Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
encetothehistoriccapitalofMraukU.Sittwegrewexponentiallyduringthefollowingyears,
developing into an important port and major colonial centre, with direct steamers plying
the route between here and Calcutta (its progeny including British short-story writer Hector
Hugh Munro, better known under his pen name Saki, who was born here in 1870). The city's
maritimeimportanceissettoberevivedfollowingthe2011bilateralagreementbetweenMy-
anmar and India during which the two countries agreed to invest $120 million in developing
a new
port
complex to facilitate trade between India's northeastern states, as well as direct
large-scale shipping between Sittwe and Kolkata (Calcutta).
Sittwe also has a long tradition of radical Buddhism (most notably as the birthplace of rad-
ical monk
U Ottama
, a leading figure in the colonial-era independence movement), while
thecity'smonksalsoplayedaleadingroleintheso-called
SaffronRevolution
.
Religiousbel-
ligerence has also shown an uglier face in recent years during repeated clashes between the
city's Rakhine population and the increasingly brutalized
Rohingya
minority.
KINGS AND CROCODILES: A BRIEF HISTORY OF ARAKAN
The history of the kingdom of
Arakan
(modern-day
Rakhine State
) is claimed to date
back nearly five thousand years, and the Rakhine preserve a genealogy of 227 native kings
lasting until the Konbaung conquest in 1784. At its height, it covered large parts of what
is now modern Myanmar and Bangladesh, stretching from the Ganges to the Ayeyarwady.
According to tradition, the first Rakhine kingdom emerged around the northern town of
Dhanyawadi
in about 3400 BC, lasting until the founding of Waithali in 327 AD - the
Buddhahimselfisallegedtohavevisitedthekingdom,withthefamous
MahamuniBuddha
image being cast at around the same time.
Thecapitalsubsequentlyshiftedto
Waithali
(akaVesali),whichgrewprosperousontrade
withIndiaandChina. Inaround818anewdynastyaroseontheLaymro River,usheringin
the
Lemro
period. The final Rakhine kingdom was founded in 1429 by
Min Saw Mon
at
Mrauk U
- the golden age of Rakhine history. Mrauk U was conquered by the Konbaung
dynasty in 1784, and then passed to the British in 1826 following the First Anglo-Burmese
War, after which the capital was transferred to Sittwe, where it remains to this day.
Rakhine saw fierce fighting during World War II, including the Arakan Campaign of
1942-43 and the notorious
Battle of Ramree Island
, during which almost a thousand
Japanese soldiers are said to have been eaten by crocodiles - listed by the
Guinness Book
of World Records
as the “Worst Crocodile Disaster In The World”.
Arakan became part of the newly independent Union of Burma in 1948, although the
1950s saw increasing calls for a restoration of Arakanese independence, and nationalist
feelings remain high.
