[11] The second university students strike in 1936 was triggered by the expulsion of Aung San and Ko Nu, leaders of the Rangoon University Students Union (RUSU), for refusing to reveal the name of the author who had written an article in their university magazine, making a scathing attack on one of the senior university officials. On Aug. 2, 1931, he was captured at Hokho and brought back to Tharrawaddy to be tried by a special tribunal. This page was last modified on 27 December 2015, at 08:38. The guerrillas were led by former army officers of the Royal Burmese Army as well as other former leaders (headmen, etc.). The last monarch, the cruel king Thibaw and his queen, were exiled to India: carried out of Mandalay in an oxcart. 18 February 2010. All of these mechanisms of transportation were owned by the British, however, and this meant that the Burmese had to pay higher rates to transport their goods to market. Web. [11] The popularity of the AFPFL, now dominated by Aung San and the Socialists, was eventually confirmed when it won an overwhelming victory in the April 1947 constituent assembly elections. Rance calmed the situation by meeting with Aung San and convincing him to join the Governor's Executive Council along with other members of the AFPFL. Some people began to feel that the rate of change was not fast enough and the reforms not expansive enough. This dilemma has contributed to a national frame of mind well known today for its determined preference for non-involvement and a "Burmese Way" in politics. The British ruled Burma as a part of India from 1919 until 1937. Most of the jobs also went to indentured Indian labourers, and whole villages became outlawed as they resorted to 'dacoity' (armed robbery). final full decade of British rule. However, these lands were sparsely populated, and therefore the lands were not exploited to reach their potential. Finally the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885 was when the British finally took on total control of Burma. Book: Great Hill Stations of Asia by Barbara Crossette (Harper Collins/ Westview, 1998). Missionaries that came to India-Burma endured numerous hardships and had little success converting the local population. The economic nature of society also changed dramatically. The ambivalent feelings of the protagonist in "Shooting an Elephant" … Another said, "There is theory that anyone who lives above 7,000 feet starts having delusions, illusions and hallucinations. The new colony of Upper Burma was attached to the Burma Province on 26 February 1886. 15th ed. The civil service was largely staffed by Anglo-Burmese and Indians, and Burmese were excluded almost entirely from military service, which was staffed primarily with Indians, Anglo-Burmese, Karens and other Burmese minority groups. [8] It was agreed in the Burmah convention in 1886, that China would recognise Britain's occupation of Upper Burmah while Britain continued the Burmese payment of tribute every ten years to Beijing. 1 March 2010. But set foot they had. The British decided to annexe all of Upper Burma as a colony, and to make the whole country a province of the British India, within the Indian Empire. The Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852) had left the kingdom of Ava (Upper Burma; see Alaungpaya dynasty) independent of British India, and, under the rule of King Mindon (1853–78), who built his capital at Mandalay, steamers bringing British residents and private traders up the Irrawaddy River from Rangoon (Yangon) were welcomed. 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. At the same time, thousands of Indian labourers migrated to Burma and, because of their willingness to work for less money, quickly displaced the Burmese farmers, who instead began to take part in crime, giving themselves a bad reputation. Orwell feels that the presence of the British in Burma (now Myramar) is not right. Burma was de­clared a province of India in No­vem­ber 1885 on the or­ders of the Sec­re­tary of State for India, Lord Ran­dolph Churchill, with its cap­i­tal at Ran­goon, a move that ush­ered in a new pe­riod of eco­nomic growth. This constitutes 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. It also survived the battle for independence, the socialist era and the emergence of a new, democratic Myanmar. Burma is sometimes referred to as the Scottish Colony, due to the heavy role played by Scotsmen in colonising and running the country – one of the most notable being Sir James George Scott, and the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company. A British General Hospital Burmah was set up in Rangoon, under the direction in early 1887 of Surg. The traditional Burmese economy was one of redistribution with the prices of the most important commodities set by the state and supply and demand mostly unimportant. As elsewhere in Southeast Asia, World War II and the Japanese occupation were politically oppressive times. +, Another way in which the British controlled their new colony directly was through their implementation of a secular education system. Far Eastern Survey: American Institute of Pacific Relations 25 February 1953, XXII ed., No. The peasant had grown factually poorer and unemployment had increased….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.”[10], The British did not move in large numbers to the colony in Burma in the way they did to other possessions such as India. [11], In December 1930, a local tax protest by Saya San in Tharrawaddy quickly grew into first a regional and then a national insurrection against the government. ), After Britain took over Burma, they maintained the sending of tribute to China, putting themselves in a lower status than in their previous relations. This close contact led to the first Anglo-Burmese War (1824–26), which the British won with the aid of the Siamese. //\\, “One travelogue warned ladies should watch out for snakes upon exiting the club – living nearby: I can confirm this remains sound advice today. British rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the successive three 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. Print. In the intense Indian summers, the English gentry and their servants fled the cities for the hill stations in the cooler mountains. 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'. It spread to Mandalay leading to the formation of the All Burma Students Union (ABSU). [11], The agreement left parts of the communist and conservative branches of the AFPFL dissatisfied, sending the Red Flag Communists led by Thakin Soe underground and the conservatives into opposition. 'National Schools' sprang up across the country in protest against the colonial education system, and the strike came to be commemorated as 'National Day'. Within fifty years he and his successors had defeated and in many cases subjugated most of the adjacent peoples, creating in the process an expanded nation-state with frontiers resembling those of modern Burma but in the north-west more extensive. 2005. During the colonial period when Burma was established as a British Colony, the number of Rohingya Muslims in the colony soared. In Danuphyu, south of Ava, the Burmese general Maha Bandula was killed and his armies routed. The Burmese resented both the British and the Indian migrants, and staged guerilla warfare against the British army of occupation. They featured comfortable cottages, steepled churches, clubs, schools, libraries, tearooms, and gardens with European flowers. This prompted the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885. The province of Burma, after 1885 was administered as follows: The "Frontier Areas", also known as the "Excluded Areas" or the "Scheduled Areas", compose the majority of states within Burma today. In December 1930, a local tax protest by Saya San in Tharrawaddy quickly grew into first a regional and then a national insurrection against the government. The British Raj was the rule by the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947. Prominent among the political activists were Buddhist monks (hpongyi), such as U Ottama and U Seinda in the Arakan who subsequently led an armed rebellion against the British and later the nationalist government after independence, and U Wisara, the first martyr of the movement to die after a protracted hunger strike in prison. Washington D.C.: Counterpoint, 2002. When the British conquered Pegu (now Bago) in 1852, they did so, according to one rather biased report, “in what may be called dashing style, while exposed to the fierce rays of a burning sun”. This massive move towards foreign trade hurt the Burmese economy initially because suddenly a large amount of their resources was being exported for Britain's benefit, thereby taking with it a lot of the resources needed by the Burmese natives to continue living their lives as they had before colonisation. It was also one of the first Southeast Asian countries to receive Buddhism, which went on to become the officially patronised religion. Inside, however, the club was the pinnacle of imperialist attempts to replicate England in foreign lands. Historian Thant Myint-U writes: "At the beginning of the 20th century, Indians were arriving in Burma at the rate of no less than a quarter million per year. 1885-86 - Burma comes under British rule. The AFPFL opposed the government leading to political instability in the country. Intermarriage between Europeans and Burmese gave birth to an indigenous Eurasian community known as the Anglo-Burmese who would come to dominate the colonial society, hovering above the Burmese but below the British. The British "imperial tongue" stumbled over Myanmar and adopted Burma, reportedly similar to the name Birmania given to the country by Portuguese traders. This humiliation paved the way for the extreme nationalist militarism that followed. [6], The guerrillas were led by former army officers of the Royal Burmese Army as well as other former leaders (headmen, etc.). [1] This arrangement lasted until 1937, when Burma began to be administered separately by the Burma Office under the Secretary of State for India and Burma. A nationalist movement developed, and there were demonstrations, often led, in true Burmese fashion, by Buddhist monks. The British ruled Burma as a part of India from 1919 until 1937. Upper Burma fell to the British and the Mandalay-based peacock throne was toppled after the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885. According to Thant Myint-U, Burma's foremost historian, the colonial experience fractured and divided Burmese society in a way that encouraged dictatorship, undermining institutions that had held the state together since the Middle Ages, leaving the country "adrift, suddenly pushed into the modern world without an anchor to the past". Progressive constitutional reform in the early 1920s led to a legislature with limited powers, a university and more autonomy for Burma within the administration of India. Intermarriage between Europeans and Burmese gave birth to an indigenous Eurasian community known as the Anglo-Burmese who would come to dominate the colonial society, hovering above the Burmese but below the British. [2] The campaign cost the British five million pounds sterling to 13 million pounds sterling (roughly 18.5 billion to 48 billion in 2006 US dollars)[3] that led to a severe economic crisis in British India in 1833.[4]. Burma is sometimes referred to as "the Scottish Colony", due to the heavy role played by Scotsmen in colonising and running the country, one of the most notable being Sir James Scott, and the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company. In his book Ornamentalism; How the British Saw Their Empire the historian David Cannadine said British empire had its roots in transplanting the British class system abroad not on racial pride and argues the whole thing was kind of as show. 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. They were later superseded by the General Council of Burmese Associations (GCBA) which was linked with Wunthanu athin or National Associations that sprang up in villages throughout Burma Proper. Different portions of Burmese territories were annexed at different times. As Burma finally inches towards democracy, Britain's involvement in Burma's past offers a unique opportunity to help shape its future. They had become a conquering race and feared no one on earth.” //\\, “On the British side, there was at first no wish to tackle Burma, a profoundly mysterious country, alleged to have a huge population, certainly able to raise great armies. Kipling's view of Burma was acquired in the aftermath of that surrender, and must be understood in the light of preceding historical events, today largely forgotten. "The Withdrawal of the Last British Residency from Upper Burma in 1879." A rift had also developed in the AFPFL between the Communists and Aung San together with the Socialists over strategy, which led to Than Tun being forced to resign as general secretary in July 1946 and the expulsion of the CPB from the AFPFL the following October. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. “‘Try the mutton,’” he was told. British rule in Burma, also known as British 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. Few of them spoke the language, and those who did, came with preconceptions gained in Lower Burma. The "Frontier Areas", also known as the "Excluded Areas" or the "Scheduled Areas", compose the majority of states within Burma today. In the process of removing the monarchy, the British destroyed the structure of traditional Burmese society. Japan then successfully invaded the Asian colonies of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands, including the Philippines, Malaya, Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma, and the Dutch East Indies. After the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885, Upper Burma was annexed, and the following year, the province of Burma in British India was created, becoming a major province (a Lieutenant-Governorship) in 1897. (See George Orwell's novel Burmese Days for a fictional account of the British in Burma.) British rule in Burma, also known as British 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. George Orwell served in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma for five years, an experience that was the inspiration for his 1934 novel “Burmese Days.”, Divisions of British Burma: The province of Burma, after 1885 was administered as follows: 1) Ministerial Burma (Burma proper); 2) Tenasserim Division (Toungoo, Thaton, Amherst, Salween, Tavoy, and Mergui Districts); 3) Arakan Division (Akyab, Northern Arakan or Arakan Hill Tracts, Kyaukpyu and Sandoway Districts); 4) Pegu Division (Rangoon City, Hanthawaddy, Pegu, Tharrawaddy and Prome Districts); 5) Irrawaddy Division (Bassein, Henzada, Thayetmyo, Maubin, Myaungmya and Pyapon Districts); 6) Scheduled Areas (Frontier Areas); 7) Shan States; 8) Chin Hills; 9) Kachin tracts. Instead, it was Indian workers who migrated to the country once it was under British rule, and competed with the local Burmese for jobs, lowering the standard of living in the country. Chew, Ernest. This realization led the British to encourage Muslims from Bengal to migrate and settle on the lands, and since there was no boundary between Ara… From the Japanese surrender to Aung San's assassination, File:British forces arrival mandalay1885.jpg, File:Vegetable stand madraslancer mandalay1886.jpg, File:Royallake dalhousiepark rangoon1895.jpg, File:The British Army in Burma 1944 SE2911.jpg, "The Statement on the Commemoration of Bo Aung Kyaw", "Who Killed Aung San? The hill station at Taunggyi was described in 1902 as “not merely for house-building but for racecourses, pol-grounds and public gardens.”, The atmosphere at the hill stations was both formal, strange and hedonistic. There were never really that many Britons in Burma. It was customary for unmarried British men to keep a local mistress-housekeeper who would raise their children. The three wars that ensued led by stages to the ultimate surrender in 1885 at Mandalay. Traditional Burmese society was drastically altered by the demise of the monarchy and the separation of religion and state. The following year, the province of Burma in British India was created, becoming a major province (a Lieutenant-Governorship) in 1897. The Collapse of British Rule in Burma The Civilian Evacuation and Independence 1st Edition by Michael D. Leigh and Publisher Bloomsbury Academic. Fifteen thousand European and Indian soldiers died, together with an unknown number of Burmese army and civilian casualties. The Frontier Areas were inhabited by ethnic minorities such as the Chin, the Shan, the Kachin and the Karenni. Both astounded him. Welcome to the CIA Web Site Central Intelligence Agency. In Mandalay, the police shot into a crowd of protesters led by Buddhist monks killing 17 people. After three Anglo-Burma Wars (1825, 1852 and 1885) Burma was conquered and transformed into a British colony. Lasting for two years, the Galon rebellion, named after the mythical bird Garuda – enemy of the Nagas i.e. In 1937, Burma was made a crown colony of Britain. The monarchy was abolished, King Thibaw sent into exile, and church and state separated. Historians will add that we saw no harm in this, though we always resisted such a fate to the death when it threatened our own land. Their actions, and the crime that began when the villagers were displaced by Indian workers, led to the British impression of their Burmese colony as a restless and violent place.[5]. The British colony of Burma was part of the British run-state in India, the Empire of India, from 1824 to 1937.Burma was separated from the rest of … The First Anglo-Burmese War arose from friction between Arakan in western Burma and British-held Chittagong to the north. Wikipedia +], With the arrival of the British, the Burmese economy became tied to global market forces and was forced to become a part of the colonial export economy. Burma … Burma is sometimes referred to as "the Scottish Colony", due to the heavy role played by Scotsmen in colonising and running the country, one of the most notable being Sir James Scott, and the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company. By some estimates more than 10,000 peasants were killed during it. Burmese armed resistance continued sporadically for several years, and the British commander had to coerce the High Court of Justice to continue to function. The founder of the line, Alaungpaya, emerged in 1752 as a national resistance leader against the Mons to the south. Burma achieved independence from British rule on 4 January 1948. The historian D.G.E. British rule in Burma, 1824-1942. The second university students strike in 1936 was triggered by the expulsion of Aung San and Ko Nu, leaders of the Rangoon University Students Union (RUSU), for refusing to reveal the name of the author who had written an article in their university magazine, making a scathing attack on one of the senior university officials. Harvey wrote in his chapter on Burma in the Cambridge History of the British Empire: [Source: Wikipedia +], The economic nature of society also changed dramatically. they did win the trust of the peasants and displaced the older generation of London-educated elites at the head of the Burmese nationalist movement. This was particularly harmful because the Buddhist monks were so dependent on the sponsorship of the monarchy. Despite this an independence movement emerged in … The 1826 Treaty of Yandabo formally ended the First Anglo-Burmese War, the longest and the most expensive war in British India history. Thus, although the balance of trade was supposed to be in favour of Burma, the society was changed so fundamentally that many people did not gain from the rapidly growing economy.[5]. King Mindon tried to readjust to the thrust of imperialism. In order 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], To control the country on the village level, the British implemented a "strategic hamlet" strategy in which they burned villages and uprooted families who had supplied villages with their headmen, sending them to lower Burma. 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. 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