Myanmar is as diverse in its attractions as it is rich in history. Presenting hundreds of golden shining pagodas, Myanmar offers an open door to its exceptional heritage - places with religious, legendary, cultural and historical significance. Traveling to Myanmar is not only a voyage into a different geographic region with natural beauty ranging from the snow-capped mountains to the vast and picturesque coastal landscapes, but also a voyage into another time and place unspoilt by over development, where people are warm and hospitable.

Sometime in the first few centuries before Christ, a people called the Mons wound their way out of central Asia and down to the Thanlwin and Sittoung rivers. They spoke a dialect of the Mon-Khmer family of languages, and they were the first people known to inhabit what is now Myanmar. The Mons called the region the land of gold, practiced Buddhism, and traded with India's great king Ashoka. The Mons was not to be the only people in Mynamar for long. A few centuries later, the Pyu people arrived from Tibet, and they were followed by the Bamars who settled along the rich Irrawaddy River, which they controlled from Pagan.

It was the Bamars who established the First Burmese Empire. Under King Anawrata, they conquered the Mon capital of Thaton and took a legendary 30,000 prisoners back to Pagan. The subtle appeal of the Buddhism the Mon practiced became a powerful conduit of their culture (a pattern seen in India as well) and Anawrata himself converted to Buddhism. The Bamars even adopted the Mon language. The Mons was not, apparently, very much appeased by these signs of cultural appreciation, as they later rebelled and killed Anawrata's son. They were quickly crushed by Kyanzitta, a Bamar general who soon assumed rulership.

Kyanzitta's rise marked the beginning of Burma's golden age, when the bounty of rice irrigated by the Irrawady nourished civilization as it never had before. Thousands of temples were built, and the arts flourished. The kingdom's health didn't last long, however. Within a century, Kublai Khan appeared on the horizon, at the head of Mongol armies that were in their time the most powerful military forces on earth. The Khan's demand for tribute was met with defiance by the Burmese King Narathihapate, and the Mongol invasion started to roll in. Ironically, it was not the ferocious Mongols who posed the greatest threat to Narathihapate: he was poisoned by his son, who later lost the kingdom to the Mongols in 1287 at the battle of Vochan.

The Mons and the Bamar withdrew to the South, where they founded the enchanting city of Bago. In the North, descendants of the Tai people, called the Shan, founded a kingdom at Innwa. Soon the Mons and the Shan went to war, at almost exactly the time the Europeans started moving into Asia.

It was Nicoto di Conti, a Venetian, who was the first European to encounter Myanmar. Di Conti visited Bago in 1435 and stayed for four months. In 1498, the Portugeuse Vasco de Gama found a sea route to India, opening wide the path to Asia. Soon the Portugeuse had a colony in India at Goa, which they used as a base for eastern trade. De Gama's countryman Anthony Correa made the first trade agreement in Myanmar with the viceroy of Martaban in 1519. The viceroy's king, Tabinshweti, disapproved of the agreement, which was settled without his consent. Tabinshweti attacked Martaban in 1541, and, surprisingly, 700 Portuguese fought on his side. The Loyalist Portuguese retreated to Rahkine, another of the region's kingdoms, and allied themselves with the monarch of Myohuang.

In 1600, a Portuguese cabin-boy named Philip de Brito y Nicote came to Myanmar, beginning one of the most legendary tales in Burma's history. De Brito took a job with the king of Rahkine, who had by that time conquered Bago, and soon started constructing forts in the city. De Brito then took a trip to Goa, married the viceroy's daughter, and returned to Bago with men and weapons. As a wedding present to himself, he conquered Myanmar, declared himself king, and set about destroying Buddhist temples. De Brito ruled for 13 years, until the locals finally laid siege to his fortress. After 34 days the bastion fell, and the foreign tyrant was coolly impaled on a wooden stake, his grueling execution lasting three days.

Despite the fall of De Brito's personal kingdom, the European presence in Myanmar was there to stay, especially that of the British. Along the with French and Dutch, the British had colonies in Myanmar by the mid-17th century, although a Bamar king named Alaungpaya kicked out both the French and the British later in the century. Alaungpaya conquered Rahkine, extending his border all the way to the Bengal border, until the British Raj in nearby India decided that he had come too close for their comfort. The British invaded Burma in 1819, conquering Rahkine, Tanintharyi, Assam, and Manipur. In 1852, they extended their control to Lower Burma. By 1886, they had annexed the entire country as a province of India and ruled it through the Raj.

As Asian independence movements began to cause problems for the British Empire around the turn of the century, the British decided that it might be wise to grant some degree of autonomy in Burma. The symbolic gesture was unsurprisingly insufficient, and in 1930 a Burman named Saya San led a major armed rebellion against the British. The revolt was quashed and San executed, but the experience did inspire Britain to make Burma a separate colony. This slight rise in status was not enough, however, for Thakin Aung San, a student leader who spoke out eloquently for independence.

San was eventually arrested for his statements, but he escaped to China, where he collaborated with the Japanese. The Japanese made him promises of independence, provided he help them oust the British. In 1941, the Japanese and San did exactly that. In a legendary retreat, the British lost thousands of men, vowing to return. The allies were eventually able to take Burma back, but only after four years of incredibly arduous and deadly fighting. Aung San, who realized that the Japanese had their own imperialistic interests in his country, eventually sided with the allies.

The British granted independence to Burma in 1947, though they were worried that local fighting would erupt soon afterward. Aung San, who was ostensibly to have been the new leader, was assassinated the same year, and his colleague Thankin Nu became president. Thankin Nu stayed in power only briefly, asking General Ne Win to assume control as soon as the first signs of civil unrest erupted in 1958. Nu returned to power in 1960, partly because he promised the Mon and Rakhine semi-autonomy. Nu's refusal to grant the same status to the Shan and the Kayins prompted another rebellion in 1962, and this time General Ne Win assumed control without waiting to be asked.

Ne Win, a radical communist, had Nu arrested and isolated the country, at the same time declaring the tatmadaw, or military government. After Nu was released in 1966, he fled the country and began to organize a rebellion. His forces managed to hold some land in 1971, but they were eventually thrown out. In 1981, Ne Win stepped down, granting amnesty to all political enemies. Nu returned home and died peacefully.

In 1988, a huge demonstration led by students resulted in a violent crackdown by the tatmadaw, who agreed to democratic elections in 1989. When the National League for Democracy (NLD) won 60 percent of the votes, however, the tatmadaw declared the elections invalid, as no agreement had been reached on the role of the new leaders. Since that time the military government has made repeated gestures toward democratic government, although they have in fact taken no real steps in that direction. The democracy movement's current leader, Aung San Suu Kyi (the daughter of Aung San), was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 while under house arrest. Suu Kyi continues to lead the movement today.

Myanmar is situated in Southeast Asia and is bordered on the north and northeast by China, on the east and southeast by Laos and Thailand, on the south by the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal and on the west by Bangladesh and India. It is located between latitudes 09 32 N and 28 31 N and longitudes 92 10 E and 101 11 E. The country covers an area of 677,000 square kilometres (261,228 square miles) ranging 936 kilometres (581 miles) from east to west and 2,051 kilometres (1,275 miles) from north to south, It is a land of hills and valleys and is rimmed in the north, east and west by mountain ranges forming a giant horseshoe.

Enclosed within the mountain barriers are the flat lands of Ayeyarwaddy, Chindwin and Sittaung River valleys where most of the country's agricultural land and population are concentrated.

The length of contiguous frontier is 6,159 kilometres. The total length of Myanmar-Bangladesh boundary is 271 kilometres (168.7 miles). The total length of Myanmar-China boundary is 2,204 kilometres (1,370 miles); Myanmar-Thailand 2,107 kilometres (1,309.8 miles); Myanmar-India 1,338 kilometres (831.8 miles); and Myanmar-Laos 238 kilometres (147.9 miles).
   

Myanmar is the lingua franca. English is widely understood in cities like Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan, etc., Cantonese, Flukiness and Mandarin can also be used in the business circles here.
 

The literature of Myanmar spans over a millennium. Burmese literature was historically influenced by Indian and Thai cultures, as seen in many works, such as the Ramayana. The Burmese language, unlike other Southeast Asian languages (e.g. Thai, Khmer), adopted words primarily from Pali rather than from Sanskrit. In addition, Burmese literature has the tendency to reflect local folklore and culture. Burmese literature has historically been a very important aspect of Burmese life steeped in the Pali Canon of Buddhism. Traditionally, Burmese children were educated by monks in monasteries in towns and villages.

During British colonial rule, instruction was formalised and unified, and often bilingual, in both English and Burmese known as Anglo-Vernacular.