Bayinnaung ' onMouseout='HidePop("29545")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Portuguese_language">Portuguese
Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
as Braginoco, and in the Thai language as Burinnaung or Burengnong was a king of the
Toungoo dynastyTaungoo is a city in the Bago Division of Myanmar, located 220 km from Yangon, towards the northern end of the division, with mountain ranges to both east and west. The main industry is in forestry products, with teak and other hardwoods extracted from the mountains...
in modern-day
MyanmarBurma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia or Indochina. The country is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the...
.
Bayinnaung ' onMouseout='HidePop("29545")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Portuguese_language">Portuguese
Portuguese is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia and northern Portugal. It is derived from the Latin spoken by the romanized Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula around 2000 years ago...
as Braginoco, and in the Thai language as Burinnaung or Burengnong was a king of the
Toungoo dynastyTaungoo is a city in the Bago Division of Myanmar, located 220 km from Yangon, towards the northern end of the division, with mountain ranges to both east and west. The main industry is in forestry products, with teak and other hardwoods extracted from the mountains...
in modern-day
MyanmarBurma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia or Indochina. The country is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the...
. He is widely revered in the country, and is best known for unifying the kingdom and conquering the
Shan StatesThe term Shan States was used during the colonial period as a geographical designation for certain areas of Burma and Thailand...
, Siam and
LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. He is also well-known in Thailand on account of a popular song and a popular book both titled "Phu Chana Sip Thit" meaning "the Conqueror of Ten Directions."
Early life
The legend holds that Bayinnaung was born to a couple living near Pagan, and was named
Shtet. Shtet's mother later moved to Toungoo to become Prince Mintra's milkmaid. At Toungoo, Shtet was married to Mintra's sister. Prince Mintra was then crowned as King Tabinshweti of
ToungooThe Taungoo dynasty was one of the most powerful post-Bagan Burmese kingdoms, over which seven kings reigned for a period of 155 years....
in 1531. As an acquinted childhood friend to the king, Shtet gained the royal trust and was made
Bayinnaung Kyawhtin Nawrahta (Bayinnaung means "the royal brother-in-law and Kyawhtin Nawrahta was the title of crown prince) - the Uparaja.
After the failed campaign against Ayutthaya in 1548, Tabinshweti lost his momentum and suffered mental illness. The Crown Prince Bayinnaung then took control of state affairs to protect the kingdom. Smim Htaw, a son of the last
MonMon may refer to:Places:* Mon State, a subdivision of Burma* Mon, India, a town in Nagaland* Mon District, Nagaland, India* Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Grisons* Anglesey or Môn, an island and county of Wales* Møn, an island of Denmark...
king of Pegu, staged a rebellion and Tabinshweti himseld was assassinated in 1550 by Smim Sawhtut - his close Mon advisor who was also of Pegu dynasty descent. Smim Sawhtut then crowned himself as the king of Pegu but found himself also under competition with Smim Htaw. Smim Htaw led the Mon armies to assault Pegu and was able to execute Smim Sawhtut after three months of rule.
Reconquest of Burma (1550-1555)
Bayinnaung was the name conferred by his brother-in-law King
TabinshwehtiTabinshwehti was a king who unified Burma in 1539 and known as the founder of the Second Burmese Empire.Tabinshwehti succeeded his father Mingyinyo as ruler of the Toungoo dynasty in 1531...
, the founder of the Second Burmese Empire, nearly 3 centuries after the fall of
BaganBagan , formerly Pagan, is an ancient city in the Mandalay Division of Burma. Formally titled Arimaddanapura or Arimaddana and also known as Tambadipa or Tassadessa , it was the ancient capital of several ancient kingdoms in Burma...
in 1287 to the Mongol invasion under
Kublai KhanKublai or Khubilai Khan , was the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire from 1260 to 1294 and the founder of the Yuan Dynasty...
. After Tabinshwehti was assassinated by
MonThe Mon are an ethnic group from Myanmar, living mostly in Mon State, Bago Division, Irrawaddy Delta of present-day Burma, and along the southern Thai-Myanmar border. One of the earliest peoples to reside in Southeast Asia, the Mon were responsible for the spread of Theravada Buddhism in...
members of his court in
PeguBago may refer to:*Myanmar**Bago, Burma a city**Bago Division an administrative region*Philippines**Bago City, Negros Oriental**Bago **Bago * Bago is a champion race horse...
in 1550, Bayinnaung fought to recover Tabinshwehti's kingdom retaking Toungoo and
PromePyay is a town in the Bago Division in Burma. It has an estimated population of 123,800 . Pyay is positioned on the Ayeyarwady River and is northwest of Yangon ....
in 1551, Pegu,
MartabanMottama, formerly known as Martaban, is a small town in the Thaton district of Mon State, in southern Burma. It is located on the right bank of the Salween River, on the opposite side of Mawlamyaing....
, and
BasseinPathein , is a port city with a 2004 population estimated at 215,600, and the capital of the Ayeyarwady Division, Burma. It lies on the Pathein River , which is a western branch of the Irrawaddy River....
in 1552, and finally
AvaInnwa is a city in the Mandalay Division of Burma, situated just to the south of Amarapura on the Ayeyarwady River. Its formal title is Ratanapura , which means City of Gems in Pali. The name Innwa means mouth of the lake, which comes from in , meaning lake, and wa , which means mouth...
in 1555.
Shan States and Chiang Mai (1557-1558)
After he had retaken both
Upper BurmaUpper Burma was a term used by the British to refer to the central and northern area of what is now the country of Myanmar . After the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, Lower Burma was annexed by the British Empire, while Upper Burma remained independent under the Kingdom of Burma until the Third...
and
Lower BurmaLower Burma is a historical region, referring to the part of Burma annexed by the British Empire after the Second Anglo-Burmese War, which took place in 1852, plus the former kingdom of Arakan and the territory of Tenasserim which the British had taken control of in 1826...
, he led a military expedition northwards to the
ShanThe Shan are a Tai ethnic group of Southeast Asia. The Shan live primarily in the Shan State of Burma , but also inhabit parts of Mandalay Division, Kachin State, and Kayin State, and in adjacent regions of China and Thailand...
region and took Mong Mit, Hsipaw, Yawnghwe, Mong Yang, and
MogaungMogaung or Mongyaung is a town in the northeast of Kachin State in Burma.-External links:* Falling Rain Genomics, Inc.** Maplandia.com...
in 1557.
The following year he marched to
Mong NaiMong Nai is a town in Mong Nai Township in the Shan State of Burma.-References:...
(1557) and then the
LannaThe Kingdom of Lanna was a state in what is now northern Thailand from the 13th to 18th centuries. The cultural development of the people of Lanna, the Tai Yuan people, had begun long before as successive Tai Yuan kingdoms preceded Lanna...
kingdom of
Chiang MaiChiang Mai , also sometimes written as "Chiengmai" or "Chiangmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand, and is the capital of Chiang Mai Province. It is located some north of Bangkok, among some of the highest mountains in the country...
(
Zin Mè 1558) taking both cities. In 1563 he conquered the Chinese Shans of
Mong MaoMong Mao or Mao kingdom was an ethnically Tai state that controlled several smaller Tai states or chieftainships along the frontier of what is now Myanmar and China in the Dehong region of Yunnan with a capital near the modern-day border town of Ruili...
.
Ayutthaya (1564-1569)
In 1563, Bayinnaung launched another campaign against the kingdom of
AyutthayaAyutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1351 to 1767 until it was invaded by the Burmese. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up...
, capturing the capital in 1569 despite widespread opposition and resistance among the Siamese. Siam, in effect, became a vassal state of the Toungoo kingdom, and thousands were taken back to Burma as war captives.
Starting in the late 1560s several European travellers such as Cesar Fedrici and Gaspero Balbi travelled to Pegu, the capital of Burma, and left detailed descriptions of Bayinnaung's kingdom in their travel journals (See external links below).
Lan Xang (1570s)
In the 1570s Bayinnaung marched against the kingdom of
Lan XangThe Lao kingdom of Lan Xang or Lan Ch'ang was established in 1354 by Fa Ngum....
(
Lin Zin) in modern day
LaosLaos , officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
. The king of Lan Xang, Setthathirat, and the inhabitants of the capital
VientianeVientiane is the capital city of Laos, situated in the Mekong Valley. It is also Laos's largest city. The estimated population of the city is 200,000 while the number of people living in the Vientiane metropolitan area is believed to be over 730,000...
fled to the jungle where they resisted the invasion.
Bayinnaung pursued them into the jungle, but warfare in the jungle proved difficult. The enemy was difficult to find and engage in battle. Failing to achieve decisive control over Lan Xang, Bayinnaung returned to Burma.
When Bayinnaung returned to Lan Xang in 1574 he tried to lure the inhabitants back to the capital and rebuild the kingdom under a ruler of his choice.
An expedition was also sent to reassert control over the Shan state of Mogaung in the far north in 1576.
Bayinnaung's death (1581)
On the eve of his death in 1581 Bayinnaung was preparing to launch an attack against the coastal kingdom of Arakan. Bayinnaung was succeeded by his son
Nanda BayinNanda, Nanda Bayin , was the king of the Taungoo Dynasty of Myanmar from 1581 to 1599. He succeeded his father Bayinnaung....
. During his son's reign, the empire that Bayinnaung had constructed was dismembered, and Siam was liberated by Prince
NaresuanSomdet Phra Naresuan Maharaj or Somdet Phra Sanpet II was the King of Ayutthaya kingdom from 1590 until his death in 1605. Naresuan was one of Siam's most revered monarchs as he was known for his campaigns to free Siam from Burmese tributary...
after Bayinnaung's death.
Legacy
- As conqueror of predecessor of Thailand, he was well-known by the Thai people, and often with respect. Chote Praepan (pen name "Jacob"), an influential Thai journalist and author expanded his story into an epic historical fiction, "ผู้ชนะสิบทิศ" or "Puchana Sib Tid", literally winner (conqueror) of the ten directions.
- The Thai novel later spawned a tv and a movie series. The song of the same name from the movie series, performed by Charintra Nanthanakorn, remains one of the most recognizable and popular songs in Thailand.
External links
- The Changing Nature of Conflict between Burma and Siam as seen from the Growth and Development of Burmese States from the 16th to the 19th Centuries, by Pamaree Surakiat,Mar 2006, Asia Research Institute, Singapore.
- Biography of King Bayinnaung (r. 1551-1581), by U Thaw Kaung.
- Account of Pegu (c. 1569), by Cesar Fedrici.
- Voyage to Pegu, and Observations There, Circa 1583, Gaspero Balbi
- A king of Burma and the Sacred Tooth Relic
- The Flight of Lao War Captives from Burma back to Laos in 1596:A Comparison of Historical Sources Jon Fernquest, Mae Fa Luang University, SOAS bulletin, Spring 2005
- The Kinder Side of a Burmese King The Back Page, The Irrawaddy
This article is about a newsmagazine. For other uses of the term, please see Irrawaddy.
For the Second World War battle honour, see Battle of Pokoku and Irrawaddy River operations...
, February 2007
- Thai-Burmese Historical Film Breaks Box Office Records Khun Sam, The Irrawaddy, January 25 2007
- Thai Tourists in Burma Sai Silp, The Irrawaddy, February 2007