Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Mon, who migrated into the Ayeyarwady Delta from present-day Thailand (and from China
before that), establish their capital, Thaton, and have first contact with Buddhism.
1st century BC
Possible founding of Beikthano (named after the local word for Vishnu), a Pyu town east of
current-day Magwe; it's believed to have flourished for about 400 years.
AD 754
Nanzhao soldiers from Yunnan, China, conquer the hill tribes in the upper reaches of the Aye-
yarwady River and challenge the Pyu who ruled from the city of Sri Ksetra.
849
Bagan is founded on the site of a once-thriving Pyu city; its first name may have been Pyugan,
something recorded 200 years later by the Annamese of present-day Vietnam.
1044
Anawrahta slays his brother, takes the throne in Bagan and starts organising his kingdom to
kick off the 'golden period' of the First Burmese Empire.
1057
Having subdued the Shan Hills, Anawrahta's armies sack the ancient Mon city of Thaton and
bring back 30,000 people to Bagan, including the Mon king, Manuha.
1084
Kyanzittha continues the reforms started by his father, Anawrahta, including developing the
Burmese written language; he's succeeded in 1113 by his grandson Alaungsithu, who rules until
1167.
1273
In a curious gesture of diplomacy against far-superior forces to the north, the Burmese in
Bagan slay Tartar ambassadors, prompting a peeved Kublai Khan to invade 14 years later.
1290s
Marco Polo becomes possibly the first Westerner to travel in central Burma (then known to for-
eigners as Mien), and publishes an account of his travels in 1298.
1315
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