Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1044 King Anawrahta ascends to the Pagan throne. He
converts to Theravada Buddhism in 1056 and defeats the
Mon a year later, creating the first unified Burmese state.
1287 The Pagan Empire collapses after a Mongol invasion.
A complicated succession of smaller kingdoms arises in
the empire's wake, including a Shan kingdom based first at
Sagaing and then at Inwa.
1540-99 Lower Burma is united under the Toungoo
dynasty.
1767 Burmese armies sack the Siamese capital Ayutthaya.
1824-26 Clashes in northeastern India, along with Britain's
desire for new markets and raw materials, lead to the First
Anglo-Burmese War. Burma cedes Rakhine and Tenasserim.
1852 Britain provokes a naval confrontation, leading to
the Second Anglo-Burmese War and the annexing of
Lower Burma.
1885-86 Claiming that King Thibaw is a tyrant in league
with the French, Britain takes Mandalay after the Third
Anglo-Burmese War. The whole of Burma becomes a
province of British India, although only the central plains
are directly controlled.
1937 Burma becomes a separate crown colony.
January 1942 Japan invades Burma, assisted by Aung
San and the Burma Independence Army.
August 1943 Aung San becomes Commander-in-Chief
of the Burma National Army (BNA) and War Minister of a
nominally independent Burma.
March 1945 The BNA rises up against Japanese occupation
in association with the Anti-Fascist Organisation, which later
becomes the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL).
January 27, 1947 Aung San and the British prime
minister Clement Attlee sign an agreement guaranteeing
Burma's independence. A separate agreement later gives
ethnic minority states the right to secede after ten years.
July 19, 1947 Aung San and six cabinet members are
assassinated by men believed to be linked to nationalist rival
U Saw. U Nu, foreign minister during the Japanese occupation,
is asked to head the AFPFL and the government.
January 4, 1948 Burma gains independence and quickly
plunges into chaos, as rival factions take up arms.
1958 General Ne Win forms a caretaker government
following a split in the ruling AFPFL.
1960 U Nu wins an election victory, partly due to making
Buddhism the state religion.
1962 U Nu is ousted in a military coup led by General Ne
Win. The Socialist Programme Party becomes the sole
political party, most private businesses are nationalized
and the country becomes internationally isolated.
1981 Ne Win gives up the presidency to San Yu, a
former general, but remains the chairman of the Socialist
Programme Party.
1987 Students take to the streets to protest about
currency devaluation.
1988 Pro-democracy protests start in March and reach
their peak in August, following the resignation of Ne Win.
A general strike begins on August 8 and the army kills
thousands of protestors. Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of
Aung San, makes a speech on August 26 at Yangon's
Shwedagon Paya on behalf of the newly formed National
League for Democracy (NLD). The military forms the
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), which
abandons socialism, declares martial law and arrests
democracy campaigners.
1989 SLORC renames Burma as Myanmar. Aung San Suu
Kyi is placed under house arrest.
1990 The NLD wins 82 percent of seats at the general
election, but the government ignores the result. Western
nations begin sanctions against Myanmar.
1991 Aung San Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1992 Than Shwe takes over as SLORC chairman, prime
minister and head of the armed forces.
July 1995 Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest.
She is re-arrested in September 2000, and spends nine of
the following ten years under house arrest.
August 2003 Khin Nyunt becomes prime minister and
announces a “road map” to democracy. In October 2004 he
is placed under house arrest.
November 2005 The capital is moved to Nay Pyi Taw.
August-September 2007 Huge increases in fuel prices
spark public protests.
April 2008 A proposed new constitution guarantees a
quarter of parliamentary seats to the military.
May 2008 The Ayeyarwady delta is hit by Cyclone Nargis,
killing around 140,000 people. The regime initially blocks
international aid and presses on with a referendum on the
new constitution, claiming that 92 percent voted in favour.
November 2010 The general election - boycotted by the
NLD - is won by the Union Solidarity and Development Party
(USDP), nominally civilian but dominated by members of
the former military junta. Aung San Suu Kyi is released from
house arrest.
March 2011 Thein Sein becomes president of the quasi-
civilian parliament. In the following months he legalizes
peaceful demonstrations, o cially ends conflicts with Shan
and Kachin groups, and frees selected political prisoners.
April 2012 The NLD wins 43 of 45 by-election seats, with
Aung San Suu Kyi taking one. The US and EU begin to ease
sanctions.
June 2012 Violence erupts in Rakhine State (see box,
p.540), most of it carried out by Buddhists against Muslims
of the Rohingya minority. Trouble flares again in October,
and sporadically during 2013 and into 2014.
November 2012 US President Barack Obama visits
Myanmar.
December 2013 A presidential spokesperson announces
that all political prisoners have now been freed under
conditional amnesties. Activists welcome progress but deny
that it is complete.
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