Editing Yangon (section)

==History==
{{See also|List of name changes in Yangon}}
{{For timeline}}

===Early history===
Yangon was founded as ''[[Dagon Township|Dagon]]'' in the early 11th century ({{circa|1028–1043}}) by the [[Mon people]], who inhabited Lower Burma at that time.<ref>Founded during the reign of King Pontarika, per {{cite book |title=Legendary History of Burma and Arakan |url=https://archive.org/details/legendaryhistor00smitgoog |year=1882 |author=Charles James Forbes Smith-Forbes |publisher=The Government Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/legendaryhistor00smitgoog/page/n30 20]}}; the king's reign was 1028 to 1043 per {{cite book |last=Harvey |first=G. E. |title=History of Burma: From the Earliest Times to 10 March 1824 |publisher=Frank Cass & Co. Ltd |year=1925 |location=London |page=368}}</ref> Dagon became an important pilgrimage pagoda town, starting in the 14th century, during the [[Hanthawaddy Kingdom]]. Notable governors of Dagon included Princess [[Maha Dewi of Hanthawaddy|Maha Dewi]], who ruled the town from 1364 to 1392,<ref>{{Cite book |title=Razadarit Ayedawbon (in Burmese) (8th printing, 2005 ed.) |last=Pan Hla |first=Nai |publisher=Armanthit Sarpay |orig-date=1968 |year=2005 |location=Yangon |page=54}}</ref> and her grandniece, [[Shin Sawbu|Shin Saw Pu]], who later became the only female [[queen regnant]] in [[History of Myanmar|Burmese history]]. Queen Saw Pu built a palace next to the [[Shwedagon Pagoda]] in the town in 1460 and spent her semi-retired life at that palace until her death in 1471.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/newuniversalgaze00morsrich |title=A new universal gazetteer, or geographical dictionary .. |last1=Morse |first1=Jedidiah |last2=Morse |first2=Richard C. (Richard Cary) |last3=Converse |first3=S. |date=1823 |publisher=New Haven, S. Converse |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.9463 |title=History of Burma: from the earliest times to March 1824 |last=Harvey |first=G. E. |date=1925}}</ref>

In 1755, King [[Alaungpaya]], the founder of the [[Konbaung dynasty]] captured Dagon, added settlements around it, and called the enlarged town "Yangon". In the 1790s, the [[East India Company]] opened a factory in Yangon. The estimated population of Yangon in 1823 was about 30,000.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/imperialgazettee21grea |title=Imperial gazetteer of India .. |last1=Great Britain. India Office |last2=Hunter |first2=William Wilson |last3=Cotton |first3=James Sutherland |last4=Burn |first4=Richard |last5=Meyer |first5=William Stevenson |date=1907 |publisher=Oxford : Clarendon Press |others=University of California Libraries}}</ref> The [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|British]] captured Yangon during the [[First Anglo-Burmese War]] (1824–26), but returned the city to Burmese rule after the war. The city was destroyed by a fire in 1841.<ref name="mcy">{{Cite book |title=Megacity yangon: transformation processes and modern developments |author=Kyaw Kyaw |isbn=978-3-8258-0042-0 |editor1=Frauke Krass |editor2=Hartmut Gaese |editor3=Mi Mi Kyi |pages=333–334 |publisher=Lit Verlag |location=Berlin |year=2006}}</ref>

=== Colonial Rangoon (1852–1948) ===
[[File:Yangon Rangoon and Environ map 1911.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Rangoon and environs map, 1911]]
[[File:Public Gardens, Rangoon.jpg|thumb|left|A view of the Cantonment Gardens (now Kandaw Minglar Garden) in 1868]]
[[File:RangoonStreetView.jpg|thumb|left|Damage of central Rangoon in the aftermath of World War II]]
The British captured Yangon and all of [[Lower Burma]] in the [[Second Anglo-Burmese War]] of 1852, and subsequently transformed Yangon into the commercial and political hub of [[British rule in Burma|British Burma]]. After the war, the British moved the capital of British Burma from Moulmein (present-day [[Mawlamyine]]) to Yangon.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3578993.stm |title=BBC NEWS {{!}} Asia-Pacific {{!}} Burma maintains bygone buildings |publisher=BBC |access-date=27 July 2017 |date=2004-03-30 |archive-date=8 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408162817/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3578993.stm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/moulmein-first-british-capital-of-myanmar-back-on-the-tourist-map/article5000457.ece |title=Moulmein, first British capital of Myanmar, back on the tourist map |work=The Hindu |access-date=27 July 2017 |archive-date=20 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020191612/http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-in-school/moulmein-first-british-capital-of-myanmar-back-on-the-tourist-map/article5000457.ece |url-status=live}}</ref> Based on the design by army engineer Lt. Alexander Fraser, the British constructed a new city on a grid plan on delta land, bounded to the east by the [[Pazundaung Creek]] and to the south and west by the [[Yangon River]]. Yangon became the capital of all [[British rule in Burma|British-ruled Burma]] after the British had captured [[Upper Burma]] in the [[Third Anglo-Burmese War]] of 1885. By the 1890s Yangon's increasing population and commerce gave birth to prosperous residential suburbs to the north of [[Kandawgyi Lake|Royal Lake]] (Kandawgyi) and [[Inya Lake]].<ref name="autogenerated4">{{cite web |url=http://www.bookrags.com/Yangon |title=Yangon Summary Review and Analysis |publisher=Bookrags.com |date=17 October 2005 |access-date=17 April 2010 |archive-date=28 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128201939/http://www.bookrags.com/Yangon }}</ref> The British also established hospitals including [[Yangon General Hospital|Rangoon General Hospital]] and colleges including [[Yangon University|Rangoon University]].

After the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], the British sent [[Bahadur Shah II]], the last [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] emperor, to Yangon to live in exile.<ref>{{cite web |title=Remembering the last Mughal emperor |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41884390 |website=BBC |access-date=11 June 2021 |date=8 November 2017 |archive-date=11 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210611032521/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41884390 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Colonial Yangon, with its spacious parks and lakes and mix of modern buildings and traditional wooden architecture, was known as "the garden city of the East".<ref name="autogenerated4" /> By the early 20th century, Yangon had public services and infrastructure on par with London.<ref name="arc">{{Cite book |last=Falconer |first=John |year=2001 |title=Burmese Design & Architecture |isbn=978-962-593-882-0 |publisher=Periplus |location=Hong Kong |display-authors=etal}}</ref>

Before [[World War II]], about 55% of Yangon's population of 500,000 was [[Non-resident Indian and person of Indian origin|Indian]] or [[South Asian]], and only about a third was [[Bamar]] (Burman).<ref name=tmmt>{{Cite book |title=Indian Communities in south-east Asia – Some Aspects of Indians in Rangoon |last=Tin Maung Maung Than |publisher=Institute of south-east Asian Studies |year=1993 |pages=585–587 |isbn=978-981-230-418-6}}</ref> [[Karen people|Karens]], [[Burmese Chinese|Chinese]], [[Anglo-Burmese]], and others made up the rest.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

After [[World War I]], Yangon became the center of the Burmese independence movement, with leftist Rangoon University students leading the way. Three nationwide strikes against British rule in 1920, 1936, and 1938 all began in Yangon. Yangon was under [[Empire of Japan|Japanese]] occupation (1942–45), and incurred heavy damage during World War II. The city was retaken by the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in May 1945. Yangon became the capital of the Union of Burma on 4 January 1948 when the country gained independence from British rule.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Grace |first=John D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0YfDgAAQBAJ |title=Heads of State and Government |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-349-65771-1 |page=606}}</ref>
=== Contemporary Yangon (1948–present) ===
Soon after Burma's independence in 1948, many colonial-era names of streets and parks were changed to more nationalistic Burmese names. In 1989, the [[State Peace and Development Council|military junta]] changed the city's English name to "Yangon", along with many other changes in English transliteration of Burmese names. (The changes have not been accepted by many Burmese who consider the junta unfit to make such changes, nor by many publications and news bureaus, including, most notably, the [[BBC]] and foreign nations including the United Kingdom and the United States.)<ref>{{cite news |department=Who, What, Why? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7013943.stm |title=Should it be Burma or Myanmar? |work=BBC News |date=26 September 2007 |access-date=17 April 2010 |archive-date=31 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131232458/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7013943.stm |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910.htm |title=Background Note: Burma |publisher=Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, US Department of State |access-date=1 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170122194342/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910.htm |archive-date=22 January 2017 }}</ref>

Since independence, Yangon has expanded outwards. Successive governments have built satellite towns such as [[Thaketa Township|Thaketa]], [[North Okkalapa Township|North Okkalapa]] and [[South Okkalapa Township|South Okkalapa]] in the 1950s to [[Hlaingthaya Township|Hlaingthaya]], [[Shwepyitha Township|Shwepyitha]] and [[South Dagon Township|South Dagon]] in the 1980s.<ref name=mcy/> Today, Greater Yangon encompasses an area covering nearly {{convert|600|km2}}.<ref name=uncrd/>

During [[Ne Win]]'s isolationist rule (1962–88), Yangon's infrastructure deteriorated through poor maintenance and did not keep up with its increasing population. In the 1990s, the military government's more open market policies attracted domestic and foreign investment, bringing a modicum of modernity to the city's infrastructure. Some inner city residents were forcibly relocated to new satellite towns. Many colonial-period buildings were demolished to make way for high-rise hotels, office buildings, and shopping malls,<ref name="beyondrangoon">{{cite magazine |title=Beyond Rangoon |url=http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=5745&page=3 |date=1 May 2006 |author=Edward Blair |magazine=The Irrawaddy |access-date=30 August 2008 |archive-date=4 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101004130347/http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=5745&page=3 }}</ref> leading the city government to place about 200 notable colonial-period buildings under the [[Yangon City Heritage List]] in 1996.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Special Report |url=http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/myanmartimes/no87/New/14.htm |date=4 November 2001 |access-date=30 August 2008 |archive-date=22 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070822213342/http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/myanmartimes/no87/New/14.htm }}</ref> Major building programs have resulted in six new bridges and five new highways linking the city to its industrial back country.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.myanmar.com/myanmartimes/MyanmarTimes17-333/b006.htm |title=Pioneering FMI City 'the best in Yangon' |author=Zaw Htet |work=The Myanmar Times |access-date=7 September 2008 |archive-date=14 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114013535/http://www.myanmar.com/myanmartimes/MyanmarTimes17-333/b006.htm }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/ce/cemm/eng/zt/zmjjqd/jmgxgk/t198979.htm |title=Yangon-Thanlyin Bridge |access-date=7 September 2008}}{{Dead link|date=July 2009}}</ref><ref name="ngamoeyeik">{{Cite news |url=http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/Perspective/persp2001/2-2001/nga.htm |title=Ngamoeyeik Bridge |author=Kyi Kyi Hla |date=1 February 2001 |access-date=7 September 2008 |archive-date=19 November 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091119074811/http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/Perspective/persp2001/2-2001/nga.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Still, much of Yangon remains without basic municipal services such as 24-hour electricity and regular garbage collection.

Yangon has become much more indigenous Burmese in its ethnic make-up since independence. After independence, many South Asians and Anglo-Burmese left. Many more South Asians were forced to leave during the 1960s by Ne Win's xenophobic government.<ref name=tmmt/> Nevertheless, sizeable South Asian and Chinese communities still exist in Yangon. The Anglo-Burmese have effectively disappeared, having left the country or intermarried with other Burmese groups.

Yangon was the centre of major anti-government protests in [[U Thant funeral crisis|1974]], [[8888 Uprising|1988]] and [[Saffron Revolution|2007]]. In particular, the [[8888 Uprising]] resulted in the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of Burmese civilians, many of them in Yangoon where hundreds of thousands of people flooded into the streets of the former capital city. The [[Saffron Revolution]] saw mass shootings and the use of [[Crematorium|crematoria]] in Yangoon by the Burmese government to erase evidence of their crimes against monks, unarmed protesters, journalists and students.<ref>Burmese Human Rights Yearbook, 2007, http://www.burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=1320&lo=d&sl=0 {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019065257/http://burmalibrary.org/show.php?cat=1320&lo=d&sl=0 |date=19 October 2012 }}</ref>

The city's streets saw bloodshed each time as protesters were gunned down by the government, most notably during the [[8888 Uprising|1988]],<ref>{{cite web |title=How a Failed Democracy Uprising Set the Stage for Myanmar's Future |url=https://time.com/5360637/myanmar-8888-uprising-30-anniversary-democracy/ |access-date=11 June 2021 |date=8 August 2018 |archive-date=19 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200919162950/https://time.com/5360637/myanmar-8888-uprising-30-anniversary-democracy/ |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Saffron Revolution|2007]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Myanmar's Saffron Revoulution: 10 Years Later |url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/saffron/ |access-date=11 June 2021 |date=22 April 2017 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529032745/https://www.rfa.org/english/news/special/saffron/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and the [[Myanmar protests (2021–present)|2021]] mass protests,<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-03-14 |title=Myanmar protests: Demonstrators killed in bloody Yangon crackdown |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56395085 |access-date=2023-08-22 |archive-date=14 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230914112724/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56395085 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last= |date=2021-03-27 |title=Myanmar: more than 90 reported killed on 'day of shame' for armed forces |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/27/myanmar-military-protesters-shot-armed-forces-day |access-date=2023-08-22 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=22 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822071408/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/27/myanmar-military-protesters-shot-armed-forces-day |url-status=live }}</ref> all of which were started in Yangon itself, signifying its importance as the cultural centre of [[Burma]].

In May 2008, [[Cyclone Nargis]] hit Yangon. While the city had few human casualties, three-quarters of Yangon's industrial infrastructure was destroyed or damaged, with losses estimated at US$800&nbsp;million.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.mmtimes.com/no427/b004.htm |title=Long road back for industrial recovery |date=14 July 2008 |author=Ye Lwin |work=The Myanmar Times |access-date=26 July 2008 |archive-date=30 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430045910/http://www.mmtimes.com/no427/b004.htm }}</ref>

In November 2005, the military government designated [[Naypyidaw]], {{convert|320|km|mi|0}} north of Yangon, as the new administrative capital, and moved much of the government to the newly developed city. Yangon remains the largest city and the most important commercial, [[Economics|economic]] and cultural center of Myanmar. On 7 May 2005, a series of coordinated bombings occurred in the city of Yangon, Myanmar. Eleven people were killed in the attack, and one of the 162 people that were injured was a member of the [[Lutheran Church in Malaysia|LCMS]] mission team to Myanmar.<ref>{{cite web |website=Writing.com |url=http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1030057 |title=Bomb blast in Yangon, Myanmar |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927100426/http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1030057 |archive-date=27 September 2007 |access-date=11 June 2021 |author1=LostWord |url-status=live |date=2005 }}</ref>
[[File:2021 Myanmar Protest in Hleden.jpg|thumb|A protest in Yangon in response to the [[2021 Myanmar coup d'état|2021 coup d'état]].]]
In the 2020s, life in Yangon was greatly affected by the [[COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar|COVID-19 pandemic]] and [[2021 Myanmar coup d'état|2021 coup d'état]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Myanmar locks down Yangon region after record jump in COVID cases |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/21/myanmar-locks-down-yangon-region-after-record-jump-in-covid-cases |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=Al Jazeera |date=21 Sep 2020 |language=en |archive-date=25 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525163655/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/21/myanmar-locks-down-yangon-region-after-record-jump-in-covid-cases |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="a-65105276">{{Cite web |title=Life in Myanmar's Yangon after COVID and a coup |date=March 24, 2023 |first1=Michael |last1=Kemp |url=https://www.dw.com/en/life-in-myanmars-yangon-after-covid-and-a-coup/a-65105276 |access-date=2023-08-22 |website= DW |language=en |archive-date=8 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408124325/https://www.dw.com/en/life-in-myanmars-yangon-after-covid-and-a-coup/a-65105276 |url-status=live }}</ref> The city was the location of [[Myanmar protests (2021–present)|mass protests]] in response to the coup.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Anti-coup mass protests take place in cities across Myanmar |url=https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/anti-coup-mass-protests-take-place-in-cities-across-myanmar/ |access-date=2023-08-22 |website=Myanmar Now |language=en-US |archive-date=22 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822113922/https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/anti-coup-mass-protests-take-place-in-cities-across-myanmar/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The pandemic and protests prompted authorities to enforce numerous [[COVID-19 lockdowns|lockdowns]] and [[curfew]]s. The city's economy subsequently slowed.<ref name="a-65105276"/>