The Arakan Mountains ( my, ရခိုင်ရိုးမ), also known as the Rakhine Yoma, are a
mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
in western
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 ...
, between the coast of
Rakhine State
Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a Administrative divisions of Myanmar, state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady R ...
and the Central Myanmar Basin, in which flows the
Irrawaddy 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 is the most prominent of a series of parallel ridges that arc through
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
,
Nagaland
Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...
,
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...
,
Mizoram
Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo people, Mizo", the endonym, self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo ...
and Myanmar.
The Arakan Mountains run from
Cape Negrais in the south in to
Manipur
Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of Myanm ...
, India in the north. They include the
Naga Hills, the
Chin Hills
The Chin Hills are a range of mountains in Chin State, northwestern Burma, Burma (Myanmar), that extends northward into India's Manipur state.
Geography
The highest peak in the Chin Hills is Khonu Msung, or Mount Victoria, in southern Chin State ...
, and the
Patkai range
The Pat-kai (Pron:pʌtˌkaɪ) or Patkai Bum ( Burmese: ''Kumon Taungdan'') are a series of mountains in the Indo-Myanmar border falling in the north-eastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Upper Burma region of Myanmar. They ...
which includes the
Lushai Hills
The Lushai (Pron: ˌlʊˈʃaɪ) Hills (or Mizo Hills) are a mountain range in Mizoram and Manipur, India. The range is part of the Patkai range system and its highest point is 2,157 m high Phawngpui, also known as 'Blue Mountain'.
Flora and fau ...
.
The mountain chain is submerged in the
Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...
for a long stretch and emerges again in the form of the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...
.
Etymology
The word ''Arakan'' is derived from the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
word ''Rakshasa'' (राक्षस), a term used to refer to the inhabitants of the region.
Geology and formation
The Arakan Mountains and the parallel arcs to the west and east were formed by compression as the
Indian Plate
The Indian Plate (or India Plate) is a minor tectonic plate straddling the equator in the Eastern Hemisphere. Originally a part of the ancient continent of Gondwana, the Indian Plate broke away from the other fragments of Gondwana , began mov ...
collided with the
Eurasian Plate
The Eurasian Plate is a tectonic plate that includes most of the continent of Eurasia (a landmass consisting of the traditional continents of Europe and Asia), with the notable exceptions of the Indian subcontinent, the Arabian subcontinent and ...
approximately along the boundary between India and Myanmar which produced the Naga-Patkai foldbelt.
[Akhtar, Mohammad S. ''et al.'' (2010]
"Structural Style and Deformation History of Assam & Assam Arakan Basin, India: from Integrated Seismic Study"
(adapted from oral presentation at AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado, June 7–10, 2009)
High points
The Arakan Mountain Range is over 600 miles (950 km) long,
with about 250 miles (400 km) of actual mountains. The highest point in the range is
Khonu Msung
Nat Ma Taung ( my, နတ်မတောင်; Khaw-nu-soum or Khonuamthung in Chin), also known as Mount Victoria, is the highest mountain in the Chin State of western Burma.
Geography
With a height of above sea level and a prominence of , Na ...
(or Mount Victoria) at .
Infrastructure
The Arakan Mountains are crossed by a road between
Ngape
Ngape Township ( my, ငဖဲ မြို့နယ်) is a Townships of Myanmar, township of Minbu District in the Magway Division of Myanmar. The principal town is Ngape. References
References
Townships of Magway Region
{{Magway-geo- ...
and
Minbu and by an all-weather road from Taungup to
Pyay
Pyay (, ; mnw, ပြန် , ; also known as Prome and Pyè) is principal town of Pyay Township in the Bago Region in Myanmar. Pyay is located on the bank of the Irrawaddy River, north-west of Yangon. It is an important trade center for the Aye ...
on the Irrawaddy.
History
The Arakan Mountains divide the Rakhine coast from the rest of Myanmar, and thus have acted as a barrier between the peoples of central Myanmar and those of the Indian subcontinent. This played a role in fostering the separate development of the
Rakhine people
The Rakhine people ( my, ရက္ခိုင်လူမျိုး, : , ), also known as the Arakanese people, are a Southeast Asian ethnic group in Myanmar (Burma) forming the majority along the coastal region of present-day Rakhine Stat ...
, both linguistically and culturally, from the
Burmese
Burmese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia
* Burmese people
* Burmese language
* Burmese alphabet
* Burmese cuisine
* Burmese culture
Animals
* Burmese cat
* Burmese chicken
* Burmese (hor ...
. The Arakan Mountains also served as a barrier inhibiting Burmese invasions, and allowing Arakan to develop as a separate political entity. Thus the coastal cities, such as
Mrauk U
Mrauk U ( ) is a town in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. It is the capital of Mrauk-U Township, a subregion of the Mrauk-U District.
Mrauk U is of great cultural importance to the local Rakhine (Arakanese) people, and is the location of many ...
and
Waithali, formed the core of Arakan civilization.
There were fierce battles in these mountains between January 1943 and March 1944 during the
Japanese occupation of Burma
The Japanese occupation of Burma was the period between 1942 and 1945 during World War II, when Burma was occupied by the Empire of Japan. The Japanese had assisted formation of the Burma Independence Army, and trained the Thirty Comrades, who ...
. The Japanese 33rd and 55th Divisions faced the British military on the coastal side of the range. The British forces won.
Ecology
The Arakan Mountains act as a barrier to the southwestern monsoon rains and thus shield the central Myanmar area, making their western slopes extraordinarily wet during the monsoon with typically over of rain per month, and the eastern slopes much drier.
They include the
Chin Hills-Arakan Yoma montane forests ecoregion which is home to an
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
population and also the critically endangered
Arakan forest turtle
The Arakan forest turtle (''Heosemys depressa'') is a critically endangered turtle species native to the Arakan Hills in western Myanmar and the bordering Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh. The Arakan forest turtle is a semiterrestrial turtl ...
which was considered extinct until its rediscovery in 1994.
[ Listed as Critically Endangered (CR A2cd+4cd v3.1)]
Notes
{{Reflist
External links
Burma - GeographyGoogle Books, ''The Physical Geography of Southeast Asia''
Mountain ranges of Myanmar