Thanlwin Bridge, the second longest bridge in Burma, connects Mawlamyine to
Mottama. The combined river then breaks into the Dayebauk (north) and Mawlamyine (south) channels, forming
Bilugyun Island before emptying into the
Gulf of Martaban.
List of tributaries
Geology
The present course of the Salween began to form about 5 million years ago as the Indian subcontinent collided with Asia, resulting in the uplift of the Himalaya mountains and the Tibetan Plateau. Prior to the Himalaya
orogeny
Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted t ...
, what are now the upper Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong and Yangtze rivers may have all flowed into the
Red River, emptying into the
South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phil ...
. The landscape was hilly but not particularly rugged, with average elevations of or less. As the continents converged, a complex jumble of mountains arose, breaking the ancestral Red into different drainage systems, with the Yangtze heading east towards the Pacific, and the Mekong and Salween flowing south into what is now Thailand's
Chao Phraya River
The Chao Phraya ( or ; th, แม่น้ำเจ้าพระยา, , or ) is the major river in Thailand, with its low alluvial plain forming the centre of the country. It flows through Bangkok and then into the Gulf of Thailand.
Et ...
. About 1.5 million years ago, volcanic activity diverted the Salween west towards the Andaman Sea, roughly creating the modern path of the river.
The parallel modern courses of the upper Salween, Mekong and Yangtze are located where the eastern Tibetan Plateau intersects the uplands of the
Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. The mountain ranges separating these rivers are individual
terrane
In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and accreted or " sutured" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its own ...
s (crustal fragments) that accreted separately to the Asian continent – forming a
basin and range
Basin and range topography is characterized by alternating parallel mountain ranges and valleys. It is a result of crustal extension due to mantle upwelling, gravitational collapse, crustal thickening, or relaxation of confining stresses. The e ...
landscape with drainage running from north to south – then compressed together such that the rivers flow only apart in places. As the mountains continued to rise, the rivers incised into the landscape along parallel fault zones, creating the deep canyons of the present day. The Nujiang fault zone stretches over along the river in Yunnan.
The formation of the Himalayas blocked drainage from the Tibetan Plateau south towards the Indian Ocean, forcing drainage north of the mountains east towards the Yangtze river. This east-flowing river, the predecessor of the modern
Yarlung Tsangpo
The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo () is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called Dan ...
river, was repeatedly captured into drainages to the south, finding various routes to the sea via the Red, Mekong, Salween and Irrawaddy rivers. The combined Salween–Yarlung Tsangpo drainage would have been much longer than the modern Salween, stretching an additional west across the Tibetan Plateau. Ultimately the Yarlung Tsangpo was captured by the
Brahmaputra River
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
in present-day India. The Salween may once have had additional tributaries above its present source, but due to the uplift of the Himalaya blocking moisture from the Indian Ocean, these tributaries dried up, leaving the numerous
terminal lakes scattered across Nagqu today.
The Salween carries an estimated 108 to 237 million tonnes of sediment per year.
About 92 percent of sediment is delivered to the ocean during the monsoon season.
The Salween delta is physically contiguous with the Irrawaddy and Sittaung deltas. The Irrawaddy–Sittaung–Salween delta is relatively stable, with the coastline advancing an average of per year between 1925 and 2006. Sediment accumulation is largely balanced out by
subsidence
Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...
and transport by ocean currents. However, proposed dams along the Salween would trap much of the sediment with potential detrimental impacts to coastal erosion.
Ecology
The Salween basin is home to thousands of species of plants, with the highest plant diversity found in Yunnan's Three Parallel Rivers region. The Three Parallel Rivers protected areas include the
Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve
The Gaoligongshan National Nature Reserve (GNNR) is a protected area comprising the Gaoligong Mountains and the nearby Nu Jiang Reserve in the western Yunnan Province of China, near the international border with Burma. It covers a vast stretch of ...
and the Nu Jiang Reserve within the Salween basin;
the Gaoligongshan reserve has more than 4,300 plant species. The
Nujiang Langcang Gorge alpine conifer and mixed forests
The Nujiang Lancang Gorge alpine conifer and mixed forests are a temperate coniferous forests ecoregion in Southwest China and northeastern Myanmar. The forests cover mountains and valleys in the western Hengduan Mountains and because of the ext ...
, situated along the Nu River in western Yunnan, span elevations of and range from subtropical broadleaf evergreen to subalpine conifer forests. The rare ''
Taiwania
''Taiwania'', with the single living species ''Taiwania cryptomerioides'', is a large coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae.
Etymology
''Taiwania'' means 'from Taiwan', while ''Cryptomerioides'' means 'resembling ''Cryptomeria''.Gle ...
'', one of the largest conifers in Asia, is found here along with more than twenty other conifer species. Due to its rugged and inaccessible terrain, this is considered one of the most intact large forest regions in China.
The Mekong–Salween divide forms a significant floral and faunal barrier as well as a
rain shadow
A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side.
Evaporated moisture from water bodies (such as oceans and large lakes) is carrie ...
, and has been regarded as a major driver of plant
speciation
Speciation is the evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species. The biologist Orator F. Cook coined the term in 1906 for cladogenesis, the splitting of lineages, as opposed to anagenesis, phyletic evolution within ...
in the region.
Around the Burma–China border, the Salween flows through the
Northern Indochina subtropical forests
The Northern Indochina subtropical moist forests are a subtropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of northern Indochina, covering portions of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and China's Yunnan Province.
Setting
The Northern Indochina subtrop ...
ecoregion, which consists largely of subtropical broad-leaved evergreen forests, with pine forests at higher elevations and tropical forests at the lower margins.
Further south in Burma and Thailand, the Salween basin includes the
Kayah-Karen montane rain forests, where the karst limestone landscape of cliffs, sinkholes and caverns lends itself to a multitude of forest types. Limestone soils host
drought deciduous
Drought deciduous, or drought semi-deciduous plants refers to plants that shed their leaves during periods of drought or in the dry season. This phenomenon is a natural process of plants and is caused due to the limitation of water around the env ...
forests, while
dipterocarp
Dipterocarpaceae is a family of 16 genera and about 695 known species of mainly tropical lowland rainforest trees. The family name, from the type genus ''Dipterocarpus'', is derived from Greek (''di'' = two, ''pteron'' = wing and ''karpos'' = fru ...
–dominant tropical forests occur on granitic soils.
Montane deciduous forests are widespread in the Shan Hills.
Mangrove forests occur in the Salween delta, especially on Bilugyun Island.
The basin supports about 151 fish species, with 77 of those found in the upper Salween.
The Salween has numerous
cyprinid
Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest verte ...
species, including the endangered ''
Garra cryptonema'' and ''Akrokolioplax bicornis'' which are
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to the basin.
Inle Lake in Shan State, designated a
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2015,
provides habitat for numerous endemic fish species. The Thousand Islands area at the Salween–Pang confluence,
as well as the confluence of the Salween and Moei rivers, are also identified as critical fish habitat. The Salween shares most of its fish species with the nearby Irrawaddy and
Sittaung River
The Sittaung River ( my, စစ်တောင်းမြစ် ; formerly, the Sittang or Sittounghttps://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/UNGEGN/docs/8th-uncsgn-docs/inf/8th_UNCSGN_econf.94_INF.75.pdf ) is a river in south central Myanmar in Bago ...
s. The river also hosts a number of invasive exotic fish which were introduced for commercial purposes.
In addition to fish, the Salween provides habitat for 92 amphibian species. The Salween has the greatest diversity of turtles of any river in the world. The endangered
Giant Asian pond terrapin and
bigheaded turtle are found here.
The Salween basin includes up to 25% of the world's terrestrial animal species.
About one-half of all animal species in China can be found in the upper Salween, which provides habitat for endangered species including the
snow leopard and
black snub-nosed monkey
The black-and-white snub-nosed monkey (''Rhinopithecus bieti''), also known as the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey, is a large black and white primate that lives only in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan, where it is known to the locals as the Yun ...
. The remote jungles of the Salween basin in Burma and Thailand, particularly in Kayin and Shan states, are home to dozens of large mammal species including the
Indochinese tiger,
clouded leopard
The clouded leopard (''Neofelis nebulosa''), also called the mainland clouded leopard, is a wild cat inhabiting dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through mainland Southeast Asia into South China. In the early 19th century, a cl ...
,
Asiatic black bear
The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, sou ...
,
sun bear,
eastern hoolock gibbon, and the
Sunda pangolin.
Limestone caves along the Salween in Thailand are home to numerous bat species, including the endemic
Kitti's hog-nosed bat
Kitti's hog-nosed bat (''Craseonycteris thonglongyai''), also known as the bumblebee bat, is a near-threatened species of bat and the only extant member of the family Craseonycteridae. It occurs in western Thailand
Thailand ( ), histor ...
, the smallest known bat species in the world. The Nam San Valley along the Shan reach of the river provides habitat for the critically endangered
white-rumped vulture
The white-rumped vulture (''Gyps bengalensis'') is an Old World vulture native to South and Southeast Asia. It has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2000, as the population severely declined. White-rumped vultures di ...
and the
slender-billed vulture
The slender-billed vulture (''Gyps tenuirostris'') is an Old World vulture species native to sub-Himalayan regions and Southeast Asia. It is Critically Endangered since 2002 as the population on the Indian subcontinent has declined rapidly. As ...
.
In the Salween delta, wetlands provide habitat for
fishing cat,
Asian small-clawed otter
The Asian small-clawed otter (''Aonyx cinereus''), also known as the oriental small-clawed otter and the small-clawed otter, is an otter species native to South and Southeast Asia. It has short claws that do not extend beyond the pads of its web ...
and
Siamese crocodile
The Siamese crocodile (''Crocodylus siamensis'') is a medium-sized freshwater crocodile native to Indonesia (Borneo and possibly Java), Brunei, East Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The species is critically endangered an ...
, among other species.
Economic uses
Agriculture
Along its lower course the Salween sustains both flood and irrigated agriculture. The Salween delta is a major rice-growing area; it is the single most productive agricultural region in the Salween basin and home to over 500,000 people. Rice paddies are highly dependent on the river's annual flooding, bringing deposits of rich sediment. Other crops grown in the Salween basin include maize, wheat, chili, cotton, potatoes, groundnut, sesame, pulses, betel, tea, and various vegetables.
Certain areas of the floodplain are suitable for both farming and fishing, such as the seasonal Daw Lar Lake upstream of Hpa-An, where crops are grown on islands in the lake during the dry season. Following the annual harvest, the land is used for grazing livestock. In the rainy season fish migrate from the Salween River to spawn in the lake, and are caught in large numbers as the water level recedes at the end of the season. The Salween generally floods in July–September and reaches its lowest around October–December. Compared to Burma's principal rice growing region, the Irrawaddy delta, the Salween delta floods more erratically, and is prone to drought for 1–2 years out of five.
Approximately of land are irrigated in the Salween basin, with 50 percent in Burma, 42 percent in China and 8 percent in Thailand. About 97 percent is irrigated with surface water, and the rest with
groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...
. Total water withdrawals amount to less than 3 percent of the river flow at .
In recent years rubber, sugarcane and corn have become major cash crops, with the majority of this production exported to China. From 1998 to 2010, the area cultivated for rubber in Mon State increased fivefold, accompanied by significant deforestation.
Further upstream, the river provides a water source for numerous remote villages. With arable land limited by mountainous terrain, farming occurs primarily on the seasonally flooded river banks and islands. However, forest land has been increasingly converted to agriculture, which has led to sedimentation and other water quality issues.
The higher elevation valleys are used for grazing, particularly in Tibet, where yaks, sheep, goats, horses and cattle are raised. Forests along the Salween in eastern Burma are home to dozens of medicinal plants crucial to the production of traditional herbal medicines. Some medicinal plants are cultivated, while others are harvested wild in the forest. Many wild species are threatened by deforestation and agricultural conversion.
Fishing
The Salween estuary and delta is a particularly rich fishery, with the complex network of tidal channels providing a diversity of habitats for freshwater, brackish and marine fishes. Subsistence fishing is predominant along the inland channels and bays, while a large commercial fishery is supported offshore. The most important commercial species include Nga pone na (
Paradise threadfin
The paradise threadfin (''Polynemus paradiseus'') is a species of catadromous ray-finned fish, a threadfin from the family Polynemidae which is found in south and southeast Asia in freshwater rivers where it is a valued food fish.
Description
T ...
) and Nga pyat (Coitor croaker). Prawns and shrimps are important in the local diet. Villages further upstream also depend on Salween fish, with Inle Lake being a particularly rich fishery.
Overfishing combined with lack of regulation has become an issue in the 21st century, with catches in the lower Salween declining as much as 60 percent at some villages. The use of large "bag nets" that result in excessive
bycatch
Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...
, as well as the use of illegal poisons by commercial fishermen, have also contributed to the decline. Increased sedimentation from upstream logging has made the estuary shallower and reduced its productivity, in turn reducing the rate of fish migration and spawning. The Burmese government has made efforts to address the issues, including seasonal fishing bans first implemented in 2012, but these laws have been rarely enforced. An alternative approach, using small, self-enforced community-based reserves where fishing is not allowed, has successfully protected fish populations and species diversity in northern Thailand.
Logging and mining
Forests along the Salween are prime sources of tropical hardwoods including teak, pyinkadoe (red ironwood) and padauk (Burmese rosewood). Logging in the Burmese part of the basin first occurred on a large scale during the British colonial period in the 19th century.
Clearcutting
Clearcutting, clearfelling or clearcut logging is a forestry/ logging practice in which most or all trees in an area are uniformly cut down. Along with shelterwood and seed tree harvests, it is used by foresters to create certain types of fore ...
has destabilized soils along the river and raised sediment loads. Due to the lack of good roads across most of the basin, the majority of timber is transported via waterways during the rainy season. In China, some forests in western Yunnan were intensively logged until the 1990s, when logging was banned there due to environmental impacts.
The rate of deforestation has increased sharply in the 21st century, particularly in Shan, Karenni and Karen states.
Before 2010, armed conflicts made it difficult for logging companies to access many of these areas. After a 2010 peace agreement signed between ethnic militias and the Myanmar Union Government, commercial logging was able to increase dramatically in Karenni State. The Burmese government has banned the cutting of teak, but
illegal logging
Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a pro ...
for teak has persisted, driven by strong demand abroad. On the Thai side of the river, illegal logging has been ongoing since the 1990s in Salawin National Park.
In Karen State, limestone quarrying for cement production along the river has increased in the 21st century. There is also increasing sand and gravel mining in the lower river. As of 2015 the Burmese government was seeking international investment in the mining sector, and new policies could lead to considerable increase in mining activity along the river.
History
Human presence along the upper Salween River dates to at least 31,000–39,000 years ago. Archeological evidence includes stone tools and animal remains discovered along the river bank in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau.
The
Mon
Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to:
Places
* Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar
* Mon, India, a town in Nagaland
* Mon district, Nagaland
* Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
* Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons
* An ...
are some of the earliest inhabitants of the Salween basin within Burma, migrating south from China around 3000 BCE, and settling in the Salween delta and adjacent coastal areas. Agriculture was first practiced in the Salween and Irrawaddy basins around the first century BCE. Ancestors of the
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 ...
migrated down the Salween River area from the Tibetan Plateau and northwest China starting around 1000 BCE.
Tai peoples
Tai peoples are the populations who speak (or formerly spoke) the Tai languages. There are a total of about 93 million people of Tai ancestry worldwide, with the largest ethnic groups being Dai, Thais, Isan, Tai Yai (Shan), Lao, Tai Ahom, an ...
, ancestors of the
Shan, began moving into the
Shan Hills area of the middle Salween from Yunnan around 1000 CE and established multiple independent kingdoms, often known as the
Shan States
The Shan States (1885–1948) were a collection of minor Shan kingdoms called ''muang'' whose rulers bore the title ''saopha'' in British Burma. They were analogous to the princely states of British India.
The term "Shan States" was firs ...
.
The
Nu people, originating in the Tibetan Plateau, may have inhabited the areas of the Salween (Nu) and Mekong (Lancang) in modern day China as early as 2000 BCE. The
Wa people
The Wa people ( Wa: Vāx; my, ဝလူမျိုး, ; ; th, ว้า) are a Southeast Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in Northern Myanmar, in the northern part of Shan State and the eastern part of Kachin State, near and along Myanm ...
, who today inhabit parts of the Salween basin on both sides of the China–Burma border, migrated south along the river from Tibet around 500–300 BCE. The
Lisu people
The Lisu people (Lisu: ; my, လီဆူလူမျိုး, ; ; th, ลีสู่) are a Tibeto-Burman ethnic group who inhabit mountainous regions of Myanmar (Burma), southwest China, Thailand, and the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh ...
, also originating in Tibet, arrived in Yunnan sometime before 1000 CE. Chinese records begin to mention Lisu in the late
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
(618–907 CE). The Lisu originally inhabited areas further east in Yunnan, but over centuries they were pushed north and west towards the Salween as more
Han people settled in Yunnan.
Expansion of empires
Martaban (now
Mottama) in the Salween Delta was a major trading port on the
Maritime Silk Road as early as 200 BCE. By the 6th century CE, the
Thaton Kingdom (one of the early
Mon kingdoms
Mon kingdoms were polities established by the Mon-speaking people in parts of present-day Myanmar and Thailand. The polities ranged from Dvaravati and Haripuñjaya in present-day northern Thailand to Thaton, Hanthawaddy (1287–1539), and the ...
) ruled the Salween Delta and surrounding coasts from the capital of
Thaton
Thaton (; mnw, သဓီု ) is a town in Mon State, in southern Myanmar on the Tenasserim plains. Thaton lies along the National Highway 8 and is also connected by the National Road 85. It is 230 km south east of Yangon and 70 km n ...
. From 738–902 CE, the kingdom of
Nanzhao controlled Yunnan and parts of northern Burma, with the Salween forming its southwestern boundary with the Burmese
Pyu city-states. Tang China had several overland trade routes with Burma via Nanzhao, which it was allied with at times. One route started from Yinsheng (around present-day
Jingdong, Yunnan) and headed west then south along the Salween River, reaching the Indian Ocean at Martaban. Another crossed the Salween around present day
Baoshan, heading west towards India.
In the 1060s King
Anawrahta expanded the boundaries of the
Pagan Kingdom (First Burmese Empire) from its origins in the Irrawaddy valley, conquering Thaton and the other Mon kingdoms in the Salween delta. In the late 1100s King
Narapatisithu
Narapati Sithu ( my, နရပတိ စည်သူ, ; also Narapatisithu, Sithu II or Cansu II; 1138–1211) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1174 to 1211. He is considered the last important king of Pagan. His peaceful and p ...
(Sithu II) conquered most of the Shan States, extending Burmese rule to the western bank of the Salween river from the delta as far north as Yunnan. For almost 500 years, the lower Salween defined the frontier between Burma and the
Ayutthaya Kingdom
The Ayutthaya Kingdom (; th, อยุธยา, , IAST: or , ) was a Siamese kingdom that existed in Southeast Asia from 1351 to 1767, centered around the city of Ayutthaya, in Siam, or present-day Thailand. The Ayutthaya Kingdom is conside ...
(Siam).
In the late 1200s, the Pagan Kingdom collapsed after invasions of the
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
. The Mongols had also conquered the
Dali Kingdom (Nanzhao's successor). In 1287 the
Hanthawaddy Kingdom
( Mon) ( Burmese)
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Hongsarwatoi (Hanthawaddy) Pegu
, common_name = Hongsarwatoi (Hanthawaddy) Kingdom / Ramannya (Ramam)
, era = Warring states
, status = Kingdom
, event_pre ...
emerged in the Salween and Irrawaddy deltas. Martaban served as the Hanthawaddy capital between 1287 and 1364. Along the mountainous middle reaches of the Salween River, former Shan vassal states regained their independence. Starting around 1380,
Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
China annexed Yunnan and conquered some of the eastern Shan states. From 1436-49, Chinese armies crossed the Salween to wage the
Luchuan–Pingmian campaigns
The Luchuan–Pingmian campaigns () (1436–49) were punitive expeditions carried out by the Ming dynasty under the rule of the Emperor Yingzong against the Shan-led State of Möng Mao near the frontier with Burma.
Möng Mao, called Luchuan ...
against the Shan state of
Mong Mao. These wars were an expensive failure for the Ming, and triggered tribal uprisings that fragmented Chinese power in the region.
The
Toungoo dynasty
, conventional_long_name = Toungoo dynasty
, common_name = Taungoo dynasty
, era =
, status = Empire
, event_start = Independence from Ava
, year_start ...
emerged in Burma during the 1500s, conquering much of Southeast Asia by 1565 to create the First Toungoo Empire (Second Burmese Empire). King
Tabinshwehti
Tabinshwehti ( my, တပင်ရွှေထီး, ; 16 April 1516 – 30 April 1550) was king of Burma (Myanmar) from 1530 to 1550, and the founder of the First Toungoo Empire. His military campaigns (1534–1549) created the largest kin ...
captured and destroyed Martaban in 1541. Under the subsequent rule of
Bayinnaung
, image = File:Bayinnaung.JPG
, caption = Statue of Bayinnaung in front of the National Museum of Myanmar
, reign = 30 April 1550 – 10 October 1581
, coronation = 11 January 1551 at Toung ...
, an 800,000-strong army crossed the Salween in 1548 and invaded Siam. This was the first time Burmese rule had been extended east of the Salween river. Subsequently, Bayinnaung moved north up the Salween, subjugating all the independent Shan states by 1557. These victories were enabled in part by the acquisition of firearms from Dutch and Portuguese traders who first reached these coasts around 1511. European mercenaries also fought in some of these battles. At Martaban the Portuguese established a trading post, one of the first European settlements in the area.
In the 1640s, the last years of the Ming dynasty, geographer
Xu Xiake
Xu Xiake (, January 5, 1587 – March 8, 1641), born Xu Hongzu (), courtesy name Zhenzhi (), was a Chinese travel writer and geographer of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), known best for his famous geographical treatise, and noted for his bravery ...
explored the Salween River country and determined that the upper Salween, Mekong and Red rivers (previously believed to be part of the same river system) were in fact separate. After the rise of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
China entered a new period of western expansion. In 1717 the
Dzungar Khanate conquered Tibet, and China sought to expel them from the region. In 1718 the Qing sent an army but were unsuccessful in reaching Tibet, reaching only as far as the Salween River where they were defeated by Dzungar troops in the
Battle of the Salween River. In response, the Qing
sent a larger force to Tibet in 1720, driving out the Dzungars and establishing
Qing rule of Tibet
Tibet under Qing rule refers to the Qing dynasty's relationship with Tibet from 1720 to 1912. The political status of Tibet during this period has been the subject of political debate. The Qing called Tibet a ''fanbang'' or ''fanshu'', which has ...
.
As the Qing pushed into Yunnan, the indigenous Lisu people were driven further west, eventually settling along the Salween in and around
Nujiang Prefecture
Nùjiāng Lisu Autonomous Prefecture () is an autonomous prefecture of western/northwestern Yunnan province, People's Republic of China.
Name
It is named after the Nujiang river (the longest undammed river in Southeast Asia) and the Lisu ethnic ...
. Although China had been expanding into the area since Ming times, the greatest influx of settlers was around 1700 to 1850. At the same time, Tibet was expanding its influence into western Yunnan. Tibetan parties raided down the Salween valley and took slaves from the indigenous Nu and Derung populations, which were not well politically organized and unable to offer much resistance. On the other hand, the Lisu fiercely resisted efforts to take slaves and land.
In the 1590s Siam had
captured the Tenasserim coast, and the Salween delta again became the border with Burma. For more than a hundred years this remained a disputed area, changing hands several times between the Burmese and Siamese. Burmese rule returned to the Salween delta in the 1750s with the expansion of the
Konbaung dynasty
The Konbaung dynasty ( my, ကုန်းဘောင်ခေတ်, ), also known as Third Burmese Empire (တတိယမြန်မာနိုင်ငံတော်) and formerly known as the Alompra dynasty (အလောင်းဘ ...
. Starting in 1759, Martaban served as a launching point for several invasions of Siam, which led to the collapse of the Ayutthaya Kingdom. The Burmese were unable to maintain lasting control over territories east of the river, although Burma regained the Tenasserim coast from Siam in a 1793 treaty.
British rule and World War II
After the
First Anglo-Burmese War in 1824, the Konbaung dynasty ceded coastal areas of Burma to the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
, including the whole Tenasserim coast south of the Salween River. Due to its strategic location, Mawlamyine (anglicized as Moulmein) served as the capital of
British Burma
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
from 1826 until 1852 and as a gateway for overland trade into Yunnan. It became the center of a lucrative timber industry, particularly in
teak
Teak (''Tectona grandis'') is a tropical hardwood tree species in the family Lamiaceae. It is a large, deciduous tree that occurs in mixed hardwood forests. ''Tectona grandis'' has small, fragrant white flowers arranged in dense clusters (panicl ...
. Logs were floated down the Salween River to meet oceangoing ships in Mawlamyine port. Forests in the lower Salween basin were extensively logged until the 1890s. Contemporary British maps labeled the river as "Salween", an anglicization of the Burmese name ''Thanlwin''.
At the start of the 20th century, there was still great uncertainty regarding the true sources of the river and how far west it extended into the Himalayas; some believed the upper
Brahmaputra River
The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Tibet, northeast India, and Bangladesh. It is also known as the Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, Luit in Assamese, and Jamuna River in Bangla. It ...
(the
Yarlung Tsangpo
The Yarlung Tsangpo, also called Yarlung Zangbo () is the upper stream of the Brahmaputra River located in the Tibet Autonomous Region, China. It is the longest river of Tibet and the fifth longest in China. The upper section is also called Dan ...
) might be the true source of the Irrawaddy, Salween or Mekong. In 1935-36, British geographer
Ronald Kaulback walked the length of the Salween River from Burma to eastern Tibet, producing some of the first comprehensive maps of the river's course. Kaulback allegedly found giant footprints in the snow while attempting to locate the source of the Salween. His report was one of several that popularized the myth of the
Yeti in Europe during the 1930s.
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 opposin ...
the
Japanese Empire invaded Burma, starting at Mawlamyine in January 1942. The Japanese army, numbering 18,000 against 7,000 British defenders, quickly captured Mawlamyine, forcing the British to retreat across the Salween to Martaban. On February 10–11 the Japanese crossed the Salween and the British fled, unprepared for a siege. The Japanese blockaded the
Burma Road
The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second Sino-J ...
constructed in 1938 during the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
, forcing the British to transport military supplies to China across the eastern Himalayas ("
The Hump
The Hump was the name given by Allied pilots in the Second World War to the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains over which they flew military transport aircraft from India to China to resupply the Chinese war effort of Chiang Kai-shek and t ...
"). The retreating Allied army (primarily Chinese) stopped the Japanese advance at the Salween River on May 5, 1942. After blowing all the bridges crossing the river, the Chinese took defensive positions on the east bank along a front, at which point the fighting reached a stalemate.
From 1944–1945, Allied forces launched the Salween Campaign to retake Burma and reopen the Burma Road. During the initial offensive on May 11, 1944, about 40,000 troops of the
Chinese Expeditionary Force (CEF), led by American General
Joseph Stilwell
Joseph Warren "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell (March 19, 1883 – October 12, 1946) was a United States Army general who served in the China Burma India Theater during World War II. An early American popular hero of the war for leading a column walking ...
and assisted by
US army air forces, crossed the Salween on rubber rafts and attacked the Japanese position west of the river. About 17,000–19,000 Chinese and 15,000 Japanese were killed in the resulting battle, from which the Chinese emerged victorious. In the following days, additional CEF troops crossed the river bringing the total to 100,000, before pushing west into Japanese-held territory. The Salween Campaign concluded on January 20, 1945 with the fall of
Wanding. By August 1945 the Allies had retaken Burma from the Japanese.
1948–present
In 1948,
Burma declared independence from the British Empire. Soon afterwards, ethnic minorities in the Salween River region, including the
Kachin,
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 ...
, Mon, and Shan, sought independence, with armed conflicts between these groups and the Burmese military continuing to the present day. The
Karen National Union and Mon National Defense Organization took control of the lower Salween River valley, including Mawlamyine and Thaton, in September 1948. However, they were soon pushed out, leading to four years of confused fighting. In 1952, a new Karen state (today's Kayin State) was created, with the capital at
Hpa-An on the Salween north of Mawlamyine, but the insurgency continued.
In 1950
Chinese Nationalist troops invaded Shan State after being defeated by the
Communists in the
Chinese Civil War
The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...
, with the aim of creating an independent state from which to retake mainland China. With the help of US forces, the Chinese attempted several times to take land on the west side of the Salween River, but were pushed back by the Burmese army. Although the KMT campaign was unsuccessful, many people of Chinese descent continue to live in the area east of the river. These events contributed to political instability in Shan State. By 1958 several insurgencies had become established in eastern Shan State, including one led by the exiled
Communist Party of Burma
The Communist Party of Burma (CPB), also known as the Burma Communist Party (BCP), is a clandestine communist party in Myanmar (Burma). It is the oldest existing political party in the country.
Founded in 1939, the CPB initially fought aga ...
(CPB, or "White Flag Communists"). This area, part of the
Golden Triangle
Golden Triangle may refer to:
Places
Asia
* Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production
* Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development
* Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...
, became a center for illegal
opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
production during the 1960s. Opium trafficking remains a major source of funding for insurgents.
In the 1970s the Burmese and Thai governments began planning for hydroelectric dams on the Salween River, largely within Shan and Karen-majority areas. Starting in 1979 the
Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand conducted feasibility studies for hydropower and irrigation diversions on the river. Salween development plans gained momentum in 1988, when the
SPDC seized power in Burma and sought cross-border economic development with Thailand and China. That same year, Thai Prime Minister
Chatichai Choonhavan
Chatichai Choonhavan ( th, ชาติชาย ชุณหะวัณ, , ; 5 April 1920 – 6 May 1998) was a Thai army officer, diplomat and politician. From 1986 to 1991, he was the chairman of the Thai Nation Party and served as the Prim ...
presented an economic vision for the Salween border region – from a "battlefield into a marketplace".
In addition to the revenues from electricity production, the SPDC saw dam construction as "part of a strategy to remove ethnic armed groups" from the area. In the years following, the military junta stepped up its attacks in the region, destroying villages and forcing over 500,000 Shan, Kachin and Karen refugees to flee the country, mostly to Thailand.
The Salween creates a formidable barrier for refugees, due to its wide fast current, and only small wooden boats are available for crossing it.
About 150,000 refugees are housed in official camps in Thailand, while hundreds of thousands of more live in illegal camps.
Thailand's Salawin National Park was established in 1994. Before that, thousands of refugees had already settled in this area and the adjacent Salawin Wildlife Sanctuary, with more moving in during the years following. The Thai government has made some efforts to remove them, but due to the vast size of the park, enforcement has been difficult. In 1997 a scandal was uncovered in which logs cut on the Thai side of the river were floated across the river to Burma, stamped "exported from Burma" and floated back to the Thai side, where officials inspected the "imported" timber and approved their sale. Refugees in camps within the parks were implicated in the scandal and forced to relocate. However, "observers of forced evictions have stated that the eviction of Thai-Karen villagers from forest reserves is not done to protect the forests but so that
llegallogging activities can continue without hindrance and with fewer witnesses."
After
the end of military rule in 2011 the Burmese government signed ceasefire agreements with 14 ethnic militias.
However, protests followed by armed conflict soon broke out again around the sites of proposed dams, particularly at the Mong Ton (
Tasang Dam
The Tasang Dam ( my, တာဆန်းဆည်), also known as the Mong Ton Dam, is a planned multi-purpose dam on the Salween River in the Shan State, Myanmar. The Tasang dam's location will be northeast of Rangoon and west of Mongtong. ...
) in Shan State and the
Hatgyi Dam
The Hatgyi Dam ( my, ဟတ်ကြီးဆည်) is a planned hydropower gravity dam to be constructed on the Salween River in southeastern Myanmar. The dam site is in Myanmar’s Karen State. The dam project is being funded by the Electricit ...
in Karen State. Residents along the Salween River contend the dams would bring no economic benefits locally – as most of the electricity would be exported abroad – while their homes and traditional lands would be flooded with little to no compensation.
Local organizations, including the Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN), have pushed for the establishment of a "Salween Peace Park" that would manage the river's natural resources sustainably via community forests, wildlife sanctuaries, fishery conservation and protected indigenous lands. The park would cover more than along the Salween River and its tributaries in Burma. The proposal was inaugurated in December 2018.
Dams
Burma and Thailand
Seven dams have been proposed along the main stem of the Salween in Burma and Thailand, with a combined capacity exceeding 20,000
megawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units, International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), ...
s of electricity – comparable to that of China's
Three Gorges Dam. The reservoirs would flood of the total river length in Burma, as well as the downstream ends of several tributaries.
Electricity generated by these dams would be exported primarily to China and Thailand. In May 2005, a formal Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Burma and Thailand to jointly develop hydropower projects along the Salween River. Since then, a number of Chinese and Thai companies have partnered to develop these projects. In 2015, the newly elected
National League for Democracy (NLD) government was expected to downsize or cancel the dam projects. However, the NLD soon announced the projects would go ahead.
The Mong Ton or Tasang Dam is the largest of the planned dams. The dam would be high, and produce up to 7,110 megawatts. The reservoir would flood , splitting Shan State nearly in two. The Hatgyi Dam in downstream Kayin State would be smaller, but would have a more significant impact on the river flow. In addition to producing power, the Hatgyi dam would divert up to 30 percent of the Salween flow during certain seasons into the
Ping River
The Ping River ( th, แม่น้ำปิง, , ), along with the Nan River, is one of the two main tributaries of the Chao Phraya River. It originates at Doi Thuai in the Daen Lao Range, in Chiang Dao district, Chiang Mai province. After pas ...
, part of Thailand's
Chao Phraya basin, to benefit agriculture in central Thailand. A smaller alternative to the Salween diversion would be a diversion of the
Yuam River (a tributary of the Salween via the
Moei River
The Moei River (, , , my, သောင်ရင်းမြစ်; ) is a tributary of the Salween River. Unlike most rivers in Thailand, the Moei River flows north in a northwest direction. It originates in Phop Phra District, Tak Province, flow ...
) to the Ping.
Tunnels up to long would have to be constructed.
There are numerous concerns surrounding the potential impact of the dams, particularly the effect on agriculture in the Salween delta due to a reduction in the annual floods and sediment supply that maintain soil fertility. Water would be released based on power demand rather than agricultural needs, potentially causing water shortages and
saline intrusion in the delta.
In addition, there would be numerous ecological impacts, as the dams would block fish migration, and necessitate considerable deforestation to clear the areas to be flooded. The dams would also be located in an area with high earthquake risk.
The Weigyi and Dagwin dams originally slated for the Burma–Thailand border, which would have flooded parts of Salawin National Park, have been suspended since 2015. Five other dams remain in the planning or pre-construction stages. In 2016 the Burmese government announced its intention to complete the remaining dams by 2031.
China
In 2000, China initiated the West-East Power Transfer development scheme, to develop large-scale hydropower dams on its western rivers. The Salween (Nu) River basin within China has an estimated 36,400 megawatts of hydropower potential. The power would be exported to southeastern China, particularly the
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
megalopolis. This included thirteen dams on the mainstem of the Nu, with a total capacity of 21,320 megawatts, and a number of small to medium-size projects on tributaries.
The tallest mainstem dam, Songta, would be high. In 2003 the Yunnan Huadian Nu River Hydropower Company was created after an agreement between the Yunnan provincial government and the
Huadian Group.
The proposal to develop the Nu River, one of China's last free-flowing rivers, was met with large protests from local residents as well as from international environmental organizations. If constructed, the dams would have displaced some 56,000 people.
In addition, in 2003 the UNESCO
World Heritage Committee
The World Heritage Committee selects the sites to be listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance ...
had voted to list Yunnan's Three Parallel Rivers region as a World Heritage Site. Many of the proposed dams fell within this area. In 2004 Premier
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy ...
temporarily suspended plans to build dams on the main stem of the river, although a number of hydropower projects on tributaries were ultimately built. In addition, the Chalong and Jiquan hydroelectric projects were built on the uppermost section of the Salween in Tibet. After Wen's term of office ended in 2013, power companies made a renewed push for construction of the Nu River dams.
The Yunnan provincial government first proposed a Nu River Grand Canyon National Park in 2007, but did not begin development of this proposal until 2014. In January 2016, Yunnan suspended small hydropower development as well as mining along the Nu River and in May approved the establishment of the national park. In December 2016, China's State Energy Administration formally dropped the Nu River dams from its hydropower development plans.
A major factor in the cancellation of the dams was the risk of earthquakes along the Nu River fault zone.
See also
*
List of rivers of Asia
*
List of rivers of China
*
List of rivers of Burma
This is a list of rivers in Myanmar (also known as Burma).
This list is arranged by drainage basin from east to west, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name.
Indian Ocean
* Nāf River
* Kaladan River
* Lemro Riv ...
*
List of rivers of Thailand
*
List of rivers by length
This is a list of the longest rivers on Earth. It includes river systems over in length.
Definition of length
There are many factors, such as the identification of the source, the identification or the definition of the mouth, and the scale of ...
*
List of rivers by discharge
This is a list of rivers by their average discharge (that is, their water flow rate). Here, only those rivers whose discharge is more than are shown, as this list does not concern itself with rivers having a water flow rate of less than .
For c ...
*
Pai River
The Pai River (, ; ) is a river that originates in the mountains of the Daen Lao Range, Pai District, Mae Hong Son Province, Thailand. The river flows first in a north-south direction and then in an east-west direction down to Mueang Mae Hong S ...
*
Jinsha River
*
Wang Yongchen
Wang Yongchen () is the Senior Environment Reporter for China National Radio. Wang founded Green Earth Volunteers, a Chinese environmental NGO, in 1996. She is the president of the group and organizes many of its activities.
Biography
Wang recei ...
*
Bogyoke Aung San bridge
The Bogyoke Aung San bridge ( my, ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်း တံတား) is a bridge crossing over the Thanlwin River in Mawlamyine, Myanmar and connects Mawlamyine to Chaungzon. The bridge is also known as th ...
References
Citations
Sources
; Works cited
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Further reading
Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areasat whc.unesco.org
Three Parallel Rivers Protected Areaat www.eoearth.org
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US.
Founded in 1951, The Natu ...
Rivers Watch East and Southeast AsiaHydrometeorological Approach to the Upper Salween River (USRB)- copyright by Dr. Christophe Lienert, Geographical Institute of the University of Berne and Kunming Institute of Botany
China Rivers ProjectLast Descents River Expeditions
External links
* Phoel, Cynthia M., "Bargaining Power", in ''Oxfam Exchange'', Fall 2004.
Salween River Watch NGOThree Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected AreasThree Parallel Rivers Protected AreaSalween First DescentWater Diversion from the Salween to the Chaophraya RiverJoint Statement of Concern by Shan Civil Society Organizations Regarding Public Meeting by Burmese Government and Hydrochina to Promote Dams on the Salween and Nam Ma Rivers
{{Authority control
Freshwater ecoregions
Rivers of Tibet
Rivers of Yunnan
Rivers of Myanmar
Rivers of Thailand
International rivers of Asia
Myanmar–Thailand border
Border rivers