Rakhine State
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| ရခုိင္ပ္ရည္နယ္ Rakhine State (MLCTS: rahkuing pranynai) |
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| Capital | Sittwe (Akyab) |
| Region | West coastal |
| Area | 36,780 km² |
| Population | 2,698,000 |
| Ethnicities | Rakhine, Bamar, Rohingya, Chin |
| Religions | Islam, Buddhism, Christianity |
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Rakhine State (formerly Arakan) is a state of Myanmar. Situated the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State in the north, Magway Division, Bago Division and Ayeyarwady Division in the east, the Bay of Bengal to the west, and the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh to the northwest. It is located approximately between latitudes 17°30' north and 21°30' north and east longitudes 92°10' east and 94°50' east.
The Arakan Roma mountain range, which rises to 3,063 m at Victoria Peak, separates Rakhine State from Myanmar proper. Its area is 36,762 km² and its capital is Sittwe (formerly Akyab). The estimated population in 1985 was 2,698,000 and it is inhabited primary by two groups of people the Rakhine ethnic group and Rohingyas ethnic group. The remaining ethnic groups are Mro, Khami (Khumi), Kaman Muslim, Dienet, Marmagri and a few others. The majority of people are Buddhists, and second being Muslims.
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[edit] Name
The term Rakhine (or Arakan) derives from the Pali word Rakkhapura or Sanskrit Raksapura, meaning “Land of Ogres”, possibly a pejorative referring to the original Negrito inhabitants. The Pali word Rakkhapura (Rakkhita) means "land of the people of Rakhasa" (also Rakkha, Rakhaing).
The name "Arakan" has historically been used by Bengali, Arabic, Portuguese, and English as an alternative to "Rakhine", and continues to be widely used. The Burmese government refers to Arakan as "Rakhine". Arakan was vaguely known to the Romans as Argyre (Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy) or Khruse (Periplus of the Erythraean Sea), but was a vaguely defined area adjacent to India.
[edit] Demographics
Ethnographers classify up to 11 ethnic groups (not including ethnic sub-groups) as native to Rakhine State. The Rakhine and Bamar live in valleys and on Rambye and Manaung islands. The Chin inhabit the mountain regions of the north. The Mro, Thet, Khami, Dainet, Maramagri, Khumi, and Kaman live on mountain ranges in the west and north. Each group is also known by more than one name, and data on the smaller ethnic groups is insufficient. Ethnicity in Rakhine State is a complex issue, made more complex by the current political situation.
One such complication to the Rahkine ethnic issue is that of the Rohingya, who are not recognised as a legitimate native ethnic group, but who currently form perhaps 25% of the Rakhine State's population.
[edit] Organization
Arakan State consists of five districts: Sittwe, Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Kyaukpru and Thandwe. Combined, these districts have a total of 17 townships and 1,164 village-tracts.
[edit] Economy
Rakhine State receives much rain, so rice is the main crop, occupying around 85% of the total agricultural land. Coconut and nipa palm plantations are also important. Fishing is a major industry, with most of the catch transported to Yangon, but some is also exported. Wood products such as timber, bamboo and fuel wood are extracted from the mountains. Small amounts of inferior-grade crude oil are produced from primitive, shallow, hand-dug wells, but there is yet unexplored potential for petroleum and natural gas production.
Tourism is slowly being developed. The ruins of the ancient royal town Mrauk U and the beach resorts of Ngapali are the major attractions for foreign visitors, but facilities are still primitive, and transportation infrastructure is still rudimentary.
[edit] History
| This article is part of the History of Myanmar series |
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| Early history of Burma |
| Pyu City-states (100 BC-840 AD) |
| Mon Kingdoms (9th-11th, 13th-16th, 18th c.) |
| Pagan Kingdom (849-1287) first Burmese empire |
| Ava (c. 1364-1555) |
| Pegu (to 1752) |
| Toungoo Dynasty (1486-1752) second Burmese empire |
| Konbaung Dynasty (1753-1885) third Burmese empire |
| War with Britain (1824-1852) |
| British Arakan (after 1824) |
| British Tenasserim (1824-1852) |
| British Lower Burma (1852-1886) |
| British Upper Burma (1885-1886) |
| British rule in Burma (1886-1948) |
| Nationalist Movement in Burma (after 1886) |
| Aung San |
| Japanese occupation of Burma (1942-1945) |
| Post-Independence Burma, 1947-1962 (1947-1962) |
| Military era (1962-1989) |
| 8888 Uprising (1988) |
| Military era II (1989-present) |
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The natives of Arakan trace their history as far back as 2666 B.C., and give a lineal succession of 227 native princes down to modern times. According to them, their empire had at one period far wider limits, and extended over Ava, part of China, and a portion of Bengal. This extension of their empire is not, however, corroborated by known facts in history. According to recorded history, a kingdom called Dhanyawady arose in the Arakan region in the 1st century AD. The famous Mahamuni Buddha (located in Mandalay) was cast in Dhanyawady in around 150 AD. The kingdom of Wethali (Rakhine: Wai-tha-li) was the successor to Dhanyawady from the 3rd century AD.
Arakan reached the zenith of its power in the Bay of Bengal during the Waithali, Lemro and Mrauk-U periods, but the country steadily declined from the seventeenth century onwards. Chittagong, which was part of Arakan, was invaded and occupied by the Mughal Empire in 1666. Internal instability and dethroning of kings was very common. The Portuguese, during the era of their greatness in Asia, gained a temporary establishment in Arakan; but on December 28th 1784 the province was finally conquered by the Burmese.
The famous Mahamuni Buddha image was taken as a war trophy to his capital of Amarapura (The image was relocated to Mandalay in 1853 when King Mindon relocated the capital to Mandalay). The Burmese, after conquering Arakan, came directly into contact with British interests in east India. Burmese seizures of Arakan's neighbouring states of Assam and Manipur and the assult on Shinmaphyu Isle, which was a British outpost in Bengal was the instigating causes of the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824 to 26). Under the Treaty of Yandabo (1826), Burma ceded Arakan and Tenasserim to British India. Arakan was thus one of the first Burmese territories to be ceded to the British. The British made Akyab capital of Arakan, and retained the traditional divisions of the country into the districts of Akyab, Kyaukpyu and Sandoway (Ramree) with a district officer in charge of each. Akyab district originally included the Arakan Hill Tracts, which were detached 1865 and made into a separate district (and which is now Chin State).
With independence and the formation of the Union of Burma in 1948, the three Arakan districts became Arakan Division, on equal footing with the majority Burmese administrative divisions.
From the 1950s, there was a growing movement for secession and restoration of Rakhine independence. In part to appease this sentiment, in 1974, the Burmese government of Ne Win constituted Rakhine State from Arakan Division giving at least nominal acknowledgment of the majority Rakhine ethnic group. Pro-independence movements have been highly fragmented, and the Burmese military has capitalised on the existing tension between the majority Buddhists and minority Muslims Rohingyas.
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] External links
Rakhine independence-affiliated
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