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Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State,
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 ...
(Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an
estuarial An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
island created at the confluence of the
Kaladan The Kaladan River ( my, ကုလားတန်မြစ်, ; also Kysapnadi, Beino, Bawinu and Kolodyne) is a river in eastern Mizoram State of India, and in Chin State and Rakhine State of western Myanmar. The Kaladan River is called the Chh ...
,
Mayu Mayu may refer to: * Mayu (given name), a feminine Japanese given name * Mayu (river), a river of Burma * Mayu Frontier District, a former administrative zone of Burma * Mayu Island (妈屿), Shantou, China * Mayu, Jinzhou, Hebei (马于镇), a tow ...
, and Lay Mro rivers emptying into the Bay of Bengal. As of 2006 the city has 181,000 inhabitants. It is the administrative seat of Sittwe Township and Sittwe District.


Etymology

The name Sittwe, which literally means "the place where the war meets," is derived from the Burmese pronunciation of စစ်တွေ (pronounced ''Saittwe'' in
Arakanese language , pronunciation = , ethnicity = Rakhine, Kamein , states = Myanmar, Bangladesh, India , region = * Rakhine State (Myanmar) * Bandarban, Khagrachari, Patuakhali, Barguna (Bangladesh) * Tripura (India) , speaker ...
). When the Burmese King Bodawpaya invaded the
Mrauk U Kingdom The Kingdom of Mrauk-U ( Arakanese: မြောက်ဦး နေပြည်တော်,) was a kingdom that existed on the Arakan littoral from 1429 to 1785. Based out of the capital Mrauk-U, near the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, t ...
in 1784, the Rakhine defenders encountered the Burmese force at the mouth of Kaladan river. In the ensuing battle, which was waged on both land and water, the Mrauk U forces were defeated. The place where the battle occurred came to be called ''Saittwe'' by the Rakhine, and colloquially as ''Sittwe'' by the Burmese. In early 1825, during the First Anglo-Burmese War, the British forces landed at Sittwe and stationed their forces by the ancient pagoda, Ahkyaib-daw, which is still standing in the city. The British adopted the name Akyab for the place.


History

Originally a small fishing village, Sittwe became an important seat of maritime commerce, especially as a port for the export of rice after the British occupation of Arakan, now known as Rakhine State, following the First Anglo-Burmese War. Sittwe was the location of a battle during the conquest of Arakan by the Burmese king Bodawpaya. In 1784, the Burmese expeditionary force, some 30,000 strong, encountered the governor of U-rit-taung Province, Saite-ké (General) Aung and his force of 3000. Although heavily outnumbered, the Arakanese force tried to fight the Burmese forces on both land and sea, but were brutally crushed. This defeat opened the route towards the inland Arakanese capital of Mrauk-U, which was soon conquered, ending the independence of the Arakanese. According to Arakanese lore, all of the Arakanese defenders were killed. In 1826, after the First Anglo-Burmese War, the British transferred the seat of government to Sittwe on the coast. During the first 40 years of British rule it expanded from a village to a town of 15,536 inhabitants, and by 1901 it was the third port of Burma with a population of 31,687. In the 1860s, the Consulate General of the United States (Kolkata) had a consular agency in Sittwe. During colonial times, Site-tway had a bad reputation for malaria and
cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
, although historical records indicate that it was no better or worse than many other locations along the India coast. During World War II the island was an important site of many battles during the Burma Campaign due to its possession of both an airfield and a deepwater port. Sittwe is the birthplace of political monks in Myanmar. It was the birthplace of
U Ottama , image = Ven.Ottama.png , caption = , birth_name = Paw Tun Aung , birth_date = 28 December 1879 1st waning of Pyatho 1241 ME , birth_place = Rupa Village, Sittwe District, Arakan Division, British Burma , death_date = 11th waning of Wag ...
, the first monk who protested against the colonial British in Myanmar. Also, in the recent 2007 protest marches, known as the Saffron Revolution, it was the monks in Sittwe who started the protest against the military government in Myanmar. Sittwe houses the Dhanyawadi Naval Base, named after the ancient Rakhine city-state of Dhanyawadi. Since 2012, the Myanmar government has herded tens of thousands of Rohingyas into camps in Sittwe. There are now some 140,000 Rohingyas living in poor condition huts with limited electricity and food. Rohingya refugees can not go out or move around and also not allowed to work outside of camp. The beach at Ohn Daw Gyi became the main departure point.


Climate

Sittwe's climate is classified as a tropical monsoon climate (''Am''), according to the Köppen climate classification system. The city experiences a dry season from December through April, and an extraordinarily rainy wet season covering the remaining seven months. Sittwe sees average rainfall in excess of per month during June, July and August. Conditions are noticeably cooler and less humid in the months of December, January and February than during the remainder of the year.


Demographics

The largest ethnic group in Sittwe is 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 ...
. Alongside, there are Rohingya and some
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 ...
from other parts of the country. The vast majority practises Theravada Buddhism,
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
and Hinduism. The Rohingya Muslim quarter used to be called Aung Mingala, until the Muslims were driven out by mobs during the 2012 riots in October. It is difficult to document the number of Rohingya who remain in the Internally Displaced Persons camps as the so-called "illegal people" were not permitted to register for the national census and the government refuses to address this minority Rohingya ethnic group by name. Human Rights Watch, Fortify Rights, Amnesty International and the UN Special Rapporteur have documented the spread of orchestrated anti-Muslim violence with the permission (and sometimes the direct involvement of) government and military authorities.


Economy

In February 2007, India announced a plan to develop the port under the
Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project The Kaladan Road Project is a US$484 million project connecting the eastern Indian seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe seaport in Rakhine State, Myanmar by sea. In Myanmar, it will then link Sittwe seaport to Paletwa in Chin State via the Kaladan riv ...
, which would enable ocean access from Indian north-eastern states, so called "Seven sisters", like Mizoram, via the Kaladan River. Sittwe's citizenry, especially Buddhist monks, have participated in the
2007 Burmese anti-government protests The Saffron Revolution ( my, ရွှေဝါရောင်တော်လှန်ရေး) was a series of economic and political protests and demonstrations that took place during August, September, and October 2007 in Myanmar. The pro ...
In October 2011, as part of a recent bilateral trade deal signed by Myanmar and India, the two countries pledged a US$120 million port and multimodal investment to complete the infrastructure linking Indian north-eastern provinces to Sittwe overland via India's Mizoram by 2013. The port of Sittwe will undergo extensive dredging and the construction of new berthing terminals. Once operational it will offer direct passage to enable Burmese and Indian shippers to pick up mainline services to and from Kolkata. The two countries also pledged to double bilateral trade to US$3 billion by 2015 by reducing trade tariffs.


Attractions

*
Viewpoint Viewpoint may refer to: * Scenic viewpoint, a high place where people can gather to view scenery In computing * Viewpoint model, a computer science technique for making complex systems more comprehensible to human engineers * Viewpoint Corporat ...
, or more popularly known as Point is perhaps the most well-known attraction in Sittwe. It is at the end of the Strand Road and looks out into the Bay of Bengal and the mouth of the
Kaladan The Kaladan River ( my, ကုလားတန်မြစ်, ; also Kysapnadi, Beino, Bawinu and Kolodyne) is a river in eastern Mizoram State of India, and in Chin State and Rakhine State of western Myanmar. The Kaladan River is called the Chh ...
River. *The hundred-year old
Shwezedi Monastery The Shwezedi Monastery ( my, ရွှေစေတီကျောင်း ; ) is a famous Theravada Buddhist monastery in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. Founded in 1903, the monastery is one of the main Buddhist monasteries in the city. Impor ...
is a famous monastery in Sittwe. It was the monastery of
U Ottama , image = Ven.Ottama.png , caption = , birth_name = Paw Tun Aung , birth_date = 28 December 1879 1st waning of Pyatho 1241 ME , birth_place = Rupa Village, Sittwe District, Arakan Division, British Burma , death_date = 11th waning of Wag ...
, who was the first political monk in Myanmar. *Sittwe Pharagri, the focal point of Sittwe's Buddhist environment, beside Shwezedi Monastery. *Ahkyaib-daw, is one of the most sacred Buddhist pagodas, possibly originating from the 3rd century BC in the days of Emperor Asoka. The pagoda Ahkyaib-daw, meaning maxillary bone, is believed to be built on a foundation encasing a piece of Buddha’s maxillary bone hence its name.Shwe Lu Maung alias Shahnawaz Khan, The Price of Silence: Muslim-Buddhist War of Bangladesh and Myanmar – A Social Darwinist’s Analysis, DewDrop Arts & Technology, 2005, p174

/ref> *
Rakhine State Cultural Museum The Rakhine State Cultural Museum is a museum that displays figurines of the Rakhine people and their traditional dress, traditional looms and arts of Rakhine people. It was established in February 1996. The admission fee is 2 US $ and opening h ...
, which contains exhibits on Rakhine culture and history. * Lawkananda Pagoda, Sittwe, which is the largest Buddhist temples in Sittwe.


Education

* Computer University, Sittwe *
Technological University, Sittwe The Technological University(Sittwe) (Burmese: နည္းပညာတကၠသုိလ္(စစ္ေတြ)) is located in Rachanbyin Village, Sittwe Township, Sittwe District, Rakhine State, Myanmar. It formerly operated as a Government Te ...


Sport

The 7,000-seat
Wai Thar Li Stadium Waitharli Stadium ( my, ဝေသာလီ ဘောလုံးကွင်း) is a football stadium. It is the home stadium of Rakhine United F.C. and is located in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pro ...
is the home ground of Rakhine United F.C., a
Myanmar National League The MPT Myanmar National League ( my, မြန်မာ နေရှင်နယ် လိဂ်; abbreviated MNL) is the premier national professional football league of Myanmar. In 2009, the league replaced the Myanmar Premier League, which co ...
(MNL) football club.
Dhanyawaddy Stadium Dhanyawaddy Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Sittwe, Burma. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''footba ...
is the home ground of Arakan United FC of the Myanmar Amateur League.


Other

British writer
Hector Hugh Munro Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), better known by the pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirize Edwardian society and cultur ...
, better known under his pen name Saki, was born in Sittwe in 1870. A road in Singapore is named after its old name, Akyab.


Image gallery

File:Shwe Zedi, Sittwe, Myanmar.jpg, Shwe Zedi Monastery File:Lawkananda Pagoda, Sittwe.jpg, Lawkananda Pagoda, Sittwe File:Sittwe, Myanmar (Burma) - panoramio - mohigan (49).jpg, The main street File:Sittwe View Point Park in 2017 March 26.jpg, Sittwe View Point Park Image:Sittwe, foreshore.JPG, foreshore Image:Sittwe, new clock tower.JPG, new clock tower


See also

* Point, Sittwe *
Sittwe Airport Sittwe Airport is an airport in Sittwe, Rakhine State, Myanmar. In Burmese it is known as စစ်တွေ လေဆိပ်. It started as RAF Station Sittwe, a military airfield in World War II. It was handed over to Department of Civil A ...


References


External links


20° 9' 0" North, 92° 54' 0" East Satellite map at Maplandia.comKaladan.com - covering Kaladan project and news
{{Authority control Populated places in Rakhine State Port cities and towns of the Indian Ocean Bay of Bengal Kaladan River Township capitals of Myanmar