Though human beings started living in Myanmar about 11000 years ago, the first recorded civilization of the country is the Mon. They started settling in the area around 3000 years back. Though many of their records have been destroyed by war, it is believed that the Mon blended the Indian and Mon culture together.
Next was the Pyu civilization during which many city kingdoms such as Binnaka, Mongamo, Sri Ksetra, and Halingyi were built. At that time, Myanmar was the trade route connecting India and China. It was followed by the Pagan civilization, which grew around the city of Pagan. They defeated the Pyu rulers and established their hold on the entire kingdom. Pagan kingdom fell at the hands of the Mongol aggression and the monk hood.
After the fall of Pagan kingdom, Myanmar was divided north and south. The southern Myanmar entered its golden era during this time, as it became a great center of commerce and Theravada Buddhism.
After this era, The Toungoo Dynasty and the The Konbaung Dynasty ruled Myanmar. In January 1824, when King Bagyidaw (1819-1837) was ruling Myanmar, his general Maha Bandula conquered Assam and thus Myanmar was brought face to face with British interests in India.
British then turned towards Myanmar and the The First Anglo-Burmese War was held in 1824-26. It saw the British victory and Myanmar had to sign the treaty of Yandaboo by which they lost Assam, Manipur, Arakan, and Tenasserim. To make Burma their supply route to Singapore, British again attacked Myanmar and the 2nd Anglo-Burmese war followed in 1852, when another significant portion of the country was occupied. In another 3rd Anglo-Burmese war that followed in 1885, total annexation of the country of Burma was complete by the British.
British made Burma another province of India with Rangoon as its capital. The economics of the region started changing gradually with the opening of the Suez Canal as the demand for Burma rice grew with the opening up of the export route. But agricultural laborers were imported from India making the local village population totally unemployed. It resulted in deterioration of local law and order as the local Burmese people were unable to reap the benefits of this newly opened economy.
Some local students went to England to study law and came back to form the first Burmese legislature. A peasant movement followed, at the end of which peasant leaders were at the helm of affairs of the Burmese nationalist movement. During World War II, Japan made false promises to the Burmese nationalists regarding Burmese independence, it only became clear after a few days when Japanese disbanded the Burmese Independence Army and installed a titular head.
Finally, Burma became independent on January 4th 1948. After that, the country was marked by a series of civil wars, which ended in 1962, when the socialist rulers were in complete control of the nation and economy. They ruled for about four decades, after which the country was liberated by a group of military rulers in 1988. In 1989, they named the country Myanmar.
Imposition of restrictions by US and then by European Union has helped to restore democracy to some extent in Myanmar, when their opposition leader and Nobel laureate for peace Aung San Suu Kyi, was released from house arrest in May 2002.
