Bago Region ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး | |
|---|---|
| Myanma transcription(s) | |
| • Burmese | pai: hku: tuing: desa. kri: |
 Location of Bago Region in Myanmar | |
| Coordinates:18°15′N96°0′E / 18.250°N 96.000°E /18.250; 96.000 | |
| Country |  Myanmar |
| Region | Lower |
| Capital | Bago |
| Government | |
| • Chief Minister | Myo Swe Win |
| • Cabinet | Bago Region Government |
| • Legislature | Bago Region Hluttaw |
| • Judiciary | Bago Region High Court |
| Area | |
• Total | 39,402.3 km2 (15,213.3 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 6th |
| Highest elevation (Yomakyo) | 1,889 m (6,198 ft) |
| Population | |
• Total | 4,867,373 |
| • Rank | 6th |
| • Density | 120/km2 (320/sq mi) |
| Demonym | Bagoan |
| Demographics | |
| • Ethnicities | Bamar,Kayin,Mon,Shan,Indians,Chinese,Pa'O |
| • Religions | Buddhism 93.5% Christianity 2.9% Hinduism 2.0% Islam 1.3% Others 0.3% |
| Time zone | UTC+06:30 (MST) |
| HDI (2017) | 0.547[2] low ·9th |
| Website | bagoregion |
Bago Region (Burmese:ပဲခူးတိုင်းဒေသကြီး,pronounced[bəɡótáɪɰ̃dèθa̰dʑí]; formerlyPegu Division andBago Division) is anadministrative region ofMyanmar, located in the southern central part of the country. It is bordered byMagway Region andMandalay Region to the north;Kayin State,Mon State and theGulf of Martaban to the east;Yangon Region to the south andAyeyarwady Region andRakhine State to the west. It is located between 46°45'N and 19°20'N and 94°35'E and 97°10'E. It has a population of 4,867,373 (2014).
According to legend, twoMon princes fromThaton founded the city of Bago in 573 AD. They saw a femaleHamsa standing on the back of a male Hamsa on an island in a huge lake. Believing this was an auspicious omen, the princes built a city calledHanthawady (Pali: Hamsavati) on the edge of the lake.
ThePersian geographerIbn Khordadbeh mentions the city around 850AD. The Mon capital was still inThaton at that time. The Thiruvalangadu plate describeRajendra Chola I, the Chola Emperor from South India, as having conquered "Kadaram" in the fourteenth year of his reign- 1028 CE. According to one interpretation, Kadaram refers to Bago.[3][4] More modern interpretations understand Kadaram to beKedah in modern-day Malaysia, instead of Bago.[3] The earliest reliable external record of Bago comes from Chinese sources that mentionJayavarman VII addingPegu to the territory of theKhmer Empire in 1195.[5] The Bamar fromBagan ruled the area in 1056. After the collapse of Bagan to theMongols in 1287, the Mon regained their independence.
From 1369 to 1539, Hanthawady was the capital of theHanthawaddy Kingdom, which covered all of what is now lower Burma. The area came under Burman control again in 1539, when it was annexed by KingTabinshwehti ofKingdom of Taungoo. The kings ofTaungoo made Bago their royal capital from 1539 to 1599, and used it as a base for their repeated invasions ofSiam. As a major seaport, the city was frequently visited by Europeans, who commented on its magnificence. The Burmese capital was relocated toAva in 1634. In 1740, the Mon revolted and briefly regained their independence, but Burmese KingAlaungpaya sacked and completely destroyed the city (along with Mon independence) in 1757.
Burmese KingBodawpaya (1782–1819) rebuilt Bago, but by then the river had shifted course, cutting the city off from the sea. It never regained its previous importance. After theSecond Anglo-Burmese War, theBritish annexed Bago in 1852. In 1862, with the formation of the province ofBritish Burma, the capital was moved toYangon.
Bago Region occupies an area of 39,400 square kilometres (15,214 sq mi) divided into the six districts ofBago,Pyay,Tharrawaddy,Taungoo,Nyaunglebin andNattalin.Bago, the divisional capital, is the fourth largest town of Burma. Other major cities includeTaungoo andPyay.
Bago Region's seal are two siblinghintha (Hamsa), due to historic Mon influences in the area.
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Bago Region is served byPyay Airport.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1973 | 3,179,604 | — |
| 1983 | 3,799,791 | +19.5% |
| 2014 | 4,867,373 | +28.1% |
| Source: 2014 Myanmar Census[1] | ||
The total population of Bago Region is 4,863,455 according to2014 Burma Census withBamar,Karen,Mon,Chin,Rakhine,Shan,South Asians,Chinese, andPa-O ethnic groups represented.Burmese language is thelingua franca.
According to the2014 Myanmar Census,Buddhists make up 93.5% of Bago Region's population, forming the largest religious community there.[7] Minority religious communities includeChristians (2.9%),Muslims (1.2%),Hindus (2.1%), andanimists (0.1%) who collectively comprise the remainder of Bago Region's population.[7] 0.3% of the population listed no religion, other religions, or were otherwise not enumerated.[7]
According to theState Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee's 2016 statistics, 50,198 Buddhist monks were registered in Bago Region, comprising 9.4% of Myanmar's totalSangha membership, which includes both novicesamanera and fully-ordained bhikkhu.[8] The majority of monks belong to theThudhamma Nikaya (77.3%), followed byShwegyin Nikaya (16.7%), with the remainder of monks belonging to other smallmonastic orders.[8] 5,100thilashin were registered in Bago Region, comprising 8.4% of Myanmar's total thilashin community.[8]
The division's economy is strongly dependent on the timber trade. Taungoo, in the northern end of the Bago Region, is bordered by mountain ranges, home toteak and other hardwoods. Another natural resource is petroleum. The major crop is rice, occupying over two-thirds of the available agricultural land. Other major crops includebetel nut,sugarcane, maize,groundnut,sesamum,sunflower,beans andpulses, cotton, jute, rubber, tobacco,tapioca, banana,Nipa palm and toddy. Industry includes fisheries, salt,ceramics, sugar, paper,plywood, distilleries, andmonosodium glutamate.
The division has a small livestock breeding and fisheries sector, and a small industrial sector. In 2005, it had over 4 million farm animals; nearly 1,200 hectares (3,000 acres) of fish and prawn farms; and about 3000 private factories and about 100 state owned factories.[9]
The major tourist sites of the Bago Region can be reached as a day trip from Yangon.
TheShwegyin Dam is in the eastern part of Bago Region. It is a 478 metres (1,568 ft) long, 41 metres (135 ft) wide and 0.8 metres (2.5 ft) thick zone-type dam with a water storage capacity of 2,078,417 megalitres . The three concrete conduit pipes are 538 metres (1,765 ft) in length, 5 metres (16 ft) in width and 6 metres (20 ft) in height each. The intake infrastructure is 37 metres (121 ft) long, 39 metres (127 ft) wide and 42 metres (137 ft) high. The spillway is 775 metres (2,542 ft) long, 41 metres (135 ft) wide and 18 metres (58 ft) high. Two compressed steel pipe lines at the dam are 8 metres (25 ft) in diameter and 335 metres (1,100 ft) in length each. The power plant is 90 metres (295 ft) long, 29 metres (94 ft) wide and 21 metres (70 ft) high. It is equipped with four 18.75-MW Francis vertical shaft turbines. It can generate 262 million KW hours per year.
The construction of the dam was launched in 2003. The first power station was opened on 29 December 2009, the second on 25 March 2011, the third on 2 June 2011 and the fourth on 21 July 2011. It was inaugurated on 22 October 2011.[10]
Educational opportunities in Myanmar are extremely limited outside the main cities ofYangon andMandalay. In 2005, Bago Region had 578 post-primary schools, 119 middle schools and 132 high schools.[9]The following is a summary of the division public school system for the academic year of 2002–2003.[11]
| AY 2002–2003 | Primary | Middle | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Schools | 3972 | 227 | 95 |
| Teachers | 17,400 | 6600 | 2000 |
| Students | 544,000 | 194,000 | 71,000 |
The division is home to one national university,Pyay Technological University and two local universities,Pyay University andTaungoo University.
The general state of health care in Myanmar is poor. The military government spends anywhere from 0.5% to 3% of the country's GDP on health care, consistently ranking among the lowest in the world.[12][13] Although health care is nominally free, in reality, patients have to pay for medicine and treatment, even in public clinics and hospitals. Public hospitals lack many of the basic facilities and equipment. Moreover, the health care infrastructure outside ofYangon andMandalay is extremely poor. For example, in 2003, Bago Region had less than a quarter of hospital beds than Yangon Region whose population was just slighter greater.[14] More shocking still, in 2005, this division of five million had only 399 doctors in its public hospitals.[9]
| 2002–2003 | # Hospitals | # Beds |
|---|---|---|
| Specialist hospitals | 0 | 0 |
| General hospitals with specialist services | 2 | 400 |
| General hospitals | 28 | 958 |
| Health clinics | 46 | 736 |
| Total | 76 | 2094 |
Places adjacent to Bago Region | |
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