Myanmar (English pronunciation below; Burmese: မြန်မာ , [mjəmà])[nb 1] or Burma (see

§Etymology), officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar[nb 2], is a country in

Southeast Asia. Myanmar is bordered by Bangladesh and India to its northwest, China to
its northeast, Laos and Thailand to its east and southeast, and the Andaman Sea and the
Bay of Bengal to its south and southwest. Myanmar is the largest country in Mainland
Southeast Asia and the 10th largest in Asia by area. As of 2017, the population is about 54
million.[4] Its capital city is Naypyidaw, and its largest city is Yangon (Rangoon).[1]

Early civilisations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in

Upper Burma and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Burma.[8] In the 9th century, the Bamar
people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley, and following the establishment of the Pagan
Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language, culture and Theravada Buddhism slowly
became dominant in the country. The Pagan Kingdom fell to Mongol invasions, and several
warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo dynasty, the
country was for a brief period the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia.[9] The
early 19th-century Konbaung dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Myanmar
and briefly controlled Manipur and Assam as well. The British East India Company seized
control of the administration of Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th
century, and the country became a British colony. Myanmar was granted independence in
1948 as a democratic nation. Following a coup d'état in 1962, it became a military
dictatorship under the Burma Socialist Programme Party.