Taungoo Dynasty

The Toungoo Dynasty (Burmese: တောင်ငူခေတ်, pronounced [tàuɴŋù kʰɪʔ]; also spelled Taungoo Dynasty) was the ruling dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from the mid-16th century to 1752. Its early kings Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung succeeded in reunifying the Pagan Empire for the first time since 1287, and in incorporating the Shan States for the first time. At its peak, the First Toungoo Empire also included Manipur, Chinese Shan States, Siam, and Lan Xang, but the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia collapsed in 1599, 18 years after Bayinnaung's death.

The dynasty quickly regrouped under the leadership of Nyaungyan and his son Anaukpetlun who succeeded in restoring a smaller, more manageable kingdom, encompassing Lower Burma, Upper Burma, Shan States and Lan Na by 1616. The Restored Toungoo kings, now based in Ava (Inwa), and created a legal and political system whose basic features would continue under the Konbaung dynasty well into 19th century. The crown completely replaced the hereditary chieftainships with appointed governorships in the entire Irrawaddy valley, and greatly reduced the hereditary rights of Shan chiefs. Its trade and secular administrative reforms built a prosperous economy for more than 80 years.

The kingdom entered a gradual decline due to the "palace rule" of its kings. Starting from the 1720s, the kingdom was beset with pesky raids by the Manipuris of the Chindwin valley and a nagging rebellion in Chiang Mai. The Manipuri raids intensified in the 1730s, reaching increasingly deeper parts of central Burma. In 1740, the Mon in Lower Burma began a rebellion, and founded the Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom. The Hanthawaddy armies captured Ava in 1752, and ended the 266-year-old Toungoo dynasty.

History

King Mingyinyo founded the First Taungoo Dynasty (1486–1599) at Taungoo, far up the Sittang River south of Ava, towards the end of the Ava dynasty in 1510 AD. After the conquest of Ava by the Shan invaders in 1527 many Burmans migrated to Taungoo which became a new center for Burmese rule. The dynasty conquered the Mohnyin Shan peoples in northern Burma.

Mingyinyo's son King Tabinshwehti unified most of Burma, consolidating his power and pushing southward, overrunning the Irrawaddy Delta region and crushing the Mon capital of Bago (Pegu). In 1544, Tabinshwehti was crowned as king of all Burma at the ancient capital of Bagan. By this time, the geopolitical situation in Southeast Asia had changed dramatically. The Shan gained power in a new kingdom in the North, Ayutthaya (Siam), while the Portuguese had arrived in the south and conquered Malacca. With the coming of European traders, Burma was once again an important trading centre, and Tabinshwehti moved his capital to Pegu due to its strategic position for commerce. He then began assembling an army for an attack on coastal Arakan to the west. Tabinshwehti's forces were defeated at Arakan but he was able to gain control of Lower Burma up to Prome. He led his retreating army eastward to Ayutthaya where he was defeated again by Thai forces, and his campaign to Ava in Upper Burma was likewise unsuccessful. A period of unrest and rebellions among other conquered peoples followed and Tabinshwehti was assassinated in 1551.

Tabinshwehti's brother-in-law, Bayinnaung, succeeded to the throne in 1551 and reigned 30 years, launching a campaign of conquest invading several states, including Manipur (1560) and Ayutthaya (1569). An energetic leader and effective military commander, he made Taungoo the most powerful state in Southeast Asia, and extended his borders from Laos to Ayutthaya, near Bangkok. His wars stretched Myanmar to the limits of its resources, however, and both Manipur and Ayutthaya, which had remained under Myanmar domination for 15 years, were soon independent once again. Bayinnaung was poised to deliver a final, decisive assault on the kingdom of Arakan when he died in 1581. His son Nanda Bayin and his successors were forced to quell rebellions in other parts of the kingdom, and the victory over Arakan was never achieved.

Faced with rebellion by several cities and renewed Portuguese incursions, the Taungoo rulers withdrew from southern Myanmar and founded a second dynasty at Ava, the Nyaungyan Dynasty or Restored Taungoo Dynasty (1597–1752). Bayinnaung's grandson, Anaukpetlun (1605–1628), once again reunited Myanmar in 1613 and decisively defeated Portuguese attempts to take over Myanmar, but the empire gradually disintegrated. Anaukpetlun's successor Thalun (1629–1648) rebuilt the war torn country. Based on Thalun's revenue inquest in 1635, the kingdom's population was estimated to be around 2 million.^[3]

The Taungoo dynasty survived for another century and a half, until the death of Mahadammayaza in 1752. Encouraged by the French in India, Pegu finally rebelled against Ava, further weakening the state, which fell in 1752.

References

• Victor B. Lieberman, "Burmese Administrative Cycles: Anarchy and Conquest, c. 1580-1760", Princeton University Press, 1984.