Also called:
Rangoon

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Yangon approves eight new investment projects, creating over 6,000 jobs June 30, 2025, 7:24 AM ET (The Star)

Yangon, city, capital of independent Myanmar (Burma) from 1948 to 2006, when the government officially proclaimed the new city of Nay Pyi Taw (Naypyidaw) the capital of the country. Yangon is located in the southern part of the country on the east bank of the Yangon, or Hlaing, River (eastern mouth of the Irrawaddy River), 25 miles (40 km) north of the Gulf of Martaban of the Andaman Sea. Yangon is the largest city in Myanmar and the industrial and commercial centre of the country. It was known abroad as Rangoon until 1989, when the government of Myanmar requested that Yangon, a transliteration reflecting the Burmese pronunciation of the city’s name, be used by other countries.

The city site is a low ridge surrounded by delta alluvium. The original settlements were located on the ridge, but the modern town was built on alluvium. Subsequent expansion has taken place both on the ridge and on delta land. The local climate is warm and humid, with much rainfall.

The centre of the city, called the Cantonment, was planned by the British in 1852 and is laid out on a system of blocks, each 800 by 860 feet (245 by 262 metres), intersected regularly by streets running north–south and east–west. As Yangon’s population increased in the 20th century, new settlements were built in the north, east, and west that greatly expanded the city’s area.

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The most notable building in Yangon is the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, a great Buddhist temple complex that crowns a hill about one mile north of the Cantonment. The pagoda itself is a solid brick stupa (Buddhist reliquary) that is completely covered with gold. It rises 326 feet (99 metres) on a hill 168 feet (51 metres) above the city. Yangon is the site of several other major religious edifices, including the World Peace Pagoda (1952) and the Sule and Botataung pagodas.

Most of the city centre is made up of brick buildings, which are generally three to four stories high, while traditional wooden structures are common in the outlying areas. Among the old colonial structures of red brick are the Office of Ministers (formerly the Old Secretariat), the Law Courts, Yangon General Hospital, and the customhouse. Modern architecture includes the Secretariat Building, the department stores in the Cantonment, the Polytechnic School, the Institute of Medicine I, and the Yangon Institute of Technology at Insein.

Yangon’s rice mills and sawmills located along the river are the largest in the country. The city’s major industries—which produce textiles, soap, rubber, aluminum, and iron and steel sheet—are state-owned, while most of its small industries (food-processing and clothing-manufacturing establishments) are owned privately or cooperatively. The central area of the city contains the commercial district of banks, trading corporations, and offices, as well as shops, brokerage houses, and bazaars.

North of the city centre is Royal Lake (Kandawgyi), surrounded by a wooded park; nearby are the city’s zoological and botanical gardens. Yangon’s several museums include the Bogyoke Aung San Museum and the National Museum of Art and Archaeology. There are several stadiums for sports and athletic events. The University of Rangoon, established in 1920, was reconstituted into the Arts and Science University in 1964.

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Yangon is Myanmar’s main centre for trade and handles more than 80 percent of the country’s foreign commerce. Rice, teak, and metal ores are the principal exports. The city is also the centre of national rail, river, road, and air transportation; an international airport is located at Mingaladon, north of Yangon.

The Shwe Dagon Pagoda has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries, and Yangon grew out of a settlement around the temple that eventually became known as Dagon. Its status was raised to that of a town by the Mon kings in the early 15th century. When King Alaungpaya (who founded the last dynasty of Myanmar kings) conquered southern Myanmar in the mid-1750s, he developed Dagon as a port and renamed it Yangon (“The End of Strife”), a name that was later transliterated as Rangoon by Arakanese interpreters accompanying the British. By the early 19th century the town had a thriving shipbuilding industry, as well as a British trading station. Rangoon was taken by the British at the outbreak of the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1824 but was restored to Burmese control two years later. The city was taken again in 1852 by the British, who made it the administrative capital of Lower Burma (i.e., the southern part of the country). After the British annexation of all of Burma in 1886, Rangoon became the capital city and grew in importance.

In 1930 Rangoon was struck by a massive earthquake and tidal wave, and during World War II it was the scene of major fighting between the Allies and the Japanese. The city was subsequently rebuilt, though, as the capital of independent Myanmar (since 1948), it never regained the commercial importance it had under the British as one of the great ports of southern Asia. By the late 20th century the city’s economic vitality had declined, largely because of the isolationist policies pursued by the Myanmar government. In 2005 government offices began to be transferred to Pyinmana, a city some 200 miles (320 km) north of Yangon, followed by a transfer to the newly built capital of Nay Pyi Taw, near Pyinmana. Area city, 77 square miles (199 square km). Pop. (2007 prelim.) 4,090,000.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Meg Matthias.
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Myanmar, country, located in the western portion of mainland Southeast Asia. In 1989 the country’s official English name, which it had held since 1885, was changed from the Union of Burma to the Union of Myanmar; in the Burmese language the country has been known as Myanma (or, more precisely, Mranma Prañ) since the 13th century. The English name of the city that served as the country’s capital from 1948 to 2006, Rangoon, also was dropped in 1989 in favor of the common Burmese name, Yangon.

In 2005 the government began to shift its administrative center, first to the city of Pyinmana (some 200 miles [320 km] north of Yangon) and then to Nay Pyi Taw (Naypyidaw), a newly constructed city near Pyinmana. Nay Pyi Taw was proclaimed the capital of Myanmar in 2006.

Quick Facts
Myanmar
See article: flag of Myanmar
Audio File: National anthem of Myanmar
Head Of State And Government:
Prime Minister: Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing2
Capital:
Nay Pyi Taw (Naypyidaw)
Population:
(2025 est.) 57,940,000
Form Of Government:
military government2
Official Language:
Myanmar (Burmese)
Official Religion:
none3
Official Name:
Pyihtaungsu Thamada Myanmar Naingngandaw (Republic of the Union of Myanmar)1
Total Area (Sq Km):
676,553
Total Area (Sq Mi):
261,217
Monetary Unit:
Myanmar kyat (K)
Population Rank:
(2025) 26
Population Projection 2030:
58,851,000
Density: Persons Per Sq Mi:
(2025) 221.8
Density: Persons Per Sq Km:
(2025) 85.6
Urban-Rural Population:
Urban: (2019–2020) 29.9%
Rural: (2019–2020) 70.1%
Life Expectancy At Birth:
Male: (2021) 62.4 years
Female: (2021) 71.8 years
Literacy: Percentage Of Population Age 15 And Over Literate:
Male: (2019) 92%
Female: (2019) 86%
Gni (U.S.$ ’000,000):
(2023) 66,552
Gni Per Capita (U.S.$):
(2023) 1,230
Also called:
Burma
  1. Official long-form name of the country per the constitution, effective January 31, 2011.
  2. The military seized power on February 1, 2021. Pres. Win Myint, State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, and other members of their National League for Democracy ruling party were detained by the military, and Vice Pres. Myint Swe (a former general) became acting president. He immediately invoked articles 417 and 418 of the constitution, which allowed him to declare a one-year state of emergency and hand control of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government to the commander in chief of the armed forces, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. On February 2 the State Administrative Council was formed, with Senior Gen. Min as chairman, to govern the country during the state of emergency. On August 1 the State Administrative Council was replaced by a military-led caretaker government with Senior Gen. Min named as prime minister, and the state of emergency was extended until August 2023.
  3. The government promotes Theravada Buddhism over other religions.

Land

Stretching from latitude 10° N to about 28° 30′ N, Myanmar is the northernmost country of Southeast Asia; it is shaped like a kite with a long tail that runs south along the Malay Peninsula. The country is bordered by China to the north and northeast, Laos to the east, Thailand to the southeast, the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal to the south and southwest, Bangladesh to the west, and India to the northwest. Its total length from north to south is about 1,275 miles (2,050 km), and its width at the widest part, across the center of the country at about the latitude of the city of Mandalay, is approximately 580 miles (930 km) from east to west.

Relief

Myanmar slopes from north to south, from an elevation of 19,296 feet (5,881 meters) at Mount Hkakabo (the country’s highest peak) in the extreme north to sea level at the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) and Sittang (Sittoung) river deltas. The mountain ranges generally run from north to south. The country as a whole can be divided into five physiographic regions: the northern mountains, the western ranges, the eastern plateau, the central basin and lowlands, and the coastal plains.

The northern mountains consist of a series of ranges that form a complex knot at Mount Hkakabo. In terms of plate tectonics, this knot marks the northeastern limit of the encroaching Indian-Australian Plate, which has been colliding with the southern edge of the Eurasian Plate for roughly the past 50 million years and thrusting up the mountain ranges of Myanmar and beyond. This region contains the sources of several of Asia’s great rivers, including the Irrawaddy, which rises and flows wholly within Myanmar, and the Salween (Thanlwin), which rises to the north in China. The upper courses of these rivers all flow through deep gorges within a short distance of each other, separated by steep, sheer peaks.

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The western ranges traverse the entire western side of Myanmar, from the northern mountains to the southern tip of the Rakhine (Arakan) Peninsula, where they run under the sea and reappear as the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Their average elevation is about 6,000 feet (1,800 metrts), although some peaks rise to 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) or higher. The mountains consist of old crystalline rocks surrounded by hard, tightly folded sedimentary rocks on either side. From north to south, the Patkai Range, Naga Hills, and Chin Hills form the border between India and Myanmar. To the south of these are the Rakhine Mountains (Arakan Mountains), which lie entirely within Myanmar and separate the coastal strip from the central basin.

The Shan Plateau to the east rises abruptly from the central basin, often in a single step of some 2,000 feet (600 meters). Occupying the eastern half of the country, it is deeply dissected, with an average elevation of about 3,000 feet (900 meters). The plateau was formed during the Mesozoic Era (about 252 to 66 million years ago) and thus is a much older feature than the western mountains, but the plateau also shows more-recent and intensive folding, with north-south longitudinal ranges rising steeply to elevations of 6,000 to 8,600 feet (1,800 to 2,600 meters) above the plateau surface. Northward, the plateau merges into the northern mountains, and southward it continues into the Dawna Range and the peninsular Tenasserim Mountains (Tanintharyi Mountains), each a series of parallel ranges with narrow valleys.

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The central basin and lowlands, lying between the Rakhine Mountains and the Shan Plateau, are structurally connected with the folding of the western ranges. The basin was deeply excavated by the predecessors of the Irrawaddy, Chindwin, and Sittang rivers; the valleys are now occupied by these rivers, which cover the ancient soft sandstones, shales, and clays with alluvial deposits. In the deltaic regions formed by the Irrawaddy and Sittang rivers, the landscape is absolutely flat, and the monotony is relieved only by a few blocks of erosion-resistant rocks that are never more than 60 feet (18 meters) high. The basin is divided into two unequal parts, the larger Irrawaddy valley and the smaller Sittang valley, by the Bago Mountains. In the center of the basin and structurally connected with the Bago Mountains and their northern extension is a line of extinct volcanoes with small crater lakes and eroded cones, the largest being Popa Hill, at 4,981 feet (1,518 meters).

The coastal areas consist of the narrow Rakhine and Tenasserim plains, which are backed by the high ranges of the Rakhine and Tenasserim mountains and are fringed with numerous islands of varying sizes.

Drainage and soils

Like the mountains, Myanmar’s main rivers run from north to south. About three-fifths of Myanmar’s surface is drained by the Irrawaddy and its tributaries. Flowing entirely through Myanmar, it is navigable for nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km). At the apex of its delta, the Irrawaddy breaks up into a vast network of streams and empties into the Andaman Sea through multiple mouths. Its great tributary, the Chindwin, drains the western region. The Bassein River (Pathein River) drains the southern Rakhine Mountains, and the Yangon River (Rangoon River) drains the Bago Mountains; both enter the Irrawaddy at the delta. The Sittang flows into the Gulf of Martaban of the Andaman Sea, and, for a comparatively short river, it has a large valley and delta. The Shan Plateau is drained by the Salween River, which enters Myanmar from southern China and empties into the Gulf of Martaban southeast of the Sittang. It is deeply entrenched and crosses the plateau in a series of deep gorges. Many of its tributaries are more than 300 miles (480 km) long and join the Salween in cascades. The Rakhine coastal plains are drained by short, rapid streams, which, after forming broad deltas, flow into the Bay of Bengal. The Tenasserim plains also are drained by short and rapid rivers, which enter the Gulf of Martaban.

Myanmar has two major lakes. Indawgyi Lake, in the northern hills, runs some 15 miles (24 km) from north to south and 8 miles (13 km) from east to west; it is one of the largest natural inland lakes of Southeast Asia. Somewhat smaller is Inle Lake, stretching about 14 miles (22 km) from north to south and 7 miles (11 km) from east to west, on the Shan Plateau. Inle Lake is fed by dozens of streams.

The highland regions of Myanmar are covered with highly leached, iron-rich, dark red and reddish brown soils. When protected by forest cover, these soils absorb the region’s heavy rain, but they erode quickly once the forest has been cleared. The lowland regions are covered with alluvial soils—mainly silt and clay. Low in nutrients and organic matter, they are improved by fertilizers. In the dry belt of the central region are found red-brown soils rich in calcium and magnesium. In the same region, however, when the soil has a low clay content, it becomes saline under high evaporation and is recognizable by its yellow or brown color.