During the winter holiday season, I explored Myanmar. “Where is that?” so many people have asked. I reply with another question, “Burma? Do you know where Burma is?” Sometimes that helps and sometimes not, but let's commence with the rather contentious controversy of an official name for this country.
From my online research, I believe this article sums up the matter rather succinctly, and I quote a portion of it here:
The name 'Burma' derives from the ethnic Burman (or Bamar) majority and, following local custom, was adopted by the British colonialists in the 19th century. Yet the more formal indigenous name 'Myanmar' has been used for titles, in literature and on official documents for centuries. The English language version of the 1947 constitution, prepared the year before the country regained its independence, referred to the 'Union of Burma', while the Burmese language version used the name ‘Myanmar'
The name Myanmar was accepted by the UN and most other countries. Some governments, however, notably the US and UK, chose not to do so. These countries wanted to show support for Burma's opposition movement, which clung to the old name as a protest against the military regime. The opposition felt that the country's name could only be decided by the people.
The new name was also controversial at another level. 'Myanmar' can be traced back to the pre-colonial period when successive kings ruled the central lowlands of Burma and periodically clashed with the states and societies around them. It implies the continuing political dominance of the major ethnic group living within the geographical boundaries inherited from the British in 1948. This is anathema to many among the country's ethnic minorities.
To some, the use of either 'Burma' or 'Myanmar' represented a political position.
From the responses of guides and a few others I asked while in-country, Myanmar is preferred because “it is the traditional name for our country,” and Burma is the colonial name established by an outside entity—one militarily, economically, and politically potent at the time. Although the full history and implications of the controversy of Myanmar vs. Burma are more complicated, I shall continue to refer to this nation as Myanmar.
A land of rich diversity--environmentally and ethnically--with a turbulently storied history, Myanmar feels rather magical at this particular moment. Perhaps the tenuous nature of its current time space enhances the aura of hope and possibility floating just above the ash and dust of a land repeatedly plundered by others hungry for its natural resources and/or the trappings of power and luxury. In behalf of Myanmar, I now find myself in a mother-mode of sorts--cheering, worrying, encouraging, reprimanding, and praying.
People and the lay of the land create the majority of the images and memories I carry with me forever after. At times, food also ranks. Myanmar achieved all three of these. From Yangon, to Bagan, to the Ayarwaddy River, to Mandalay, to Ngwe saung, the movie in my mind plays an amazing array of frames.
Yangon
Bagan
Ayarwaddy River
Ngwe Saung
Mandalay
