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Christianity and Myanmar
2008
Christianity in Myanmar has undergone different political systems along the history.This chapter presents with five sub-topics: geographical setting of Myanmar, peopleof Myanmar, monarchical period of Myanmar, arrival of Christianity and Churchexpansion in Myanmar.
Geographical Setting of Myanmar
Myanmar is the largest country by land area in Southeast Asia. The area of thecountry is 676, 552 square Kilometers, its neighboring countries are China and Laosin the Northeast and East, Thailand in the East, and India and Bangladesh in the Westand Northwest. Myanmar has a physical landscape consisting of a central plain, ahorseshoes curve of hilly areas in the West, North, and East, and a coastal stripextending to Southward.The geographical setting of the country itself is one of the causes that contribute to theinternal conflicts. Myanmar rivers valleys and deep mountain ranges, running fromnorth to south, prepare migration of people from China. There are many tribes whomigrated from Tibet down to Myanmar. The geographical situation inside the countrydivided these people into groups. The mountains, hills, valleys, plain and deltas insidethe country have guided the tribes as they choose respective areas which are good for their settlement and occupation. Myanmar secluded from the outer world bymountains and sea, appears destined for political unity by nature. Anthropologicalrelationships of mongoloid stock and at least remotely, akin. The geographicalsituation of the country seems to favor the unity of the country, but in fact it hascreated internal divisions in the country throughout its history. High Landers and lowLanders settle down throughout Myanmar. National unity of the country depends onthe relationship among the ethnic groups.
 People of Myanmar 
According to the report of Myanmar Travel Information, there are 135 ethnic groupsin Myanmar. Kachin, Kayah, Kayin (Karen), Chin, Bamar (Burman), Mon, Rakhinesand Shan are major ethnic groups. The Bamars, who occupy the central plain, are( 69% ) of population. Many of the ethnic minorities live in the hilly areas. The Shans( 8.5% ), Kayins ( 6.2% ), Rakhine ( 4.5% ), Mons ( 2.4% ), Chins ( 2.2% ), Kachins(1.4% ), and Kayahs ( 0.4% ) have been given political recognition by havingconstituent states of the Union named after them.Military regime took over power in 1988 from the Socialist government. Then,Burma, the name of the country, changed officially as Myanmar in 1989. Other anglicized names of some ethnic groups, were also changed; from Karen to Kayin,from Burman to Bamar, and Arakkhanese to Rakhine. Burmese language waschanged as Myanmar language. Changing the names shows nationalism and anti-western spirit.Of the nations in Southeast Asia, Myanmar is the one which encounters with the most perplexing ethnic minority problems. The traditional religion, culture, and languagesof ethnic minorities in highlands area, are distinctive from the majority Bamars in
 
 plain areas. Having past mission works in Myanmar re-evaluated, it is discovered thata greater number of Christians come in a massive form from the ethnic minority back ground while only a handful Christians come from the majority Bamar Buddhist background. So, it is sorrowful that the conflict between Bamars and other ethnicgroups, is often seen as conflict between Buddhist and Christian.The conflict between Bamars and other ethnic groups still going on. Some rebels of ethnic minorities turned to legal fold during the reign of military government whichhas ruled since 1988. Myanmar government always claims that this unity of differentethnic groups, is heritage of British Colonialism. On the other hand, leaders of ethnicminorities often accuse Myanmar Government as endeavoring to Burmanize all ethnicgroups of the country. Globalization in twenty first century influences all people of Myanmar. Public media make ethnic minorities aware of their rights andopportunities. Civil society, especially in plain region, becomes multi-culturalnowadays.
Monarchical Period of Myanmar 
The kingdom of Bamar, the Bagan kingdom, was established in the eleventh centuryAD by king Anawrahta. With the establishment of the Bagan kingdom, the Bamar could develop their military and political supremacy over other ethnic groups andgradually became the ethnic majority in Myanmar. For the promotion of ethics andmorality in the kingdom king Anawrahta established Theravada Buddhism in hisdomain. He defeated and destroyed Thaton, the royal city of Mon people who hadmigrated into Myanmar before Bagan dynasty. Then he took all their monks andBuddhist scriptures to Bagan. With these resources King Anawrahta, with the help of the primate Shin Arhan, directed the propagation of Theravada Buddhism in theKingdom, and Bagan rapidly became a great center of religion and culture. Then, the promotion of Buddhism came to be regarded as the duty of the king. Following kingAnawrahta's example, the successive king's carried on their royal function for the propagation of Buddhism.The Bagan Kingdom obtained ascendancy by conquering the neighboring kingdoms.Anawratta, who became king of Bagan in 1044, annexed territory of Shan people whohad migrated into Myanmar before Bagan dynasty, as well as Mon kingdom in 1057.Mongol armies invaded the Bagan kingdom in 1289 and brought it to an end.Therefore the Bamar Kingdom became divided. The Bamar people re-establishedtheir kingdom at Ava city in 1364 and revived the Bagan culture and improvedBurmese literature. The Shan regained their territory and could re-establish their rulein 1527. Under the leadership of king warrior, the Mon also re-established their kingdom in lower Myanmar with Martaban as its capital. Byinnya, who succeededwarrior, shifted the capital to Pegu in 1365. During the reign of Dhammazedi (1472-92), the Mon Kingdom reached a golden age through commerce. It also became agreat center of Buddhism.In 1531, a new Bamar kingdom was established with Toungoo as its center. Its KingTabinshwehti (1531-50) established a unified kingdom of Myanmar once again byconquering the Shan and the Mon. King Anaukpetlun, who came to the throne in 1605shifted the capital to Ava. In 1752 the Mon people attacked Ava and all Myanmar came under the rule of the Mon. However, King Alungphaya established the thirdBamar kingdom (Konbaung Dynasty) and expelled the Mon from upper Myanmar 
 
and recaptured the Shan state. He conquered lower Myanmar from the Mon in 1757.His son, Bodawpaya, conquered Arakan in 1784 and Tenasserim in 1793. Then,Myanmar was brought, once again, into the rule of the Bamar king until it wascolonized by the British in 1885 after the three Anglo-Bamar wars (1824-1885).Christian mission entered Myanmar under monarchical rule. But church expansionamong the ethnic groups was successful after British colonized the country.
The Arrival of Christianity
(a) Roman Catholic Mission
The first Christians who came into Myanmar were captive Portuguese soldiers and afew traders and adventurers in fifteenth century. Among them, there were chaplainswho were responsible for their spiritual welfare. It seemed that these chaplainsworked only among the Portuguese traders and soldiers. There is no evidence of their work among the people of Myanmar.The first Christian missionary to Myanmar was French Franciscan, named PierreBonfer. He arrived in Thanlyin which was principal seaport of the country in 1554.He learned Mon language and attempted to proselytize among the people. Failing inhis efforts, he left in 1557. Then, a Portuguese mercenary, Filipe de Britto, took advantage of a confused political situation and established himself as ruler of Thanlyin in 1559. The Jesuit missionaries who arrived in Thanlyin made a number of converts, the most famous of whom was Natshinnaung, ruler of Toungoo and eminent poet. King Anaukpetlun captured Thanlyin in 1613 and resettled its Christian population in a number of villages in northern Myanmar. There Roman Catholicswere known as bayingyis which derived from Arabic feringhi, denoting the Franks or Europeans. These Catholics served as royal musketeers and gunners.The Italian Barnabite Order started a mission in 1721 to care for the bayingyicommunities. The Barnabites established schools and a seminary, but their mostoutstanding achievement was their literary work in the Myanmar language and their  printing on the press of the Congregation of Propaganda the first Myanmar books,such as a language primer and an expositions of Christian doctrine in 1776, a prayer  book and a catechism in 1785. In 1869 there were already three Roman Catholicmission fields in eastern, northern and southern Myanmar. In 1894, there werethirteen Roman Catholic villages and churches were established in Thoneseh, Pegu,and Myaungmya. Roman Catholic missions were successful on a certain level.However, they sometimes had to face the hostilities of the Buddhist population andtheir kings. During the first Anglo-Bamar war (1824-26) the Bamar troops arrestedsome priests. Also during the second Anglo-Bamar war in 1853, many Christianswere persecuted.Under the monarchical rule, Catholic mission encountered with persecution during thetimes of political crisis. But it is found that some Myanmar kings granted freedom of worship to the Catholics in politically peaceful periods.
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