Myaungmya Township ( my, မြောင်းမြမြို့နယ် ) is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

of Myaungmya District in the Ayeyarwady Region of

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 Wells explai ...

. The principal town is

Myaungmya Myaungmya ( my, မြောင်းမြမြို့ ) is a town in Myaungmya Township, Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar. The town is home to the Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary, a Seventh-day Adventist seminary and Myaungmya Education College. ...

. It has an area of 444.9 mi² (1,152.2 km²). Myaungmya has high

Karen Karen may refer to: * Karen (name), a given name and surname * Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors People * Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand ** Karen languages or Karenic l ...

population, comprising 40.3% of the population in 2019. Among the population were about 40,739

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

, mostly Karens. The district is a

deltaic A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more rarel ...

tract, bordering south on the sea and traversed by many

tidal creek A tidal creek or tidal channel is a narrow inlet or estuary that is affected by the ebb and flow of ocean tides. Thus, it has variable salinity and electrical conductivity over the tidal cycle, and flushes salts from inland soils. Tidal cree ...

s. Daw

Khin Kyi Maha Thiri Thudhamma Khin Kyi (16 April 1912 – 27 December 1988) ( my, ခင်ကြည်) was a Burmese politician and diplomat, best known for her marriage to the country's leader, Aung San, with whom she had four children, including Aung ...

, the wife of national leader General

Aung San Aung San (, ; 13 February 191519 July 1947) was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he was assassinated just six months before his goa ...

was born in Myaungmya. The Township is the site of the Myaungmya Incident, the first large-scale armed ethnic clashes between Karens and Burmans in 1942.

Rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

cultivation and

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

occupy practically all the inhabitants of the district. Myaungmya Township is located in south-central Ayeyarwady Region and comprises the western portion of Myaungmya District. To its west, it is bordered by the Panmawaddy and Ngawan Rivers and Kangyidaunt Township and Ngapudaw Township across the rivers respectively. To the south, the township borders

Labutta Township Labutta Township or Latputta Township ( my, လပွတ္တာမြို့နယ်) is one of the two townships in Labutta District in the Ayeyarwady Region of Myanmar. It is located in the delta of the Irrawaddy. 84,454 people from this ...

. To the southeast, across the Pyamalaw River lies Wakema Township. To the northeast, the township borders

Einme Township Einme Township (; ) is a township of Myaungmya District in the Ayeyarwady Region of Myanmar. The area is believed to be where the Battle of Naungyo took place in 1539. Einme Township is one of the few townships in the Bamar-majority regions of Mya ...

following smaller streams like the Pula and Zagamya streams. Myaungmya Township is divided into 16 wards, 98 village tracts and 492 villages.

History

Myaungmya Township was originally the ancestral homeland of the Mon Nya, a subgroup of the Mon people. It was referenced the ''Jambūdipa'', a text dating to the reign of

Kyansittha Kyansittha ( my, ကျန်စစ်သား, ; also spelt as Kyanzittha or Hti-Hlaing Shin; 1030 – 1112/13) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1084 to 1112/13, and is considered one of the greatest Burmese monarchs. He cont ...

. The name "Myaungmya" originates from the Mon language name Mongmale (မံၚ်မၠ), lit. "where the '' Myaya plants'' are." The old town of Myaungmya is an archaeological zone and a heritage preservation zone today. The Township itself was formed in 1893 out of a portion of Bassein district, and reconstituted until 1903. The Township was the site of the '' Myaungmya Incident'', one of the first large-scale armed clashes between Burmans and Karens. The incident saw the Burmese Independence Army kill about 5,000 ethnic Karen and destruction of 15-30% of 2,000 villages in the Myaungmya District. The more Buddhist Pwo Karen who suffered from these attacks began to see themselves as part of Karen nationalist causes.

Geography

Myaungmya Township is mostly a flat low-lying delta area. The Thilla Hills lie in the western part of the township with much of that area being characterized by low-lying valleys and deltaic streams. The peaks of the Thilla hills average around 200 ft (60 m). The Township has many prominent waterways including the Panmawaddy, Ngawan and Yway Rivers providing freshwater and transportation pathways. The township has very few wildlife but a diverse abundance of trees including the Pyinkado trees, Eugenia trees, Thitpok trees, Nipa Palms, Showy Silk Cotton trees and various saltwater

mangroves A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

. Myaungmya Township is in a mostly hot and tropical climate with a heavy

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

presence. The record high in the Township is 42.5'C and the record low was 8'C due to the sight elevation in the Thilla Hills. In a typical year, the township's temperatures range from 33.3'C to 21.1'C with more extreme variation in recent years.

Demographics

The

2014 Myanmar Census Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 15 * one of the years 14 BC, AD 14, 1914, 2014 Music * 14th (band), a British electronic music duo * ''14'' (David Garrett album), 2013 *''14'', an unre ...

reported that Myaungmya Township had a population of 298,637. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

was 259.2 people per km². The census reported that the median age was 26.7 years, and a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species d ...

of 96 males per 100 females. There were 66,172 households; the mean household size was 4.4. Myaungmya Township is mostly rural with 81.7% of the township living outside of urban centres in 2019. The predominant religion is

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

with 84.5% of the township adhering to the faith.

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

is second with 13.4% (40,719 people) as of 2019. There are also small numbers adherents of Islam and

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

within the township. 57.86% of the township is

Bamar The Bamar (, ; also known as the Burmans) are a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group native to Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Southeast Asia. With approximately 35 million people, the Bamar make up the largest ethnic group in Myanmar, constituting 68% of th ...

and 40.33%

. Whilst many Christians are ethnic Karen, Buddhist Karen also make up a significant part of the township. The Myanmar Union Adventist Seminary was founded in and is located in Myaungmya. It is a private Christian college and part of the Seventh-day Adventist education system. The Township also has various Buddhist

stupas A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation. In Buddhism, circumamb ...

, including a Shwezigon Pagoda unrelated to the more famous Shwezigon Pagoda in Bagan and a monastic population of 2,301.

Economy

The primary economic activity within the township is agriculture with the major markets of

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

, Pathein and

Labutta Labutta or Latputta ( my, လပွတ္တာမြို့ ) is a town in the Ayeyarwady Region of south-west Myanmar. It is the administrative seat of Labutta Township and the Labutta District, Ayeyarwaddy Region. Labutta lies on the bank o ...

accessible by road and waterways. Yangon is also the source for many of the town's consumer goods trade. The main agricultural product, by far, is

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

sent primarily to Yangon and markets in Upper Burma. The off-season sees minimal activity with some peanuts and green peas produced. Besides crops, there are several coconut, cashew and rubber plantations within the township. The town also engages in animal husbandry, including poultry farming and fisheries. To aid in the town's agriculture, the township has various irrigation channels and dams to direct the monsoon rains effectively.

Notable People

Po Sein Po Sein ( my, ဘိုးစိန်, ; 18 April 1882 – 11 January 1954) was an influential 20th-century traditional leading Burmese dance actor in Myanmar Drama Event and singer, who has been credited with innovating and modernizing Burmese ...

, an influential 20th-century traditional leading Burmese dance actor, was born in Myaungmya Township.

References