Nice small map titled Rangoun, from wood engraving with fine  detail and clear impression, nice hand coloring. Overall size approx. 19.5 x 15 cm, image size approx. 12 x 10.5 cm. From La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, 19 vol. (1875-94), great work of Elisee Reclus. Cartographer is Charles Perron.

Yangon

also called Rangoon

city, capital of independent Myanmar (Burma) from 1948 to 2006, when the  government officially proclaimed the new city of Nay Pyi Taw (Naypyidaw) the  capital of the country. Yangon is located in the southern part of the country on  the east (left) bank of the Yangon, or Hlaing, River (eastern mouth of the  Irrawaddy River), 25 miles (40 km) north of the Gulf of Martaban of the Andaman  Sea. Yangon is the largest city in Myanmar and the industrial and commercial  centre of the country. It was known abroad as Rangoon until 1989, when the  government of Myanmar requested that Yangon, a transliteration reflecting the  Burmese pronunciation of the city's name, be used by other countries.

The city site is a low ridge surrounded by delta alluvium. The original  settlements were located on the ridge, but the modern town was built on  alluvium. Subsequent expansion has taken place both on the ridge and on delta  land. The local climate is warm and humid, with much rainfall.

The centre of the city, called the Cantonment, was planned by the British in  1852 and is laid out on a system of blocks, each 800 by 860 feet (245 by 262  metres), intersected regularly by streets running north–south and east–west. As  Yangon's population increased in the 20th century, new settlements were built in  the north, east, and west that greatly expanded the city's area.

The most notable building in Yangon is the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, a great Buddhist  temple complex that crowns a hill about one mile north of the Cantonment. The  pagoda itself is a solid brick stupa (Buddhist reliquary) that is completely  covered with gold. It rises 326 feet (99 metres) on a hill 168 feet (51 metres)  above the city. Yangon is the site of several other major religious edifices,  including the World Peace Pagoda (1952) and the Sule and Botataung pagodas.

Most of the city centre is made up of brick buildings, which are generally three  to four stories high, while traditional wooden structures are common in the  outlying areas. Among the old colonial structures of red brick are the Office of  Ministers (formerly the Old Secretariat), the Law Courts, Yangon General  Hospital, and the customhouse. Modern architecture includes the Secretariat  Building, the department stores in the Cantonment, the Polytechnic School, the  Institute of Medicine I, and the Yangon Institute of Technology at Insein.

Yangon's rice mills and sawmills located along the river are the largest in the  country. The city's major industries—which produce textiles, soap, rubber,  aluminum, and iron and steel sheet—are state-owned, while most of its small  industries (food-processing and clothing-manufacturing establishments) are owned  privately or cooperatively. The central area of the city contains the commercial  district of banks, trading corporations, and offices, as well as shops,  brokerage houses, and bazaars.

North of the city centre is Royal Lake (Kandawgyi), surrounded by a wooded park;  nearby are the city's zoological and botanical gardens. Yangon's several museums  include the Bogyoke Aung San Museum and the National Museum of Art and  Archaeology. There are several stadiums for sports and athletic events. The  University of Rangoon, established in 1920, was reconstituted into the Arts and  Science University in 1964.

Yangon is Myanmar's main centre for trade and handles more than 80 percent of  the country's foreign commerce. Rice, teak, and metal ores are the principal  exports. The city is also the centre of national rail, river, road, and air  transportation; an international airport is located at Mingaladon, north of  Yangon.

The Shwe Dagon Pagoda has been a place of pilgrimage for many centuries, and  Yangon grew out of a settlement around the temple that eventually became known  as Dagon. Its status was raised to that of a town by the Mon kings in the early  15th century. When King Alaungpaya (who founded the last dynasty of Myanmar  kings) conquered southern Myanmar in the mid-1750s, he developed Dagon as a port  and renamed it Yangon (“The End of Strife”), a name that was later  transliterated as Rangoon by Arakanese interpreters accompanying the British. By  the early 19th century the town had a thriving shipbuilding industry, as well as  a British trading station. Rangoon was taken by the British at the outbreak of  the First Anglo-Burmese War in 1824 but was restored to Burmese control two  years later. The city was taken again in 1852 by the British, who made it the  administrative capital of Lower Burma (i.e., the southern part of the country).  After the British annexation of all of Burma in 1886, Rangoon became the capital  city and grew in importance.

In 1930 Rangoon was struck by a massive earthquake and tidal wave, and during  World War II it was the scene of major fighting between the Allies and the  Japanese. The city was subsequently rebuilt, though, as the capital of  independent Myanmar (since 1948), it never regained the commercial importance it  had under the British as one of the great ports of southern Asia. By the late  20th century the city's economic vitality had declined, largely because of the  isolationist policies pursued by the Myanmar government. In 2005 government  offices began to be transferred to Pyinmana, a city some 200 miles (320 km)  north of Yangon, followed by a transfer to the newly built capital of Nay Pyi  Taw, near Pyinmana. Area city, 77 square miles (199 square km). Pop. (2007  prelim.) 4,090,000.