Myanmar Matriculation History flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Anawrahta

King of Pagan (r. 1044-1077) who unified central Burma and, after conquering Thaton in 1057, promoted Theravada Buddhism and Mon cultural influence throughout his kingdom.

Pagan dynasty

The first unified Burmese kingdom, flourishing between the 11th and 13th centuries, famous for thousands of Buddhist temples on the Irrawaddy plain. It declined after Mongol invasions in 1287.

Bayinnaung

Toungoo king (r. 1551-1581) who created the largest empire in Southeast Asian history, conquering Siam, Lan Na, and parts of Laos, and making Pegu a great cosmopolitan capital.

Alaungpaya

Founder of the Konbaung dynasty in 1752, who reunified Burma by defeating the Mon, moved the capital to Shwebo and then Ava, and began the wars with Siam.

Treaty of Yandabo

The 1826 treaty ending the First Anglo-Burmese War. Burma ceded Arakan and Tenasserim, paid a large indemnity, and accepted a British resident at the court.

King Mindon

Konbaung king (r. 1853-1878) who founded Mandalay in 1857, held the Fifth Buddhist Synod in 1871, and attempted administrative reform to resist colonial pressure.

Dobama Asiayone

The "We Burmans" association founded in 1930, whose members took the title Thakin (master) and supplied the leaders of Burma's independence movement, including Aung San.

Saya San rebellion

A major peasant uprising in Burma from 1930 to 1932, led by the former monk Saya San, sparked by falling rice prices, debt, and resentment of colonial taxation.

Panglong Agreement

Signed on 12 February 1947, it secured the cooperation of Shan, Kachin, and Chin leaders for a Union of Burma, promising frontier areas full autonomy in internal administration.

Ne Win's 1962 coup

The military seizure of power on 2 March 1962 that ended parliamentary democracy, introduced the Burmese Way to Socialism, and created the Revolutionary Council and BSPP.

8888 Uprising

A nationwide pro-democracy uprising in August 1988, led largely by students and monks, which was suppressed by the military, leading to the SLORC takeover on 18 September 1988.

Angkor Wat

A vast temple complex in Cambodia built in the 12th century under Suryavarman II and originally dedicated to Vishnu; it is the largest religious monument in the world.

Jayavarman VII

Khmer king (r. 1181-1218) who adopted Mahayana Buddhism and built Angkor Thom, the Bayon, and numerous hospitals and rest houses across his empire.

Srivijaya

A maritime Buddhist empire centred on Palembang, Sumatra, from the 7th to 13th centuries, which controlled trade through the Malacca and Sunda straits.

Majapahit

An East Javanese empire founded in 1293, reaching its height under Hayam Wuruk and Gajah Mada and celebrated in the 14th-century poem Nagarakretagama.

Malacca Sultanate

A trading state founded around 1400 by Parameswara, converted to Islam, which dominated the Strait of Malacca until its capture by the Portuguese in 1511.

Ayutthaya

The Thai capital from 1351 to 1767, a wealthy trading city destroyed by Burmese armies under Hsinbyushin; its successor capitals were Thonburi and Bangkok.

Chulalongkorn

King of Siam (r. 1868-1910) who abolished slavery, reformed administration and education, and preserved Siamese independence through diplomacy with Britain and France.

French Indochina

The French colonial union formed in 1887, comprising Tonkin, Annam, Cochinchina, and Cambodia, with Laos added in 1893 and administered from Hanoi.

ASEAN founding

Established by the Bangkok Declaration on 8 August 1967 by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand to promote regional cooperation and stability.

Mandala polity

A model of Southeast Asian states as centres of personal authority with fluid, contested peripheries, rather than fixed territorial borders, often applied to Pagan and Angkor.

Strait of Malacca

The narrow sea route between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula linking the Indian Ocean and South China Sea, whose control enriched Srivijaya, Malacca, and later European powers.

Stamford Raffles

British official who founded a trading post at Singapore in 1819, which became part of the Straits Settlements in 1826 and a major commercial centre.

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese revolutionary who founded the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930 and proclaimed the Democratic Republic of Vietnam on 2 September 1945 after the August Revolution.

Congress of Vienna

The 1814-1815 settlement chaired by Metternich that restored European monarchies, redrew borders after Napoleon, and created the German Confederation and Concert of Europe.

Treaty of Versailles

The 1919 treaty ending World War I with Germany, imposing territorial losses, the War Guilt clause, reparations, and creating the League of Nations mandate system.

Industrial Revolution

The transition from agrarian to industrial economies beginning in Britain around 1760, driven by steam power, textile machinery, and later railways and factory production.

Bretton Woods

The 1944 conference that created the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, establishing a post-war monetary order of fixed exchange rates tied to the US dollar.

Cuban Missile Crisis

The October 1962 confrontation over Soviet missiles in Cuba, resolved when the USSR withdrew them in exchange for a US no-invasion pledge and removal of missiles from Turkey.

Non-Aligned Movement

A grouping of states founded at the 1961 Belgrade Conference, building on the 1955 Bandung Conference, that sought independence from both US and Soviet Cold War blocs.

League of Nations

The international organization founded in 1920 under the Versailles settlement to maintain peace through collective security; it lacked enforcement power and the United States never joined.

Meiji Restoration

The 1868 overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate that restored imperial rule in Japan and launched rapid state-led industrialization and military modernization.