Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and historically known to the world as Burma — a name that remained its official English designation until 1989 — occupies a pivotal position in the geography of Southeast Asia. The largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia, it is home to approximately 55 million people and shares borders with India and Bangladesh to the northwest, China to the northeast, Laos and Thailand to the east and southeast, and the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal to its south and southwest. The capital city is Naypyidaw, a purpose-built administrative centre opened in the mid-2000s, while Yangon — formerly known as Rangoon — remains the country's largest city and commercial heart.
The deep history of the territory now called Myanmar stretches back thousands of years. Among the earliest complex civilisations were the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states that flourished in Upper Myanmar, and the Mon kingdoms that dominated Lower Myanmar. In the 9th century, the Bamar people began entering the upper Irrawaddy valley, and their arrival set in motion a cultural and political transformation. Following the establishment of the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language and culture, along with the Theravada Buddhist tradition, gradually became the dominant forces shaping the region's identity. The Pagan Kingdom ultimately fell to Mongol invasions, fragmenting the region into multiple warring states that contended for dominance over subsequent centuries.
Reunification came in the 16th century under the Taungoo dynasty, whose military campaigns briefly created the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia. The early 19th-century Konbaung dynasty extended its reach even further, ruling over what is modern Myanmar and briefly controlling Assam, the Lushai Hills, and Manipur as well. This expansion brought the Konbaung rulers into inevitable conflict with the advancing power of the British East India Company. Three Anglo-Burmese Wars across the 19th century ended in the complete subjugation of the territory, which became a British colony administered initially as a province of India and later as a separate crown possession. Following a brief Japanese occupation during the Second World War and subsequent Allied reconquest, Myanmar declared independence in 1948 under the terms of the Burma Independence Act 1947.
Independence did not bring stability. The country's post-independence decades were marked by persistent ethnic conflict, political turbulence, and economic stagnation. A military coup in 1962 ended the parliamentary experiment and installed a military dictatorship under the Burma Socialist Programme Party, which imposed a form of socialist isolation that further impoverished the country. Mass popular protests in 1988, known as the 8888 Uprising after the date of their peak on 8 August 1988, forced a transition to a nominally multi-party system, but the military junta that emerged from the uprising — led by members of the armed forces, the Tatmadaw — refused to cede power. When elections were held and the National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, won a clear majority, the military simply refused to honour the results and continued to rule directly until 2011.
The period from 2011 onward brought a cautious and partial opening. Following the 2010 general election, the junta was officially dissolved and a nominally civilian government was installed. Longtime political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, were released. The 2015 general election produced a further transition of power to the National League for Democracy, though the military retained control over key government ministries. The country's treatment of its ethnic minorities, particularly the Rohingya people, drew severe international condemnation; the violence against the Rohingya was widely characterised as genocide.
The 2020 general election again delivered a clear majority to Aung San Suu Kyi's party, but in February 2021 the Tatmadaw seized power in a coup, arresting Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders, claiming electoral fraud, and reimposing military rule. The coup triggered mass protests across the country and a violent crackdown by security forces, as well as the outbreak of a broader civil war between the military and various resistance movements. The country transitioned to a nominally civilian government in 2026, though the fundamental question of military dominance over political life remained unresolved.
Myanmar is a country of extraordinary natural wealth, possessing significant reserves of jade, gems, oil, natural gas, teak, and various minerals, as well as considerable renewable energy potential. It is a member of ASEAN, the East Asia Summit, BIMSTEC, and the Non-Aligned Movement, and holds Dialogue Partner status with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Yet its income gap remains among the widest in the world, a large share of the economy is controlled by military-linked cronies, and by most measures Myanmar remains one of the least developed countries in Asia. The gap between its natural endowments and the lived reality of its people stands as a measure of the damage wrought by decades of authoritarian misrule.
