Bhamo ( my, ဗန်းမော်မြို့ ''ban: mau mrui.'', also spelt Banmaw; shn, မၢၼ်ႈမူဝ်ႇ; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥨᥝᥱ; zh, 新街, Hsinkai) is a city in

Kachin State Kachin State ( my, ကချင်ပြည်နယ်; Kachin: ), also known by the endonym Kachinland, is the northernmost state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east (Tibet and Yunnan, specifically and respectively); Sh ...

in northern

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, south of the state capital, (

Myitkyina Myitkyina (, ; (Eng; ''mitchinar'') Jinghpaw: ''Myitkyina'', ) is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located from Yangon, and from Mandalay. In Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina is on the west bank of the ...

). It is on the

Ayeyarwady River The Irrawaddy River ( Ayeyarwady River; , , from Indic ''revatī'', meaning "abounding in riches") is a river that flows from north to south through Myanmar (Burma). It is the country's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Origi ...

. It lies within of the border with

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The population consists of

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

and Shan, with Kachin peoples in the hills around the town. It is the administrative center of

Bhamo District Bhamo District ( my, ဗန်းမော်ခရိုင်) is a district of the Kachin State in northern Burma (Myanmar). The capital is the city of Bhamo. The district covers an area of 10,742.9 km2. In 2002, the population of the Bhamo ...

and

Bhamo Township Bhamo Township ( my, ဗန်းမော်မြို့နယ်) is a township of Bhamo District in the Kachin State of Burma. The principal town is Bhamo. Towns and villages *Asin * Aw-ka-tha * Awngsa * Bansak *Bhamo * Bodewa * Budaung ...

Etymology

"Bhamo" derives from the

Shan language The Shan language (written Shan: , , spoken Shan: , or , ; my, ရှမ်းဘာသာ, ; th, ภาษาไทใหญ่, ) is the native language of the Shan people and is mostly spoken in Shan State, Myanmar. It is also spoken in ...

term "Manmaw" ( shn, မၢၼ်ႈမေႃႇး, ; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥨᥝᥱ), which means "potter's village."

History

From 1869 to 1879, it was the seat of British colonial Assistant political agent, subordinate to the Resident with the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

of and in Ava. In the early 20th century, due to its location at the highest navigable point of the river, it formed a part of caravan routes bringing

jade Jade is a mineral used as jewellery or for ornaments. It is typically green, although may be yellow or white. Jade can refer to either of two different silicate minerals: nephrite (a silicate of calcium and magnesium in the amphibole group of ...

from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Bhamo was once called Sampanago, the capital of the now-extinct Shan predecessor kingdom of Wanmaw. The ruins of the old city walls, dating from the fifth century, are found some from the modern town.

Contemporary

A once weekly Myanma Airways flight is available, as are three times a week river ferries. It is the terminus of river ferries from Mandalay. There is no river ferry between Bhamo and state capital Myitkyina. The land route between Bhamo and

Mu Se District Mu Se District ( my, မူစယ်ခရိုင်) is a district of the Shan State in Burma (Myanmar). , it consisted of 4 towns and 1162 villages. The capital is at Muse. Townships The district contains the following townships: *Kutkai ...

(Muse, part of Northern

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

), is in poor condition. Bhamo is one of the official border trading towns between China and Myanmar.

Education

The town is home to

Bhamo University Bhamo ( my, ဗန်းမော်မြို့ ''ban: mau mrui.'', also spelt Banmaw; shn, မၢၼ်ႈမူဝ်ႇ; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥨᥝᥱ; zh, 新街, Hsinkai) is a city in Kachin State in northern Myanmar, south of the s ...

. One can also study engineering at

Technological University An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...

(Bamaw), and computer and networking at Computer University (Bamaw).

Climate

Bhamo has a climate that lies in the transition between

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Aw'') and

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

''Cwa''). Temperatures are very warm throughout the year, although the winter months (December–February) are milder. There is a winter dry season (November–April) and a summer wet season (May–October).

References

Sources

WorldStatesmen – Burma/Myanmar