Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Colonial Burma
Now in complete and undisputed control of the country, the British set about remodelling
their new possession in their own image, with
Burma
(as it was now known) being admin-
istered - rather insultingly - as a province of British India.
Rangoon
(as Yangon, already
the principal city of British southern Burma, had become known) became the new national
capital, developing into one of the British Empire's great imperial showcases with its alien,
European-style courthouses, clocktowers and doughty red-brick edifices.
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 had greatly increased the demand for Burmese rice
and large new areas of countryside were reclaimed and opened up for cultivation, particu-
larly in the formerly swampy, disease-ridden and mangrove-choked lowlands of the Ayeyar-
wadyDelta.Relativelylittleofthecountry'sburgeoningwealthfounditswaytotheBurmese
themselves,however.Britishfirmscontrolledmuchofthenation'seconomy,whiletheplight
of the country's native Burmese was further exacerbated by a massive influx of Indian mer-
chants and labourers. Secular schools were established and Christian missionary activity en-
couraged. Improvements to the country's infrastructure also followed. Railways were built
and the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company (see p.63) launched. Meanwhile, all signs of opposition
to British rule were suppressed, with rebellious villages being razed to the ground and their
leaders exiled, forcing many Burmese into banditry and other criminal activities.
The nationalist movement
By the turn of the twentieth century the first signs of organized nationalist resistance had
already begun to emerge. As elsewhere in Asia, many leading anti-colonialists were young
people educated in Europe who returned home demanding change through constitutional re-
form, rather than by taking up arms. In 1920, university students went on strike in protest at
the new University Act (seen as privileging Myanmar's western-leaning, European-educated
elite),whilelocallysponsored“NationalSchools”werecreatedtocounterbalance thecoloni-
al education system. The Buddhist clergy also played a leading role in anti-British protests -
one of the first to speak out against colonial rule (particularly Christian missionary activity)
was the remarkable Irish-born monk known as U Dhammaloka, while other prominent fig-
ures included U Ottama in Sittwe and U Wisara, who died in prison after a lengthy hunger
strike.
The first major uprising was the
Saya San Rebellion
(1930-32), named after its leader,
Saya San, who organized mass peasant protests, vowed to expel the British and had himself
crowned king. The popular uprising was put down with considerable difficulty, after which
Saya San and over a hundred other rebels were hanged.
The year 1930 also saw the creation of the
Thakin
movement (also known as the
Dobama
Asiayone
, or “Our Burma”, movement) - a nationalist group formed largely of students and
operating mainly out of Rangoon University. The Thakins were instrumental in organizing a
