Myanmar (Burmese: မြန်မာ; MLCTS: mranma, pronounced [mjàɴmà]), officially the Republic of the

Union of Myanmar,[d] also known as Burma (the official name until 1989), is a country in Southeast
Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and had a population of about 54
million in 2017.[12] It 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. The country's capital city is Naypyidaw, and its largest city
is Yangon (formerly Rangoon).[3]
Early civilisations in the area included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper
Myanmar and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Myanmar.[13] 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 became the largest empire in the history of
Southeast Asia for a short period.[14] 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. After a brief Japanese occupation,
Myanmar was reconquered by the Allies. On 4 January 1948, Myanmar
declared independence under the terms of the Burma Independence Act 1947.
Myanmar's post-independence history has continued to be checkered by unrest and conflict.
The coup d'état in 1962 resulted in a military dictatorship under the Burma Socialist Programme
Party. On 8 August 1988, the 8888 Uprising then resulted in a nominal transition to a multi-party
system two years later, but the country's post-uprising military council refused to cede power, and
has continued to rule the country through to the present. The country remains riven by ethnic strife
among its myriad ethnic groups and has one of the world's longest-running ongoing civil wars.
The United Nations and several other organisations have reported consistent and systemic human
rights violations in the country.[15] In 2011, the military junta was officially dissolved following a 2010
general election, and a nominally civilian government was installed. Aung San Suu Kyi and political
prisoners were released and the 2015 Myanmar general election was held, leading to improved
foreign relations and eased economic sanctions,[16] although the country's treatment of its ethnic
minorities, particularly in connection with the Rohingya conflict, continued to be a source of
international tension and consternation.[17] Following the 2020 Myanmar general election, in which
Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a clear majority in both houses, the Burmese military
(Tatmadaw) again seized power in a coup d'état.[18] The coup, which was widely condemned by the
international community, led to continuous ongoing widespread protests in Myanmar and has been
marked by violent political repression by the military, as well as a larger outbreak of the civil war.
[19]
The military also arrested Aung San Suu Kyi in order to remove her from public life, and charged
her with crimes ranging from corruption to the violation of COVID-19 protocols; all of the charges
against her are "politically motivated" according to independent observers.[20]
Myanmar is a member of the East Asia Summit, Non-Aligned Movement, ASEAN, and BIMSTEC,
but it is not a member of the Commonwealth of Nations despite once being part of the British
Empire. Myanmar is a Dialogue Partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The country is
very rich in natural resources, such as jade, gems, oil, natural gas, teak and other minerals, as well
as also endowed with renewable energy, having the highest solar power potential compared to other
countries of the Great Mekong Subregion.[21] However, Myanmar has long suffered from instability,
factional violence, corruption, poor infrastructure, as well as a long history of colonial exploitation
with little regard to human development.[22] In 2013, its GDP (nominal) stood at US$56.7 billion and
its GDP (PPP) at US$221.5 billion.[23] The income gap in Myanmar is among the widest in the world,
as a large proportion of the economy is controlled by cronies of the military junta.[24] Myanmar is one
of the least developed countries; as of 2020, according to the Human Development Index, it ranks
147 out of 189 countries in terms of human development, the lowest in Southeast Asia.[11] Since
2021, more than 600,000 people were displaced across Myanmar due to the surge in violence post-
coup, with more than 3 million people in dire need of humanitarian assistance.[25]

Etymology
Main article: Names of Myanmar

The name of the country has been a matter of dispute and disagreement, particularly in the early
21st century, focusing mainly on the political legitimacy of those using Myanmar versus Burma.[26]
[27]
Both names derive from the earlier Burmese Mranma or Mramma, an ethnonym for the
majority Burman ethnic group, of uncertain etymology.[28] The terms are also popularly thought to
derive from Sanskrit Brahma Desha, 'land of Brahma'.[29]
In 1989, the military government officially changed the English translations of many names dating
back to Burma's colonial period or earlier, including that of the country
itself: Burma became Myanmar. The renaming remains a contested issue.[30] Many political and
ethnic opposition groups and countries continue to use Burma because they do not recognise the
legitimacy or authority of the military government.[31]
The country's official full name is "Republic of the Union of Myanmar" (Burmese: ပြည်ထောင်စု သမ္မတ
မြန်မာနို င်ငံ တော်, Pyihtaungsu Thamada Myanma
Naingngantaw, pronounced [pjìdàʊɴzṵ θàɴməda̰ mjəmà nàɪɴŋàɴdɔ̀]). Countries that do not officially
recognise that name use the long form "Union of Burma" instead.[3][32] In English, the country is
popularly known as either Burma or Myanmar. In Burmese, the pronunciation depends on
the register used and is either Bama (pronounced [bəmà]) or Myamah (pronounced [mjəmà]).[30]
Official United States foreign policy retains Burma as the country's name although the State
Department's website lists the country as Burma (Myanmar).[33] The United Nations uses Myanmar,
as does the ASEAN and as do Australia,[34] Russia, Germany,[35] China, India, Bangladesh, Norway,
[36]
Japan[37] Switzerland,[38] and Canada.[39] Most English-speaking international news media refer to
the country by the name Myanmar, including the BBC,[40] CNN,[41] Al Jazeera,[42] Reuters,[43] and
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)/Radio Australia.[44] Myanmar is known by a name
deriving from Burma in Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Greek.[45] French-language media
consistently use Birmanie.[46][47]
There are at least nine different pronunciations of the English name Myanmar, and no single one is
standard. Pronunciations with two syllables are found most often in major British and American
dictionaries.[pronunciations 1] Dictionaries—such as Collins—and other sources also report pronunciations
with three syllables.[pronunciations 2][48]
As John Wells explains, the English spellings of both Myanmar and Burma assume a non-rhotic
variety of English, in which the letter r before a consonant or finally serves merely to indicate a long
vowel: [ˈmjænmɑː, ˈbɜːmə]. So the pronunciation of the last syllable of Myanmar as [mɑːr] or of
Burma as [ˈbɜːrmə] by some speakers in the UK and most speakers in North America is in fact
a spelling pronunciation based on a misunderstanding of non-rhotic spelling conventions.