Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In 1755 King Alaungpaya conquered central Myanmar and built a new city at Dagon, a
village that had existed for centuries around the Shwedagon Paya. He renamed the place
Yangon, meaning 'end of strife', and, a year later, following the destruction of Thanlyin
(Syriam) across the river, built it up into an important seaport.
In 1841 the city was virtually destroyed by fire; the rebuilt town again suffered extens-
ive damage during the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852. The British, the new mas-
ters, renamed the city Rangoon (a corruption of Yangon) and mapped out a grand build-
ing plan for what would become the capital of their imperial colony.
It's easy to get a sense of how prosperous colonial Rangoon was from the monumental
architecture that still graces the city's downtown. By the 1920s Rangoon was a key stop-
over point for steamships in the region; notable international visitors included Rudyard
Kipling, W Somerset Maugham, Aldous Huxley and HG Wells. In 1937 Amelia Earhart
dropped in during the second of her attempts to fly around the world.
Early-20th-century Rangoon was also the spawning ground for Burmese independen-
ce. When that independence came in 1948, Rangoon continued as the nation's capital.
However, the city's fortunes took a turn for the worse when military rule was imposed in
1962. The Burmese road to socialism as promulgated by General Ne Win and his cohorts
drove Rangoon, like the rest of the country, to the brink of ruin.
In 1989 the junta decreed the city would once again be known as Yangon. After dec-
ades of neglect, streets were cleaned and many public buildings painted. However in
November 2005, quite unexpectedly, the government announced that the newly construc-
ted city of Nay Pyi Taw in central Myanmar was to be the nation's capital. Yangon again
suffered as government ministries departed from the downtown area, leaving behind
empty and uncared-for state-owned buildings.
In late 2007 Yangon was the centre of huge nationwide fuel protests, which were led
by Buddhist monks. The protests quickly escalated into antigovernment demonstrations,
which culminated in the deaths of many protestors and worldwide condemnation.
In May 2008 the worst natural disaster in Myanmar's recent history hit the south of the
country. Yangon was declared a disaster area by Myanmar's government. Many of the
city's pagodas, temples, shops and hotels had minor to serious damage from falling trees,
lampposts and fences. However, when reconstruction work began, it was found that most
of the city had escaped major structural damage. By mid-June 2008 electricity and tele-
communications were back to normal, and shops and restaurants had reopened with
brand-new corrugated-tin roofs.
