In 849 Burmans found the town of Bagan on the banks
of the Ayeyarwaddy about 500 kilometers north of its mouth. Bagan
was to be the center of the first Burmese realm about which a
wealth of historical information exists. Although even before
then in the Ayeyarwaddy valley realms with urban centers had existed,
there are only scarce historical sources concerning those earlier
realms. Before the Burmans the people of the Mon, related
to the Cambodians, and before them the Tibeto-Burman people of
the Pyu had founded realms in the Ayeyarwaddy valley or
delta, but were in the course of time conquered by the Bagan Burmans.
King Anawratha ascends the throne of the Bagan realm in 1044.
In 1056 he is converted to Buddhism by a Mon monk, Shin
Arahan.
A little later, in 1057, King Anawratha makes war against
the Mon town of Bago (Pegu) to gain possession of holy
Buddhist scripts (the Tripitaka), which the Mon King Manuha is
unwilling to give up voluntarily. After a few months siege of
Bago, Manuha finally surrenders. Bago is destroyed and the Tripitaka
is carried off to Bagan on the backs of 32 white elephants.
The Burmese army brings 30,000 captured Mons to Bagan, among them
numerous craftsmen and artisans, who in the following
decades not only enrich, but even determine the culture of Bagan.
During that time pagodas are almost exclusively built in the Mon
style. The Burmese even incorporate the script of the
Mon. Mon King Manuha is presented to the main pagoda of Bagan,
Shwezigon, as temple slave.
After his campaign against the Mon, King Anawratha makes successful
conquests against the Shan realm of that time, which is
adjacent to the Burmese realm in the North, and against the Arakan
realm to the West of Bagan.
After a reign of 33 years King Anawratha is killed by a wild buffalo
in 1077. He is succeeded to the throne by his son Sawlu,
who further extends the borders of the realm. After King Sawlu's
death in 1084 King Kyanzittha ascends the throne and further
extends the realm to the South.
In 1287 hordes of Mongolian horsemen under Kublai Khan
bring the Bagan realm to a graceless and bloody end.
Other Historical eras:
This page: http://www.cockatoo.com/english/myanmar/myanmar_history.htm
