Bago, Myanmar

Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; Burmese: ; MLCTS: pai: khu: mrui.,

IPA: [b mjoo ]; Mon: , [hk]; Thai: ,

RTGS:

Pha-kho), formerly known

as Hanthawaddy (Burmese: ; Mon: Hongsawatoi; Thai:

,

RTGS:

Hongsawadi; meaning "She Who Has Swans"), is a city and the

capital of the Bago Region in Burma. It is located 50 miles (80 km) north-east
of Yangon.
History
Main article: Hanthawaddy Kingdom
The Gulf of Martaban was colonized by Mon people from the Thaton
Kingdom, who established Bago. In 825, the twin brothers Samala and
Vimala founded Pegu.[1]:106
The earliest mention of Bago in history is by the Arab geographer ibn
Khordadbeh around 850 AD. At the time, the Mon capital had shifted to
Thaton. The area came under rule of the Burmese from Bagan in 1056. After
the collapse of Bagan to the Mongols in 1287, the Mon regained their
independence.
In Lower Burma, a Mon dynasty established itself first at Mottama and then
at Bago. During the reign of King Razadarit, Bago and Ava Kingdom were
engaged in the Forty Years' War. The peaceful reign of Queen Shin Sawbu
came to an end when she chose the Buddhist monk Dhammazedi (1472
1492) to succeed her. Under Dhammazedi, Bago became a centre of
commerce and Theravada Buddhism.
From 13531539, Binnya U, descendant of the Thai chief Wareru, established
Hanthawaddy as the capital of the Mon Hanthawaddy Kingdom, which
covered all of what is now Lower Burma. The area came under Burman
control again in 1539, when it was annexed by King Tabinshwehti of the
Taungoo Dynasty.[1]:227 The kings of Taungoo made Bago their royal capital
from 15391599 and again in 16131635, and used it as a base for repeated
invasions of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
In 1519, Antnio Correia, then a merchant from the Portuguese casados
settlement at Cochin landed in Bago, then known to the Portuguese as Pegu,
looking for new markets for pepper from Cochin.[2][3] A year later, Portuguese
India Governor Diogo Lopes de Sequeira sent an ambassador to Pegu.

As a major seaport, the city was frequently visited by Europeans, among

these, Gasparo Balbi in the late 1500s. The Europeans often commented on
its magnificence.
The Portuguese conquest of Pegu, following the destruction caused by the
kings of Tangot and Arrakan in 1599, was described by Manuel de Abreu
Mousinho in "Breve discurso em que se conta a conquista do Reino do Peg
na India oriental feita pelos portugueses em tempo do vice-rei Aires de
Saldanha, sendo capito Salvador Ribeiro de Sousa, chamado Massinga,
natural de Guimares, a quem os naturais do Peg elegeram por seu rei no
ano de 1600" (Brief narrative telling the conquest of Pegu in eastern India
made by the Portuguese in the time of the viceroy Aires de Saldanha, being
captain Salvador Ribeiro de Sousa, called Massinga, born in Guimares,
elected as their king by the natives in the year 1600), published from 1711
to 1829 with "Peregrinaam" of Ferno Mendes Pinto.
The capital was looted by the viceroy of Toungoo, Minye Thihathu II of
Toungoo, and then burned by the viceroy of Arakin during the Burmese
Siamese War (15941605). Anaukpetlun wanted to rebuild Hongsawadi,
which had been deserted since Nanda Bayin had abandoned it. He was only
able to build a temporary palace, however.[4]:151162,191
The Burmese capital relocated to Ava in 1634. In 1740, the Mon revolted and
founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. However, a Bamar king,
Alaungpaya, captured the city in May 1757.
Bago was rebuilt by King Bodawpaya (r. 1782-1819), but by then the river
had shifted course, cutting the city off from the sea. It never regained its
previous importance. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War, the British
annexed Bago in 1852. In 1862, the province of British Burma was formed,
and the capital moved to Yangon. The substantial differences between the
colloquial and literary pronunciations, as with Burmese words, was a reason
of the British corruption "Pegu".
In 1911, Hanthawaddy was described as a district in the Bago (or Pegu)
division of Lower Burma. It lay in the home district of Yangon, from which the
town was detached to make a separate district in 1880. It had an area of
3,023 square miles (7,830 km2), with a population of 48,411 in 1901, showing
an increase of 22% in the past decade. Hanthawaddy and Hinthada were the
two most densely populated districts in the province.
Hanthawaddy, as it was constituted in 1911, consisted of a vast plain
stretching up from the sea between the To (or China Bakir) mouth of the
Irrawaddy River and the Pegu Range. Except the tract of land lying between
the Pegu Range on the east and the Yangon River, the country was
intersected by numerous tidal creeks, many of which were navigable by large

boats and some by steamers. The headquarters of the district was in

Rangoon, which was also the sub-divisional headquarters. The second subdivision had its headquarters at Insein, where there were large railway works.
Cultivation was almost wholly confined to rice, but there were many
vegetable and fruit gardens.
Today, Hanthawaddy is one of the wards of Bago city.
Location of Bago, Burma
Coordinates: 172012N 962847E
Country Burma (Myanmar)
Division Bago Division
Founded ?825
Elevation 13 ft (4 m)
Population (2012)
City 284,179
Metro 5,739,344
Ethniciti Bamar, Burmese Chinese,
es
Burmese Indians, Kayin
Religion
Buddhism
s
Time zone MST (UTC+6.30)