Arrival of the British | The Rise of Nationalism | Arrival of the Japanese | Independence | Civil War | Military Rule 1962-1974 | Constitutional Dictatorship

Burma has been home to many different ethnic groups for over four thousand years. It is only in the last millennium that the Burmans have emerged as the pre-eminent population group.

They unified the country on three occasions: under the Pagan dynasty, from the 11th to the 13th century; the Toungoo dynasty in the 16th; and the Konbaung dynasty, founded at the end the 18th century.

There were many wars and political power changed hands frequently. Nonetheless, there was considerable inter-cultural exchange and a high degree of inter-ethnic tolerance.

The Konbaung dynasty founded Mandalay, the last capital of the Burmese kings, and extended Burmese control as far as Assam in the west and north into Thailand. But this was the age of European colonisation and they soon became embroiled in conflict with British colonial forces in India.

Some ethnic groups had no state; other states were poorly demarcated. In a well-crafted deal, it was agreed that the Karen and the Shan states were permitted to secede from the Union after 10 years.

In July 1947, Aung San and six leading members of the AFPFL pre-independence cabinet, veterans of the independence struggle to a man, were gunned down at a cabinet meeting. The loss of these experienced politicians on the eve of independence was a great tragedy for Burma. Indeed, the consequences of that fatal day still reverberate about the country.

The first war with the British, in 1824, concluded with the surrender of the provinces on the Indian frontier; after a second war in 1852, the whole of Lower Burma was lost. Mandalay fell in 1885. After this third defeat, the Burmese King Thibaw was carried off to captivity in India.