Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Adoniram Judson, a Baptist missionary from Massachusetts, arrives to convert souls and trans-
late the Bible; thanks to his influence, Myanmar has the third-largest number of Baptists world-
wide.
1826
The Treaty of Yandabo concludes the First Anglo-Burmese War that had begun two years previ-
ously; the British annex Rakhine and Tanintharyi (Tenasserim) and demand an indemnity of £1
million.
1852
Britain uses several minor offences to kick-start the Second Anglo-Burmese War for control of
Lower Burma; Mindon Min overthrows his half brother and sues for peace.
1857
Mindon Min moves Upper Burma's capital from Inwa to a newly built city at the foot of Mandalay
Hill, thus fulfilling a purported 2400-year-old prophecy by Buddha.
1862
Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last emperor of India, is exiled with his family to Yangon, which the
British call Rangoon. He dies in 1858, and is buried in secrecy.
1866
Mindon's sons conspire against the heir apparent - beheading him in the palace - prompting
Mindon to pick Thibaw, who showed no interest in the throne, as his successor.
1885
The Third Anglo-Burmese War results in the end of the Burmese monarchy, as Britain conquers
Mandalay, sending Thibaw and his family into exile in India.
1886
Burma becomes an administrative province of British-ruled India, with its capital at Rangoon; it
takes several years for the British to successfully suppress local resistance.
1920
Students across Burma strike in protest against the new University Act, seen as helping to per-
petuate colonial rule; the strike is celebrated today by National Day.
1937
