Mawlamyine

Mawlamyaing မော်လမြိုင်မြို့
Mawlamyaing Location of Mawlamyine, Myanmar (Burma)
Coordinates: 16°29′N 97°37′E / 16.483°N 97.617°E / 16.483; 97.617
Country	Myanmar (Burma)
Admin. division	Mon State
Population
- Total	300,000
- Ethnicities	Bamar, Burmese Chinese, Burmese Indians, Kayin, 75% Mon
- Religions	Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism
Area code(s)	57
[1]

Mawlamyaing (also spelled Mawlamyine; Burmese: မော်လမြိုင်မြို့; MLCTS: mau la. mruing mrui.; IPA: [mɔ̀ləmjàiN mjo̰]; formerly Moulmein) is the third largest city of Burma (Myanmar), situated 300 km south east of Yangon and 70 km south of Thaton, at the mouth of Thanlwin (Salween) river. The city of 300,000 is the capital and largest city of Mon State, Myanmar, and is the main trading center and seaport in south-eastern Burma.^[2]

Etymology

The name Mawlamyaing means "ruined eye" in Mon. A Mon king was said to have lost his powerful eye in Mawlamyaing.^{[citation needed]}

History

Mawlamyaing was the first capital of British Burma between 1826 and 1852 after the Tanintharyi (Tenassarim) coast, along with Arakan, was ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Yandabo at the end of the First Anglo-Burmese War.^[3]

It is probably best known to English speakers through the opening lines of Rudyard Kipling's poem Mandalay:

"By the old Moulmein pagoda

Lookin' lazy at the sea

There's a Burma girl a-settin'

and I know she thinks o' me".

Mawlamyaing is also the setting of George Orwell's famous 1936 memoir Shooting an Elephant. He served there as sub-divisional police officer. The essay opens with the striking words:

In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people -- the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me.

During colonial times, Moulmein had a substantial Anglo-Burmese population; an area of the city was known as 'Little England' due to the large Anglo-Burmese community, many of them engaged in the running of rubber plantations; however nowadays this has dwindled to all but a handful of families as most have left for the UK or Australia.

Geography

Shampoo Island near Mawlamyaing.

Moghul Shah Mosque.

Mawlamyaing is situated in the Salween River delta, where the mouth of the Salween is sheltered by Bilugyun Island as it enters the Gulf of Martaban and the Andaman Sea. It is flanked by low hills dotted with ancient pagodas to the east and west.^[3]

Transport

Mawlamyaing is the main gateway to south-eastern Myanmar. Thanlwin Bridge, the longest road and rail bridge in Myanmar is the most prominent landmark in the area. It stretches a distance of 11,000 feet over the Thanlwin river connecting the country's south eastern region with Yangon.^[4] The city is connected to Pa-an in Kayin State and Dawei and Myeik in Tanintharyi Division by road.^[5]It was the rail head to Ye, linked to Yangon by rail only from Mottama (Martaban) across the river by ferry, but today connected by the new Thanlwin Bridge (Mawlamyine) opened in April 2006 .^[3][6][7]

Mawlamyaing Airport has regular flights to Yangon.

Economy

Mawlamyaing is famous for its tropical fruits^[2] and for its cuisine ^[3]as indicated in the popular Burmese expression, "Mandalay for the speaking, Yangon for the bragging, and Mawlamyine for the eating".

Mawlamyaing has several sawmills and rice mills as teak and rice are transported down the Salween. It was once a busy shipbuilding center and remains an important port. The city also has a solar-powered plant for extracting salt from seawater and a diesel electric plant.^[3]

On the night of 1 December, 2008, a fire that started from a floating restaurant destroyed the larger of city's two markets called the lower bazaar.^[8]

On 27, May 2009, three bomb explosions in Mawlamyaing were blamed on terrorists by the authorities; no casualties were reported.^[9]

Culture

Mawlamyaing is key to communications in Tanintharyi, and being a busy seaport and transport center, it provides a multicultural dimension despite a Buddhist Mon majority. Buddhist cultural dominance is as old as Mawlamyaing, but the British annexation in the 19th century introduced Christianity, and St Patrick's School, Mawlamyaing (now BEHS-5, Mawlamyaing) was opened by the De La Salle Brothers in 1860. Moreover, expansion of trade and commerce in the early 20th century established in Mawlamyaing a Hindu culture of India (so-called Galakhar).

Education

Mawlamyaing has 20 high schools, and a university. University of Mawlamyaing is the major university for the south-eastern region, and offers bachelor's degrees in most arts and science majors. Students who wish to study medicine, engineering or computer science, or any advanced degree need to go to Yangon.

The first international student of Bucknell University, Class of 1864, Maung Shaw Loo - born in 1839 in Moulmein - was also the first native Burmese to study in the United States.^[10]

See also

• University of Mawlamyaing
• Thanlwin Bridge (Mawlamyine)
• Mawlamyaing Airport
• Mon people
• Attaran Bridge (Mawlamyine)
• Sittoung Bridge (Bilin)

References

External links

• Photos of Moulmein
• Mawlamyine
• Weather forecast Weather Underground
• Tide table Mobile Geographics

Coordinates: 16°29′05″N 97°37′33″E / 16.48472°N 97.62583°E / 16.48472; 97.62583

v • d • e Mon State Capital: Mawlamyine Mawlamyine District Mawlamyine Township · Kyaikmaraw Township · Chaungzon Township · Thanbyuzayat Township · Mudon Township · Ye Township Thaton District Thaton Township · Paung Township · Kyaikto Township · Bilin Township Cities and towns Mawlamyine · Bilin · Kyaikmaraw · Chaungzon · Thanbyuzayat · Kyaikkami · Mudon · Ye · Thaton · Paung · Kyaikto · More...