Governor after consultation with the leaders of those areas, with a neutral Chairman from outside Burma selected by agreement. Such Committee shall be asked to report to the Government of Burma and His Majesty's Government before the summoning of the Constituent Assembly."
CHAPTER I. The Problem;
CHAPTER II. The Work of the Committee;
CHAPTER III. Recommendations and Observations:
Part I- General;
Part II- The Constituent Assembly;
Part III- Observations.
APPENDICES:
App. I. Verbatim Record of Evidence heard by the Committee.
App. II. Resolutions and Memorials communicated to the Committee.
App. III. Notes by the Frontier Areas Administration, Government of Burma, on Economic Situation, Education, Health and Communications and Mineral Resources in the Frontier Areas Administration.
App. IV. Administrative and Racial Maps of Burma... (Administrative map missing) |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | FRONTIER AREAS COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY, 1947 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (7.8M); text without appendices 171K),html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs14/Frontier_Areas_Committee_of_Enquiry-text.pdf (without appendices)
http://www.sialkal.com/home_doc_FACI.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 30 November 2012 |
|
| Title: | | The Panglong Agreement, 1947 |
| Date of publication: | | 12 February 1947 |
| Description/subject: | | Text of the Agreement signed at Panglong on the 12th February, 1947 by Shan, Kachin and Chin leaders, and by representatives of the Executive Council of the Governor of Burma. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | India Office Records |
| Format/size: | | html (5K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
-
SLORC-SPDC period 1988-
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Endurance of Military Rule in Burma: Not Why, But Why Not? |
| Date of publication: | | November 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | "...Although it is always possible that unforeseen events could dramatically
recast the distribution of power inside Burma, the current military leadership
is probably not one push short of capitulation to “pro-democracy”
demands. The SPDC appears to have learned to manage the conflicts
resulting from myriad pressures inside the country and from abroad.33 In
this context, how would a “democratic opposition” (or more appropriately,
“democratic oppositions”) bring about liberal political reform that advances
the rights, protections, and interests of ordinary citizens and limits the
arbitrary power of government? Short of an improbable capitulation to
Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, I suggest five possibilities:..." |
| Author/creator: | | Mary Callahan |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C. |
| Format/size: | | pdf (220K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 20 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | A Historical Overview of Political Transition in Myanmar Since 1988 |
| Date of publication: | | August 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "The issue of political transition in Myanmar has generated scholarly interest and debate on
the nature and outcomes of the whole process. Various questions have been raised about the
on-going National Convention entrusted with the task of drafting a new constitution. Some
scholars placed the political transition in the context of national reconciliation in Myanmar
while others analyzed it within the conceptual framework of democratization. A recent article
by Robert Taylor examined the domestic and international political environment in which the
National Convention is being conducted to draft the third constitution for Myanmar. He
neatly described the bumpy road that Myanmar had gone through so far and he offered a
cautiously optimistic view about the further steps in the process.1 This paper provides a
historical overview of the political transition process in Myanmar since 1988. It highlights the
missed opportunities and argues that the Tatmadaw's (Myanmar armed forces) position on the
political transition in Myanmar has changed from a bystander to a key player. This paper
studies the political circumstances that led to the holding of the National Convention and
drafting of a new constitution in Myanmar. It will look at the nature of political executive that
the new constitution will produce for Myanmar in future..."...Keywords: Myanmar; Burma; Tatmadaw; elections; SPDC; Southeast Asian politics |
| Author/creator: | | Maung Aung Myoe |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Asia Research Institute Working Paper Series No. 95 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (215K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 12 March 2010 |
|
-
SLORC period (1988-1997)
-
Events 1989-1997
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Letter to General Ne Win from U Aung Gyi |
| Date of publication: | | August 1997 |
| Description/subject: | | Rangoon May 1, 1992 Through a series of open letters to Ne Win and former members of the Revolutionary Council written between 1988 and 1992, U Aung Gyi criticized the economic policies and human rights abuses of the government. The following excerpts are from one of these letters. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Burma Debate", Vol.. IV, No. 3 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
-
SPDC Period 1997-2011
-
Chronologies and profiles 1997-
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Events of 2009 |
| Date of publication: | | December 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | For Burma’s generals, 2009 was little more than a breathing space between last year’s constitutional referendum and next year’s election. For everyone else, however, it was a year full of disturbing developments, with just the faintest ray of hope on the horizon.
Early in the year, the plight of the Rohingya grabbed the headlines, highlighting a humanitarian crisis that is just one of many in military-ruled Burma. Before the year was over, tens of thousands of refugees from other ethnic minorities would pour over the country’s borders with Thailand and China, fleeing military offensives launched by the junta and its allies.
But for the regime, all of this was merely a sideshow. The generals’ main tasks for the year were to keep opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi safely under wraps—which it accomplished thanks to an unwanted American “visitor” and a compliant court—and to rein in restive cease-fire groups ahead of the 2010 election.
When it wasn’t settling scores within its own borders, the regime was busy forging new ties overseas. But while the Burmese generals found fellow pariah state North Korea to be a natural ally, they seemed less sure about how to respond to the friendly overtures from the US, their staunchest international critic.
Many in Burma welcomed the US initiative with cautious optimism, but after yet another year marked by farce and tragedy, few look forward to the year ahead with any great expectations...
Rohingya Refugees on the High Seas; A Pact between Pariahs: Burma and North Korea; Courtroom Theater of the Absurd; The DKBA: Bloodstained Opportunism; Border Guard Force Proposal Sets Off Test of Wills; The Kokang Conflict: The Beginning of the End for Ethnic Insurgency in Burma?; US Rethinks Its Burma Policy |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 17, No. 9 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www2.irrawaddy.org/print_article.php?art_id=17327 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 28 February 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Looking Back at Burma 2008 |
| Date of publication: | | December 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "The Irrawaddy gives a chronological rundown on the top news-making moments from January to November" |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 16, No. 12 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 December 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Names That Made The News [in 2008] |
| Date of publication: | | December 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | Win Tin, Aung San Suu Kyi, Ashin Pannya Vamsa, 88 Generation Students, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, Aung Thaung, Maung Sue San and Thakin Tin Mya, Ein Khaing Oo, Khin Maung Aye, Htun Htun Thein, Nay Phone Latt, Aye Aye Win, Bo Kyi, Khin Ohmar, Charm Tong, Zoya Phan, Mahn Sha. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 16, No. 12 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 December 2008 |
|
| Title: | | The Faces of Burma 2005 |
| Date of publication: | | December 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | By
December 2005
The Irrawaddy presents around three dozen profiles of those making headlines in Burma and abroad |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 13, No. 12 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 May 2006 |
|
| Title: | | The people of 2004 |
| Date of publication: | | December 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | "Who made an impact in Burma in 2004? The Irrawaddy has compiled its own list of the 25 people who caught the public eye in an event-packed year"...Photos and profiles of:- Artists: Win Pe Myint, Min Wae Aung...Pop Singer: Htun Eindra Bo... Musician: Maung Maung Zaw Latt/Htoo Ein Thin...Model: Thet Mon Myint...Actor: Lu Min...Writer: Kyaw Win...Public Figure: Dagon Taya...Scholar: Prof Dr Myint Myint Khi...Social Service: Than Myint Aung...Media Commentator: Amyotheryei Win Naing...Ethnic Leader: Shwe Ohn...Media: BBC Burmese Service...Rights Group: AAPP...Newsmakers of 2004:
Gen Bo Mya (Karen rebel leader); Zarni (founder of the Free Burma Coalition); U Lwin (secretary and spokesman of the National League for Democracy); Min Ko Naing (former student leader); Aung San Suu Kyi (democracy leader and Nobel laureate); Gen Khin Nyunt (former prime minister)... Politics: Sr-Gen Than Shwe; Deputy Sr-Gen Maung Aye; Gen Thura Shwe Mann; Lt-Gen Soe Win (new Prime Minister). |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 12, No. 11 |
| Format/size: | | html, jpg |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 March 2005 |
|
| Title: | | Burma’s Influential Figures (2003) |
| Date of publication: | | December 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | "Power 18" is a list of Burma’s most influential figures of 2003. It is not comprehensive but includes individuals inside and outside Burma whom The Irrawaddy feels made significant contributions—positive and negative—to the country this past year. For our more superstitious readers, that 1 + 8 = 9 is merely a coincidence..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 11, No. 10, December 2003 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 14 February 2004 |
|
| Title: | | 2002: Year in Review |
| Date of publication: | | December 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | Suu Kyi Moves, Junta Stalls;
Thai-Burma Relations: A Family Feud?
Rising Tensions: Reports of Human Rights Violations and Social Unrest on the Rise;
Death of a Despot, End of an Era;
Playing Diplomacy with the Junta;
Goodbye to Premier;
Kyat Hits Rock Bottom. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 10, No. 10 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Year in Review: 1999 |
| Date of publication: | | January 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | 18-page summary of news items |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 8, No. 1 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | 1998: a Year of Standoffs |
| Date of publication: | | January 1999 |
| Description/subject: | | "In 1998, the roadside standoff between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military reflected the larger impasse between the SPDC and the National League for Democracy. In a surprise move, Burma's military leaders changed the name of the government to the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) at the end of 1997, but this has been regarded as only a cosmetic change and, in 1998, there was ardly peace or development in Burma as political instability continued with the potential for future explosion..." |
| Author/creator: | | Editorial |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Year in Review: 1998 |
| Date of publication: | | January 1999 |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 7, No. 1 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Chronology 1997 |
| Date of publication: | | January 1998 |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
-
SPDC - general studies
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Myanmar: Autoritarismus im Wandel |
| Date of publication: | | July 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | Vor 20 Jahren erlebte die Demokratiebewegung in Myanmar (Birma) ihren bisherigen
Höhepunkt, als am 8. August 1988 100.000 Menschen in Rangoon für die Demokratie
demonstrierten. Das sozialistische Einparteiregime brach zusammen und machte einer
Militärregierung Platz, die sich bis heute an der Macht hält.
Analyse:
Das Militär hat in den letzten zwei Dekaden seine Herrschaft langsam konsolidieren
können. Aus einer Politik der Stärke heraus leitet das Militär nun einen Wandel ein und
lässt knapp 20 Jahre nach den Demonstrationen von 1988 über eine neue Verfassung abstimmen;
für 2010 sind Wahlen versprochen. Gleichzeitig stellt das Militär sicher, dass
ihm auch in Zukunft eine wichtige Rolle im Staate zukommt.
Das Militär hat im vergangenen Jahrzehnt die territoriale Durchdringung des Staates
erhöhen und seine Stellung konsolidieren können. Mit Hilfe einer geschickten
Modernisierungs- und Beförderungspolitik hat es sein korporatives Interesse befriedigen
und Risse innerhalb des Militärs verhindern können. Die äußere Sanktionierung
des Militärregimes hat den Korpsgeist der Armee noch gefördert.
Das Militärregime nutzt im Wesentlichen Repression und Propaganda, um seine
Herrschaft abzusichern. Die Proteste gegen die Herrschaft des Militärs im Jahre
2007 haben indes gezeigt, dass das Militärregime zusätzlicher Legitimationsmittel
bedarf, um sich dauerhaft an der Macht halten zu können. Externer Druck und
interner Protest haben dazu geführt, dass das Militär die lange versprochenen Reformen
allmählich umsetzt. Dabei monopolisiert es jedoch den gesamten Reformprozess
und versucht, sich weiter eine dominante Stellung im politischen System
zu sichern.
Die neue Verfassung sieht nach wie vor eine dominante Rolle für die Streitkräfte
vor. Gleichzeitig erlaubt sie aber – anders als beim jetzigen Status quo – die Repräsentation
anderer gesellschaftlicher Kräfte. Es besteht die Hoffnung, dass mittelfristig
neue Spielregeln entstehen, die zu einer größeren Öffnung führen und den rigiden
Autoritarismus aufbrechen...
Schlagwörter: Myanmar, Militärregime, Demokratisierung, Opposition, Medien |
| Author/creator: | | Marco Bünte |
| Language: | | Deutsch, German |
| Source/publisher: | | GIGA Focus No. 7 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (476K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:QJRl7nG0Vh4J:se2.isn.ch/serviceengine/Files/EINIRAS/9... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2010 |
|
-
Burmese History Book Reviews
Individual Documents
| Title: | | "Myanmar Meanderings" -- a review by David Scott Mathieson of Robert Taylor's "The State in Myanmar" |
| Date of publication: | | August 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "In the aftermath of the 1988 uprising in Burma, a new generation of military autocrats decided a makeover was in order. The rebranding of the Union of Burma into the Union of Myanmar in 1989 was as much to confuse memory in the wake of the mass killings of protestors by the army as it was to stamp a new look on the repression that had occurred since 1962.
One of the military government's leading chroniclers is the academic Robert Taylor, whose landmark book "The State in Burma" was released in 1987 and gets its own rebranding in the updated "The State in Myanmar"
by Robert H. Taylor. National University of Singapore Press, 2009. P 540...
Taylor has been widely maligned for his conclusions in the first book, whose final paragraph declares "for better or worse the state is accepted as inevitable" and that despite dissatisfaction amongst many Burmese with the ruling Burma Socialist Program Party, its disastrous economic management and reclusive foreign affairs, the system itself was in more or less sound shape.
This was repudiated not just by the popular uprising that rocked Burma several months after the book's release, but by the architects of the socialist system itself. They included Burma's strong man Ne Win, who admitted not just to the system's unpopularity but also to its unsustainability under modern conditions. The socialist system was swept away and multi-party democratic elections promised.
The disagreements created by "The State in Burma"shouldn't necessarily detract from its sweep of Burmese political history, at the time unprecedented since the work of the colonial scholar J S Furnivall..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 17, No. 5 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 26 December 2009 |
|
-
Economic history
-
Economic History - general
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Control of Political Economy - a review of "State Dominance in Myanmar" |
| Date of publication: | | April 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | State Dominance in Myanmar,
by Tin Maung Maung Than. Institute
of Southeast Asian Studies,
Singapore, P472...
Burma’s economic development reflects the history of failed dictatorships...
"The Political Economy of Industrialization,’ the subtitle of Dr Tin Maung Maung Than’s recently released State Dominance in Myanmar, may be perplexing to those who perceive industrialization as modernization, impersonal bureaucratization and the welfare state formation of the West over the past two centuries.
Is there such a thing as industrialization in Burma? Tin Maung Maung Than’s answer is an unequivocal “Yes.” He defines industry, following the late American economist Simon Kuznets, as “encompassing manufacturing and processing of agricultural, forest, marine and mineral products as well as electricity production.”
The first few chapters will convince the reader that the tradition of planned economy in Burma is deeply rooted in “the negative experience of laissez-faire economy” for the locals under colonial rule. It had also emerged from the leftist ideas and “lingering notions” of the nationalist leaders, led by Gen Aung San..." |
| Author/creator: | | Ko Ko Thett |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 15, No. 4 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 04 May 2008 |
|
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Economic History -- Money-lending and Banking
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Central Banking at the Periphery of the British Empire: Colonial Burma, 1886-1937 |
| Date of publication: | | July 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | Abstract:
"The purpose of this paper is to bring to light the efforts to fashion a central bank in
Burma during the years in which the country was a province of British India.
Throughout this period, which lasted from 1886 to 1937, questions of money and
finance in Burma were mostly the preserve of the Raj in Calcutta and New Delhi.
And, yet, it is a little-known fact that plans to establish a central bank for Burma were
promoted throughout the colonial years by a succession of imperial officials. These
plans, which reached their apogee in the monetary reform’ advocacy that followed
the Great Depression, were never realised in the colonial era. They were, however,
indicative of a political economy discourse in colonial Burma that was more vigorous,
and theoretically sophisticated, than is commonly supposed." |
| Author/creator: | | Sean Turnell |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Macquarie Economics Research Papers, July 2005, no.11/2005. |
| Format/size: | | pdf (116K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 05 May 2008 |
|
| Title: | | THE CHETTIARS IN BURMA |
| Date of publication: | | July 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | ABSTRACT:
"In the history of Burma's political economy, few groups have been so roundly vilified
as the Chettiars. A community of moneylenders indigenous to Chettinad, Tamil Nadu,
the Chettiars operated throughout the Southeast Asian territories of the British
Empire. They played a particularly prominent role in Burma where, alas, they were
typically demonised as rapacious usurers, responsible for all manner of vices
concomitant with the colonial economy. Not least of these was the chronic land
alienation of the Burmese cultivator.
The purpose of this paper is to reappraise the role of the Chettiars in Burma. Finding
that their role was crucial in the dramatic growth in Burma's agricultural output during
the colonial era, the paper disputes the moneylender stereotype so often used against
them. Employing modern economic theory to the issue, the paper finds that the
success of the Chettiars in Burma lay less in the high interest rates they charged, than
it did to patterns of internal organisation that provided solutions to the inherent
problems faced by financial intermediaries. A proper functioning financial system
could have provided better solutions perhaps for Burma's long-term development, but
Burma did not have such a system, then or now. Easy scapegoats for what went
wrong, the Chettiars merit history's better judgement." |
| Author/creator: | | Sean Turnell |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Macquarie Economics Research Papers, July 2005, no.12/2005. |
| Format/size: | | pdf (169K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 05 May 2008 |
|
| Title: | | The Rise and Fall of Cooperative Credit in Colonial Burma |
| Date of publication: | | June 2005 |
| Description/subject: | | ABSTRACT:
"Cooperative credit was the British Empire's all-purpose answer to problems of rural
poverty and indebtedness, usury, and land alienation. Originating in the idealism of the
'Rochedale Pioneers' and in schemes from rural Germany, cooperative credit was
imported into India with an evangelical zeal to solve all manner of perceived economic
and social ills. With only slightly less moral fervour it was transplanted from India into
Burma in the first decade of the Twentieth Century, and by 1920 several thousand
cooperative credit societies had mushroomed across the country.
The purpose of this paper is to trace the development of cooperative credit in Burma from
these promising beginnings, until the near collapse of the movement on the eve of the
Great Depression. The paper explores the way in which cooperative credit was seen by
the imperial authorities as a device to limit the role of Indian money-lenders in Burma,
and as the basis for the establishment of formal rural credit markets. The paper concludes
that poor implementation, on top of official myopia as to the cultural, historical and
economic differences between India, Burma and Europe, brought about the demise of a
movement that promised much." |
| Author/creator: | | Sean Turnell |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Macquarie Economics Research Papers, June 2005, no.9/2005. |
| Format/size: | | pdf (118K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 05 May 2008 |
|
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Economic History: Agriculture
Individual Documents
| Title: | | An Annotated Bibliography of Articles on the Burmese Peasantry from the Journal of the Burma Research Society, 1911-1970 |
| Date of publication: | | 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | This compilation covers fifty articles and twenty-six township records published in the Journal of the Burma Research Society between 1911 and 1970. The selected articles all shed light on the economic life of the peasantry and have been divided as follows: Part I) Translations of relevant sources or commentaries on the peasantry, Part II) Geographic and other background information necessary for understanding peasant life, and Part III) Analyses or descriptions of the traditional, colonial, and early modern economy, of which the peasants were an important part. The articles are arranged by theme and date of publications within each section and sub-section. |
| Author/creator: | | Maria Serena I. Diokno |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of Burma Studies Vol. 5 (2000) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.34MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.grad.niu.edu/burma/webpgs/abstractsVol5.html (Vol. 5) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 March 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Temples and Rainfall in Ancient Pagan |
| Date of publication: | | 1997 |
| Description/subject: | | This article examines unusual features of various religious buildings located at Pagan, such as below-ground monasteries and brick-lined water-catchment basins, to establish that low rainfall of less than 24 inches annually was a constant in the local climate throughout the Pagan period. Confirming this fact sheds light on the critical role the construction of religious structures played in linking the inadequately watered capital to outlying irrigated agricultural lands, thus ensuring the necessary provision of food to the city. As the population of Pagan grew, the need to increase food supplies from the outlying areas created an incentive for focusing the practice of the Merit Path to Salvation on the erection of still more religious buildings, thus creating the "forest of temples" seen at Pagan today. |
| Author/creator: | | Richard Cooler |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of Burma Studies Vol. 1 (1997) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.64MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.niu.edu/burma/publications/jbs/vol1/index.shtml |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 July 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Tea Production On the Periphery of the British Empire |
| Date of publication: | | September 1991 |
| Description/subject: | | The political economy of Shan tea under British colonial rule.
"...Tawngpeng State, the major tea-producing area in the Federated Shan States, contained an area of 938 square miles. As of
1939 the population of Tawngpeng was 59,398 and it had a revenue of Rs. 645,634. The State was divided into 16 circles
which corresponded as closely as possible to clan-divisions. Geographic features were characterised by hills ranging from five
to seven thousand feet in height interspersed with valleys that averaged approximately ten miles in length and from a few
hundred yards to a few miles in width. Maurice Collis, a former Burma civil servant, noted that upon approaching Namhsan, the
capital of Tawngpeng which lies at the centre of the State at a height of six thousand feet, 'there is a vale and in the midst, ten
miles away, is a ridge, on one end of which stands the town of Nam Hsan with the palace over it on a circular hill....The vale is one vast tea garden'. On the lower levels of the hillsides, Palaungs and Shans grow tea whilst higher up Kachins and Lisus
practice shifting agriculture. Shans predominate in the valleys where rice is the staple crop..." |
| Author/creator: | | Robert Maule Department of History, University of Toronto |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Thai-Yunnan Project Newsletter No. 14, September 1991 |
| Alternate URLs: | | ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/coombsarchives/thai-yunnan-project/thai-yunnan-newsletter/thai-yunnan-nwsltr-14.txt">ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/coombsarchives/thai-yunnan-project/thai-yunnan-newsletter/thai...
The directory of the Thai-Yunnan Project Newsletters is on ftp://coombs.anu.edu.au/coombspapers/coombsarchives/thai-yunnan-project/thai-yunnan-newsletter/ |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Economic development of Burma in colonial times |
| Date of publication: | | July 1991 |
| Description/subject: | | "This study deals with the economic development of Burma during colonial times. This is not only of importance itself, but also crucial to understanding the post-war economy. It can hardly be denied that its fundamental structure was created in the colonial period. It had some typical characteristics peculiar to colonial economy for a long time. In practice, it was almost a mono-cultured economy and the main and lucrative fields of the economy were mostly dominated by foreigners. Therefore, post-war independent governments were forced to make strenuous efforts in tackling the defective economy which was formed in the course of the development during colonial times. One of the most important post-war idea for reconstructing independent Burma was socialism, which should be understood to be a nationalistic movement againt colonialism, which here is synonymous with capitalism or imperialism.
After General Ne Win seized power with the military coup in 1962, the more radical policies were pursued by the military government of the Revolutionary Council in the 1960s under the slogan of the so-called "Burmese Socialism". This government was mostly nationalistic and anti-capitalistic; in fact the most important target of the Revolutionary Council was to establish an economy for the Burmese people by getting rid of foreign elements from it. Furthermore, in order to prevent the penetration of neo-colonialism, a strict closed policy was adopted. However, foreign trade shrank significantly and direct foreign investment was in effect stopped. Therefore, such policies resulted in long-run economic stagnation.
This directed my research to the economy under British rule. In my work, I have tried to depict the major structural features of the colonial economy in the context of economic development. Unless economic development leads to the significant improvement in the standard of living of general populace, it may be meaningless. However, it is doubtful that this took place in Burma in the colonial period. This problem was my major interest and motive for the study as well. It was impossible to do more in--depth of the economy in specific areas. However, my aim may been to provide an overall view of the economy... |
| Author/creator: | | NISHIZAWA Nobuyoshi, |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | IPSHU Research Report Series 15 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (6.8MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 September 2009 |
|
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Economic History: Industry
-
Economic History - extractive industries
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Footnote to Burmese Economic History: The Rise and Decline of the Arakan Oil Fields |
| Date of publication: | | 1998 |
| Description/subject: | | After the annexation of Upper Burma in 1886, the modern Burmese oil industry expanded at Yenangyaung, the long-standing center of hand-dug wells worked by twinza. An earlier attempt to establish a commercial industry in Arakan in the late 1870s was thereby eclipsed. On the islands off the Arakan coast -- Ramree, Cheduba, and the Boronga Islands -- British explorers had drawn attention to oil pools and seepage. In 1878, the first modern oil well in Burma was drilled on Eastern Boronga Island. However, the eager oil speculators had not done their homework, and the Arakan oil industry declined because the oil-fields were poor producers and thus not economically viable for mass production. The Arakan experience nonetheless influenced the early commercial exploitation of the Yenangyaung fields. |
| Author/creator: | | Marilyn Longmuir |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of Burma Studies Vol. 3 (1998) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.7MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.grad.niu.edu/burma/webpgs/abstractsVol3.html (Vol. 3) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 March 2009 |
|
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Economic History: Trade
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Documents on Western Burmese Economic History |
| Date of publication: | | 20 March 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | 1) WILLIAM TURNER. Extract of a Letter dated Nagore, 7th July 1761;
2) ANONYMOUS. Memorandum of Arracan Trade, circa 1770s;
3) ANONYMOUS. History of the Mugs, 1777;
4) W. F. NUTHALL. Memorandum Regarding the Trade of Arracan and the Port of Akyab in the East Indies, Lat. 20° S’N Long 92° 56 ¼ E. (1849). |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 1, No., 1, Spring 2003 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (138K) 13 pages |
| Date of entry/update: | | April 2003 |
|
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Overseas trade
-
Trade with Europeans and the East India Companies
-
Dutch trade
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The VOC in Burma: 1634-1680
-
VOC in Burma: general articles, archives, bibliographies etc.
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The archives of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) as they relate to Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 20 March 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | Archive report:
"The archives of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) are preserved largely at the
National Archives at The Hague (previously the Algemeen Rijksarchief/General State
Archives). Though the information contained within this vast collection of records and
accounts forms an invaluable source for the reconstruction of the (economic) history of
seventeenth century Burma, they have never before been examined. This is indeed
surprising since practically everything written between 1634 and 1680 by usually well
informed VOC employees in Burma is still extant, making this a major primary source for
just such a purpose.
The VOC archives have been categorized with each individual volume simply designated
VOC and numbered consecutively. The most important sets relating to Burma are given
below in alphabetical order followed by the respective VOC numbers where applicable..." |
| Author/creator: | | Wil O. Dijk |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 1, No., 1, Spring 2003 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (43.20 K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.docstoc.com/docs/41061580/THE-ARCHIVES-OF-THE-DUTCH-EAST-INDIA-COMPANY-%28VOC%29 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 17 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | The Dutch in seventeenth century Burma |
| Date of publication: | | August 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | "The VOC had three factories in seventeenth century Burma: the main office in Syriam and subsidiaries in Ava and Pegu City. The present research adds a new dimension to VOC as well as Burma studies seeing that till now, even Dutch historians were quite unaware of the fact that the VOC traded successfully with Burma for almost half a century.
The vast archives of the Dutch East Asia Company (VOC) at the ARA (Algemeen Rijksarchief / General State Archives) at The Hague have yielded a veritable treasure trove of information on Dutch relations with seventeenth century Burma. This newly unearthed material enables us to finally determine what the VOC’s Burma trade entailed and how it fitted into the grand design of the Company’s inter-Asian commerce, where it was not as marginal as some historians would have it. This complete set of invaluable contemporary materials also allows us a unique glimpse of life in seventeenth century Burma. There are no lacunae at all in the collection of VOC documents covering the Burma years, consequently, it has been possible to compile complete series of indispensable statistics, such as shipping, import and export, profit and loss, wages and prices (standard of living), as well as details on all the Indian textiles the Dutch imported into Burma, together with their purchasing and selling prices and the margins of profit..." |
| Author/creator: | | Wil O. Dijk |
| Language: | | English |
| Format/size: | | html (17K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | April 2003 |
|
| Title: | | "The VOC in Burma: 1634-1680" |
| Date of publication: | | 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | This article is intended to show that the archives of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) at the General State Archives (ARA), The Hague, The Netherlands, are a rich source of information on seventeenth century Burma. Because this unearthed data is mostly about commerce, this paper deals with the VOCâ's trade with Burma. What has come to light is that the Dutch factories in Burma were an important and integral part of the VOC's network of trade, seeing that the profits helped to fund the purchase of Indian textiles that were the backbone of much of the Dutch inter-Asian trade. The Dutch, moreover, sold Burmese export products profitably from Persia to Japan and Holland. In the end, the VOC's establishment in Burma became the victim of a general change in Dutch fortunes when forces in both Europe and the Far East began working against the Dutch East India Company. |
| Author/creator: | | Wil O. Dijk |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of Burma Studies Vol. 6 (2001) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (5.6MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 March 2009 |
|
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The VOC factories and its employees
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Dutch factories in Burma in the Seventeenth Century |
| Date of publication: | | 15 August 1997 |
| Description/subject: | | "In April 1939, now almost 60 years ago, it was D.G.E. Hall who wrote: 'Its [the Dutch factory in Burma] history seems never to have been written, though the many references to it that lie buried in the published volumes of the Daghregister of Batavia lead one to think that the Dutch archives probably contain more than enough material for such a purpose.' Wil Radelaar examined the research possibilities in the VOC archives in Burma.
Setting myself the target of finding out just how much material pertaining to those factories in Burma lie hidden within the VOC archives at the Algemeen Rijksarchief in The Hague, I commenced my search in the summer of 1994. In my naivety I judged a maximum of six months to be sufficient for this task. However, it is only now, three very long years on, that I am finally nearing the end of my quest. From the outset it became clear that my search could not remain limited to Burma itself and the Coromandel Coast under whose jurisdiction it fell, but that I would also need to plough through vast numbers of manuscripts from and about such diverse locations as Siam, Persia, Japan, and of course, Batavia itself. This test of endurance has yielded a rich harvest indeed. For, from the murky depths of these ancient writings has emerged a colourful and highly fascinating kaleidoscope of details that paints a vivid picture of how a distinct group of foreign traders functioned in seventeenth-century Burma and what was involved in their relationship with the Court of Ava, the capital city of what the Dutch always referred to as the 'Kingdom of Pegu'. Furthermore, the VOC archives also contain detailed eyewitness accounts of destructive internecine wars between Burma and both Siam and China in the seventeenth century; a period in Burma's history suffering from a dearth of information..." |
| Author/creator: | | Wil O. Dijk |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | IIAS Newsletter No. 13 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 06 September 2010 |
|
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The VOC's trade in Indian Textiles with Burma: 1634-1680
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Dutch trade in Indian textiles with Burma: 1634-1680 |
| Date of publication: | | August 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | "The VOC’s seventeenth century trade with Burma is a heretofore little known aspect of the Dutch East India Company’s inter-Asian commerce. Their Burma trade was based on Indian textiles, particularly the cheaper, coarser varieties from the Choromandel Coast much favoured by the commoner people who could well afford an occasional length of imported Indian cloth, as indicated by newly available data.
===========
The demand for the products of Indian looms was enormous, almost from time immemorial, or so it seems. There were piece goods as well as articles of apparel, such as lungis, shawls cummerbunds and turbans. Indian cloth was skilfully woven and coloured in dyes that were fast to washing. Some had a fabulous lustre polished to a sheen. These high quality textiles were much sought after and had been traded for centuries throughout Asia and beyond. Most came in a wide range, from super fine to very coarse. The wealthy coveted fabrics of a delicate softness with complex patterns or trimmed with decorative gold designs, while the common folk were happy enough with coarser cloth for daily wear.
The Dutch stumbled upon this ancient inter-Asian trade quite by accident. They had made their way from Holland to the distant “Spice Islands” merely to discover that the spices they wanted could only be had in exchange for Indian cotton textiles, particularly from Choromandel. Arriving on India’s east coast, the Dutch chanced upon the highly lucrative, textile-based trade across the Bay of Bengal to countries such as Burma..." |
| Author/creator: | | Wil O. Dijk |
| Language: | | English |
| Format/size: | | html (26K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | March 2003 |
|
-
Historical documents
-
Accounts of Burma by travellers, diplomats, merchants, soldiers et al
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Palm-leaf Manuscript Record of a Mission Sent by the Myanmar King to the Chinese Emperor in the Mid-Eighteenth Century |
| Date of publication: | | December 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "...On 16 September 1983, as Chief Librarian of the Universities Central Library (UCL) in Yangon, I acquired an
extremely rare palm-leaf manuscript from a Middle School teacher from Pakkoku, U Tin Ngwe (U Tin Ngwe
(1931-2004) later became Headmaster of a Middle School in Pakkoku). When U Tin Ngwe brought the
manuscript to UCL, he told me that he had acquired it from a Buddhist monastery near Myaing, his
birthplace about twenty-five miles northwest of Pakkoku. I first come to know of the existence of this
manuscript about five years earlier, in November 1978, while I was in Pakkoku on one of many trips made to
various parts of Myanmar in search of rare palm-leaf and paper parabike manuscripts. We used to go on
manuscript search trips from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s and found many interesting and rare
manuscripts that are now kept in UCL. The palm-leaf manuscript purchased from U Tin Ngwe is a record of
a mission sent by the Myanmar king Maha-damá-ya-za-dí-patí (r. 1733-1752) to the Chinese Qianlong
Emperor (r. 1736-1795) of the Qing Dynasty..." |
| Author/creator: | | U Thaw Kaung |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research 6, 2008 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (376K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Editorial Introduction to Nicolò de’ Conti’s Account |
| Date of publication: | | 20 September 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | Nicolò de’ Conti did not write about his extensive travels. Our knowledge of him
has been filtered through the works of two men to whom he recounted his
adventures. A Spanish nobleman, Pero Tafur, was visiting the seashore near the
monastery at Mount Sinai in 1437, when Conti arrived there, on his way back to
Europe from Asia. Conti was accompanied by his wife, whom he had met and
married in India, and by his four children, who were born in the course of his
travels. Tafur travelled with the Conti family by caravan to Cairo and then set out
for Crete. The wife and two children died in an epidemic in Egypt, and Conti
returned with his remaining children to Venice, his native town. In 1439 he went to
Florence during a papal visit to that city, and at that time he related the stories of
his travels to the papal secretary, Giovanni Francesco Poggio Bracciolini. |
| Author/creator: | | Kennon Breazeale |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (43K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 September 2004 |
|
| Title: | | Robert Talbot Kelly and 'Picturesque' Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 1998 |
| Description/subject: | | Robert Talbot Kelly, through his art and his 1905 publication, Burma Painted and Described, provides a visual and textual account of colonial Burma that was subsequently marketed in England and America. Travelogues served as a form of voyeuristic education about the exotic for the stay-at-home adventurer. Postcolonial scholarship, to some degree assisted by Edward Said's Orientalism, now permits a reanalysis of both the art and the written texts of travel literature for what they say about cultural attitudes during the age of high imperialism, and in particular about Kelly's use of the word picturesque as a literary and artistic descriptor. |
| Author/creator: | | Oliver B. Pollak |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Journal of Burma Studies Vol. 3 (1998) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.4MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.grad.niu.edu/burma/webpgs/abstractsVol3.html (Vol. 3) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 March 2009 |
|
| Title: | | The Soul of a People |
| Date of publication: | | 1902 |
| Description/subject: | | First published in 1899..."This book is about Burma, seen through the eyes of an English gentleman during and after the conquering of Upper Burma by the British towards the end of the 19th century. It describes his impressions of the Burmese people and particularly their religion, Buddhism, which explains so much their strange customs and ways.
Written in the excellent English, in choice of words and prose, lost in modern times, that typified the Victorian period".....CONTENTS:
LIVING BELIEFS;
HE WHO FOUND THE LIGHT—I;
HE WHO FOUND THE LIGHT—II;
THE WAY TO THE GREAT PEACE;
WAR—I;
WAR—II;
GOVERNMENT;
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT;
HAPPINESS;
THE MONKHOOD I;
THE MONKHOOD II;
PRAYER;
FESTIVALS;
WOMEN—I;
WOMEN—II;
WOMEN III;
DIVORCE;
MANNERS;
'NOBLESSE OBLIGE';
ALL LIFE IS ONE;
DEATH, THE DELIVERER;
THE POTTER'S WHEEL;
THE FOREST OF TIME.....
The Alternate URL has a link to the openlibrary page which offers several editions, in various formats. The OBL link is to the 1902 edition, with the insertion of the first page of the Contents, omitted from the openlibrary 1902 version. |
| Author/creator: | | Harold Fielding Hall |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Macmillan & Co. via openlibrary.org |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.9MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://openlibrary.org/works/OL1104253W/The_soul_of_a_people |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | A JOURNEY THROUGH BURMA [IN 1888] |
| Date of publication: | | 1888 |
| Description/subject: | | "...For the amusement and edification of readers of Wachirayan, who were the
élite of Bangkok in his day, he began to write an account of his journey. This
article takes the reader to Rangoon and then up the Irrawaddy as far as Min-hla.
Prince Naris planned to continue the narrative of his river journey from Min-hla to
Mandalay and back, adding an account of recent political events leading up to the
British annexation of upper Burma. After completing this first article, however, he
apparently abandoned the project, and the full account of his journey never
materialised. He may, however, have written an official but confidential military
and political report when he returned to Bangkok, and that report may be in the
archives of the Ministry of Defence...Even though incomplete, it may be of some value to historians. It reflects
the attitudes, prejudices and admitted ignorance of the Thai élite vis-à-vis the
Burmese at the end of the Burmese monarchy. It may also contain some minor
factual observations useful to historical research..." |
| Author/creator: | | H.R.H. Prince Naritsara Nuwattiwong |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (49K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | FOUR YEARS IN BURMAH - Volume I |
| Date of publication: | | 1860 |
| Description/subject: | | CONTENTS OF VOL. I.
CHAPTER I.
Sketch of the History of Burmah—War with the Burmese in 1824—Conquered by the British— Negotiations with the Court of Ava—Occupation of the Tenasserim Provinces in 1851 — Naval Expedition to Ava—Arrival in Burmah in 1854
.
CHAPTER II.
How I came to go to Burmah — Captain Biden — Voyage in the " Hugh Lindsay" — Masulipatam — Coringa — The Temples of Juggernathpooram—Nautch Girls—Vizagapatam —Munsuorcottah—A shooting party ashore
.
CHAPTER III.
Description of the Town of Maulmain and its Environs—Picturesque Population—Domestic Manners of the People—Costumes, &c
.
CHAPTER IV.
My Burmese Preceptor—Intercourse between Europeans and Burmese Women—Plays and Entertainments—Curious Customs and Amusements— Traditions—Creation of the World—Missionaries —Education of Youth.... CHAPTER V.
Account of the Great Fire at Maulmain in 1854— Other Fires
.
CHAPTER VI.
Description of my house—Domestic servants — Marketing — The Bazaar — Articles of food — Prejudices of the people—Cloth merchants — Extortionate shop-keepers
.
CHAPTER VII.
Law and Police Courts—Magistrates and Judges— Pleaders — Affrays and Police Proceedings — Chinese Passion for Play— Gambling Houses — Heavy punishment and fines — Punishment of a criminal.—Law processes — Delay in administering justice
.
CHAPTER VIII.
Voyage to Rangoon in the "Nemesis" — Amherst, on the Salween River—The Irrawaddy — Immense alligator— Animals and insects — Mosquito creek—Miseries on arriving at Rangoon — State of affairs there — Journey to the house of Mr. L. — Generous hospitality — Wretched dwellings—Burmese boat races—Accommodations for the spectators—Animated description of the race—A Burmese drama—Dancing girls— Curious scene—Wrestling matches—Extraordinary climate—Excursions about the town—The Great Pagoda described—A fearful prospect— Return to Maulmain....N.B. THE COVERS, THE GOOGLE NOTE, ETC. HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE END OF THE TEXT AND THE FRONTISPIECE REPOSITIONED
SEE ALTERNATE URL FOR ORIGINAL ORDER. |
| Author/creator: | | W. H. Marshall |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Charles J. Skeet (publisher) via Google Books |
| Format/size: | | pdf (3.7MB) 322 pages |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://books.google.com/books?id=dnli6a6HpfgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=four+years+in+burmah&as_brr=1 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 April 2008 |
|
| Title: | | FOUR YEARS IN BURMAH - Volume II |
| Date of publication: | | 1860 |
| Description/subject: | | CONTENTS OF VOL. II.
CHAPTER I.
Ceremonies relating to deceased Priests — Their Bodies embalmed and afterwards burned
.
CHAPTER II. The Band Stand—Carriages and other vehicles— Soldiers' barracks—Public ball—Burmese notions Propagation of slander
.
CHAPTER III.
Natural Productions of Burmah—Beasts—Birds— Insects—Flowers
.
CHAPTER IV.
Literary Reminiscences—My Newspaper—Printer's Devils and Devils of Printers—My Troubles— General D'Orgoni—Final Secession and Return to Maulmain
.
CHAPTER V.
Petroleum—The Wells at Rama gong—Mode of procuring the Oil, its Uses, &c
..
CHAPTER VI.
Execution of two Burmans—Their Story—A Burman Village—English Jurisprudence—The stolen Elephant—The Thief executed—Capital Punishment—Revolting Scene—Reflections
.
CHAPTER VII.
Visit to the Jail—Description of it—Conversation with a Convict—Weaving and Carpet making —Surprising Agility of a Female—Inspection of the Convicts—Divided into Classes—A noisy Prisoner—Crowded state of the Jail—Its offensive State—The different Wards—Cooking-houses— Granaries, &c.—Anecdote of a French Prince— A Funeral
..
CHAPTER VIIL
Village of Nyoungbienziek—Visit to the Distillery at the Place—The Goung Gyoup—The Timber Station at Kadoe—Tricks of the Trade—Visit to Martaban
.
CHAPTER IX.
Determination to quit Burmah—The Law's Delay —Past Government and future Prospects of Burmah—News of the Revolt in Bengal—Sugar Factory at Amherst—Productions and Capabilities of this part of India—Its favourable Climate
CHAPTER X.
My Voyage Home in the "Avondhu "—Incident at Amherst—The Andamans and Nicobars— Hurricanes—The Cape of Good Hope—Ascension—The Azores—Whalers—HOME........N.B. THE COVERS, THE GOOGLE NOTE, ETC. HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE END OF THE TEXT AND THE FRONTISPIECE REPOSITIONED
SEE ALTERNATE URL FOR ORIGINAL ORDER. |
| Author/creator: | | W. H. Marshall |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Charles J. Skeet (publisher) via Google Books |
| Format/size: | | pdf (3.4MB) 307 pages |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://books.google.com/books?id=yDdLW1NE1SwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=four+years+in+burmah
http://books.google.com/books/download/Four_years_in_Burmah.pdf?id=yDdLW1NE1SwC&output=pdf&... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 07 April 2008 |
|
| Title: | | A Narrative of the Mission sent by the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava in 1855 |
| Date of publication: | | 1858 |
| Description/subject: | | CONTENTS:
I. JOURNAL OF THE MISSION FROM THE BRITISH FRONTIER TO PAGAN-MYO...
II THE REMAINS AT PAGAN...
III. JOURNAL FROM PAGAN TO THE CAPITAL...
IV. OUR RESIDENCE AT THE CAPITAL...
V. THE CITY OF AMARAPOORA...
VI. EXCURSIONS IN THE ENVIRONS OF THE CAPITAL...
VII. RETURN OF THE MISSION FROM THE CAPITAL TO RANGOON...
VIII. NOTES ON THE INTERCOURSE OF THE BURMESE COUNTRIES WITH WESTERN NATIONS UP TO
THE PEACE OF YANDABO...
IX. NOTICES OF THE HISTORY OF BURMA FROM THE PEACE OF YANDABO (1826) TO THE
REVOLUTION OF 1853...
X. SOME ACCOUNT OF THE RELIGION OF THE BURMESE...
XI. THE MINISTERS OF STATE --MILITARY AFFAIRS -- REVENUES AND CURRENCY...
XII. ON THE MAP OF BURMAH -- DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY -- AND POPULATION...
XIII. THE SHAN STATES TRIBUTARY TO BURMA.....
APPENDIX.
A. NOTES ON THE GEOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE BANKS OF THE IRAWADI, AND OF THE
COUNTRY NORTH OF AMARAPOORA...
B. FROM APPENDIX B. TO THE MS. JOURNAL OF MAJOR H. BURNEY, RESIDENT AT AVA,
ACCOMPANYING A LETTER DATED 11TH SEPTEMBER, 1830, IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE,
CALCUTTA...
C. TRANSLATION OF THE BURMESE HYMN CHANTED BY THE BRAHMINS ...
D. LETTER FROM THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL TO THE KING OF AVA...
E. THE KING'S LETTER TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL...
F. ON THE PLAN OF BURMESE MONASTERIES...
G. ON THE SOURCES OF THE IRAWADI...
H. DETAIL OF IMPORTS AND EXPORTS...
I. SPECIMENS OF THE REIGNING KING'S EDICTS...
J. SPECIMEN OF A BURMESE DRAMA (MAJOR PHAYRE)...
K. THE MISSION OF GERARD VAN WUSTHOF TO THE KING OF THE LAOS...
L. NOTE ON THE AFFINITIES OF THE INDIAN AND BURMESE STYLES OF ARCHITECTURE.
BY JAMES FERGGSSON, ESQ...
M. ON THE LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN BURMA AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRIES......THIS IS NOT A PERFECT SCAN...SOME BLANK PAGES AND COVERS HAVE BEEN DELETED FOR THE ELECTRONIC VERSION. SEE ALTERNATE URL FOR THESE PAGES. |
| Author/creator: | | Captain Henry Yule |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Smith, Elder & Co. |
| Format/size: | | pdf (6.5MB) - 462 pages |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://books.google.co.th/books?id=13wsAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22A+Narrative+of+th... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 16 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | ACCOUNT OF THE JOURNEY OF HIERONIMO DI SANTO STEFANO, A GENOVESE (1495-1496) |
| Date of publication: | | 1857 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s Note:
This translation of Hieronimo di Santo Stefano’s journey to Pegu in 1495-1496 was
originally published in India in the Fifteenth Century Being a Collection of
Narratives of Voyages to India, edited by R. H. Major, in 1857. The account was
written in the form of a letter to Messer Giovan Jacobo Mainer. Only those
portions related to Burma have been included in the version below...
M.W.C. |
| Author/creator: | | Hieronimo di Santo Stefano of Genoa. Translated by R. H. Major |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (12.4K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 September 2004 |
|
| Title: | | BRIEF EXTRACT FROM THE TRAVELS OF ATHANASIUS NIKITIN, A NATIVE OF TWER |
| Date of publication: | | 1857 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s Note:
This translation of Athanasius Nikitin’s fifteenth century travels to India was
originally published in India in the Fifteenth Century Being a Collection of
Narratives of Voyages to India, edited by R. H. Major, in 1857. Nikitin appears to
have only included information on Burma which he obtained by word of mouth.
His brief references to Pegu are provided below. The reference to Pegu has been
standardized, as two different spellings were included in the original translation.
M.W.C. |
| Author/creator: | | Athanasius Nikitin of Tver. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (12K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 September 2004 |
|
| Title: | | Extracts from Royal B. Hancock’s Journal at Mergui |
| Date of publication: | | 1838 |
| Description/subject: | | Note:
Original editorial note: Mr. Royal B. Hancock and family left
Maulmain on 27 November 1837 and arrived at Mergui December
3rd. On the 26th of December, he was joined by Eugenio Kincaid,
as stated in former communications. For several months previous
to his departure from Maulmain, he had been engaged partly on
the printing office, and partly in evangelical labors in Maulmain
and its vicinity.
December 16, 1837 |
| Author/creator: | | Royal B. Hancock |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (127K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Account of Rangoon in the Summer of 1826 |
| Date of publication: | | 1829 |
| Description/subject: | | Notes:
During his stay at Rangoon in the summer of 1826, Crawfurd drew
up his account of this town, although it was not published until he
included it in his account of his embassy made to the Burmese
court in 1827, which was published in 1829. As Crawfurd
explains: “The following account of Rangoon was collected by me
while I resided there in civil, charge of Pegu, a period of more than
six months.”
M.W.C. |
| Author/creator: | | John Crawfurd |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (100K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Journal of An Embassy From the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava |
| Date of publication: | | 1829 |
| Description/subject: | | [IN THE SOAS VERSION] Note:
We include below the complete diary portion of John Crawfurd’s
account of the embassy he headed to the Burmese court in 1826
and 1827, introduced by Crawfurd’s dedication. This account was
originally published (with the misleading attribution of the
embassy to 1827).
Journal of an Embassy From the Governor-General of India to the
Court of Ava, in the Year 1827, by John Crawfurd, Esq., FRS. FLS.
FGS., &c. Late Envoy. With an Appendix, Containing a Description of
Fossil Remains, by Professor Buckland and Mr. Clift (London: Henry
Colburn, New Burlington Street. 1829).
M. W. C. |
| Author/creator: | | John Crawfurd |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (868K-SOAS version; 11MB, 16MB) -- 324 pages |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/Crawfurd-red.pdf
http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/Crawfurd-op.pdf
http://web.archive.org/web/20070609092719/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3.2files/19CrawfurdDiary.pdf
http://books.google.com/books?id=GyYAAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Account of the Fortifications at Ava in 1827 |
| Date of publication: | | 1827 |
| Description/subject: | | "...The city of Ava is surrounded by a brick wall fifteen and a half feet
in height, and ten feet in thickness: on the inside of which there is
thrown up a bank of earth forming about an angle of forty-five
degrees: on the top of this bank there is a terre pleine, in some
places, of a good breadth, but in others, so narrow as scarcely to
admit the recoil of a gun. The parapet of brickwork is four and ahalf
feet in height, and two in thickness, measured across the
superior slope..." |
| Author/creator: | | M. Montmorency |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (279K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | An Account of Martaban in March and April 1826 |
| Date of publication: | | 1827 |
| Description/subject: | | Notes:
In the last sections of his account of his mission to Ava in 1827,
John Crawfurd included his journal of his visit to Martaban in the
previous year, in order to fill a gap in his 1827 narrative. As he
explained: “Our return to Bengal having hindered our excursion to
the Saluen and Gain rivers, as well as prevented us from visiting
other parts of the province, I shall endeavour in some measure to
supply the deficiency, by the insertion of the journal of a voyage to
Martaban, which, I performed about ten months before the time of
which I am now writing. It is as follows
” We reproduce this
account on its own here.
M.W.C. |
| Author/creator: | | John Crawfurd |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (145K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Geological Account of a Series of Animal and Vegetable Remains and of Rocks, collected by J. Crawfurd, Esq. on a Voyage up the Irawadi to Ava, in 1826 and 1827 |
| Date of publication: | | 1827 |
| Description/subject: | | "For the specimens and notes which form the subject of the present
communication, the Society is indebted to the zeal and activity of
J. Crawfurd, Esq. one of its Fellows, who having occasion to
traverse the Burmese Country, on an embassy to Ava, in the years
1826 and 1827, discovered an extensive deposit of organic
remains in that unknown and distant region. He has brought
home specimens of these remains, both animal and vegetable, as
well as of the strata in which they were found, and has with much
judgment and liberality presented them to the Geological Society of
London, and to several other scientific Societies. It is on an
examination of these specimens, and of the notes contained in Mr.
Crawfurd’s daily journal, that the observations and descriptions
that make up the present memoir arc founded..." |
| Author/creator: | | William Buckland, |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (169K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Quadrupeds and Other Animals of Burma |
| Date of publication: | | 1827 |
| Description/subject: | | Note:
The following note has been extracted from the 1829 publication,
Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the
Court of Ava in the Year 1827, by John Crawfurd, the envoy on this
mission. It was originally organized within the sixteenth chapter,
but has been separated and included here under the present title
as its information is self-contained within that chapter and
because it has a topical interest to those currently researching the
history of animals of Southeast Asia. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | John Crawfurd |
| Format/size: | | pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 17 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Brief Excursion to the Hills to the East of Ava in November 1826 |
| Date of publication: | | 1826 |
| Description/subject: | | Note:
"The following account by Dr. N. Wallich, who was at that time the
Superintendent of the Government Botanical Garden at Calcutta,
of his excursion into rural Burma in 1826 was quoted in full in
John Crawfurd’s account of his mission, of which Dr. Wallich was
a part, to Ava in that year. As Crawfurd explains in his
introduction to the entry: “Dr. Wallich returned to-day from a
botanical excursion to the range of mountains lying east of Ava,
which he performed with the sanction of the Burman Government.
The following is the narrative of this short but interesting journey,
which was replete with botanical discoveries."”
M.W.C. |
| Author/creator: | | Dr. N. Wallich |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (118K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Empire Birman-Arracan |
| Date of publication: | | 1826 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s notes:
This brief account of Arracan was originally published in the Bulletin de la Société
de Géographie 5.35 & 36 (March-April) in 1826. Thus, its publication dates from
the last year of the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826), although it was likely
based on information preceding that conflict...
M.W.C. |
| Language: | | Francais, French |
| Source/publisher: | | Bulletin de la Société de Géographie 5.35 & 36 via SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (16K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 25 September 2004 |
|
| Title: | | Miscellaneous Letters on Burma, 1755-1760, I |
| Date of publication: | | 1808 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s Note:
"The following letters, and in cases extracts of letters, were reproduced by
Alexander Dalrymple in 1808, published in London under the title Oriental
Repertory, by William Ballintine for the East India Company. Relevant portions of
Dalrymple’s commentary to some letters have also been included."
M.W.C.
_____ |
| Author/creator: | | Alexander Dalrymple (ed) |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol.3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (47K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | CAMMUAZA, or the ceremony used at the Induction of a Birman into the Order of Priesthood, called Phonghi, or Rhahaan (1795) |
| Date of publication: | | 1795 |
| Description/subject: | | Editorial note:
"The following account of the induction ceremony for Buddhist monks was
included as Appendix V in Michael Symes, An Acount of an Embassy to the
Kingdom of Ava, Sent by the Governor-General of India in the Year 1795 (London:
W. Bulmer & Co., 496-500). Symes, then a major in the 76th Regiment, made
numerous valuable observations on Burmese culture, society, government, and
history. While it is clear that he did consult the accounts of other visitors to Burma,
most of his material was derived from first-hand observation or from material
provided by Burmese acquaintances, and the following account was likely derived
from the latter."
M.W.C. |
| Author/creator: | | Michael Symes |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (26K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Account of the Loss of Negrais |
| Date of publication: | | 1791 |
| Description/subject: | | Note:
The following account is one of many of the massacre at Negrais,
an island close to Bassein where the English East India Company
attempted to establish a factory in the mid-eighteenth century. An
introduction for the account has been provided by Dalrymple:
It will be necessary, by way of Introduction, to mention that
it having been determined to withdraw the settlement at
Negrais except three or four people to take care of the teak
timbers that had been collected there, and to secure the
right of possession, in case it might afterwards be thought
proper to resettle at that place. Captain Newton proceeded
accordingly to Bengal, where he arrived 14th of May 1759,
with thirty-five Europeans, and seventy black people. On
30th of July 1759. The administration at Bengal, thought
proper to accept of Captain William Henry Southby’s offer to
go to Negrais, to take care of the teak timbers, and
accordingly dispatched the Victoria Snow, Captain Walter
Alves, to carry Mr. Southby to the Negrais. Captain Alves
returned to Bengal in November, and gave the following
account of the Settlement at Negrais, being cut off.
The papers concerning Negrais, and Captain Alve’s
Embassy to Ava [previous issue of the SBBR], with the
letters that passed on that occasion, were communicated by
my much lamented friend, the late Lord Pigot
Alexander Dalrymple (1791) |
| Author/creator: | | Captain Walter Alves, |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (95K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | A VOYAGE TO PEGU |
| Date of publication: | | 1789 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s Note:
This account was originally composed in French, but translated into English by
Francis Magnus and published in Calcutta at the Joseph Cooper Press in 1789, the
year of the French Revolution. It was published within the multi-volume travels
(Vol. III, book 4, chapter 2) of the Comissary of the Marine, Monsieur Sonnerat,
entitled, A Voyage to the East-Indies and China; Performed by Order of Lewis XV.
Between the Years 1774 and 1781. Containing A Description of the Manners,
Religion, Arts, and Scieneces, of the Indians, Chinese, Pegouins, and of the
Islanders of Madagascar; Also Observations on the Cape of Good Hope, the Isles
of Ceylon, Malacca, the Phillippines, and Moluccas. As only the account to Pegu is
included here, “A French Voyage to Pegu” has been decided upon as the title for
this edition...
M. W. C. |
| Author/creator: | | Monsieur Sonnerat |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (44K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Notes on Bûraghmah (c. 1755) |
| Date of publication: | | 1755 |
| Description/subject: | | Note:
Dalrymple provides some information on Captain George Baker in
his introduction to the Oriental Repertory:
Captain George Baker’s Observations at Persaim in 1755, his
Journal of an Embassy, to the King of the Bûraghmahns, his
Character of that King, and the Short Account of the
Country are from MSS, which that valuable friend gave to me
during the course of our voyage in the Cuddalore [in] 1759:
His modest diffidence makes him apprehensive of appearing
as an author; but, I doubt not, the publick approbation will
shew his apprehensions were groundless.
All of the accounts mentioned by Dalrymple have been republished
in the SBBR (see volume 3.2 and the present issue). In the
collection of notes included below, “The Palace at Pegu” has been
extracted from Dalrymple’s introduction. As he explains of the
origin of the note, “I find amongst my memos of information,
received from Captain Baker, the following account of Pegu, which
could not properly be introduced in any other place, and therefore I
have inserted it here.”
The sections on (1) the Burmans and Mons and (2) the
Karens, below, were extracts inserted into the initial anonymous
letter included in the Oriental Repertory collection by Dalrymple,
indicating with a “B” that Baker was the source of the quotations.
Dalrymple, in his introduction to Oriental Repertory, also
makes the following observation based on Baker’s accounts which
may usefully be included here:
It has appeared, in Captain Baker’s Observations, that the
Bûraghmah King had risen from his abilities; Simento,
King of Pegu, was at first a Goldsmith; so that both
competitors were self-raised.
M. W. C. |
| Author/creator: | | Captain George Baker |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (87K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Observations at Persaim and in the Journey to Ava and Back in 1755 |
| Date of publication: | | 1755 |
| Description/subject: | | Editorial Note:
"The following materials from Captain George Baker’s diaries and other records
and notes were originally published in Alexander Dalrymple’s Oriental Repertory
in 1808. Baker has left numerous other reports, many found in the Records of Fort
St. George for the period. These latter materials will be published in later editions
of the SBBR. Baker’s account is especially useful for being one of the few firsthand
accounts written by a European, of Alaunghpaya, the founder of the
Konbaung Dynasty."
M.W.C. |
| Author/creator: | | Captain George Baker |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, Spring 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (261K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070102014547/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_1.htm
http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/10288/ |
| Date of entry/update: | | 17 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Short Account of the Bûraghmah Country |
| Date of publication: | | 1755 |
| Description/subject: | | "The Bûraghmah country, it is certain, has heretofore been
frequented by many Europeans, particularly English, whose
residence, in it, has undoubtedly afforded them much greater
opportunities of giving better accounts of it, than what I can
pretend to do; yet, as these gentlemen are now mostly defunct, and
perhaps no account of theirs extant, I will say a few words towards
it, for the satisfaction of such as have not themselves seen it..." N.B. This extract is undated -- the date of 1755 given in the date field is approximate. |
| Author/creator: | | Captain George Baker |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Account of Pegu and the Voyage to Cambodia and Siam in 1718 |
| Date of publication: | | 1727 |
| Description/subject: | | Note:
"Captain Alexander Hamilton collated an account of his voyage to Cambodia and Siam in 1718 with accounts of his
experiences in Pegu and elsewhere on earlier travels, as well as information he had gathered about certain other
locations (such as Arakan) in his A New Account of the East Indies (Edinburgh, 1727). While the original account also
included accounts of parts of the Malay world and “Cochinchina,” these have been excluded from the following
text. The account begins with a brief account of Chittagong and concludes with eastern mainland Southeast Asia.
The best biographical account of Hamilton is that by William Foster in his introduction to the 1930 reprint of the
text (London, Argonaut Press)."
M.W.C....Includes sections on Chittagong, Arakan, Pegu, Mergui, Tenasserim and The Andamans, |
| Author/creator: | | Captain Alexander Hamilton |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | A New Account of the East Indies (Edinburgh, 1727). via SOAS Bulletin og Burma Research 4.2 (Autumn 2006) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (483K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20071010121234/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/4_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | AN ACCOUNT OF PEGU IN 1586-1587 |
| Date of publication: | | 1625 |
| Description/subject: | | Tippera and Bengala in 1585...Journey to Pegu in Late 1586...Dala and Syriam...The Old Town of Pegu...The New Town of Pegu...The Royal Elephants...The King and the Nobles...Commodities Suitable for Pegu...Pagodas and Monks...Chiangmai...Capelan...Body Adornment...Justice...Departure from Pegu, January 1587...Brief Return to Pegu and Departure from Southeast Asia...Commodities of the East...Return to London. |
| Author/creator: | | Ralph Fitch |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (52K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | ACCOUNT OF THE KINGDOME OF PEGUE (1608) |
| Date of publication: | | 1615 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s Note:
The account of Henri de Feynes de Monsart was translated anonymously into
English and published in London in 1615, for Thomas Dawson by William
Arondell under the title of An Exact and Curious Survey of all the East Indies, even
to Canton, the chiefe Cittie of China: All duly performed by land, by Monsieur de
Monsart, the like whereof was never hetherto, brought to an end. The original
edtion is available in at least four copies in the British Library...
M. W. C. |
| Author/creator: | | Henri de Feynes de Monsart |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (14K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | CERTAINE WORDS OF PEGU LANGUAGE (1603) |
| Date of publication: | | 1603 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s Note:
This world list was included in the back matter of A True and Large Discourse of
the Voyage of the Whole Fleete of Ships Set forth the 20 of Aprill 1601 by the
Government and Assistants of the East Indian Marchants in London, to the East
Indies, published for Thomas Thorpe by William Alpley of London in 1603.
Curiously, the mission, which did come across ships in the Straits of Melaka, does
not appear to have visited Pegu. There is no indication in the text of how or where
the world list was obtained. It may be possible the it was gathered from Peguan
traders on ships encountered at sea or in a local trading port...
M.W. C. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (14K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | ACCOUNT OF PEGU |
| Date of publication: | | 18 June 1588 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor's Note: ...The account reproduced below attempts to provide as complete a version
of Federici’s account of Pegu as possible, based on the Hakluyt and Purchas
editions, but checked for major errors against the original Hickok translation. The
text included below only includes the sections relevant to Burma and Southeast
Asia, for information on trade in India and the Middle East, the reader is directed to
the Voyages or Hakluytus Posthumus, or the Hickok original (the latter may be
republished here in a later issue)...
M.W.C....Cæsar Frederick to the Reader...A Voyage to the East Indies, and Beyond the Indies, &c....Sumatra...Malacca...Pegu’s Conquest of Siam...Tenasserim...Difficulties of Journey...Martaban...Dealings with the Retor at Martaban...Voyage to City of Pegu...City of Pegu...Royal Elephants in Pegu...Armies of the King of Pegu...The Wealth of the King of Pegu...Justice in Pegu...Death and Property in Pegu...Commerce in Pegu...Duties and Currency in Pegu...Manner of Dress at Pegu4...A Typhoon...Sundiva Island and Arakan...Commodities of India...Return to Pegu...Commerce of the East Indies...End of Voyage |
| Author/creator: | | Cesar Fedrici of Venice. Translated from the Italian by Master Thomas Hickock |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (114K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Early Fifteenth Century Travels in the East |
| Date of publication: | | 1579 |
| Description/subject: | | From Ceylon to Sumatra and the Andaman Islands...Tenasserim...Bengal and the River Ganges...Arakan and Crossing the Mountains to Ava...Specialty Shops with Lascivious Things...Elephants of War in Burma...Manner of Catching and Taming Elephants in Burma...Marriage, Tattooing, and Religion in Burma...Fruits of Burma...Buffaloes and Oxen in Upper Burma...Cathay...Departure from Ava |
| Author/creator: | | Nicolò de’ Conti of Venice. Translated by John Frampton in the late sixteenth century. Notes by Kennon Breazeale |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (77K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | THE LUSIAD, OR, PORTUGALS HISTORICALL POEM (Tenth Canto, STANZA. 1.) |
| Date of publication: | | 1572 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s Note:
"Luís Vaz de Camões (c. 1524-1580), the famous Lisbon poet, composed Os
Lusiades in 1572 to glorify the expedition and exploits of Vasco da Gama in the
Indian Ocean. It is a lengthy and epic poem, consisting of ten cantos, the portion
relating to mainland Southeast Asia limited to a portion of the last of these. Only
this portion is reproduced below. The chief utility of this information for the
historian is that it helps us to understand how much, by 1572, Portuguese at home
knew about the region. Some information is of special interest, such as the
reference to the Gwe..." |
| Author/creator: | | Luís Vaz de Camões Translated by Richard Fanshaw (1655) |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (20K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | THE ITINERARY OF LUDOVICO DI VARTHEMA OF BOLOGNA FROM 1502 TO 1508 |
| Date of publication: | | 1510 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s Note:
Ludovico di Varthema of Bologna has left us an account of India and Burma from
the very first decade of the sixteenth century, prior to the largescale of the First
Taung-ngu Dynasty that would follow in the decades ahead. It thus provides a
valuable insight into a period for which many foreign sources are not available.
The original account, in Italian, was published at Rome on the 6th of
December 1510 at the request of Lodovico de Henricis da Corneto of Vicenza by
Stephano Guillireti de Loreno and Hercule de Nani, both of Bologna. The
translation followed here was made by John Winter Jones in 1863, edited by G. P.
Badger, and published under the title of “The Itinerary of Ludovico di Varthema of
Bologna from 1502 to 1508,” the same title we use in the text below.
Only material relevant to Burma has been included in the following text.
Additional editorial changes include additional paragraph breaks and the addition
of subject headers for clarification...
M.W.C. |
| Author/creator: | | Ludovico di Varthema. Translated by John Winter Jones |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (46K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | THE TRAVELS OF MARCO POLO, THE VENETIAN (1298) |
| Date of publication: | | 1298 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s note:
Marco Polo was the frst Western traveller to speak of Burma (Mien). His late
thirteenth century account has been translated numerous times, one of the most
popular editions being Henry Yule’s (tr.) The Book of Ser Marco Polo the Venetian
Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East in the nineteenth century and
the revision of this translation by Henri Cordier in the early twentieth. The Yule-
Cordier edition of 1903 is widely available in reprint. Less widely available is the
present translation made by W. Marsden from Ramusio’s collection of travels
published in 1818 and re-edited by Thomas Wright in September 1854, published
as The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian. (London: Henry G. Bohn). Polo’s
account of events in Burma can be dated to the early-mid 1290s, for he returned to
Venice in 1295, although the Travels were not put into writing until 1298. The
version below has been made from the copy in the British Library...
M.W. C. |
| Author/creator: | | Marco Polo of Venice, Translated by W. Marsden, Re-edited by Thomas Wright |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (41K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
-
Memoirs and accounts of Burma by missionaries
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Burmese Empire a Hundred Years Ago |
| Date of publication: | | 1893 |
| Description/subject: | | First published: 1833....CONTENTS: INTRODUCTION;
LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS REFERRED TO;
PREFACE BY MR. JARDINE;
PREFACE BY CARDINAL WISEMAN;
DESCRIPTION OF THE BURMESE EMPIRE...
BURMESE COSMOGRAPHY:
I. Of the Measures and Divisions of Time commonly used in
the Sacred Burmese Books;
II. Of the World and its Parts;
III. Of the Beings that live in this World, of their Felicity or
Misery, and of the Duration of their Life;
IV. Of the States of Punishment;
V. Of the Destruction and Reproduction of the World;
VI. Of the Inhabitants of the Burmese Empire....
BURMESE HISTORY:
VII. Origin of the Burmese Nation and Monarchy;
VIII. Abridgment of the Burmese Annals, called Maharazven;
IX. Of the present Royal Family, and of the Principal Events
that have taken place under the Reigning Dynasty....
CONSTITUTION OF THE BURMESE EMPIRE:
X. Of the Emperor, and of his White Elephants;
XI. Officers of State and of the Household, Tribunals, and
Administration of Justice;
XII. Revenue and Taxes;
XIII. Army and Military Discipline....
RELIGION OF THE BURMESE:
XIV. The Laws of Godama;
XV. Of the Talapoins;
XVI. The Sermons of Godama;
XVII. Superstitions of the Burmese....
MORAL AND PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE
BURMESE EMPIRE:
XVIII. Character of the Burmese;
XIX. Manners and Customs of the Burmese;
XX. Literature and Sciences of the Burmese;
XXI. Natural Productions of the Burmese Empire;
XXII. Calendar of the Burmese. Climate and Seasons of the
Burmese Empire;
XXIII. Of the Currency and Commerce of the Burmese Empire....
BURMESE CODE:
XXIV. Abstract of the Burmese Code entitled Damasat; or the
Golden Rule |
| Author/creator: | | Father Vincenzo Sangermano |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Archibald Constable & Co. |
| Format/size: | | pdf (8.2MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://ia341340.us.archive.org/0/items/cu31924023243904/cu31924023243904.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 21 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | The gospel in Burmah: the story of its introduction and marvelous progress among the Burmese and Karens |
| Date of publication: | | 1860 |
| Description/subject: | | Subjects: Missions Burma Missions, American History / Asia / Southeast Asia...
CHAPTER I.
Establishment of the American Board of Missions; the Missionaries reach India;
Mission commenced in Rangoon; the first Convert, Moung Nan; unsuccessful Visit to Ava; first Burmese War; heroism and death of Mrs. Judson. Pages 19-36
CHAPTER II.
The first Karen Convert, Ko-tha byu; Visit to the Karens of Dongyan; their
Desire for God's Book; the Karen Alphabet formed; Earen Mission in Ta-
voy; singular Worship of an unknown Book; L abors, success, and illness of
Mr. Boardman; Enquirers and Converts; Mr. Boardman's Death.
Tages 36-52
CHAPTER in.
Arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Mason at Tavoy; Mrs. Boardman's excellent schools;
the Sgau Karens and their chief; Mrs. Mason's classes and schools; Mrs.
Helen Mason's illness and death; her habits of devotion. Pages 53-66
CHAPTER IV.
Ko-thah-a, a distinguished Burman Convert, baptized and ordained; the Rangoon
Mission re-established; translation of the Burman Scriptures; crowds of
Visitors from the Interior; Mr. Wade at Mergui; Labors of Mr. Kincaid:
(3) his journey to Ava; Persecution of the Burman Converts in Pegu; Bap-
tisms at Maubee; the Christian Governor of Bassein; enlargement of the
Mission; Mr. Kincaid's Journey beyond Ava; his perils and deliverance.
Pages 67-82
CHAPTER V.
The Mission in Arracan; its commencement and early growth; death and char-
actejof Ko-thah-byu; Mr. Abbott at Sandoway; immigration of Christian
Karens, driven by persecution from Burmah; death of Mrs.Abbott; Akyab;
the Mountain Chief; trials of the Mission; Death of Missionaries; " Six
Men for Arracan;" Review of the various Missions in Burmah.
Pages 83-94
CHAPTER VI.
Illness of the Judsons; the Burmese Dictionary; Mrs. Judson's Works; her
Missionary Labors; Mrs. Judson's illness, voyage, and death; Dr. Judson's
return; progress among the Kemmees;vain attempt to re establish the
Rangoon Mission; last illness, death, and character of Dr. Judson.
Pages 95-108
CHAPTER VII.
Nomination of Native Pastors; Wah Dee; the village of Thay Rau; Native
Labors; Pastors in Tavoy; Tavoy Association; its rules of conduct and of
worship; Persecution in Pegu; Martyrdom of Thagua; Progress in Bas-
sein; wonderful history of Myat Kyau; his labors, character, and death.
Pages 109-127
CHAPTER VIII.
Return to Rangoon; Visit from a Priest; Trials of the Karen Converts; Visit to
a Monastery; War with the English; conduct of the Governor; his con-
sternation; message from the Commodore; the Governor consults Mr. Kin-
caid; tyranny of the Governor; disorders in the city; arrival of the new
Governor; the English deputation insulted; the King's ship captured: the
English retire; Battle of the Stockades; interview of the Missionaries with
Lord Dalhousie; Pegu annexed; Prospects of the future.
Pages 128-151
CHAPTER IX.
The Tenasserim Provinces; Matah; a Sabbath at Matah; the teachers Klana and
Kolapau; Mrs. Mason's journey to Longpung; thence to Chongquait and
its heathen people; Visit to Falatot; discussions with the heathen; results
of the journey. Pages 152-170
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CHAPTER X.
Mr. Ingall's labors at Rangoon; progress there; a strange Blacksmith; numerous
Converts; the History of Moung Shway Fau; his conversion and baptism;
Ko-thah-a and Mau Sa; Peace under the English rule; Mr. Ingalls' last
journey, illness and death; Losses in the Mission. Pages 171-194
CHAPTER XI.
Dr. Mason's first journey to Toungoo; the town of■'Shwaygyeen; death of the
first Mrs. Harris; the city of Toungoo; its important position; the Mission
commenced; Visit from the Taubeah Chief; Thako Mosha; the Chiefs
Verses; Visit from a Toungoo Lady; Conversation with her; Visits from
other Ladies; their religious difficulties; their anxiety to learn; zeal of
A Shapau. Pages 195-211
CHAPTER XII.
The history of Sau Quala; his parents; his boyhood; his conversion; his Mother's
conversion, and death; residence with his brother; their earnest studies;
his public profession; his first efforts for others; he is present at Mr. Board-
man's death; studies under Dr. Mason and Dr. Judson; collects the Karen
Traditions; and assists in the translation of the Bible; writes Karen books;
his marriage; his preaching and discussions; his frequent journeys; he
becomes a pastor; progress among the Karens in the Tenasserim Province;
Dr. Mason's opinion of Sau Quala; Revivals at Pyeekhya and Kewville;
Quala is ordained; Story of Dumoo; Dumoo and Quala set off for Toun-
goo; Quala's marvellous successs; his devoted labors; offer of Government
employ; the offer declined. Pages 212-245
CHAPTER XIII.
Sau Quala and his assistants; earnest spirit of these native Missionaries; Mr.
Whitaker at Toungoo; Mr. and Mrs. Harris at Shwaygyeen; Death of
Mrs. Harris; remarkable progress at Toungoo; earnestness of the people;
Pwaipau's success; Dr. Mason's return; jungle travelling; his visit to the
mountain Churches; support of the native teachers; the Bghai Association
of Churches; number of the Converts and their families; ability of the
Preachers; extraordinary liberality of the Churches; marvellous progress;
the Bghai tribes; their ancient feuds; the independent Bghais; Border tribes;
Much land to be possessed; Shapau's success; Mrs. Mason at Toungoo;the
Female Normal School founded; its plan; the first scholars; letters from
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the people promising to support it; lawlessness of the tribes; Quala's
letter;letter to the American Churches; progress of the Normal School; the
teacher Sauka; his visit to the Sgaus; lawlessness of the tribes; many
become Christians; murders among them; blood - revenge; Pwaipau
ordained in Toungoo; his history; enquiries of the young teachers; Shapau
ordained; wide doors of usefulness; Mrs. Mason visits the jungles; goes
into the mountains; Mopgha house; timber collected; Christian village at
Toungoo; Bghai public spirit; their improved manners; report of the
Toungoo Mission for 1857; statistics; contributions. Pages 24C-2S4
CHAPTER XIV.
Position of the Missionaries: Tavot native Pastors; the origin of evil illustrated;
a Karen convert; disappearance of the Priests; a Bunnan village: Maul-
Hain; the Theological Seminary; the Karen Churches: Shwatgteen:
Bassein; Report of the Karen Churches; their liberality; desire for the
Bible; grounds of discouragement; the Burmans of Bassein; the northern
Karens; native Missionaries sent to them: Henthada; progress made;
native assistants; the Henthada Normal School; increase of Converts:
Pbohe; conversion of a young Burman priest; general progress in the
district: Rangoon; the Burman preacher, Moung-thet-nau; his conversion
and baptism; death of Mr. Vinton; his numerous Churches; growth of the
Mission; openings for usefulness, and his earnest appeals; his character,
influence, and zealous labors; his last journey, illness, and sudden death;
mourning of the Karens; conclusion; Apostolic preaching, plans, and pre-
cedents, followed by Apostolic success. Pages 295-332 |
| Author/creator: | | Mrs. Macleod Wylie |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Sheldon & Co. |
| Format/size: | | pdf |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://books.google.com/books/download/The_gospel_in_Burmah.pdf?id=fLRFAAAAIAAJ&output=pdf&... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 21 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Rivers in the desert, or, Missionn-scenes in Burmah |
| Date of publication: | | 1858 |
| Description/subject: | | "...The following Memoir of the Burmah Mission has been prepared at the suggestion of various friends, who, on account of the Mission's extraordinary results, desiderated such a brief but comprehensive narrative of its workers and work as might stimulate the Church of Christ, in these portentous days, to fresh zeal and faith in winning souls.
The materials of the Memoir lie scattered over a variety of publications; such as the Lives of Dr. Judson, of Boardman, of Ann Judson, of Ko-thah-byoo, of Sarah Judson, and of Emily Judson; "the Church Missionary Intelligencer;" " the Missionary Magazine of the American Board of Missions;" and sundry
other works. It has been the Author's aim to weave the varied fragments into one connected whole..." |
| Author/creator: | | John Baillie |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Seeley, Jackson and Halliday |
| Format/size: | | pdf (6.38) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://books.google.com/books/download/Rivers_in_the_desert_or_Mission_scenes_i.pdf?id=s0AAAAAAMAAJ... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 21 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Memoir of Ann H. Judson: Missionary to Burmah |
| Date of publication: | | 1846 |
| Description/subject: | | CHAPTER I.Mrs. Judson's Birth,Education, and Conversion...
CHAPTER IT.Mrs. Judson's Connexion with Mr. Judson,...
CHAPTER III Embarkation -- Voyage -- Arrival in Calcutta...
CHAPTER IV.Difficulties with the Bengal Government -- Mr. and Mrs. Judson and Mr. Riee, become Baptists...
CHAPTER V.Mr. and Mrs. Judson and Mr. Rice sail for the Isle of France -- Mrs. Newell's Death -- Mr. Rice sails for America -- Mr. and Mrs. J. sail for Madras -- Arrival at Rangoon,...
CHAPTER VI.Sketch of the Geography, History, Religion, Language, &tc. of the Burman Empire,...
CHAPTER VII.Establishment of the Mission at Rangoon,...
CHAPTER VIII .Letters of Mrs. Judson -- Birth aad Death of a Son -- Arrival of Mr. and Mrs. Hough,...
CHAPTER IX -- Mr. Judson's Visit to Chittagong -- Persecution of Mr. Hough and his Departure for Bengal -- Return of Mr. Judson -- Arrival of Messrs. Colman and Wheelock,...
CHAPTER X.-- Mr. Judson commences Preaching -- First Convert baptized -- Death of Mr. Wheelock,. .
CHAPTER XI.-- Visit to Ava -- Unsuccessful Interview with the King... .
CHAPTER XII.-- Arrival in Calcutta -- Return to Rangoon -- Dr. Price joins the Mission -- Mrs. Judson sails for America,
CHAPTER XIII-- Mrs. Judson's Visit to America -- Mr. Wade joins the Mission -- Sail for Calcutta,...
CHAPTER XIV.-- Messrs. Judson and Price visit Ava -- Mrs. Judson and Mr and Mrs. Wade arrive at Rangoon,...
CHAPTER XV.-- Mr and Mrs. Judson visit Ava -- War with the British,...
CHAPTER XVI.-- Account of the Scenes at Ava during the War,...
CHAPTER XVII.-- Narrative continued -- Removal of the Prisoners to Oung-pen-la -- Mrs. Judson follows them -- Release of the Prisoners,...
CHAPTER XVIII-- Removal to Amherst -- Mrs. Judson's Death -- Epitaph -- Obituary Lines -- Address to the Ladies of America....N.B. GOOGLE NOTE, PAGES AND COVERS PRECEEDING TITLE PAGE HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE END OF THE TEXT. FOR ORIGINAL ORDER, SEE THE ALTERNATE URL. |
| Author/creator: | | James Davis Knowles |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Google Books |
| Format/size: | | pdf (6.4MB) 374 pages |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://books.google.com/books?id=QyI3AAAAMAAJ (13.5MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 05 April 2008 |
|
| Title: | | The Journal of Lovell Ingalls, 1838-1839 |
| Date of publication: | | 1840 |
| Description/subject: | | Note:
"The following extracts from the journal of Mr. Lovell Ingalls, a
member of the American Baptist Mission to Burma are compiled
from various entries in different numbers of the Baptist Missionary
Magazine (earlier entitled the American Baptist Missionary
Magazine). These numbers include issues 19.10 (October 1839),
20.1 (January 1840), and 20.4 (April 1840). The initial entry
provides an introduction to Ingalls’ residence:
In the autumn of 1838, Mr. Kincaid being desirous to return
to his labors at Ava at the earliest favorable period, his place
at Mergui was supplied by Mr. Ingalls, who had been
designated as a permanent occupant of that station. Mr.
Ingalls arrived at Mergui on the 29th of October,
accompanied by three assistants."
M. W. C. |
| Author/creator: | | Lovell Ingalls |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005, |
| Format/size: | | pdf (130K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Missionary Letters from Burma, 1828-1839 |
| Date of publication: | | 1839 |
| Description/subject: | | Note:
In December 1832, a contingent of American Baptist misisonaries,
including Reverend Nathan Brown, Mrs. Brown, Mr. Webb, and
Mrs. Webb, departed from Boston to join missionaries already at
work in Burma. Five months later, they had only gone as far as
Calcutta, from whence they would commence their final sea
journey to British Tenasserim and it is from this point that
correspondence from Nathan Brown begins. The following letters,
sometimes in full and occasionally as extracts, were originally
published in the American Baptist Missionary Magazine during the
1830s.
M. W. C. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 3, No. 2, Autumn 2005 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (285K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070930165556/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/3_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Memoir of George Dana Boardman: late missionary to Burmah |
| Date of publication: | | 1835 |
| Description/subject: | | CONTENTS: Page.
CHAPTER I.
Including a sketch of Mr. Boardman's early history. 9
CHAPTER II.
Mr. Boardman pursues his studies at Waterville—He indulges
a hope in Christ, and makes a profession of religion—The
happy state of his mind. 14
CHAPTER m.
Waterville college—Mr. Boardman enters it—His progress in
study—Graduates, and is appointed tutor. 28
CHAPTER IV.
His domestic afflictions—Progress and result of his exercises
on the subject of missions—He offers himself to the Board
and is accepted—Leaves college. 37
CHAPTER V.
He pursues his studies at Andover—Correspondence—His la-
bors for the Clarkson Society in Salem—He visits Maine and
receives ordination. 57
CHAPTER VI.
Mr. Boardman's travels West and South—His marriage, em-
barkation, and voyage. 76
CHAPTER VII.
Mr. Boardman's arrival and residence at Calcutta—Description
of schools and native churches. 89
CHAPTER VIII.
Mr. Boardman announces the close of the war with Burmah—
He is requested by the English Baptists to remain still longer
in Calcutta. 104
CHAPTER IX.
Mr. Boardman leaves Calcutta and arrives at Amherst—Estab-
lishes a new station at Maulmein—He is in imminent peril of
his life, and suffers loss by robbers. 123
CHAPTER X.
Mr. Boardman is joined at Maulmein by Messrs. Judson and
Wade—He opens a school for boys—Conversation with his
two Burman scholars—Review of the past year, and reso-
lutions for the future—His letter on the death of Mr. C. Hol-
ton—An interesting extract from his diary. 135
CHAPTER XI.
The thermometer at Maulmein—Mr. Boardman's religious dis-
course with his pupils—Death of Dr. Price—He leaves Maul-
mein and establishes a new station at Tavoy—Prospects of
the mission at that place. 151 CHAPTER XII.
Historical sketch of the Karens—Their apparent readiness to
receive the Gospel—Description of Tavoy, with its temples
and images. 164
CHAPTER XIII.
Uncourteous demeanor of a few natives—Interesting case of a
Chinese youth—Hopeful conversions and baptisms—Mr.
Boardman's method of spending the Sabbath. 177
CHAPTER XIV.
Plan of enlarged operations in the department of native schools
—The deified book of the Karens. 191
CHAPTER XV.
Mr. Boardman's first tour into the Karen jungle—Baptisms—
Visit to the prison in Tavoy—Execution of a bandit. 210
CHAPTER XVI.
Voyage of health to Mergui—Description of Mergui—Death of
little Sarah—Review of the past year. 297
CHAPTER XVII.
Revolt of Tavoy—Mrs. Boardman repairs to Maulmein—Mr,
Boardman follows, but soon returns to Tavoy and resumes his
labors. 239
CHAPTER XVIII.
Dangerous illness of Mrs. Boardman—Visit to the Karen settle-
ments south of Tavoy—Mrs. Boardman leaves for Maulmein.»259
CHAPTER XIX
His letters to Mrs. B. at Maulmein—Leaves Tavoy to take
charge of the station at Maulmein—His health declines—
Returns to Tavoy—Success of the mission. 274
CHAPTER XX.
Mr. Boardman's last letter to his relatives in America—Mr. and
Mrs. Mason join the mission—Mr. Boardman dies amid the
mountains of Tavoy. 293
Conclusion
CHAPTER XXI. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Gould, Kendall & Lincoln |
| Format/size: | | pdf (5.2MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/Memoir_of_George_Dana_Boardman-red.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 21 September 2010 |
|
| Title: | | A Description of the Burmese Empire, Compiled chiefly from Native Documents. |
| Date of publication: | | 1833 |
| Description/subject: | | "The following work was drawn up by F. Sangermano, partly during his residence as a missionary in Ava, and partly after his return to Europe. He was sent out as a missioner in 1782, and in the July of the following year arrived at Rangoon, whence he proceeded directly to the city of Ava. But shortly after he was remanded to Rangoon, which was the scene of his future missionary labours....The following note found among F. Sangermano's papers, after the work was partly translated, indicates the original documents he has principally followed.
"1. The Burmese cosmography has been extracted almost entirely from a book expressly composed for the elder brother of the reigning monarch, by a Zarado or master of the Emperor, wherein he succinctly describes the system of the world, as taught by Godama, according to the expositions and opinions of the most celebrated Burmese Doctors.
2. All that is related of the ancient Burmese monarchs, and of the foundation and subsequent history of this kingdom, has been faithfully copied from the Maharazaven, that is, the great history of the kings.
3. In what I have said of the superstitions, astrology, religion, constitutions of the Talapoins, and the sermons of Godama, I have not followed the tales and reports of the common people, but have carefully consulted the classical writings of the Burmese, known by the name of Kiam......PREFACE: Description of the Burmese Empire . 1 Burmese cosmography. CHAP. I. Of the measures and divisions of time commonly used in the sacred Burmese books�. CHAP. II. Of the world and its parts� CHAP. III. Of the beings that live in this world; of their felicity or misery, and of the duration of their life..... CHAP. IV. Of the states of punishment..... CHAP. V. Of the destruction and reproduction of the world�CHAP. VI. Of the inhabitants of the Burmese Empire � BURMESE HISTORY: CHAP. VII. Origin of the Burmese nation and monarchy� CHAP. VIII. Abridgement of the Burmese annals, called Maharasaven�. CHAP. IX. Of the present royal family, and of the principal events that have taken place under the reigning dynasty�CONSTITUTION OF THE BURMESE EMPIRE: CHAP. X. Of the Emperor, and of his white elephants..... CHAP. XI. Officers of state and of the household, tribunals, and administration of justice.... CHAP. XII. Revenues and taxes� CHAP. XIII. Army and military discipline� RELIGION OF THE BURMESE: CHAP. XIV. The laws of Godama� CHAP. XV. Of the Talapoin� CHAP. XVI. The Sermons of Godama� CHAP. XVH. Superstitions of the Burmese� MORAL AND PHYSICAL CONSTITUTION OF THE RURMESE EMPIRE: CHAP. XVIII. Character of the Burmese� CHAP. XIX. Manners and customs of the Burmese .... CHAP. XX. Literature and Sciences of the Burmese ... CHAP. XXI. Natural productions of the Burmese Empire� CHAP. XXII. Calendar of the Burmese. Climate and Seasons of the Burmese Empire� CHAP. XXIII. Of the currency and commerce of the Burmese Empire�BURMESE CODE. CHAP. XXIV. Abstract of the Burmese Code entitled Da-masat, or the golden rule......N.B. THE GOOGLE NOTE, PAGES AND COVERS PRECEEDING THE TITLE PAGE HAVE BEEN MOVED TO THE END OF THE TEXT. FOR ORIGINAL ORDER, SEE THE ALTERNATE URL. |
| Author/creator: | | Father Vincentius Sangermano, Trans. William Tandy |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Google Books |
| Format/size: | | pdf (6MB) 224 pages |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://books.google.com/books?id=9XJ6TqBfoFIC (pdf 8.5MB) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 05 April 2008 |
|
| Title: | | JESUIT LETTERS ON PEGU IN THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURY |
| Date of publication: | | 1625 |
| Description/subject: | | Editor’s Note:
In his Haklutus Posthumus or Purchas His Pilgrimes, Samuel Purchas collated a
number of Jesuit letters relating to events in India and Southeast Asia under the
title of “Indian Observations Gathered out of the Letters of Nicolas Pimenta,
Visiter of the Jesuites in India, and of many others of that Societie, Written from
divers Indian Regionas; principally relating the Countries and accidents of the
Coast of Coromandel, and of Pegu.” The main source cited by Purchas are the
letters of Nicolas Pimenta, whose own letters related other letters of Portuguese
priests who visited Pegu from 1599, shortly after the fall of Nan-dá-bayin (r. 1581-
1599), the last ruler of the First Taung-ngu Dynasty. Pimenta’s letters and most of
these materials appear to have been extracted by Purchas from Padre Fernão
Guerreiro’s Jesuit Anual published in the first nine years of the seventeenth century
under the title of Relação Annual das Coisas que fizeram os Padres da Companhia
de Jesus nas suas Missões
Nos Anos de 1600 a 1609. The following text
includes only those materials relevant to Southeast Asia and particularly to Burma.
Minor printer’s errors have been corrected. The letters have also been re-sorted
chronologically and some paragraph breaks, as well as the section headers, have
been added...Voyage to Goa in December 1597... Pimenta’s Relation of Fernandes Letter of January 1599... Pimenta’s Further Observations... Emanuel Carvalius’s Letters from Melaka in January 1599... Boves Letter of March 1600... Pimenta’s Relations of Pegu... Pimenta’s Further Summary of Boves’ and Fernandes’ Letters. |
| Author/creator: | | Nicolas Pimenta & Others |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research, Vol. 2, No. 2, Autumn 2004 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (38K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://web.archive.org/web/20070612024156/web.soas.ac.uk/burma/2_2.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 October 2010 |
|
-
Historically Important Figures (profiles, speeches and other documents)
-
General Khin Nyunt
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Video of Ex-Spy Chief Baffles Burma Watchers |
| Date of publication: | | 27 November 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | "A video circulating on the Internet of a meeting between Burma's former spymaster Khin Nyunt and the country's current police chief has political observers wondering about its source and significance.
The 16-minute video, which has no audio and first appeared on the social networking website Facebook on Friday night, shows Khin Nyunt in discussion with a group of police officers led by police chief Khin Yi at two separate locations.
Aung San Suu Kyi, Than Shwe and Khin Nyunt in a rare meeting in 1994.
The 70-year-old Khin Nyunt was Burma's feared military intelligence chief and first prime minister of the ruling regime until he was placed under house arrest in October 2004 after being ousted in a power struggle with junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe..." |
| Author/creator: | | Ba Kaung |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" |
| Format/size: | | html, |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 July 2012 |
|
| Title: | | Is Burma's former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt to be freed soon? |
| Date of publication: | | 26 January 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | New Delhi (Mizzima) – Rumours that Burma's military junta will soon free its detained officers above the rank of Colonel to involve them in the ensuing election, is making the rounds in military circles in Burma, a source in the military establishment said.
The source said the junta is planning to release former Military Intelligence (MI) officers of ranks above Colonel, who were arrested, charged and detained along with the MI chief and former Prime Minister Khin Nyunt.
"Some family members of former MI officials are expecting their release," the source told Mizzima.
The source added that the release is likely to include the former MI chief Khin Nyunt, who is currently under house arrest. |
| Author/creator: | | Salai Pi Pi |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Mizzima |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://khin-nyunt-news.newslib.com/ |
| Date of entry/update: | | 16 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | The downfall of Gen Khin Nyunt |
| Date of publication: | | 31 October 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | Burma's Senior General Than Shwe had plenty of good reasons to remove Prime Minister Khin Nyunt, but in doing so he may have hastened the collapse of his regime,
Though not unexpected, the Oct 18 removal of 65-year-old Burmese Prime Minister Khin Nyunt may exacerbate the infighting within Burma's ruling elite, with undesirable consequences for its neighbours. Thailand, for its part, must be more cautious, but sincere, in its offer to help Burma attain a national reconciliation and solve its longstanding political problems.
Prior to the arrest of General Khin Nyunt, many Burma watchers had been predicting for weeks an impending showdown between him and the hardliners within the governing State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
Burma's state-controlled radio and television announced his removal in a terse, brief statement the next day, saying that General Khin Nyunt was "permitted to retire for health reasons." Only a few people believe that this was the real reason, as this phrase has often been used in the past after the forced ouster of ministers and senior officers. Commented one Burmese exile: "If this is the reason for dismissal, then whoever appointed him should have been dismissed six years ago for the same reason." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Bangkok Post |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2010 |
|
| Title: | | "Romeo and Juliet" Love Dooms Son |
| Date of publication: | | April 1998 |
| Description/subject: | | Burma's strong man and intelligence chief, has publicly announced that he has disowned his son. Lt Gen. Khin Nyunt and his wife Dr Daw Kin Win Shwe placed an advertisement in state-run New Light of Myanmar announcing that their son "Dr Ye Naing Win was disowned by the parents for his inexcusable deed". |
| Author/creator: | | Yurdle |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 6. No. 2 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
-
General Kyaw Zaw
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Red Star on a Stormy Journey |
| Date of publication: | | February 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "A legendary Communist leader recalls his life from farm boy to the Thirty Comrades to revolutionary commander...
Living history” is a good way to describe retired Brig-Gen Kyaw Zaw, who has published his memoirs at age 88. The book, as a firsthand account of a lifelong Burmese revolutionary, will be invaluable to scholars..." |
| Author/creator: | | Ko Ko Thett |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 16, No. 2 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 27 April 2008 |
|
| Title: | | Unfinished Struggle - An Interview with Gen Kyaw Zaw |
| Date of publication: | | December 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | Gen Kyaw Zaw, 84, alias Thakin Shwe, is one of the founders of the Tatmadaw, or Burma’s armed forces. He is one of the Thirty Comrades who went to Japan for military training in 1941. He joined the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) in 1944 and was elected to the Central Committee a year later. In 1956, he was accused of leaking news to the CPB and forced to leave the army. He served as Vice Chief of General Staff of the CPB until the 1989 mutiny. In written correspondence with The Irrawaddy, Kyaw Zaw discussed Burma’s past and the lessons it holds for the country’s future. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 11, No. 10 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 14 February 2004 |
|
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General Ne Win
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Talk of the Town Turns Ninety |
| Date of publication: | | May 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | With the talks between Burma's military rulers and the democratic opposition still under wraps in Rangoon, the talk of the capital has turned to the latest public appearance by former dictator Ne Win. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 9. No. 4 (Intelligence section) |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | The King Who Never Dies |
| Date of publication: | | April 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | Ne Win, the mastermind behind Burma's decline as a modern nation, has emerged from the shadows for the first time this century. |
| Author/creator: | | Aung Zaw |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 9, No. 3 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Broadening the Breach |
| Date of publication: | | July 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | In November 1977, Burmese dictator Ne Win made a visit to Cambodia, then under the control of the Khmer Rouge. Prompted by a request from China, the trip also helped Ne Win to neutralize the influence of the Communist Party of Burma by exploiting a growing rift between the conservative CPB leadership and reformers rising to power in Beijing. Bertil Lintner examines this revealing episode in Ne Win's political career. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol..8 No. 7 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Back in the Limelight |
| Date of publication: | | September 1997 |
| Description/subject: | | Burma's former leader Ne Win arrived in Jakarta for a three-day visit amid speculation that Indonesian President Suharto was to ask the Burmese patriarch to influence Rangoon's military junta to open dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Speculation began to circulate in Jakarta two months ago that Suharto was inviting Ne Win to come discuss the issue of democratisation in Burma. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 5. No. 6 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | The Rise and Fall of General Ne Win |
| Date of publication: | | September 1997 |
| Description/subject: | | Bio-chronology 1947-1988 |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 5. No.6 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Letter to General Ne Win from U Aung Gyi |
| Date of publication: | | August 1997 |
| Description/subject: | | Rangoon May 1, 1992 Through a series of open letters to Ne Win and former members of the Revolutionary Council written between 1988 and 1992, U Aung Gyi criticized the economic policies and human rights abuses of the government. The following excerpts are from one of these letters. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "Burma Debate", Vol.. IV, No. 3 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
-
Queen Supayalat
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Last Queen of Burma |
| Date of publication: | | July 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | Burma’s Queen Supayalat was a ruler to be feared and revered...
"I have a confession to make. I am infatuated with a dead queen, who among other appalling acts of cruelty ordered that between 80 and 100 of her husband’s relatives be murdered in ways said to include the dashing of children against walls. I revere her for that, because the massacre—or "clearing", as it was called—was intended to destroy all potential rivals to the throne.
But my infatuation derives from a portrait of her found in Terence R Blackburn’s The British Humiliation of Burma. In it she is prostrate; she seems to be staring right at me. One of her hands is under her chin, the other dangles lazily. Her enigmatic and enticing smile is nearly a smirk, and it originates less from her mouth than from her eyes. Her jet black hair is pulled up into a topknot. She is wearing earrings. She is petite. And she is beautiful. Her name was Supayalat. She was the last queen of Burma.
Supayalat was born in 1859. Or 1860: both dates are used. She was the middle daughter of Sinpyumashin, widow to Mindon, whose son Thibaw was Burma’s last king, her husband, and therefore also her half-brother. At the time of the massacre, which took place over a few days in February 1879, Supayalat was only around 20 years old. She died in 1925, and was buried in Rangoon... |
| Author/creator: | | Kenneth Champeon |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol 11, No. 6 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 06 November 2003 |
|
-
Sr. General Than Shwe
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Long Goodbye |
| Date of publication: | | October 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | Open questions hang over Than Shwe’s post-election intentions...
"The delegation that accompanied Burmese junta chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe to China in September included, apart from members of his family and trusted aides, several representatives of a new generation of military officers—prompting suggestions that he introduced Burma’s future government leaders to Beijing.
He left some questions hanging, however. Who, for instance, is likely to be Burma’s next commander-in-chief and president? More importantly, what lies ahead for Than Shwe himself?..." |
| Author/creator: | | Aung Zaw |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 10 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 July 2012 |
|
| Title: | | The Simple Soldier |
| Date of publication: | | March 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | Snr-Gen Than Shwe was once an unknown rising through the ranks of the armed forces—the sort of person it may now take to remove him from power. |
| Author/creator: | | Aung Zaw |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 18, No. 3 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 17 March 2010 |
|
-
U Kyaw Nyein
Individual Documents
| Title: | | An introduction (to "Burma: A Special Supplement") |
| Date of publication: | | February 1958 |
| Description/subject: | | Burma: A Special Supplement:
An introduction:
by The Honorable U Kyaw Nyein, Deputy Prime Minister of the Union of Burma...Burma is a small country of eighteen million people, sandwiched between the two sub-continents of India and China and sheltered by a ring of high mountain ranges. In spite of occasional unsuccessful Chinese invasions, it stood as an independent kingdom for two thousand years, until 1885 when it was annexed by the British. It was at the height of its prosperity under the Pagan dynasty in the eleventh century, and the magnificent monuments and pagodas of that period which still stand intact at Pagan are a living testimony to the glory that was Burma..." |
| Author/creator: | | U Kyaw Nyein |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Atlantic" |
| Format/size: | | pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2008 |
|
-
U Law Yone
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Burma's Socialist Democracy - Some problems of practical politics |
| Date of publication: | | February 1958 |
| Description/subject: | | "The new state of the Union of Burma which was established early in 1948 is professedly founded upon two basic concepts - socialism and democracy. The constitution provides for all the fundamental freedoms, and for a system of parliamentary government, based largely on the British pattern, with an elected legislature and the separation of legislative, executive, and judicial powers. The Government has taken a further step toward extending democratic procedures by selling a Ministry for Democratization, whose task is to institute and operate a system of local government in which all those who rule, from the village level upward, shall be elected. This system is still experimental, and over the major portion of the country, centralized rule, that is through Government-nominated civil servants, continues side by side with parliamentary practice.
The growth of true democracy has undeniably been hampered by the strife-torn period which has existed without break from the very earliest clays of our independence. When the insurrection was at its height, the Rangoon Government was unable to find men or arms to send to a hundred threatened towns and villages and was forced to find its friends wherever it could. More often than not these friends were simply thugs and desperadoes. But because they were prepared to fight the insurgents, the Government armed them and supported them. In those days of chaos, the country quickly reverted to a more primitive form of political organization than democracy—the rule of the strongman. In their petty domains, these strongmen became little kings, with power of life and death over the people. Soon, the people began to hate the tyrants, and once their usefulness was exhausted, even the Government became ashamed of them. Gradually, they were dispensed with, pensioned off, and disarmed. But there still remained the vacuum of power which could not be filled democratically by an unenlightened electorate, ill-used to the sensation of governing themselves..." |
| Author/creator: | | U Law Yone |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Atlantic" |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/1969/12/burma-apos-s-socialist-democracy/6815/ |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2008 |
|
| Title: | | BIOGRAPHY of Edward Michael Law Yone |
| Description/subject: | | EDWARD MICHAEL LAW YONE was born February 5, 1911 at Kamaing, Myitkyina District (now Kachin State), Burma. Educated at St. Peters' School, Mandalay, at 16 he went to work as a clerk in the Burma-China border frontier service. He joined the Burma Railways in 1930 as a probationer and by 1938 was in charge of the rates and commercial section, traveling in that year over the recently-constructed Burma Road to survey the route proposed for linking the Burma and Yunnan-Indochina Railways. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Roman Magsaysay Award Foundation |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationLawYoneEdw.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 16 November 2010 |
|
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U Razak
Individual Documents
| Title: | | 'A Leader of Men' |
| Date of publication: | | September 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | The Muslim schoolteacher who joined Burma's martyrs...
"Being a Muslim in a country where 87 percent of the population is Buddhist, and where the military government regularly practices ultra-nationalism and uses religion as a political tool, means joining the underprivileged at the bottom of the pile.
The fight for liberty is the fight for peace. And like peace, liberty is indivisible â”U Razak, June 1947
Muslims in Burma regularly suffer social and religious discrimination. Burmese Buddhists commonly call them, Kala, a derogatory term for South Asians and also used insultingly to describe westerners.
While some consider the term abusive and degrading, there's general acceptance that it takes on a sense of honor, respect and lovingkindness when it's used in the form Kalagyi (Big Kala), to describe independence hero Abdul Razak.
U Razak rose from the position of headmaster of Mandalay Central National High School to become minister of education and national planning in Burma's pre-independence government. His career was brought to a brutal end at the age of 49, when he was gunned down by assassins on July 19, 1947, together with independence leader Gen Aung San and seven other cabinet members and colleagues. The nine murdered leaders are commemorated annually on the country's Martyr's Day.
Mandalay, where U Razak taught, is a center of Burmese Buddhist faith and culture. Yet U Razak, of ethnic Indian-Burmese origin, was fully accepted by the community..." |
| Author/creator: | | Yeni |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol 15, No. 9 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=8463 |
| Date of entry/update: | | 02 May 2008 |
|
| Title: | | U Razak of Burma: A Teacher, a Leader, a Martyr |
| Date of publication: | | July 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "As a primary school student, I read about Sayagyi (a great teacher or
a principal) U Razak and fellow martyrs in school textbooks and in
remembrance booklets of Martyrs' Day, (19th July, 1947), the day he was
assassinated along with U Aung San and seven other cabinet members
and colleagues. Later in my twenties and thirties, I read the few available
writings by U Razak, and articles written about him by his former students,
and talked with people who knew him well.
From this exposure, I learned about U Razak's deep love for Burma, his
courage to fight for our country's independence, his respect for diversity,
his desire for unity and his far-sighted wisdom. As a leader, his vision
carried beyond our country and highlighted the principles of humanity,
integrity, knowledge, courage, freedom and peace. The points U Razak,
as Burma's Minister for Education and National Planning, emphasized
in his 1947 speech at the First South East Asian Regional Conference
of International Student Service in Madras, India, are still valid if not
more pronounced in 2007. In times of intolerance and divisiveness, such
as today, his vision and gentle yet persistent approach sought to unite
diverse groups through education for the common goal of freedom
and development should be referenced and explored further as we seek
practical actions for long-lasting peace, security and prosperity..."
CONTENTS:
I. Preface;
II. A Tribute to Sayagyi U Razak
By Dr. Nyi Nyi;
III. Freedom Movements As Peace Movements
By Honorable U Razak;
IV. The Burman Muslim Organization
By A. Razak, B.A.;
V. Translator's Note...
1. Sayagyi U Razak And Mandalay University
By M.A. Ma Ohn;
2. Our Selfless Sayagyi
By Colonel Khin Nyo;
3. Sayagyi Didn't Care For High Offices
By U Saw Hla;
4. Our Sayagyi U Razak;
By Thakin Chan Tun;
5. Affection Just As One Has For One's Mother
By Pinnie;
6. A Partial Profile Of Sayagyi U Razak
By Aung Kyi;
7. Just Like A Father
By Thuriya Than Maung;
8. Our Marvellous Sayagyi
By Maung Maung Mya;
9. In Fond Memory Of Sayagyi U Razak
By Colonel Wai Lin;
10. Sayagyi U Razak And I
By Theikpan Hmu Tin. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Private publisher |
| Format/size: | | pdf (895K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.scribd.com/doc/19167977/Dr-Nyi-Nyi-U-Razak-of-Burma |
| Date of entry/update: | | 18 July 2007 |
|
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U Thant
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Building a Nation |
| Date of publication: | | February 1958 |
| Description/subject: | | "Today a whole new nation is being built in Burma — politically, socially, and economically. Part of the task is physical: to repair war damage and create enough industrial capacity to improve living standards and make out country self-sustaining; an even greater part is social and psychological: to educate a people long held down by colonialism in the ways of democracy and self-development. Because there is very little private capital in Burma, the major responsibility has inevitably fallen upon the Government. Its greatest efforts are now being applied to such fields as these..." |
| Author/creator: | | U Thant |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | The Atlantic |
| Format/size: | | pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 15 November 2008 |
|
-
Regional/Border History
-
Burmese-Thai history
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Ayutthaya and the End of History |
| Date of publication: | | August 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | Thai views of Burma revisited... The spectre of Ayutthaya and a century of nation-building still cast long shadows over Thailand's perception of its neighbor, even as the notion of the nation-state faces obsolescence in the global marketplace. |
| Author/creator: | | Min Zin/Chiang Mai |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 8. No.8 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
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Social and Cultural History
Individual Documents
| Title: | | The Cult of the 'Thirty-Seven Lords' |
| Date of publication: | | October 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | "The cult of the 'Thirty-Seven Lords', known in Burma as the thirty-seven 'naq' is
commonly viewed as being a remnant of practices prevalent before Buddhicization, that is
to say, as superstitions having their origins in the obscure period predating the
establishment of Burmese civilization. This article will argue against this assumption and
will assert that this cult cannot be properly understood if it is not considered as a part of
the Burmese religious system still evolving with Buddhist society. The socio-religious
structure of the 'naq' cult shows that it is neither a pre-Buddhist remnant, nor is it
borrowed from India. Close analysis of the actual cult, of its legends of foundation, and of
the historical evidence, clearly shows that it is a construct of Burmese Buddhist kings or,
in other words, a produce of the localization of Buddhism in Burma..." |
| Author/creator: | | Benedicte Brac de la Perriere |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Newsletter, Issue 25, International Institute for Asian Studies (Leiden) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Strangers in a Changed Land |
| Date of publication: | | April 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | "Returning to Burma after a four-year absence, a visitor discovers that change has brought only a
deepened sense of estrangement, not optimism, to ordinary Burmese..." |
| Author/creator: | | Thalia Isaak |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 9, No. 3 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | The Soul of a People |
| Date of publication: | | 1899 |
| Description/subject: | | "For the first few years of my stay in Burma my life was so full of excitement that I had little care or time for any thought but of to-day. There was, first of all, my few months in Upper Burma in the King's time before the war, months which were full of danger and the exhilaration of danger, when all the surroundings were too new and too curious to leave leisure for examination beneath the surface. Then came the flight from Upper Burma at the time of the war, and then the war itself. And this war lasted four years. Not four years of fighting in Burma proper, for most of the Irrawaddy valley was peaceful enough by the end of 1889; but as the central parts quieted down, I was sent to the frontier, first on the North and then on the East by the Chin mountains; so that it was not until 1890 that a[Pg 2] transfer to a more settled part gave me quiet and opportunity for consideration of all I had seen and known. For it was in those years that I gained most of whatever little knowledge I have of the Burmese people..." |
| Author/creator: | | H. Fielding |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Macmillan and Co. Ltd. via Project Gutenberg |
| Format/size: | | text/html (191K) 350 pages |
| Date of entry/update: | | 23 January 2010 |
|
|
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