Myanmar

Myanmar is shaped by one great river. The Irrawaddy flows south for the length of the country, from the foothills of the eastern Himalayas to a broad delta of rice fields and mangroves on the Andaman Sea. Horseshoe ranges enclose its valley: the Arakan Mountains in the west, the Kachin hills in the north, where Hkakabo Razi rises, and the Shan Plateau in the east, cut by the Salween. Monsoon rains drench the coasts, while the central dry zone around Mandalay and Bagan gets little.

The Pyu city-states came first, and then the kingdom of Bagan, which from the eleventh century raised thousands of brick temples on the plain of the Irrawaddy and made Theravada Buddhism the faith of the land. Later dynasties ruled from Ava, Taungoo and finally Mandalay, until Britain took the country in three wars between 1824 and 1885 and governed it as a province of British India. Independence came in 1948, and the army took power in 1962.

Gilded stupas rise over every town, the Shwedagon in Yangon above all, and novice monks in maroon robes walk the streets at dawn. Many faces are painted with thanaka, a pale paste ground from tree bark, against the sun, and mohinga, a fish noodle soup, is the usual breakfast. Bamar, Shan, Karen, Rakhine, Mon, Kachin and Chin peoples keep their own languages and dress. Rice and pulses, jade from Hpakant, rubies from Mogok, offshore gas, teak and garment factories around Yangon make up the economy.