The downside was that the able rulers were also the most likely to revolt when the High King was not Bayinnaung; and they did. Commoners with no obligation to the crown. [26] By incorporating Portuguese mercenaries, firearms and military tactics as well as experienced former Hanthawaddy military commanders to the Toungoo armed forces, the upstart kingdom seized up to Pagan (Bagan) from the Confederation by 1545. [115] Because scribal talent remained rare, the cost of Tipitika transcriptions as late as 1509 may not have been much lower than in the 13th century. [99][100] The same was true for smaller minorities still—indeed, terms like Kachins, Karens, and Chins are exonyms given by Burmans that summarily group several different groups. He spent the next decade keeping the empire intact, putting down rebellions in Siam, Lan Xang and the northernmost Shan states. From 1584 onwards except for 1587–93, Nanda pursued a policy of devolution in the upcountry in which Ava's role was essentially eliminated. [83] At the top of the pyramid were the immediate royal family, followed by the upper officialdom made up of extended royal family members. Subtracting half of Arakan yields 1.43 million km². [45][46], The empire's precipitous collapse ensued. Even at the peak of its might, the Toungoo military had the most difficult time controlling remote hill states. Bayinnaung required newly conquered states to provide their quota of manpower for the next campaign. [18] Nyo turned out to be an able leader. They never solved the sheer logistical issues of transporting and feeding large numbers of troops for sustained periods of time. Unlike in later periods, monks continued to staff the modest royal secretariats of the regional courts, and most of the Burmese (and certainly Pali) literature of the era were produced by the aristocrats and the clergy. (Lieberman 1984: 20): The first-ever Irrawaddy valley-wide census was conducted only in 1638, and the results did not survive. The crown completely replaced the hereditary chieftainships with appointed governorships in the entire Irrawaddy valley and greatly reduced the hereditary rights of Shan chiefs. Historical Map of South & Southwest Asia (2 August 1945 - Reconquest of Burma: In March and April 1945 the British advanced south into Japanese-occupied Burma, capturing Rangoon in an amphibious assault in early May and splitting the Japanese forces in two. This left the tiny Toungoo, which would bring war to much of mainland Southeast Asia till the end of the century. Viewing himself as the "model Buddhist king," the king distributed copies of the scriptures, fed monks, and built pagodas at every new conquered state from Upper Burma and Shan states to Lan Na and Siam. At Ava, Minkhaung ignored Nyo's transgressions for he needed Nyo's support against Yamethin. The empire grew out of the principality of Toungoo, a minor vassal state of Ava until 1510. In 1544, Tabinshwehti was crowned as king of all Burma at the ancient capital of Bagan. Over in the central mainland, several linguistically distinct Tai groups coexisted alongside sizeable numbers of Mons, Khmers, and a host of hill minorities. Not only did the dynasty successfully reunify the Irrawaddy valley for the first time since the late 13th century but it also absorbed the surrounding highlands into the lowland orbit for good. [35] Closer to home, he responded to the Mughals' 1576 annexation of Bengal by claiming the entire swath of lands in present-day northeast India, as far west as the Ganges[36][37] and by sending an invasion force to Arakan in 1580. According to scholarship, at the peak of the empire, the imperial army could perhaps raise about 100,000 troops,[79] and the largest initial troop level for a single campaign was about 70,000. [135], Maritime trade wealth sustained Pegu's military might, enabling Pegu to pay for Portuguese firearms and mercenaries. "[137] On the opposite side of the same token, warrior kings Naresuan of Ayutthaya and Setthathirath of Lan Xang remain the most celebrated kings in Thailand and Laos respectively—Naresuan for returning Siam to independence and Setthathirath for his pesky resistance to the empire. Bamar authority collapsed and the Mon loosely established themselves around Mottama (Martaban). The First Toungoo Empire left no monumental architecture as the Pagan Empire did. [96] The Shan states had Chins, Kachins, Was, Palaungs, Karennis, etc. [63] The system did not work well even for mid-size kingdoms like Ava and Siam. One exception was that the Martaban Province had a viceroy, These were ethnic Mon titles, and the majority of them were likely ethnic Mons. Estimates for Lan Na, Lan Xang and Manipur are not known. Adding Siamese dependencies in modern western Cambodia and those of Manipur in modern northeast India pushes the total towards 1.6 million km². [40] He also standardised the weights and measurements such as the cubit, tical, basket throughout the realm.[39][41]. [1], The victories were enabled by a more martial culture and greater military experience of Toungoo armies, Portuguese firearms, and the greater manpower that came with each successive victory. [3] Senior princes of these principalities were required to live at the Burmese capital under close supervision, and the ceremonial insignia of these provincial rulers was downgraded. But the war was far from over yet. Its early kings Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung succeeded in reunifying the territories of the Pagan Kingdom for the first time since 1287 and in incorporating the Shan States for the first time. Bayinnaung's persistence in sending troops year after year cost an untold number of lives, which at one point caused his senior advisers to murmur loudly. Agriculture, and maritime trade dominated the economy of the empire. The memories of the First Toungoo Empire still loom large not just in Myanmar but also in Thailand and Laos. Churchill saw the status quo ante helium as a primary British war aim, with both India and Burma remaining colonies as they had been since 1941. Pegu reestablished some semblance of control over Lan Xang only in 1575[32] and Mohnyin and Mogaung in 1576. These goods were moved by boat to the upper Irrawaddy, where they were transferred to north-bound trains of oxen and ponies. Pegu kept Prome and Toungoo, traditional vassal states of Ava, as separate kingdoms. Raids by the Meitei intensified in the 1730s, reaching increasingly deeper parts of central Burma. The First Toungoo Empire marked the end of the period of petty kingdoms in mainland Southeast Asia. Restored Toungoo kings used the First Toungoo's formula of greater military experience, modern firearms and (comparatively greater) manpower to partially restore the empire in the following two decades. Files are available under licenses specified on their description page. Toungoo, town, south-central Myanmar (Burma). The landlocked petty state began its rise in the 1530s under Tabinshwehti who went on to found the largest polity in Myanmar since the Pagan Empire by 1550. [3], This article is about the dynasty that ruled Myanmar between the 16th and 18th centuries. [69] Adherents of Abrahamic faiths also came to settle. The Shan gained power in a new kingdom in the north, the Ayutthaya Kingdom had established itself as a suzerain power around the Chao Phraya river basin, while the Portuguese Empire had arrived in the south and conquered Malacca. [94], Alongside the main politico-ethnicities were several smaller ethnic minority groups. By this time, the geopolitical situation in Southeast Asia had changed dramatically. Tax-exempt administrative elite in the capital and administrative centres. Annual mobilisations of men greatly reduced the manpower necessary to cultivate the rice fields. It is the same with me as I look to the Thai kingdoms of the East. But Ava was not yet a spent force. [14] Toungoo's growth continued especially after the Forty Years' War (1385–1424) left Ava exhausted. [65], An enduring legacy of the First Toungoo Dynasty was the introduction of a more orthodox version of Theravada Buddhism (Mahavihara school of Ceylon) to Upper Burma and the Shan States. 2 2006: 295) when the governor of Tenasserim built a gate at the new Pegu city. [24], The period between 1526 and 1533 saw power change hands in all of the major states of Burma. The sum of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Manipur is 1,448,825 km², where Myanmar=676,578 km²; Thailand=513,120; Laos=236m800; Manipur=22,327. The deportations also deprived the defeated regions of valuable manpower with which to revolt. [129] In return, Pegu imported Chinese manufactures and spices from Malacca and Sumatra, and Indian textiles from the Indian states; and indeed highly sought after state-of-the-art firearms from the Portuguese. Its early kings Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung succeeded in reunifying the territories of the Pagan Kingdom for the first time since 1287 and in incorporating the Shan States for the first time. According to contemporary sources, Pegu also claimed lands far beyond the princely states as tributaries or protectorates. [103] Pre-Buddhist rituals remained part and parcel of accepted religious practices throughout the mainland. First Toungoo Empire is a fun achievement and actually very doable. Welcome to the Taungoo google satellite map! “people of poverty”). Bayinnaung's grandson, Anaukpetlun (1605–1628), once again reunited Burma in 1613 and decisively defeated Portuguese attempts to take over Burma. Bondsmen who owed labour to individual patron, and outside of royal obligation. According to Myint-U, Bayinnaung is the favourite king of the present-day Burmese generals, who often see themselves "as fighting the same enemies and in the same places... their soldiers slugging their way through the same thick jungle, preparing to torch a town or press-gang villagers. However, it remains a very strong unit and is one of the Burme… Sein Lwin Lay's border goes farther up along the Mekong's than Harvey's. Even historians such as Michael Aung-Thwin and Thant Myint-U, who use Myanmar to refer to the country, nonetheless use older terms such as Ava, Toungoo, Pegu, etc. Bayinnaung built a fleet of oceangoing vessels in the 1570s to undertake voyages on behalf of the crown. [69] The king permitted the sawbwas to retain their feudal rights over their subjects. [17], In 1485, Min Sithu became the eleventh ruler of Toungoo to be assassinated in office. Ayutthaya is the strongest of the Thai kingdoms. The Forest dweller sect virtually disappeared. Even during at the peak of the empire, harvests at times fell perilously low, causing severe rice shortages such as in 1567. Surrounding the core region were the tributary kingdoms. [23] In the meantime, Nyo focused on strengthening the economy and the stability of his kingdom. From 1576 onwards, he declared a large sphere of influence in westerly lands—trans-Manipur states, Arakan and Ceylon. But Ava counterattacked and retook the lands in early 1526. [119] The Siamese language (central Thai), a mixture of a more northerly Tai dialect with Khmerized Tai from the Ayutthaya area, was coalescing. Neither state extended in any direction to a point her supply lines were more extended than those of her nearest rival. In predominantly Mon-speaking Lower Burma, a sizeable number of Burmans, Karens, and Shans (as well as a host of Europeans, Jews, Armenians, Persians, etc. Siam planned to invade Ava's vassal southern Shan states in 1605 before cancelling it because of the sudden death of its warrior king Naresuan (r. [87] By the mid-1590s, constant warfare left Lower Burma severely depopulated and rice prices at unheard of levels.[45][46]. Toungoo's “relentlessly ambitious leaders” repeatedly tested Ava's resolve by staging assassinations (in 1440, 1452, and 1459)[15] and rebellions (in 1426–40, 1452–59 and 1468–70) at times with Pegu's help. Pegu generally did not get involved in local administration; its remit was national. According to Lieberman, this was a key factor that enabled a western mainland polity "to conquer the central mainland rather than vice versa".[84]. [132] His majesty's government was actively involved in the import-export business. [64] The ahmudan were a class of people, who were exempt from most personal taxes in exchange for regular or military service of the crown. States large and small readily shifted alliances with little regard to ethnic loyalties.[103]. The First Toungoo Empire was a multi-ethnic society although the concept of ethnicity was still highly fluid, heavily influenced by language, culture, class, locale, and political power. [108][109], In both sectors of the empire, the society was deeply stratified: the division between the elite and the commoners was stark. His forces never quite vanquished the Lan Xang resistance in the Laotian hills and jungles, and in 1568, Siam, the most powerful vassal state, revolted. But the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia collapsed in the 18 years following Bayinnaung's death in 1581. Regional Maps: Map of Oceania.
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