Editing Myanmar (section)

=== Taungoo and Konbaung ===
{{Main articles|Burmese–Portuguese conflicts}}
[[File:Elefante Portugues.jpg|left|thumb|Portuguese ruler mounting an Elephant and his soldiers. Philips, Jan Caspar (draughtsman and engraver)]]
[[File:Map of Taungoo Empire (1580).png|thumb|[[First Toungoo Empire|Toungoo Empire]] under [[Bayinnaung]] in 1580]]
[[File:万国来朝图 Myanmar (缅甸国) delegates in Peking in 1761.jpg|thumb|Myanmar (缅甸国) delegates in Peking in 1761, at the time of Emperor [[Qianlong Emperor|Qianlong]]. ''[[万国来朝图|萬國來朝圖/万国来朝图]]'']]
Political unification returned in the mid-16th century, through the efforts of [[Toungoo dynasty|Taungoo]], a former vassal state of Ava. Taungoo's young, ambitious King [[Tabinshwehti]] defeated the more powerful Hanthawaddy in the [[Toungoo–Hanthawaddy War]]. His successor [[Bayinnaung]] went on to conquer a vast swath of mainland Southeast Asia including the Shan states, [[Lan Na]], Manipur, [[Mong Mao]], the [[Ayutthaya Kingdom]], [[Lan Xang]] and southern Arakan. However, the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia unravelled soon after Bayinnaung's death in 1581, completely collapsing by 1599. Ayutthaya seized Tenasserim and Lan Na, and Portuguese mercenaries established [[Portuguese rule]] at [[Thanlyin]] (Syriam).

The dynasty regrouped and defeated the Portuguese in 1613 and Siam in 1614. It restored a smaller, more manageable kingdom, encompassing [[Lower Myanmar]], [[Upper Myanmar]], [[Shan states]], [[Lan Na]] and upper [[Tenasserim Division|Tenasserim]]. The restored Toungoo kings created a legal and political framework whose basic features continued well into the 19th century. The crown completely replaced the hereditary chieftainships with appointed governorships in the entire Irrawaddy valley and greatly reduced the hereditary rights of Shan chiefs. Its trade and secular administrative reforms built a prosperous economy for more than 80 years. From the 1720s onward, the kingdom was beset with repeated [[Meitei people|Meithei]] raids into Upper Myanmar and a nagging rebellion in Lan Na. In 1740, the Mon of Lower Myanmar founded the [[Restored Hanthawaddy Kingdom]]. Hanthawaddy forces sacked Ava in 1752, ending the 266-year-old Toungoo Dynasty.[[File:Shwedagon pagoda.jpg|thumb|A British 1825 lithograph of [[Shwedagon Pagoda]] shows British occupation during the [[First Anglo-Burmese War]].]]
After the fall of Ava, the [[Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War]] involved one resistance group under [[Alaungpaya]] defeating the Restored Hanthawaddy, and by 1759 he had reunited all of Myanmar and Manipur and driven out the French and the British, who had provided arms to Hanthawaddy. By 1770, Alaungpaya's heirs had subdued much of Laos and fought and won the [[Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767)|Burmese–Siamese War]] against [[Ayutthaya Kingdom|Ayutthaya]] and the [[Sino-Burmese War]] against [[Qing China]].<ref>[[#Lieberman|Lieberman]], pp. 184–187</ref>

With Burma preoccupied by the Chinese threat, Ayutthaya recovered its territories by 1770 and went on to capture Lan Na by 1776. Burma and Siam went to war until 1855, but all resulted in a stalemate, exchanging [[Tenasserim Island|Tenasserim]] (to Burma) and Lan Na (to Ayutthaya). Faced with a powerful China and a resurgent Ayutthaya in the east, King [[Bodawpaya]] turned west, acquiring Arakan (1785), Manipur (1814) and Assam (1817). It was the second-largest empire in Burmese history but also one with a long ill-defined border with [[British India]].<ref>[[#Myint-U|Myint-U]], p. 109</ref>

In 1826, Burma lost Arakan, [[Manipur]], Assam and Tenasserim to the British in the [[First Anglo-Burmese War]]. In 1852, the British easily seized Lower Burma in the [[Second Anglo-Burmese War]]. King [[Mindon Min]] tried to modernise the kingdom and in 1875 narrowly avoided annexation by ceding the [[Karenni States]]. The British, alarmed by the consolidation of [[French Indochina]], annexed the remainder of the country in the [[Third Anglo-Burmese War]] in 1885.

Konbaung kings extended Restored Toungoo's administrative reforms and achieved unprecedented levels of internal control and external expansion. For the first time in history, the Burmese language and culture came to predominate the entire Irrawaddy valley. The evolution and growth of Burmese literature and theatre continued, aided by an extremely high adult male literacy rate for the era (half of all males and 5% of females).<ref>[[#Lieberman|Lieberman]], pp. 202–206</ref> Nonetheless, the extent and pace of reforms were uneven and ultimately proved insufficient to stem the advance of British colonialism.