Where in the world is Burma?

June 12, 2004, 6:41PM

Where in the world is Burma?

By LEON HALE

Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

The other night I was reading in a novel that's set in the nation of
Burma, and I couldn't get into my head exactly where Burma is located.

I've never been too sharp on geography when you get me out of Texas,
and I'm always running into surprises. Just recently I discovered a
large body of water known as the Philippine Sea, that lies just east
of the Philippines. I didn't know a sea by that name existed.

Anyway, I got out the newest atlas we have at our house and gave it a
thorough search, but found no trace of a country called Burma. I was
pretty sure it used to be in Southeast Asia. What's happened? Did they
do away with Burma?

Out in the hall closet I found my old 1975-model National Geographic
Atlas, which for reasons unknown has stayed with me through six
residential moves. It's coming apart in the middle but it does show
Burma, right there across the Bay of Bengal from India. It has a long
thin tail of real estate running down past Thailand to become part of
the Malay Peninsula.

I rechecked the new atlas to discover the name Myanmar printed across
the country I used to know as Burma. Have you ever heard of Myanmar
before? Not me.

Wars and other upheavals are always changing the names of countries.
It must keep mapmakers busy, redrawing borders and putting in new
names.

Remember Mesopotamia? When I was first introduced to books and maps,
Mesopotamia was my favorite foreign country. I learned to spell it
before I could spell Oklahoma. Sunday school teachers told wonderful
stories to little kids about Mesopotamia.

This was where the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers flowed through
beautiful fertile valleys. Somewhere I got the notion that the Garden
of Eden was there. We were taught that Mesopotamia was the very
birthplace of civilization where people first learned to read and
write.

Today Mesopotamia answers to the name Iraq.

Then there in the Middle East we used to have Persia. In my early
times in school I liked everything I heard about Persia. Persian cats
came from there, and Persian rugs. When I heard the name of that
country, I saw shouting riders on fine horses, pounding across the
desert, raising dust, waving swords. Or lying beneath palm trees in
shady oases, eating grapes and dates. Seemed like a great place to be.
Wild adventures every day.

Persia became Iran, and I haven't found much about it to like lately.

Some of the best city names have been changed, too. Does anybody
remember Constantinople?

Long ago in my school days, kids knew that Constantinople was a fine
city in Turkey when they didn't know what state Philadelphia was in.

There was this song we learned that told us how to spell the name, and
kids went around thinking they were educated because they knew how to
spell Constantinople. What we didn't know was that the name came from
that of the Roman emperor Constantine I.

What happened to Constantinople is that it became Istanbul.

Moving back over to Asia a minute, we used to sing a song about going
to Mandalay, which is a major city in Burma. "On the road to Mandalay,
where the flying fishes play ... ." Which puzzles me now, since that
city sits square in the middle of Burma. On my map it looks a mighty
long way from salt water, so I wonder how many flying fishes will be
at play there, or even on the road to it.

Before leaving Burma, I wanted to be sure the name of its capital city
has not been changed. Rangoon, one of my favorite place names on the
planet. The very appearance of the word in print brings up visions of
foreign intrigue, mystery, adventure. Movies that Humphrey Bogart
should have made. If I ever get another boy dog, I intend to name him
Rangoon.

Well, I just now looked on a brand-new map of Southeast Asia and the
name of Burma's capital is shown to be Yangon, with Rangoon in
parenthesis in small print. I have an encyclopedia that says Yangon is
Burmese for Rangoon.

Even so, I figure the next step will be the disappearance of Rangoon's
name from maps of the world, and it will be forever lost along with
Constantinople and Persia and Mesopotamia.


----------------------------------------------------------

Confusion Over The Name Of The Country - Myanmar Or Burma?

Here is the reasons

Refusing to call a nation by its proper official name may seem
insignificant to some but generates resentment among a very high
majority
of the Myanmar population. The subject is concerned with the
recognition
of the country by its original name.

Of course, there are a few politicians
in Myanmar who for certain political reasons prefer to retain the name
Burma given by the former British Colonial Administration.

Myanmar and its capital Yangon are not new names created by the
State Law and Order Restoration Council. In fact, Myanmar and Yangon
are the original names that were renamed Burma and Rangoon by the
British Colonial Administration. In spite of the fact that in the
Myanmar
language people use the names Myanmar and Yangon, unfortunately, none
of the successive Myanmar Governments took the trouble of reinstating
the original names. The SLORC administration did so with two main
purposes: to provide a feeling of release from the British colonial
past and
to give a previously divided and fractious country a sense of national
unity
under the new banner of "The Union of Myanmar".

In the Union of Myanmar there are 8 major national races with
some 135 ethnic groups and among the 8 major nationalities Bamar is
the
largest national race constituting 70% of the whole population. In
this
regard, when the British Colonial Administration colonized Myanmar in
the late 1800's it is presumed that Britain renamed it Burma since
Bamar
or Burmans (the British usage) were the majority in the country which
they occupied. In a cave temple built in the Bagan area is a stone
tablet
bearing a date equivalent to AD 1190. It is one of the first known
references
to 'Myanmar'. In contrast, the name 'Bamar' did not appear during this
and
subsequent periods. The first reference to Bamar was only found in
artifacts
and buildings dating from the KONBAUNG Period (18th and 19th
centuries). Moreover, it is quite interesting to know that China since
ancient
times has referred to Myanmar as Myan-Tin in the Chinese language. It
never referred to Myanmar as Burma-Tin or Bur-Tin as the British
Colonial
Administration had re-named it.

A few years ago in Yangon there was an interview between members
of the media and some of the leaders of the ethnic races (former
insurgent
groups) and the question of name-change was raised by some of the
media.

The ethnic leaders' response was that they now feel they are not left
out
but are being equally given a national identity under the name
Myanmar.
Naturally, the ethnic group still opposing the Myanmar Government will
say things differently because they have aligned themselves with the
political
party which refuses to recognize the country by its original name.
The party (National League for Democracy) stated that the namechange
is not a priority and it has to be carried out with a vote. It is
quite
amazing for someone to say such a thing since national unity is and
always
would be a top priority in any country in the world. It would be
highly
pertinent to ask, if the British Colonial Administration implemented
the
name-change with a vote. If General Aung San, Myanmar's national
leader,
had not been assassinated in 1947, before Myanmar regained her
independence, the national leaders of the time would have definitely
reinstated the original names. The new names imposed by the British
are
not only phonetically wrong but nationally and historically
misrepresentative.

Anyhow, since the United Nations has recognized Myanmar by her
original name it is the obligation of all U.N. member countries to
accept
it whether they approve of it or not. If the situation had been
reversed,
certainly, these same nations would be urging the United Nations
Security
Council (UNSC) to impose sanctions and embargoes on countries not
recognizing and implementing the U.N. resolution or mandate.

Reference:

Political Situation of Myanmar And Its Role in the Region
http://www.myanmar-information.net/p...al/english.pdf

Leon Hale's article for the Houston Chronicle basically sums up a Texan's
understanding of where in the world any dang country is. USA is so big that
why should someone in Texas ever want to know anything at all about a small
country miles from anywhere such as Myanmar.

It is interesting that Leon Hale mentions specifically BURMAH (now Myanmar)
, Persia (now Iran) and of course Mesopotamia (now Iraq).
All these 3 territories have figured in the early exploration of Oil by what
is now BP or British petroleum. In fact you may be interested to learn that
Margaret Thatcher's late husband Dennis was a director of Burmah Oil.
A potted history of BP's involvement in these countries is under:
In 1901 William Knox D'Arcy obtained a concession to explore for oil in
Iran. From 1905 this work was financed by The Burmah Oil Company Ltd and oil
was discovered in 1908. The Anglo-Persian Oil Company Ltd was incorporated
on 14 April 1909 and took over ownership of the concession, but was still a
subsidiary of Burmah. This changed in 1914 following the British
Government's decision to convert its Navy to fuel oil, as it lead to a large
investment in the Company by the Government giving it a 66 per cent
interest. The Government remained a major shareholder in the Company until
it decided to sell most of its shares on the stock exchange in 1987.

In 1923 the Company discovered oil in Iraq, within the "Transferred
Territories" which fell within the D'Arcy Concession. In 1914 it had become
a shareholder in the Turkish Petroleum Company Ltd, later renamed the Iraq
Petroleum Company Ltd, which struck oil in Iraq in 1927. In 1934 the Kuwait
Oil Company Ltd was incorporated as a jointly-owned venture with Gulf Oil
Corporation of Pennsylvania, which discovered oil in Kuwait in 1938. In 1932
the Company formed a joint UK marketing company with Shell called Shell-Mex
and B.P. Ltd.

The Company was renamed the Anglo-Persian Oil Company Ltd in 1935. In 1951
the Iranian Oil industry was nationalised and the Company was expelled from
Iran. It changed its name in 1954 to The British Petroleum Company Ltd. A
consortium called The Iranian Oil Participants Ltd was then formed, in which
the Company had the largest interest. The purpose of the Consortium was to
work with the National Iranian Oil Company (formed in 1951) to develop the
country's oil and gas interests. This lasted until the Islamic Revolution in
1979.

During the 1960s and 70s the Company pioneered oil and gas exploration and
production in the North Sea and Alaska. This was followed in the 1970s and
80s by a programme of diversification which included the creation of BP
Minerals, BP Coal, and BP Nutrition. However, most of these assets were sold
between 1987 and 1994 in order to finance the purchases of The Standard Oil
Company in May 1987 and Britoil in March 1988. The Company then underwent a
process of concentration on the "core businesses" of exploration, marketing
and refining, and petrochemicals. The one significant survivor from the
years of diversification is BP Solar which continued to grow during the
1990s and is now one of the world's largest solar energy companies.

In 1982 the Company changed its name to The British Petroleum Co p.l.c. On
31 December 1998, the Company merged with the US oil company, Amoco
Corporation, on a 60/40 basis and was renamed BP Amoco p.l.c. Two further
takeovers occurred in 2000 - Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) and Burmah
Castrol p.l.c. On 1 May 2001 the Company was renamed BP p.l.c.

Also, Utunlin ..... you may be interested to know how Myanmar got it's name.

"Myanmar" is the Burmese (that's one of the official languages of Burma,
the other being Icelandic) word for treacle.

Occuring naturally, underground, treacle has been mined in Burma/Myanmar,
now, for over thirty thousand years & is the country's second biggest
export, the main export being polar-bear skins.






;-)










...... Texans, eh ?! Hehehehehehe !

I agree with you totally on this, but you forgot one thing that every one
thinks that the little known animal the haggis with it's 2 long and 2 short
legs come from Scotland when they actually come from the dark depths of
Upper Myanmar, which are killed and eaten in the traditional way, the
leftovers from the animal are distilled to make Royal Myanmar Scottish
Whiskey another original product from this country



Occurring naturally, underground, treacle has been mined in Burma/Myanmar,
now, for over thirty thousand years & is the country's second biggest
export, the main export being polar-bear skins.


P.S. where is Texas !!!

"Sleeping Dog !!!" wrote in message
...
I agree with you totally on this, but you forgot one thing that every one
thinks that the little known animal the haggis with it's 2 long and 2
short
legs come from Scotland when they actually come from the dark depths of
Upper Myanmar, which are killed and eaten in the traditional way, the
leftovers from the animal are distilled to make Royal Myanmar Scottish
Whiskey another original product from this country

That's "whisky". Whiskey is what they produce in Ireland (aka Eire).

I also assume you are refering to the long-necked haggis of Shan State from
which traditional Scottish short-necked hair-legged haggi were bred in the
later half of the 17th centuary (once we'd sobered up after the first half).

P.S. where is Texas !!!
All over Iraq by all account.

Mike Edie
(frae Caledonia/na Alba)

"Mike Edie" wrote in message
...
P.S. where is Texas !!!
All over Iraq by all account.


..... where is *Asylum* ? ....... just wondered, as there are about 2
million Iraqis, Somalis, Iranians, North Africans, West Africans, Kurds etc
...... currently *seeking* it, here in the UK !

Hope they FIND it soon ... & take it BACK HOME with them ....... 'cos it's
costing us a hell of a lot in taxes .... helping them to stay here & look
for it !

"Lou Nattick (Sir)" wrote in message
...

"Mike Edie" wrote in message
...
P.S. where is Texas !!!
All over Iraq by all account.


.... where is *Asylum* ? ....... just wondered, as there are about 2
million Iraqis, Somalis, Iranians, North Africans, West Africans, Kurds
etc
..... currently *seeking* it, here in the UK !

Hope they FIND it soon ... & take it BACK HOME with them ....... 'cos it's
costing us a hell of a lot in taxes .... helping them to stay here & look
for it !

Not really.

"Mike Edie" wrote in message
...
.... where is *Asylum* ? ....... just wondered, as there are about 2
million Iraqis, Somalis, Iranians, North Africans, West Africans, Kurds
etc
..... currently *seeking* it, here in the UK !

Hope they FIND it soon ... & take it BACK HOME with them ....... 'cos
it's
costing us a hell of a lot in taxes .... helping them to stay here &
look
for it !

Not really.



??? ..... you obviously haven't been to the UK in the last 5-6 years ?!!

"Lou Nattick (Sir)" wrote in message
...

"Mike Edie" wrote in message
...
.... where is *Asylum* ? ....... just wondered, as there are about 2
million Iraqis, Somalis, Iranians, North Africans, West Africans,
Kurds
etc
..... currently *seeking* it, here in the UK !

Hope they FIND it soon ... & take it BACK HOME with them ....... 'cos
it's
costing us a hell of a lot in taxes .... helping them to stay here &
look
for it !

Not really.



??? ..... you obviously haven't been to the UK in the last 5-6 years ?!!

Err.. seems living here all my life has taught me a great respect for
foreigners than you.

"Mike Edie" wrote in message
...
Err.. seems living here all my life has taught me a great respect for
foreigners than you.



You can talk about "respect" ..... once your town becomes one of phoney
Bliar's *dispersal* areas, like mine ( & my NON-white, non-British born
wife's) has.

Talk about respect, when ... like in OUR case, YOU have to sell your
terraced home ..... for almost a THIRD LESS than you paid for it TWELVE
years previously ...... due to the fact that you suddenly have 4 young male
Iraqi Kurds as immediate neighbours, on one side (terrace, remember) & 5
Iranian, young , male Kurds on the other.

Talk about *respect* when ( despite complaining to the council & filling in
all the forms req.) nothing is done about the fact that day & night you have
loud Arabic music blasting through your walls ...... cars of other *asylum*
filth being revved & *repaired*, at all hours, straight outside your front
window & door.

Talk about *respect* when you have to *start all over again* financially &
take out a crippling mortgage, just when you had got retirement plans on
track, just to escape a neighbourhood in which (suddenly) a minority speak
English.

Talk about *respect*, when YOUR kids have to witness the side streets
surrounding you suddenly turning into the town's latest "red-light" area,
prostiutes flooding in & walking the back alleys, looking to service the new
hordes of freeloading "holidaymakers".

When, all the locals (that can afford to .... & I'm incuding 2nd/3rd
generation Bangladeshi, Pakistani & Indian families, some being close
friends of ours) move out, just to escape the *attentions* of the
opportunistic young, male Kurds.

When so many *locals* move out ..... that the local businesses decide to
follow suit ..... as in the case of our village's ONLY butchers shop
shutting up , after being established locally over 100 years as a family
business ( gradual lack of business) ..... & becoming a Halal meat & arabic
fod/grocery store.

Do you think that it's "natural" to dump 400+ young male Kurds onto a small,
terraced suburb of only a few thousand ?

Respect ? You're having a laugh ! It's a pity that these masses of
scrounging vermin have NO respect for the country (or it's people) that they
are spongeing off.

Seems to me that the only fools crowing on about "how we should sympathise
with so called *asylum-seekers* " ... are the ones that do not HAVE TO live
amongst them.

You haven't got a clue, mate.