Bago (formerly spelled Pegu; , bəɡó mjo̰), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon.
The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon language place name Bagaw (ဗဂေါ, bəkɜ̀). Until the Burmese government renamed English place names throughout the country in 1989, Bago was known as Pegu. Bago was formerly known as Hanthawaddy (ဟံသာဝတီ; ဟံသာဝတဳ ; Haṃsāvatī; lit. "she who possesses the sheldrake"), the name of a Burmese-Mon kingdom.
An alternative etymology from the 1947 Burmese Encyclopedia derives Bago (ပဲခူး) from Wanpeku (ဝမ်းပဲကူး) as a shortening of Where the Hinthawan Ducks Graze (ဟင်္သာဝမ်းဘဲများ ကူးသန်းကျက်စားရာ အရပ်). This etymology relies on the non-phonetic Burmese spelling as its main reasoning.
Hanthawaddy Kingdom
Various Mon language chronicles report widely divergent foundation dates of Bago, ranging from 573 CE to 1152 CE while the Zabu Kuncha, an early 15th century Burmese administrative treatise, states that Pegu was founded in 1276/77 CE.
The earliest possible external record of Bago dates to 1028 CE. The Thiruvalangadu plate describe Rajendra Chola I, the Chola Emperor from South India, as having conquered "Kadaram" in the fourteenth year of his reignc – 1028 CE. According to one interpretation, Kadaram refers to Bago. More modern interpretations understand Kadaram to be Kedah in modern day Malaysia, instead of Bago. The earliest reliable external record of Bago comes from Chinese sources that mention Jayavarman VII adding Pegu to the territory of the Khmer Empire in 1195. The earliest extant evidence of Pegu as a place dates only to the late Pagan period (1212 and 1266) when it was still a small town, not even a provincial capital. After the collapse of the Pagan Empire, Bago became part of the breakaway Kingdom of Martaban by the 1290s.
The small settlement grew increasingly important in the 14th century as the region became most populous in the Mon-speaking kingdom. In 1369, King Binnya U made Bago the capital.
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Thai people (ชาวไทย; endonym), Central Thai people (คนภาคกลาง; exonym and also domestically), Southern Thai people (คนใต้; exonym and also domestically), Dambro (ตามโพร), Siamese (ชาวสยาม; historical exonym and sometimes domestically), Tai Noi people (ไทน้อย; historical endonym and sometimes domestically), Thai Siam (ไทยสยาม), are a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Thailand. In a narrower sense, the Thais are also a Tai ethnic group dominant in Central and Southern Thailand (Siam proper).
The history of Myanmar (also known as Burma; မြန်မာ့သမိုင်း) covers the period from the time of first-known human settlements 13,000 years ago to the present day. The earliest inhabitants of recorded history were a Tibeto-Burman-speaking people who established the Pyu city-states ranged as far south as Pyay and adopted Theravada Buddhism. Another group, the Bamar people, entered the upper Irrawaddy valley in the early 9th century. They went on to establish the Pagan Kingdom (1044–1297), the first-ever unification of the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery.
Kyansittha (ကျန်စစ်သား, tɕàɰ̃sɪʔθá; also spelt as Kyanzittha or Hti-Hlaing Shin; 1030 – 1112/13) was king of Pagan dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1084 to 1112/13, and is considered one of the greatest Burmese monarchs. He continued the social, economic and cultural reforms begun by his father, King Anawrahta. Pagan became an internationally recognized power during his 28-year reign. The Burmese language and culture continued to gain ground.