", One journalist described hill station life as "ball after ball, each followed by a little backbiting." The British exploited the political instability and ethnic diversity of Burma to colonize it over the 62 year period of the three Anglo-Burmese wars. The three wars that ensued led by stages to the ultimate surrender in 1885 at Mandalay. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Myanmar still uses English accounting systems and legal systems. The peasant had grown factually poorer and unemployment had increasedâ¦.The collapse of the Burmese social system led to a decay of the social conscience which, in the circumstances of poverty and unemployment caused a great increase in crime.â +, Immigrants and Infrastructure in Colonial Burma, According to Lonely Planet: The colonial era wrought great changes in Myanmarâs demographics and infrastructure. Questions or comments, e-mail ajhays98@yahoo.com. [17] The new executive council, which now had increased credibility in the country, began negotiations for Burmese independence, which were concluded successfully in London as the Aung San-Attlee Agreement on 27 January 1947. Web. Though they did not actually participate in the rebellion. Such material is made available in an effort to advance understanding of country or topic discussed in the article. 4 March 2010. The monarchy was abolished, King Thibaw sent into exile, and religion and state separated. Founded in 1871, their original watering hole appears lost in time. People who, in the cities, are the models of respectability are known to fling more than stones and insults at each other when they come to live up here. The region under British control was known as British Burma. Barbara Crossete wrote the Great Hill Stations of Asia , despite the awful government Burma remains "blessed by nature, where there are always things to eat or sell and the means to live in dignity." [Source: Wade Guyitt, Myanmar Times, July 8, 2013 //\\], âIn the Imperial Gazetteer of India of 1909, the Pegu Club is prominently labelled. He was a Buddhist monk, physician, and astrologer in Siam (Thailand) and Myanmar before the rebellion. (See George Orwell's novel Burmese Days for a fictional account of the British in Burma.) Weâre about the last Club in Burma to hold out against âem.ââ Orwellâs novel neatly skewers âthose Englishmen â common, unfortunately â who should never be allowed to set foot in the Eastâ. The British Raj extended over all regions of present-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Further dividing the country, provinces were ruled by governors who were all appointed by the Hluttaw, and villages were ruled by hereditary headmen who were approved by the king. "Myanmar (Burma) â Charles' George Orwell Links." Most were built between 1820 and 1885. [Source: Myanmar Travel Information], Ben Macintyre wrote in The Times, âLike every country, Burma is a product of its history, in which Britain played a defining role, sometimes for better, mostly for worse. Born on October 24, 1876, Saya San was a native of Shwebo, a center of nationalist-monarchist sentiment in north-central Myanmar that was the birthplace of the Konbaung (or Alaungpaya) dynasty, which controlled Myanmar from 1752 until the British annexation in 1886. After issues about recruitment, reinforcement and management of the British Indian Army during the Great War (ie, the First World War), the British Indian Army was reorganised in the early 1920âs. Find online databases and records for researching ancestors in British India, the territories of India under the tenancy or sovereignty of the East India Company or British Crown between 1612 and 1947. +, The Saya San rebellion gave the Thakin their chance. Thus, although the balance of trade was in favour of British Burma, the society was changed so fundamentally that many people did not gain from the rapidly growing economy.[5]. [17], áá¼ááºáá¬ááá¯ááá¯áá®, From the Japanese surrender to Aung San's assassination, For the history of all major religious groups in Burma and modern Myanmar, see the article on, harvnb error: no target: CITEREFImperial_Gazetteer_of_India_vol._XXVI1931 (. The strike, starting in September 1946, then spread from the police to government employees and came close to becoming a general strike. After the opening of the Suez Canal, the demand for Burmese rice grew and vast tracts of land were opened up for cultivation. Charles' George Orwell Links â Biographies, Essays, Novels, Reviews, Images. A wave of strikes and protests that started from the oilfields of central Burma in 1938 became a general strike with far-reaching consequences. +. But they quickly grew in number, and their specially built teak-walled compound, completed in 1882, still stands today. In âBurmese Days, âGeorge Orwell reveals the garrison mentality of such clubs: ââ[N]atives are getting into all the Clubs nowadays. [15] Though the country prospered, the Burmese people largely failed to reap the rewards. British rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the Anglo-Burmese Wars through the creation of Burma as a province of British India to the establishment of an independently administered colony, and finally independence. With this quickly growing economy, came industrialisation to a certain degree, with a railway being built throughout the valley of the Irawaddy, and hundreds of steamboats travelling along it. At the same time, the monarchy was given legitimacy by the Buddhist organisation, and the âchurchâ gave the public the opportunity to understand national politics to a greater degree. +, Burma was grafted onto India despite the incompatibility of India and the Burmese heartland, which lacked a "Burma lobby" to explain it in Britain. The eventual trial of Saya San, who was executed, allowed several future national leaders, including Dr Ba Maw and U Saw, who participated in his defense, to rise to prominence. By the turn of the century, a nationalist movement began to take shape in the form of the Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA), modelled after the YMCA, as religious associations were allowed by the colonial authorities. British rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the Anglo-Burmese Wars through the creation of Burma as a province of British India to the establishment of an independently administered colony, and finally independence. 'National Schools' sprang up across the country in protest against the colonial education system, and the strike came to be commemorated as 'National Day'. [7] The campaign cost the British between 5 and 13 million pounds sterling (between 18 and $48 billion in 2020 U.S. dollars)[8] which led to an economic crisis in British India in 1833.[9]. The peasant had grown factually poorer and unemployment had increasedâ¦.The collapse of the Burmese social system led to a decay of the social conscience which, in the circumstances of poverty and unemployment caused a great increase in crime.â[16]. Rice, which was in high demand in Europe, especially after the building of the Suez Canal in 1869, was the main crop grown in and exported out of Myanmar. 15. Both these usages persist, and the national anthem still refers to "bama pyi." Because of its location, trade routes between China and India passed through the country, keeping Burma wealthy through trade, although self-sufficient agriculture was still the basis of the economy. In 1937, Burma was made a crown colony of Britain. +, Another way in which the British controlled their new colony directly was through their implementation of a secular education system. At the same time, the monarchy was given legitimacy by the Sangha, and monks as representatives of Buddhism gave the public the opportunity to understand national politics to a greater degree. The movement became known as Htaung thoun ya byei ayeidawbon (the '1300 Revolution' named after the Burmese calendar year), and 20 December, the day the first martyr Aung Kyaw fell, commemorated by students as 'Bo Aung Kyaw Day'. Missionaries had to protect themselves against snakes, scorpions, white ants, winged ants and bats. In Rangoon student protesters, after successfully picketing the Secretariat, the seat of the colonial government, were charged by the British mounted police wielding batons and killing a Rangoon University student called Aung Kyaw. As the Encyclopedia Britannica states: "Burmese villagers, unemployed and lost in a disintegrating society, sometimes took to petty theft and robbery and were soon characterized by the British as lazy and undisciplined. Once these troublesome or unloyal Burmese were forced out, the British replaced them with strangers they approved of. British soldiers dismantling cannons during the Anglo-Burmese war . [13], The traditional Burmese economy was one of redistribution with the prices of the most important commodities set by the state. However. "[14], With this quickly growing economy came industrialisation to a certain degree, with a railway being built throughout the valley of the Irrawaddy, and hundreds of steamboats traveled along the river. Hugh Tinker wrote in âThe Union of Burmaâ: The British community in Burma was so small and the period of British rule so brief that no comparable Burma connection ever developed. The country had two codes of law, the Rajathat and Dammathat, and the Hluttaw, the center of government, was divided into three branchesâfiscal, executive, and judicial. (One of the main thoroughfares in Yangon is named after U Wisara.) Even the Pegu Club, Iâm told. The English didn't boil their water but insisted on wearing red flannel underwear even in the sweltering heat. The British Raj is a term: "Raj" is a word in the Hindi language which means "rule", so "British Raj" means rule by the British Empire in India. To increase the production of rice, many Burmese migrated from the northern heartland to the delta, shifting the population concentration and changing the basis of wealth and power.[5]. âRank, wealth, and birth had no relevance,â wrote Wai Wai Myaing in A Journey in Time, a family memoir. [5], Burma's annexation ushered in a new period of economic growth. The real reason for imposing direct administration was that it was the fashion of the age, and modern standards of efficiency were the only standards intelligible to the men who entered Upper Burma. The Galon army rebels, like the Boxers of China, carried charms and tattoos to make themselves invulnerable to British bullets. ~, As the revolt collapsed, Saya San fled to the Shan Plateau in the east. [Source: Wikipedia +], The British controlled their new province through direct rule, making many changes to the previous governmental structure. To prepare the new land for cultivation, farmers borrowed money from Indian moneylenders called chettiars at high interest rates, as British banks would not grant mortgages. The revolt was crushed. But the British initiated the Third Anglo-Burmese War, which lasted less than two weeks during November 1885. Saya San joined the extreme nationalist faction of the General Council of Burmese Associations led by U Soe Thein. The image which the English people were meant to uphold in these communities was a huge burden and the majority of them carried expectations all the way from Britain with the intention of maintaining their customs and rule. The first run of the P&O steamer around the Cape of Good Hope took 91 days to to travel from Southhampton, England to Calcutta, with eight days spent taking in coal. When George Orwell arrived in Burma in 1924, the Irrawaddy Delta was leading Burma's exports of over 3 million tons of rice - half the world's supply. 3 sec. An account by a British official describing the conditions of the Burmese people's livelihoods in 1941 describes the Burmese hardships: âForeign landlordism and the operations of foreign moneylenders had led to increasing exportation of a considerable proportion of the countryâs resources and to the progressive impoverishment of the agriculturist and of the country as a wholeâ¦. This was particularly harmful, because the Buddhist monks, collectively known as the Sangha, were strongly dependent on the sponsorship of the monarchy. They staged a strike in 1936 which was notable because it was during this strike that Thakin Nu and Aung San joined the movement. Although Saya San's revolt was basically political (it was the last genuine attempt to restore the Burmese monarchy) and possessed strong religious characteristics, its causes were basically economic. [Source: Wikipedia +], The economic nature of society also changed dramatically. This excited the Chambers of Commerce and influenced the annexation. Mid 19th century engraved map with original outline hand color. [17] After the war ended, the British Governor, Colonel Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith, returned. . The British administration sought to try Aung San and other members of the British Indian Army for treason and collaboration with the Japanese. The Frontier Areas were inhabited by ethnic minorities such as the Chin, the Shan, the Kachin and the Karenni. The Dutch built some in Indonesia, the French in Vietnam and the Americans in the Philippines.