Bayinnaung

Bayinnaung (flourished 16th century) was the king of the Toungoo dynasty (reigned 1551–81) in Myanmar (Burma). He unified his country and conquered the Shan States and Siam (now Thailand), making Myanmar the most powerful kingdom in mainland Southeast Asia.

In 1550 a revolt broke out among the Mons of southern Myanmar, and Bayinnaung’s brother-in-law, Tabinshwehti, was assassinated at Pegu in 1551 by a Mon prince. Bayinnaung marched to Toungoo, eliminated a pretender to the throne, and proclaimed himself king; then he marched south, captured the city of Pegu, and executed the rebel leader, Smim Htaw. The other Mon rulers then surrendered, and the revolt was at an end. Bayinnaung made Pegu his capital, as Tabinshwehti had.

In 1554 Bayinnaung set out against Shan chiefs, who occupied the ancient Myanmar capital of Ava. He captured it the following year. The Shans were placed under Myanmar suzerainty, and Bayinnaung was consequently in a position to attack his most powerful enemy, Siam.

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In 1563 Bayinnaung took as a pretext for war the refusal of the Siamese to acknowledge his suzerainty. The following year he captured the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya and brought the Siamese royal family to Myanmar as hostages. In 1568, when a revolt flared up, Bayinnaung again invaded Siam. Because the Siamese put up fierce resistance, Ayutthaya was not captured until August 1569. The Myanmar king installed a new vassal on the throne and deported thousands of Siamese into Myanmar as slaves. The Myanmar dominated Siam for more than 15 years; they were expelled by a liberation movement led by a Siamese prince, Naresuan (reigned 1590–1605).

Bayinnaung was a patron of Buddhism; he built pagodas, gave generous donations to monasteries, and maintained extensive diplomatic relations with the Buddhist kingdom of Ceylon. When Pegu was burned in a Mon revolt in 1564, he rebuilt it on an even grander scale, making one of the richest cities in Southeast Asia.