Timeline of Yangon

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Yangon, Myanmar.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Prior to 19th century

• 6th century CE - Dagon village founded by the Mon people.
• 7th century - Town conquered by King Punnarika of Pegu, renamed "Aramana."[1]
• 1362 - Binnya U raised the height of Shwedagon Pagoda[2]
• 1364 - Mon Princess Maha Dewi, a sister of King Binnya U became Governor of Dagon.[3]
• 1413 - Town occupied by Burmans.[1]
• 1415 - Mon Prince Binnya Set became Governor of Dagon.[4]
• 1460 - Palace built by Mon Queen Shin Sawbu.[5]
• 1484 - Great Bell of Dhammazedi presented.
• 1583 - Italian merchant, Gasparo Balbi visits.[6]
• 1755 - Dagon captured by Burman King Alaungpaya and renamed "Yangon."[7]
• 1756 - Between 1756 and 1759 Alaungpaya appointed Mon Governor of Yangon, Smim Noradecha (Ma Pu) joins Mon rebellion (approximate date).[8]
• 1768 - Earthquake.[9]
• 1790 - The Mon people (also known as Peguans) in power.[5]
• 1790s - British East India Company factory in business (approximate date).[5]

19th century

• 1823
  • Population: 30,000 (estimate).[10]
  • Guanyin Gumiao Temple built

• 

  Battle of Rangoon

  1824 - Battle of Rangoon

  

  Shwedagon Pagoda. Coloured aquatint by William Daniell after James Kershaw, c. 1831

• 1825 - British in power.[1]
• 1827 - British occupation ends per Treaty of Yandabo.[5]
• 1841 - King Tharrawaddy in residence; city wall built.[9]
• 1850 - Fire.[11]
• 1852
  • April: Second Anglo-Burmese War begins; British in power.[1]
  • City becomes capital of British Burma.[1]
• 1853 - Port of Rangoon established.[12]
• 1854 - Rangoon Chronicle begins publication.
• 1855
  • A Mon noble named Maung Khaing becomes the first Magistrate of Yangon (Rangoon)
  • Maung Htaw Lay (former Mon governor of Dala) restores Shwedagon Pagoda [13]
• 1857 - BI Steam Navigation Company starts Calcutta-Rangoon-Moulmein service.
• 1860 - St. Paul's English High School established.
• 1861 - Kheng Hock Keong built
• 1868 - Irrawaddy Flotilla Company starts Rangoon-Mandalay service.[14]
• 1872
  • Population: 98,745.[15]
  • Baptist College opens.[5]
• 1874 - 31 July: Municipality constituted.[5]
• 1875 - Fushan Temple built.
• 1876 - City area expanded.[7]
• 1877
  • Railway begins operating.[12]
  • Central Railway Station built.
  • Long Shan Tang Temple built.
• 1878 - Rangoon College established.
• 1879 - City "separated from Hathawaddy District."[5]
• 1881 - Population: 134,176.[16]
• 1882 - Methodist Episcopal Girls School founded.
• 1883
  • Inya Lake created.
  • Twante Canal opens.
• 1887 - Dufferin Hospital opens
• 1888 - Income tax established.[5]
• 1891 - Population: 181,210.[16]
• 1893 - June: Riot.[5]
• 1899
  • General Hospital founded.
  • Saint Mary's Cathedral built.

20th century

Map of Rangoon, 1911[17]

• 1901
  • Strand Hotel opens.

  • 

    The Strand Hotel, Rangoon

    Population: 234,881.[5]
• 1902 - Secretariat Building constructed.^[citation needed]
• 1906 - Victoria Memorial Park and Zoological Gardens opens.[17]
• 1907 - Chaukhtatgyi Buddha Temple built.
• 1911 - High Court building constructed.
• 1912 - Gymkhana Ground (cricket) in use.
• 1913 - Burma Art Club founded (approximate date).
• 1914 - Myanma Alin (New Light of Myanmar) newspaper begins.[18]
• 1915 - Lim Chin Tsong Palace built (approximate date).

  

  Lim Chin Tsong Palace

• 1920
  • Myoma National High School founded.
  • Governor's Residence built.
• 1921 - City boundaries expanded.[7]
• 1922 - City incorporated.[19]
• 1926 - Scott's Market built.
• 1927
  • BOC College of Engineering and Mining established.
  • Medical school building constructed.
• 1930
  • Richard Rushall elected as mayor of Rangoon
  • Race riots in Rangoon
  • Earthquake kills over 550 people.[20]
• 1931 - Population: 398,967.[12]
• 1936 - Yangon City Hall built.
• 1937 - City becomes capital of Burma.[12]
• 1938 - Race riots in Rangoon
• 1942 - Japanese occupation begins.
• 1943
  • Biruma Shinbun newspaper begins publication.[21]
  • 8 November: Bombing destroys Botataung Pagoda.
  • U Wisara Monument erected.
• 1945 - Japanese occupation ends.
• 1947 - Airport built.
• 1948 - 4 January: City becomes capital of the independent Union of Burma.
• 1952
  • National Museum of the Union of Burma opens.
  • Kaba Aye Pagoda built.
• 1953 - Population: 711,520.[22]
• 1957 - Kyemon newspaper begins publication.
• 1958 - The Botataung newspaper begins publication.
• 1960
  • Population: 1,284,642.[7]
  • Yangon Children's Hospital opens
• 1961
  • May - South Okkalapa Maternal and Child Hospital opens
  • December- 2nd South East Asian Games held
• 1962
  • 7 July - Government guns down student protesters.
  • Bogyoke Aung San Museum established.
• 1963 - Medical College 2 opens
• 1964 - Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL) opens
• 1967 - 26 June: "Anti-Chinese riot."[23]
• 1968 - Planetarium established.
• 1969 - 5th South East Asian Games
• 1972 - Karaweik built
• 1973 - Population: 2,055,365 (approximate).[24]
• 1974 - Government guns down student protesters following U Thant's death
• 1980 - Maha Wizaya Pagoda built.
• 1983
  • 9 October: Bombing at Martyrs' Mausoleum.
  • Population: 2,513,023.[25]
• 1984 - New Yangon General Hospital opens
• 1985 - Thuwunna Stadium opens.
• 1988
  • 8 August: 8888 Uprising.
  • State Law and Order Restoration Council headquartered in city.[26]
  • Ko Lay becomes mayor.
• 1989 - City renamed "Yangon."[27]
• 1990
  • Yangon City Development Committee established.[19]
  • Bayinnaung Market established
• 1991 - National Theatre of Yangon opens.
• 1992 - Asia World Group conglomerate headquartered in city.
• 1993 - Dagon University opens
• 1994 - Thingangyun Sanpya Hospital opens
• 1996 - Myanmar Securities Exchange established.[28]
• 1998 - Myanmar Motion Picture Museum established.
• 1999 - Sakura Tower opens.

21st century

• 2001 - Yangon City FM radio begins broadcasting.^[citation needed]
• 2002 - Kyauktawgyi Buddha Temple (Yangon) opens.
  • October 1: Birth of Steven Wai Yan
• 2005
  • May: May 2005 Yangon bombings
  • November: National capital relocated from Yangon to Naypyidaw.
• 2007
  • September: Anti-government protests led by monks; crackdown.[27]
  • Yangon International Airport terminal built.
• 2008
  • 2 May: Cyclone Nargis.
  • September: Explosion near City Hall.[29]
• 2009 - Yangon United Football Club formed.
• 2010
  • 16 April: April 2010 Yangon Thingyan bombings
  • Population: 4,348,000.
• 2011
  • Hla Myint becomes mayor.
  • 2011 Yangon explosion
• 2012
  • February: Shwedagon Pagoda Festival resumes.
  • Yangon Heritage Trust begins
• 2013
  • January: Marathon held.[30]
  • April: School fire.[31]
  • December: Some events of 27th Southeast Asian Games take place.
• 2014 - Population: 4,575,155 (2014 census); 5,211,431 (urban agglomeration).[32]
• 2015 - Yangon Stock Exchange begins
• 2017 - Yangon Bus Service begins
• 2020
  • 27 March: first COVID-19 case in Yangon[33]

See also

• Yangon history
• Yangon City Heritage List
• List of name changes in Yangon
• List of mayors of Yangon
• List of universities and colleges in Yangon
• List of hospitals in Yangon
• List of districts and neighborhoods of Yangon

References

1. Smith 1882.
2. Harvey, G. E. (1925). History of Burma: from the earliest times to March 1824.
3. Pan Hla, Nai (1968). Razadarit Ayedawbon (in Burmese) (8th printing, 2005 ed.). Yangon: Armanthit Sarpay. p. 54.
4. Sithu, Maha (1798). Yazawin Thit. Vol. 1 (Kyaw Win; Thein Hlaing (2nd ed.) ed.). Yangon. p. 262.
5. Gazetteer 1908.
6. "Voyage to Pegu, and Observations There, Circa 1583" (PDF). SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research. 2003.
7. Nwe 1998.
8. Roy, Prominent Mon Lineages from Late Ayutthaya to Early Bangkok, Journal of the Siam Society, 2010, p. 208. Roy points out that the Burmese-appointed governor of yangon Ma Pu joined a Mon rebellion in the 1750s. Since he was appointed by the Burmese, it could be between 1755-59.
9. James 2004.
10. Morse 1823.
11. Britannica 1910.
12. Spate 1942.
13. Oung, Kin (2007). A Twentieth Century Burmese Matriarch.
14. "Irrawaddy River Cruise, Myanmar (Burma)". www.irrawaddyflotilla.com. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
15. Balfour 1885.
16. "Rangoon", Lippincott's Gazetteer of the World, Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott (published 1893), 1895, OCLC 3155661
17. Murray 1911.
18. "Myanma Alinn Daily".
19. Cities And Sustainable Development: Lessons And Experiences from Asia And the Pacific. United Nations Publications. 2003. ISBN 9211203678.
20. National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS) (1972), Significant Earthquake Database (Data Set), National Geophysical Data Center, NOAA, doi:10.7289/V5TD9V7K
21. "Rangoon (Burma) Newspapers". WorldCat. USA: Online Computer Library Center. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
22. "Population of capital city and cities of 100,000 or more inhabitants". Demographic Yearbook 1955. New York: Statistical Office of the United Nations.
23. Jayde Lin Roberts (2013), "Sin Oh Dan Street Lion Dance Competition", in Jeffrey Hou (ed.), Transcultural Cities, New York: Routledge, ISBN 978-0415631426
24. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistical Office (1976). "Population of capital city and cities of 100,000 and more inhabitants". Demographic Yearbook 1975. New York. pp. 253–279. Rangoon
25. "Historical Background". Yangon City Development Committee. Archived from the original on 25 February 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
26. Seekins 2005.
27. "Burma Profile: Timeline". BBC News. 6 April 2011. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
28. "Burma stock exchange planned by Tokyo bourse". BBC News. 11 April 2012.
29. "Explosion in Myanmar on anniversary of crackdown". New York Times. 25 September 2008.
30. "Myanmar hosts first marathon in decades". Al Jazeera. 27 January 2013.
31. "Children killed in Myanmar school fire". Al Jazeera. 2 April 2013.
32. "Table 8 - Population of capital cities and cities of 100,000 or more inhabitants", Demographic Yearbook – 2018, United Nations
33. "COVID-19 ရောဂါ... - Ministry of Health and Sports, Myanmar | Facebook". Facebook. 26 March 2020. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 21 August 2020.

Bibliography

Published in the 19th century

• Jedidiah Morse; Richard C. Morse (1823), "Rangoon", A New Universal Gazetteer (4th ed.), New Haven: S. Converse
• "Rangoon". Wright's Australian and American Commercial Directory and Gazetteer. New York. 1881.
• George Smith (1882), "Rangoon", Geography of British India, Political & Physical, London: J. Murray, OCLC 5876009
• Edward Balfour (1885), "Rangoon", The Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia (3rd ed.), London: B. Quaritch

Published in the 20th century

• "Rangoon". Imperial Guide to India, Including Kashmir, Burma and Ceylon. London: John Murray. 1904.
• Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly (1905), "Rangoon", Burma, painted and described, London: Adam and Charles Black, OCLC 5057234
• "Rangoon City", Imperial Gazetteer of India, Oxford: Clarendon Press (published 1908), 1907
• "Rangoon", A Handbook for Travellers in India, Burma, and Ceylon (8th ed.), London: John Murray, 1911
• C. Morgan Webb (1923). "Development of Rangoon". Town Planning Review. 10 (1). UK: 37–42. doi:10.3828/tpr.10.1.x422054153188814. JSTOR 40101637.
• B. R. Pearn (1939), A History of Rangoon, Rangoon: American Baptist Mission Press
• Scott, James George (1910). "Rangoon" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.).
• O. H. K. Spate; L. W. Trueblood (1942). "Rangoon: A Study in Urban Geography". Geographical Review. 32 (1). American Geographical Society: 56–73. doi:10.2307/210359. JSTOR 210359.
• Noel F. Singer (1995), Old Rangoon: City of the Shwedagon, Scotland: Paul Stachan - Kiscadale, ISBN 1870838475
• Schellinger and Salkin, ed. (1996). "Yangon". International Dictionary of Historic Places: Asia and Oceania. UK: Routledge. ISBN 9781884964046.
• Than Than Nwe (1998). "Yangon: The Emergence of a New Spatial Order in Myanmar's Capital City". Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia. 13 (1): 86–113. JSTOR 41056978.
• Mira Kamdar (1999). "Rangoon: A Remembrance of Things Past". World Policy Journal. 16 (3): 89–109. JSTOR 40209649.

Published in the 21st century

• Helen James (2004). "Rangoon". In Ooi Keat Gin (ed.). Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 1576077705.
• Donald M. Seekins (2005). "The State and the City: 1988 and the Transformation of Rangoon". Pacific Affairs. 78.
• Frauke Kraas; Hartmut Gaese; Mi Mi Kyi, eds. (2006). Megacity Yangon. Berlin: Lit Verlag. ISBN 3825800423.

External links

• Map of Rangoon, 1912