Month for Peace 2022: Myanmar has begun—a history up to the 1960s
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Myanmar (formerly Burma) is a Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 ethnic groups, bordering India, Bangladesh, China, Laos, and Thailand. Yangon (formerly Rangoon), the country's largest city, is home to bustling markets, numerous parks and lakes, and the towering, gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, which contains Buddhist relics and dates to the 6th century.

Capital: Naypyidaw

Population: 54.41 million (2020) World Bank

Myanmar's people and history are a glorious mishmash of settlers and invaders from all fronts. The Mon and the Pyu peoples are thought to have come from India, while the now dominant Bamar migrated through Tibet and, by 849, had founded a powerful kingdom centered on Bagan. (Mandalay Region) The Bagan Kingdom was the first Burmese kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-day Burma, later renamed to Myanmar. For the next millennium, the Burmese empire grew through conquests of Thailand and India and shrank under attacks from China and internal rebellions.

Top photo: The limestone landscape of Kayin State, by kallerna - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87506567

Map: by Hel-hama - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25417624