Myanmar

Myanmar is a country in Southeast Asia. Its full name is the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. It used to be called Burma. Myanmar is a country in Southeast Asia that is not an island. It is also part of South Asia.

It is bordered by China on the north, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, and India on the northwest, with the Andaman Sea to the south, and the Bay of Bengal to the southwest. There are over  of coastline.

Government 
The country was ruled by a  military junta led by General Ne Win from 1962 to 1988. Its political system today stays under the tight control of its military government.  In 1991, Senior General Than Shwe began ruling the country. In 2011 Thein Sein was elected as a first president of the civilian government. In 2016 Htin Kyaw became the second elected civilian leader. Aung San Suu Kyi, who is prevented from becoming president by the constitution of Myanmar, will act as an advisor to Kyaw.

In March 2018, Win Myint became the country's tenth and current President.

Origin and history of the name 

In 1989, the military junta officially changed the English version of its name from Burma to Myanmar. It also made a new name in English for places in the country, such as its former capital city, from Rangoon to Yangon. The official name of the country in the Burmese language, Myanmar did not change, however. The renaming was controversial, seen by some as linguistically bad.  Accepting the name change in the English-speaking world has been slow, with many people still using the name Burma to refer to the country.  Major news organizations like the BBC still call it Burma.  Some question the military junta's authority to "officially" change the name in English in the first place. Aung San Suu Kyi, however, calls the country Myanmar now.

History 
Myanmar had a strong kingdom in ancient times, but the nation was taken over by the British in the 1800s.  It was occupied by the Empire of Japan in the 1940s. Myanmar became independent in 1948 as the Union of Burma, and had a democratic government at first.  However, in 1962, a coup d'état brought the military into power, where it has been ever since. The founder of modern Myanmar, Aung San was assassinated months before independence.  His daughter Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest many times for leading the democracy movement.

In 1991, the military junta agreed to democratic elections, which were won by the National League for Democracy, and should have made Aung San Suu Kyi the Prime Minister. However, the dictatorship ignored the results of the elections and continued ruling. In November 2005, the military government stated that the national capital would be moved from Yangon to a location near Pyinmana, which was renamed Naypyidaw in March 2006.

Since independence in 1948 and the assassination of Aung San, Burma has had civil wars between its governments and minority ethnic groups like the Kachin, Karen, Shan and others. These conflicts are known as the Internal conflict in Burma.

National symbols of Myanmar

Land 

Today, there are 14 sections. 7 are called states and the other 7 are called divisions.

The divisions are split into townships. The townships are divided into villages and wards.

Largest cities

Photos

Related pages
List of rivers of Myanmar
Myanmar at the Olympics
Myanmar national football team

References

 
Least developed countries
Current dictatorships
1940s establishments in Asia
1948 establishments