Land of Golden Pagodas
Myanmar shares borders with Thailand, China, India, Bangladesh and Laos and has about 52 million inhabitants. In the northern part, foothills of the Himalayas reach into the country. The south has a tropical climate and a long coast line. The Ayeyarwady is the most important river of the country. It’s more than 2000 kilometers long and flows into the Andaman Sea
Climate and temperature vary considerably from north to south, but generally you can distinguish three seasons: the rainy season from June to October, the cool months from late November to February and the hot season from March to May.
Myanmar’s population is mostly Buddhist and the religion is ever present in daily life. A huge number of monks live in the monasteries dotted throughout the country.
Currently the most popular personality is politician and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League of Democracy. Ruled since 1962 by a military junta, Myanmar started the democratisation process in 2011: a civil president was appointed and liberalisation of the economy started.
Everyday scene on Ayeyarwady riverbank
Ayeyarwady – former Irrawaddy – is the most important river of the country. For a long time, it was the only route of transport route from the north of the country to the south, i.e. to the former capital, Yangon.
Yangon is center of everything: trading, business, culture, industry and transportation. But the country's capital city is the newly built town called Naypyidaw, which lies about 300 km to the north.
View on Pagodas in Bagan
Myanmar or Burma?
The English named the country ‘Burma’ – after the biggest ethnic group at its center, the Bama. In 1989 the country was renamed Myanmar to erase the taint its of colonial past. In effect it means the same: ‘Myanma’ also describes also the biggest ethnic group at the center of the county, but uses the literary form of the more colloquial ‘Bama.’
‘Burma’ is still used today in German speaking countries, Great Britain, Canada and the USA.
1989 Rangoon was named Yangon, and Irrawaddy came to be known as Ayeyarwady.
