Innwa

Innwa.; formerly Ava is located near Mandalay and just to the south of Amarapura on the Ayeyarwady River. It is also called Ratanapura which means City of Gems in Pali. The name Innwa means mouth of the lake, which comes from in meaning lake, and wa, which means mouth.

Ava was capital of Burma from 1364-1841 founded by King Thadominbya on an artificial island at the confluence of the Ayeyarwady and the Myitnge created by digging a canal linking the two rivers. Prior to this, Sagaing had been capital, but after Sagaing fell to the Shan, the court moved across the river to Ava. The kings of Ava set about restoring Burmese supremacy, which had disintegrated after the fall of Bagan to the Mongol invasion under Kublai Khan that ended the First Burmese Empire founded by King Anawrahta in 1057.

In 1555, Ava fell to the southern Burmese Kingdom of Taungoo which led to the founding of the Second Burmese Empire by King Tabinshwehti, but in 1636, the king of Taungoo relocated his own capital to Ava. In 1752, the Mon revolted against Burmese rule and sacked Ava. A couple of years later, the founder of the new Konbaung Dynasty and the Third Burmese Empire, Alaungpaya, crushed the Mon revolt, and after a period with Shwebo as his capital, re-established the court in Ava.

Following the British conquest of Lower Burma after the Second Anglo-Burmese War (1852-53), Upper Burma was commonly called the Kingdom of Ava or the Court of Ava. During the reign of King Bodawpaya (lit. Lord Royal Grandfather,1781-1819), the capital was moved to nearby Amarapura. However, his successor, King Bagyidaw (lit. Royal Elder Uncle, 1819-1837), moved the Court back to Ava in 1823. When a tremendous earthquake caused extensive damage in 1841, Ava was finally abandoned for Amarapura Little remains of the ancient capital today.

Bago

According to legend, two Mon princess from Thaton founded Bago in 573 AD. It was written in the chronicles that eight years after enlightenment, Lord Buddha along with his deciples went air-borne around Southeast Asian countries. On his return journey while crossing the Gulf of Martaban, which happened to be at low tide, he saw two golden shell-drakes sitting, female on top of male, on a peak of land protruding out of sea just enough for abird's perch. On the strange phenomena he predicted to his deciples that one day a country where his doctrine would thrive would come into existence in this vast sea area. Mons were the first and forever rulers of this country known in history as Hongsawatoi (Pali Hamsavati) approximately 1500 years after the prediction. That part of the se when it was silted up and ready for habitation was colonized by Mons from Thaton Kingdom.

The earliest mention of this city in history is by the Arab geographer Ibn Khudadhbin around 850 AD. At the time, the Mon capital had shifted to Thaton. The area came under rule of the Burmese from Bagan in 1056. After the collapse of Bagan to the Mongols in 1287, the Mon regained their independence.

From 1369-1539, Hanthawady was the capital of the Mon Kingdom of Ramanadesa, which covered all of what is now lower Myanmar. The area came under Burman control again in 1539, when it was annexed by King Tabinshweti to his Kingdom of Taungoo. The Kings of Taungoo made Bago their royal capital from 1539-1599 and again in 1613-1634, and used it as a base for repeated invasions of Siam. As a major seaport, the city was frequently visited by Europeans, who commented on its magnificence. The Burmese capital relocated to Ava in 1634. In 1740, the Mon revolted and briefly regained their independence, but Burmese King Alaungpaya sacked and completely destroyed the city (along with Mon independence) in 1757.

Bago was rebuilt by King Bodawpaya (1782-1819), but by then the river had shifted course, cutting the city off from the sea. It never regained its previous importance. After the Second Anglo-Burmese War, the British annexed Bago in 1852. In 1862, the province of British Burma was formed, and the capital moved to Yangon. The name Bago is spelt peh kou literally. The substantial differences between the colloquial and literary pronunciations, as in with Burmese words, was a reason of the British corruption "Pegu".

King Bayinnaung inherited the throne in 1550 and re-established Burman control over Lower Burma. Between 1552-1555 he destroyed the power of the Shan states and laid the foundations of the Second Burmese Empire. But Bayinnaung was not content to stop there and turned his attention to neighbouring Siam. He captured Chiang Mai, then set his sights on Ayutthaya.

The King of Ayutthaya was known to have 4 white elephants which Bayinnaung coveted. On the pretext of a manufactured border dispute, King Bayinnaung launched a successful attack on the Siamese capital in 1564. The Siamese king, queen and youngest son were taken prisoner and the heir to the throne was left to govern as a tributary king. However after the return of his mother the Siamese tributary king re-asserted his independence. Bayinnaung was furious and launched a fresh Burmese invasion of Siam. He left with 200,000 troops, many of whom died during the subsequent 7-month siege of Ayutthaya. The Burmese finally captured the city however and the belligerent King Bayinnaung went on to attack Vientiane in Laos, but had a hard time of it.

For all his warmongering, Bayinnaung seems to have been a model Buddhist: he forbade the sacrificing of slaves, horses and elephants and sent brooms of his own hair (and that of his wives) to sweep the Temple of the Sacred Tooth in Kandy, Ceylon. He eventually died in 1581, apparently leaving 97 children and was succeeded by the eldest, Nandanaung, who ruled from 1581-1599.

King Bayinnaung