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Asia Myanmar

Guide to Myanmar, family history and genealogy parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Welcome to the MYANMAR page



---LOCATION---

Myanmar, known for most of its history in the West as Burma, lies between latitudes 9° and 29°N, and longitudes 92° and 102°E.

Burma is bordered in the northwest by the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh and the Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh states of India. Its north and northeast border straddles the Tibet Autonomous Region and Yunnan province for a Sino-Burman border total of 2,185 km (1,358 mi). It is bounded by Laos and Thailand to the southeast. Burma has 1,930 km (1,200 mi) of contiguous coastline along the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea to the southwest and the south, which forms one quarter of its total perimeter.

In the north, the Hengduan Mountains form the border with China. Hkakabo Razi, located in Kachin State, at an elevation of 5,881 meters (19,295 ft), is the highest point in Burma. Many mountain ranges, such as the Rakhine Yoma, the Bago Yoma, the Shan Hills and the Tenasserim Hills exist within Burma, all of which run north-to-south from the Himalayas.

---HISTORY---

Archaeological evidence shows that Homo erectus lived in the region now known as Myanmar as early as 400,000 years ago.[

The first evidence of Homo sapiens is dated to about 11,000 BC, in a Stone Age culture called the Anyathian with discoveries of stone tools in central Burma. Evidence of neolithic age domestication of plants and animals and the use of polished stone tools dating to sometime between 10,000 and 6,000 BC has been discovered.

By the 9th century AD several city-states had sprouted across the land: the Pyu states in the central dry zone, Mon states along the southern coastline and Arakanese states along the western littoral.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Pagan Empire and the Khmer Empire were two main powers in mainland Southeast Asia.[49] The Burmese language and culture gradually became dominant in the upper Irrawaddy valley, eclipsing the Pyu, Mon and Pali norms by the late 12th century.

The country was colonized by Britain following three Anglo-Burmese Wars (1824–1885). British rule brought social, economic, cultural and administrative changes.

With the fall of Mandalay, all of Burma came under British rule, being annexed on 1 January 1886. Throughout the colonial era, many Indians arrived as soldiers, civil servants, construction workers and traders and, along with the Anglo-Burmese community, dominated commercial and civil life in Burma. Rangoon became the capital of British Burma and an important port between Calcutta and Singapore.

On 4 January 1948, the nation became an independent republic, named the Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister. Unlike most other former British colonies and overseas territories, Burma did not become a member of the Commonwealth.

On 2 March 1962, the military led by General Ne Win took control of Burma through a coup d'état and the government has been under direct or indirect control by the military since then.

The goal of the Burmese constitutional referendum of 2008, held on 10 May 2008, is the creation of a "discipline-flourishing democracy". As part of the referendum process, the name of the country was changed from the "Union of Myanmar" to the "Republic of the Union of Myanmar", and general elections were held under the new constitution in 2010. Observer accounts of the 2010 election describe the event as mostly peaceful; however, allegations of polling station irregularities were raised, and the United Nations (UN) and a number of Western countries condemned the elections as fraudulent.

---RELIGION---

The Vedic Civilization (1500–500 BCE), characterized by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, which would become well established in the region. Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage center.

The Medieval period (642–1219 CE) is defined by the spread of Islam in the region. During this period, Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority of the regional Buddhist and Hindu population to Islam. Today, more than 90% of Pakistan's population are Muslim.

---ECONOMY---

Pakistan was widely expected to become one of the more robust emerging economies of the world. However, after decades of social instability, as of 2013, serious deficiencies in macro-management and unbalanced macroeconomics in basic services such as train transportation and electrical energy generation had developed. This has severely limited progress.

With the inherent instability of the country due to its proximity to Afghanistan, and the ongoing terrorism in the region, an increase in output, economic growth, can only occur because of an increase in the capital stock, a larger population, or technological advancements that lead to higher productivity. This is not likely, as very few external capital sources are being considered.

---RECORDS---

At present all Birth, Marriage, and Death records in Pakistan are held in local registries. There is no central national registry. The following links provides some helpful sources:

Pakistan Civil Registration Vital Records

Pakistan Church Records

BBC Pakistan family research

---OTHER WEBSITES---

Kindred trails for Pakistan

Find a grave in Pakistan

Geneanet.com

Ancestry.com for Pakistan