Myanmar sits along the eastern rim of the Indian Ocean where South Asia meets Southeast Asia across 676,578 square kilometers. The Irrawaddy River descends from glaciers at Hkakabo Razi, elevation 5,881 meters, and drains southward 2,170 kilometers to a delta that extends 290 kilometers along the Andaman Sea coastline. This river system determined settlement patterns for three millennia and still carries 75 percent of internal cargo transport according to Myanmar Port Authority figures from 2019. The Chindwin River, the Irrawaddy's largest tributary, adds 980 kilometers of navigable water through the western highlands. The Salween River cuts the eastern border with Thailand for 1,448 kilometers without a single dam across its Myanmar course, making it one of two free-flowing major rivers remaining in Southeast Asia. The Shan Plateau rises east of the Salween to average elevations between 900 and 1,200 meters and contains Inle Lake, a 116-square-kilometer freshwater body at 880 meters above sea level. The Arakan Mountains form a 725-kilometer barrier along the western border with Bangladesh and India, creating climatic separation between the Bay of Bengal and the interior plains. The Mergui Archipelago counts more than 800 islands extending 400 kilometers along the Tanintharyi coast, with fewer than 60 permanently inhabited according to the 2014 census.
Myanmar shares land borders with five countries across 6,522 kilometers: China for 2,129 kilometers along Kachin State and northern Shan State, Laos for 238 kilometers in eastern Shan State, Thailand for 2,416 kilometers from Shan State south through Kayin State and Tanintharyi Region, Bangladesh for 271 kilometers along Rakhine State and Chin State, and India for 1,468 kilometers along Chin State, Sagaing Region, and Kachin State. The coastline measures 2,832 kilometers from the Naf River mouth at Bangladesh to Kawthaung facing Thailand across the Kyi estuary. This geography created corridor status between Chinese, Indian, and Thai populations while mountain barriers preserved 135 officially recognized ethnic groups, each maintaining distinct languages within eight primary language families. The Bamar constitute 68 percent of the 54.4 million population recorded in the 2014 census, with Shan at 9.0 percent, Kayin at 6.2 percent, Rakhine at 4.5 percent, Mon at 2.4 percent, and Chin at 2.2 percent.
The climate divides into three seasons across most lowland areas: hot from March through May with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius in Mandalay and the central dry zone, wet from June through October when the southwest monsoon delivers 2,500 millimeters annually along coastal Rakhine State and Tanintharyi Region, and cool from November through February when northern Shan State nighttime temperatures fall to 5 degrees Celsius. Yangon receives 2,616 millimeters of rain annually with 90 percent falling between May and October, while Bagan in the central dry zone receives only 635 millimeters. This variation across 14 degrees of latitude from 10 degrees north at Kawthaung to 28 degrees north at the China border creates conditions supporting both tropical rainforest and pine-dominated temperate forest within a single country. Myanmar contains 45 percent forest cover as of the 2015 Food and Agriculture Organization assessment, down from 58 percent in 1990, with teak forests historically driving British colonial interest and still accounting for 71 percent of world teak exports according to 2018 Forest Department statistics.
The archaeological record documents rice agriculture in the Irrawaddy valley by 3,500 BCE. The Pyu people established city-states including Sri Ksetra near modern Pyay by 200 BCE, adopting Theravada Buddhism alongside Hindu practices and developing irrigation networks that supported populations exceeding 10,000 in urban centers. Chinese Tang Dynasty records from 800 CE describe Pyu cities with brick walls up to 15 meters thick surrounding areas of 14 square kilometers. The Bamar migrated southward from the Tibetan plateau beginning around 850 CE and founded the Bagan Kingdom in 1044 CE under King Anawrahta, who consolidated Theravada Buddhism after receiving texts and monks from the Mon Kingdom of Thaton following military conquest in 1057 CE. Between 1044 and 1287 CE, Bagan rulers commissioned more than 10,000 Buddhist structures across 104 square kilometers of the central plain, with 2,217 temples and stupas remaining today according to the Bagan Archaeological Department inventory from 2019. The Mongol invasions of 1277 and 1287 CE fragmented central authority, leading to 250 years of competing Shan, Mon, and Bamar kingdoms.
The Toungoo Dynasty reunified Myanmar between 1510 and 1752, briefly controlling territory from Manipur to Ayutthaya and establishing administrative systems that persisted into the colonial period. King Bayinnaung conquered the Shan States, Lan Na, Ayutthaya, and Manipur between 1550 and 1565, creating the largest empire in Southeast Asian history at approximately 2.1 million square kilometers. The Konbaung Dynasty, the final Burmese kingdom, ruled from 1752 to 1885 and fought four wars with the British East India Company. The First Anglo-Burmese War from 1824 to 1826 ended with the Treaty of Yandabo ceding Assam, Manipur, Arakan, and Tanintharyi to British India. The Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852 annexed Bago Region, and the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885 resulted in complete annexation of Upper Burma and exile of King Thibaw Min to India. British colonial administration from 1886 to 1948 separated Burma from India in 1937, developed Yangon as a major port handling 2.8 million tons of rice exports annually by 1940, and imported Tamil and Chinese labor that shifted Yangon demographics until Bamar constituted only 32 percent of the city population by 1931.
Japan occupied Myanmar from 1942 to 1945, initially supported by the Burma Independence Army led by Aung San, who switched allegiance to the Allies in March 1945. The Burma Campaign involved 1.3 million Allied troops and resulted in an estimated 71,000 Allied casualties and 150,000 Japanese casualties according to Commonwealth War Graves Commission records. Myanmar gained independence on January 4, 1948, under Prime Minister U Nu, adopting parliamentary democracy with Buddhism as the state religion from 1961. General Ne Win seized power in a 1962 coup and implemented the Burmese Way to Socialism, nationalizing industries and closing the country to most foreign contact for 26 years. The 8888 Uprising on August 8, 1988, brought millions into streets demanding democracy, ending with military suppression that killed an estimated 3,000 people according to Amnesty International documentation. The State Law and Order Restoration Council assumed power in September 1988, changed the country name from Burma to Myanmar in 1989, and relocated the capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw in November 2005.
The National League for Democracy won 392 of 492 contested seats in the 2015 elections, and Aung San Suu Kyi assumed the created role of State Counsellor in April 2016 under a constitution that reserved 25 percent of parliamentary seats and key ministries for military appointees. The Tatmadaw, Myanmar's military, retook direct control in a February 1, 2021 coup, detaining elected officials and declaring a one-year state of emergency that remained in effect through 2024. These events created a travel environment that requires consultation of current governmental travel advisories before planning movement within the country.