The Federated Shan States ( Shan: မိူင်းႁူမ်ႈတုမ်ႊၸိုင်ႈတႆး ''Muang Hom Tum Jueng Tai''; my, ပဒေသရာဇ် ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်စု) was an administrative division of 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 ...

made up by the much larger

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 ...

and the Karenni States during

British rule in Burma ( Burmese) , conventional_long_name = Colony of Burma , common_name = Burma , era = Colonial era , event_start = First Anglo-Burmese War , year_start = 1824 , date_start = ...

. The federation was established in order to facilitate the future transfer of the Shan principalities to the Governor of Burma. Unaware of the implications of the British political move, the Shan

Saopha Chao-Pha (; Tai Ahom: 𑜋𑜧𑜨 𑜇𑜡, th, เจ้าฟ้า}, shn, ၸဝ်ႈၾႃႉ, translit=Jao3 Fa5 Jao3 Fa5, my, စော်ဘွား ''Sawbwa,'' ) was a royal title used by the hereditary rulers of the Tai peoples of ...

s lost power in the process and had to contribute 50% of their revenue to the central fund as well. Their status was thus diminished from having been semi-sovereign rulers of

princely states A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

when the latter were established in 1888 to that of becoming a kind of tax collectors.

History

Under the British colonial administration, the former Shan States consisted of nominally sovereign entities, each ruled by a local monarch, but administered by a single British commissioner. On 10 October 1922 the administrations of the Karenni states and 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 ...

were officially clustered together in order to establish the Federated Shan States, under a British commissioner who also administered the

Wa States The Wa States was the name formerly given to the Wa Land, the natural and historical region inhabited mainly by the Wa people, an ethnic group speaking an Austroasiatic language. The region is located to the northeast of the Shan States of ...

. On 27 May 1942, 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 ...

, Kengtung State was invaded and its capital captured by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

. Following a previous agreement between Thai Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram and the Japanese Empire, in December the same year the Thai Phayap Army occupied the part of the Karenni states located between the Thai border and the Salween, corresponding to the eastern half of

Kantarawadi Kantarawadi ( my, ကန္ဒရဝတီ; th, กันตรวดี), also known as Gantarawadi, was one of the Karenni States in what is today Kayah State in Burma. It was also known as "Eastern Karenni" owing to the location of part of i ...

State, as well as two districts of Mawkmai and four districts of Möngpan. The

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

by Thailand as ''

Saharat Thai Doem Saharat Thai Doem ( th, สหรัฐไทยเดิม, lit=Unified Former Thai Territories) was an administrative division of Thailand. It encompassed parts of the Shan States of British Burma annexed by the Thai government after the Jap ...

'' northern province was formalised on 1 August 1943. Following the existing agreement between Thai Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram (Phibun) and the Japanese Empire, on 18 August 1943, the Japanese government agreed to the Thai annexation of Kengtung and part of Mongpan state (as well as the annexation of Kelantan, Trengganu, Kedah, Perlis states and nearby islands in Malaya.)Aung Tun 2009: 202 The other districts that the Thai government wanted in the southern Shan states and the Karenni states, all located east of the Salween River, were assigned by the Japanese to their client

State of Burma The State of Burma (; ja, ビルマ国, ''Biruma-koku'') was a Japanese puppet state created by Japan in 1943 during the Japanese occupation of Burma in World War II. Background During the early stages of World War II, the Empire of Japan in ...

in September 1943.Aung Tun 2009: 203–204, 205–206 Thailand left the territory in 1945, but officially relinquished its claim over the territories of the Federated Shan States it had occupied only in 1946 as part of the condition for admission to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

and the withdrawal of all wartime sanctions for having sided with the

Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

.David Porter Chandler & David Joel Steinberg eds. ''In Search of Southeast Asia: A Modern History''. p. 388

Post-independence Burma

When Burma gained independence in 1948, the Federated Shan States became

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. ...

and

Kayah State Kayah State ( my, ကယားပြည်နယ်, formerly Karenni State) is a state of Myanmar. Situated in eastern Myanmar, it is bounded on the north by Shan State, on the east by Thailand's Mae Hong Son Province, and on the south and we ...

of the

Union of Burma Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

with the right to secede from the Union. Following the 1962 Burmese coup d'état, the status of the Shan States and the saophas' hereditary rights were removed by Gen.

Ne Win Ne Win ( my, နေဝင်း ; 10 July 1910, or 14 or 24 May 1911 – 5 December 2002) was a Burmese politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma ...

's military government.

References

External links

Shan army leader hold fast to Panglong I

The Imperial Gazetteer of India"Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan states"
{{Shan states British rule in Burma Shan States Kayah State

History

Post-independence Burma

See also

References

External links