Myanmar

Myanmar (myan-MARⁱ/miɑːnˈmɑːr/ mee-ahn-MAR,/miˈɛnmɑːr/ mee-EN-mar or /maɪˈænmɑːr/ my-AN-mar (also with the stress on first syllable); Burmese pronunciation: [mjəmà]), officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also known as Burma, is a sovereign state in Southeast Asia bordered by Bangladesh, India, China, Laos and Thailand. One-third of Myanmar's total perimeter of 1,930 km (1,200 miles) forms an uninterrupted coastline along the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The country's 2014 census revealed a much lower population than expected, with 51 million people recorded. Myanmar is 676,578 square kilometres (261,227 sq mi) in size. Its capital city is Naypyidaw and its largest city is Yangon (Rangoon).

Early civilisations in Myanmar included the Tibeto-Burman-speaking Pyu city-states in Upper Burma and the Mon kingdoms in Lower Burma. In the 9th century, the Bamar people entered the upper Irrawaddy valley and, following the establishment of the Pagan Kingdom in the 1050s, the Burmese language, culture and Theravada Buddhism slowly became dominant in the country. The Pagan Kingdom fell due to the Mongol invasions and several warring states emerged. In the 16th century, reunified by the Taungoo Dynasty, the country was for a brief period the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia. The early 19th century Konbaung Dynasty ruled over an area that included modern Myanmar and briefly controlled Manipur and Assam as well. The British conquered Myanmar after three Anglo-Burmese Wars in the 19th century and the country became a British colony. Myanmar became an independent nation in 1948, initially as a democratic nation and then, following a coup d'état in 1962, a military dictatorship. While the military dictatorship formally ended in 2011, most of the party leaders are former military officers.

Myanmar (Unicode block)

Myanmar is a Unicode block containing characters for the Burmese, Mon, Karen, Kayah, Shan, and Palaung languages of Myanmar. It is also used to write Pali and Sanskrit in Myanmar.

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References

Burmese alphabet

The Burmese script (Burmese: ဗမာအက္ခရာ; MLCTS: mranma akkha.ra; pronounced: [mjəmà ʔɛʔkʰəjà]) is an abugida used for writing Burmese. It is ultimately a brahmic script adapted from either the Kadamba or Pallava alphabet of South India, and more immediately an adaptation of the Old Mon or Pyu script. The Burmese alphabet is also used for the liturgical languages of Pali and Sanskrit.

In recent decades, other, related alphabets, such as Shan and modern Mon, have been restructured according to the standard of the now-dominant Burmese alphabet.

Burmese is written from left to right and requires no spaces between words, although modern writing usually contains spaces after each clause to enhance readability.

The earliest evidence of the Burmese alphabet is dated to 1035, while a casting made in the 18th century of an old stone inscription points to 984. Burmese calligraphy originally followed a square format but the cursive format took hold from the 17th century when popular writing led to the wider use of palm leaves and folded paper known as parabaiks. A stylus would rip these leaves when making straight lines. The alphabet has undergone considerable modification to suit the evolving phonology of the Burmese language.