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Ramree Island ( my, ရမ်းဗြဲကျွန်း; also spelled Yanbye Island) is an
island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
off the coast of
Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region to the east, the Bay of Ben ...
,
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 ...
(Burma). Ramree island is the largest island in the entire Rakhine Coast and in Myanmar. The area of the island is about and the main populated center is Ramree. In the Burmese language it is known as Yanbye Island. The district on Ramree island is
Kyaukpyu district Kyaukpyu District ( my, ကျောက်ဖြူခရိုင်) is a district of the Rakhine State in western Myanmar. The capital lies at Kyaukphyu. Etymology The name Kyaukpyu (lit. "white rock") is the Burmese pronunciation. In the l ...
, and
Kyaukpyu Kyaukpyu ( my, ကျောက်ဖြူမြို့ ; also spelt Kyaukphyu) is a major town in Rakhine State, in western Myanmar. It is located on the north western corner of Yanbye Island on Combermere Bay, and is 250 miles (400  ...
is a major town and the second capital of Rakhine State.


Geography

The island is separated from the mainland by a narrow canal-like strait, which is only wide in average. There is a bridge over the strait connecting the island with the continental shore. The highest point is Zikha Taung, a high mountain located near the western shore in the southern part of the island. There are
mud volcanoes A mud volcano or mud dome is a landform created by the eruption of mud or slurries, water and gases. Several geological processes may cause the formation of mud volcanoes. Mud volcanoes are not true igneous volcanoes as they do not produce lav ...
present on the island.


Nearby islands

* Sagu Kyun is a long and wide island located off the southern cape of Ramree, separated from it by a wide strait. * Magyi Kyun is a long islet off the southern end of Sagu Kyun. * Cheduba Island lies further offshore, about from the south-western coast of Ramree Island.


History

Originally, the island was a trading post for the Kingdom of Mrauk-U, with fishing villages spread across it. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
the Battle of Ramree Island was fought during January and February 1945, as part of the British 14th Army 1944–45 offensive on the Southern Front of the Burma Campaign. At the close of the battle, Japanese soldiers were forced into the marshes surrounding the island, and
saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been list ...
s are claimed to have eaten 400 (or 980 of them, as only twenty survived according to one account) — in what the
Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
has listed as "The Greatest Disaster Suffered y humansfrom Animals". However, the veracity of this story has been disputed and the facts suggest that, while a small number of Japanese soldiers were likely killed by crocodiles (the only verifiable mention is of 10-15 men killed by crocodiles while crossing Min Chaung creek near Ramree town), the vast majority likely died due to a variety of other reasons including dehydration, drowning, British gunfire, dysentery, and perhaps even a small number to sharks (Platt ''et al.'' 1998). Ramree was the homeland of the last ruler of
Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...
, Maha Thammada.


Wildlife

Saltwater crocodile The saltwater crocodile (''Crocodylus porosus'') is a crocodilian native to saltwater habitats and brackish wetlands from India's east coast across Southeast Asia and the Sundaic region to northern Australia and Micronesia. It has been list ...
s were still common in the Ramree Island region up and into the 1960s, but the region no longer supports a viable population of crocodiles, likely due to hide-hunting, and by the early 1980s evidence suggested only scattered individuals remained.


Pipeline

Ramree Island is also the location of a gas pipeline system that transports oil and gas from the
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
coast to the province of
Yunnan 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 ...
in China. From a deep water port on
Kyaukphyu Kyaukpyu ( my, ကျောက်ဖြူမြို့ ; also spelt Kyaukphyu) is a major town in Rakhine State, in western Myanmar. It is located on the north western corner of Yanbye Island on Combermere Bay, and is 250 miles (400 k ...
in Rakhine State and from Ramree Island, oil from the Middle East and gas from Myanmar's ocean coast is transported through the pipelines to China. The pipelines enable China to rely less on ocean-transported oil and gas through the treacherous
Strait of Malacca The Strait of Malacca is a narrow stretch of water, 500 mi (800 km) long and from 40 to 155 mi (65–250 km) wide, between the Malay Peninsula (Peninsular Malaysia) to the northeast and the Indonesian island of Sumatra to the southwest, connec ...
and also cut two weeks off the transport time. The pipeline transport fees are a source of revenue for the Burmese government, on top of the sale of the gas. Construction began in 2011. The Myanmar section of the gas pipeline was completed on 12 June 2013 and gas started to flow to China on 21 October 2013. The oil pipeline was completed in August 2014.sources and more details
here Here is an adverb that means "in, on, or at this place". It may also refer to: Software * Here Technologies, a mapping company * Here WeGo (formerly Here Maps), a mobile app and map website by Here Technologies, Here Television * Here TV (form ...
.


See also

*
List of islands of Myanmar Myanmar (also known as Burma) is the northwesternmost country of mainland Southeast Asia located on the Indochinese peninsula. With an area of 261,228 sq mi (676,578 sq km), it is the second largest country in Southeast Asia and the largest o ...


References


External links

* {{Islands of Myanmar Islands of Myanmar World War II sites in Burma