page_title: Downtown Yangon
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Downtown Yangon / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the Cantonment Gardens in Rangoon (Yangon), Burma (Myanmar), taken by J. Jackson in about 1868, part of the Dunlop Smith Collection: Sir Charles Aitchison Album of Views in India and Burma. The Cantonment Gardens were situated immediately to the south-west of the Shwe Dagon Pagoda within the military cantonment. They were planned in 1854-56 by William Scott of the Calcutta Botanic Gardens and laid out by the city's Public Works Department. This was a popular view of the gardens. With a summerhouse to the left and a rustic wooden bridge to the right, it is centred on the spire of the Shwe Dagon on the skyline, and its reflection in the lake. A gilded bell-shaped stupa, the pagoda can be glimpsed from all over Rangoon due to its elevated position on Singuttara Hill.
context_page_description: Downtown Yangon is the central business district of Yangon, Myanmar, located close to the geographic centre of the metropolitan area. The area features many of the city's major arts institutions and sports facilities.
context_section_description: The east-west grid of downtown Yangon was laid out by British military engineers Alexander Fraser and Montgomerie after the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852. The city was later developed by the Public Works Department and Bengal Corps of Engineers.
  The majority of sites on the Yangon City Heritage List are located in Yangon's CBD.
caption: A view of the Cantonment Gardens (now Kantawmin Park) in 1868.
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