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A chronology of key events 1057 - King Anawrahta founds the first unified Burmese state at Pagan and adopts Theravada Buddhism.
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Shwedagon Pagoda: Burma's key religious site
Said to date back 2,500 years
Restored in 1998
Jewellery donated for gold roof
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1287 - Mongols under Kublai Khan conquer Pagan. 1531 - Toungoo dynasty, with Portuguese help, reunites Burma. 1755 - Alaungpaya founds the Konbaung dynasty. 1824-26 - First Anglo-Burmese war ends with the Treaty of Yandabo, according to which Burma ceded the Arakan coastal strip, between Chittagong and Cape Negrais, to British India. 1852 - Britain annexes lower Burma, including Rangoon, following the second Anglo-Burmese war. 1885-86 - Britain captures Mandalay after a brief battle; Burma becomes a province of British India. 1937 - Britain separates Burma from India and makes it a crown colony. Japanese occupation 1942 - Japan invades and occupies Burma with some help from the Japanese-trained Burma Independence Army, which later transforms itself into the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) and resists Japanese rule. 1945 - Britain liberates Burma from Japanese occupation with help from the AFPFL, led by Aung San. 1947 - Aung San and six members of his interim government assassinated by political opponents led by U Saw, a nationalist rival of Aung San's. U Nu, foreign minister in Ba Maw's government, which ruled Burma during the Japanese occupation, asked to head the AFPFL and the government. Independence 1948 - Burma becomes independent with U Nu as prime minister.
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The Irrawaddy: backbone of Burma's rice trade
2,170 km (1,350 miles) long
Commercially navigable for 1,300 km (800 miles)
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Mid-1950s - U Nu, together with Indian Prime Minister Nehru, Indonesian President Sukarno, Yugoslav President Tito and Egyptian President Nasser co-found the Movement of Non-Aligned States. 1958-60 - Caretaker government, led by army Chief of Staff General Ne Win, formed following a split in the ruling AFPFL party. 1960 - U Nu's party faction wins decisive victory in elections, but his promotion of Buddhism as the state religion and his tolerance of separatism angers the military. One-party, military-led state 1962 - U Nu's faction ousted in military coup led by Gen Ne Win, who abolishes the federal system and inaugurates "the Burmese Way to Socialism" - nationalising the economy, forming a single-party state with the Socialist Programme Party as the sole political party, and banning independent newspapers.
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Ne Win crushed dissent, propelled Burma into isolation
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1974 - New constitution comes into effect, transferring power from the armed forces to a People's Assembly headed by Ne Win and other former military leaders; body of former United Nations secretary-general U Thant returned to Burma for burial. 1975 - Opposition National Democratic Front formed by regionally-based minority groups, who mounted guerrilla insurgencies. 1981 - Ne Win relinquishes the presidency to San Yu, a retired general, but continues as chairman of the ruling Socialist Programme Party. 1982 - Law designating people of non-indigenous background as "associate citizens" in effect bars such people from public office. Riots and repression 1987 - Currency devaluation wipes out many people's savings and triggers anti-government riots.
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AUNG SAN SUU KYI
Resistance figure and daughter of Burma's founding father
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1988 - Thousands of people are killed in anti-government riots. The State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) is formed. 1989 - Slorc declares martial law, arrests thousands of people, including advocates of democracy and human rights, renames Burma Myanmar, with the capital, Rangoon, becoming Yangon. NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, is put under house arrest. Thwarted elections 1990 - Opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) wins landslide victory in general election, but the result is ignored by the military. 1991 - Aung San Suu Kyi awarded Nobel Peace Prize for her commitment to peaceful change. 1992 - Than Shwe replaces Saw Maung as Slorc chairman, prime minister and defence minister. Several political prisoners freed in bid to improve Burma's international image. 1995 - Aung San Suu Kyi is released from house arrest after six years. 1996 - Aung San Suu Kyi attends first NLD congress since her release; Slorc arrests more than 200 delegates on their way to party congress. 1997 - Burma admitted to Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean); Slorc renamed State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Release of pro-democracy supporters 1998 - 300 NLD members released from prison; ruling council refuses to comply with NLD deadline for convening of parliament; student demonstrations broken up.
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Mandalay, Burma's second city, saw action in World War II
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1999 - Aung San Suu Kyi rejects ruling council conditions to visit her British husband, Michael Aris, who dies of cancer in UK. 2000 September - Ruling council lifts restrictions on movements of Aung San Suu Kyi and senior NLD members. 2000 October - Aung San Suu Kyi begins secret talks with ruling council. 2001 Ruling council releases some 200 pro-democracy activists. Government says releases reflect progress in talks with opposition NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi who remains under house arrest. 2001 February - Burmese army, Shan rebels clash on Thai border. Improving border relations 2001 June - Thai Prime Minister Shinawatra visits, says relations are back on track. 2001 September - Intelligence chief Khin Nyunt visits Thailand. Burma pledges to eliminate drugs trade in the Golden Triangle by 2005. 2001 November - Chinese President Jiang Zemin visits, issues statement supporting government, reportedly urges economic reform. Conflicting signals 2002 May - Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi released after nearly 20 months of house arrest.
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Former PM Khin Nyunt was ousted in late 2004
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2003 May - Aung San Suu Kyi taken into "protective custody" after clashes between her supporters and those of government. 2003 August - Khin Nyunt becomes prime minister. He proposes to hold convention in 2004 on drafting new constitution as part of "road map" to democracy. 2003 November - Five senior NLD leaders released from house arrest after visit of UN human rights envoy. 2004 January - Government and Karen National Union - most significant ethnic group fighting government - agree to end hostilities. 2004 May - Constitutional convention begins, despite boycott by National League for Democracy (NLD) whose leader Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest. The convention adjourns in July. Prime minister ousted 2004 October - Khin Nyunt is replaced as prime minister amid reports of a power struggle. He is placed under house arrest. 2004 November - Leading dissidents are freed as part of a release of thousands of prisoners, including Min Ko Naing, who led the 1988 pro-democracy student demonstrations. 2004 December - Giant waves, generated by an undersea earthquake off the Indonesian coast, hit the coast. The prime minister says 59 people were killed and more than 3,000 left homeless.
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Nay Pyi Taw: New capital is in a remote region
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2005 February - Constitutional convention resumes, but without the participation of the main opposition and ethnic groups. Talks end in January 2006 with no reports of any clear outcomes. 2005 7 May - Three near-simultaneous explosions go off in shopping districts in the capital; the government puts the death toll at 23. 2005 July - Asean announces that Burma has turned down the 2006 chairmanship of the regional grouping. 2005 November - Burma says its seat of government is moving to a new site near the central town of Pyinmana. 2006 March - The new capital - Nay Pyi Taw - hosts its first official event, an Armed Forces Day parade. 2007 January - China and Russia veto a draft US resolution at the UN Security Council urging Burma to stop persecuting minority and opposition groups. 2007 April - Burma and North Korea restore diplomatic ties, 24 years after Rangoon broke them off, accusing North Korean agents of staging a deadly bomb attack against the visiting South Korean president. 2007 May - Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest extended for another year.
Protesting monks defy government orders to stay off the streets
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2007 June - In a rare departure from its normally neutral stance, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) accuses the government of abusing the Burmese people's rights. Public unrest 2007 August - Wave of public dissent sparked by fuel price hikes. Dozens of activists are arrested. 2007 September - Military government declares 14 years of constitutional talks complete and closes the National Convention. Buddhist monks hold a series of anti-government protests. Aung San Suu Kyi is allowed to leave her house to greet monks demonstrating in Rangoon. It is her first public appearance since 2003. Authorities begin to crack down on protests, but demonstrations continue. UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari meets opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
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CYCLONE NARGIS
Thousands were left dead or missing by the 2008 cyclone
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2007 October - Normality returns to Rangoon amid heavy military presence. Monks are absent, after thousands are reportedly rounded up. After some delay, UN Security Council deplores military crackdown on peaceful protestors. 2008 January - A series of bomb blasts hits the country. State media blame "insurgent destructionists", including the Karen National Union (KNU), a group fighting for greater autonomy for the ethnic Karen people. 2008 April - Government publishes proposed new constitution, which allocates a quarter of seats in parliament to the military and bans opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from holding office. To be put to national referendum on 10 May. Cyclone 2008 May - Cyclone Nargis hits the low-lying Irrawaddy delta. Some estimates put the death toll as high as 134,000. Referendum proceeds amid humanitarian crisis following cyclone. Government says 92% voted in favour of draft constitution and insists it can cope with cyclone aftermath without foreign help. Junta renews Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest. 2008 November - Dozens of political activists given sentences of up to 65 years in series of secretive trials. 2008 December - Government signs deal with consortium of four foreign firms to pipe natural gas into neighbouring China, despite protests from human rights groups. 2009 January - Thailand expels hundreds of members of Burma's Muslim Rohingya minority who appeared off its coast. Burma denies the minority's existence. Several hundred Rohingyas are subsequently rescued from boats off the coast of Indonesia. UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari meets opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time in a year. 2009 March - Senior US State Department official Stephen Blake visits for talks with Foreign Minister Nyan Win in what the US called a routine visit. The Burmese government said it was notable given his seniority. UN refugee agency announces expansion of work in northern Rakhine state to aid the Rohingya minority. 2009 April - The National League for Democracy (NLD) main opposition group offers to take part in planned elections if the government frees all political prisoners, changes the constitution and allows in international observers. Aung San Suu Kyi trial 2009 May - The EU extends the 2006 sanctions for another year, but adds that they can be reviewed in the event of moves towards democracy. UN and aid agencies say hundreds of thousands in the Irrawaddy Delta still need assistance a year after Cyclone Nargis. The UN says Burma now allows it to bring in all the staff it needs. 2009 August - Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is convicted of breaching the conditions of her house arrest, following a visit by an uninvited US national in May. The initial sentence of three years' imprisonment is commuted to 18 months' house arrest. 2009 October - Aung San Suu Kyi begins talks with Burma's military leaders and is allowed to meet Western diplomats.
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