Union of Myanmar
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Flag of Myanmar
Red with a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing,
14 white five-pointed stars encircling a cogwheel containing a stalk of rice;
the 14 stars represent the seven
administrative divisions and seven states.
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Britain conquered Burma over a period of 62 years (1824-1886) and
incorporated it into its Indian Empire.
Burma was administered as a province of India until 1937 when it became
a separate, self-governing colony; independence from the Commonwealth
was attained in 1948. Gen. NE WIN dominated the government from 1962 to 1988,
first as military ruler, then as self-appointed president,
and later as political kingpin. Despite multiparty legislative elections
in 1990 that resulted in the main opposition party - the National
League for Democracy (NLD) - winning a landslide victory,
the ruling junta refused to hand over power. NLD leader and Nobel Peace
Prize recipient AUNG SAN SUU KYI, who was under house arrest from
1989 to 1995 and 2000 to 2002, was imprisoned in May 2003
and subsequently transferred to house arrest, where she remains
virtually incommunicado. In November 2005, the junta extended her
detention for at least another six months. Her supporters, as well as
all those who promote democracy and improved human rights,
are routinely harassed or jailed.
- CIA World Factbook.
Myanmar Language
Myanmar script draws its source from Brahmi script which flourished in
India from about 500 B.C. to over 300 AD.
www.myanmars.net/myanmar-language/myanmar-alphabets.htm
Flag and Emblem
Myanmar - Fotw
2:3 and 6:11 Variants of the National Flag,
Meaning of the flag,
Significant dates,
National Emblem,
President's Flag,
River Patrol,
Rangoon Port Commissioner.
www.fotw.us/flags/mm.html
Myanmar - wikipedia.org
Myanmar, officially Union of Myanmar
is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia.
It is also known as Burma or the Union of Burma by many bodies
and states which do not recognize the ruling military junta.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myanmar
Burma - U.S. Department of State
A majority of Burma's estimated 54.3 million people are ethnic Burmans. Shans, Karens, Rohingya, Arakanese, Kachins, Chins, Mons, and many other smaller indigenous ethnic groups form about 30% of the population. Indians and Chinese are the largest non-indigenous groups.
Although Burmese is the most widely spoken language (approx. 32 million speakers), other ethnic groups have retained their own identities and languages. Some of the most prominent are Shan; various Karen, Karenni and Chin languages; Arakanese; Jingpho; Mon; Palaung; Parauk; Wa; and Yangbye. English is spoken in many areas frequented by tourists. The Indian and Chinese residents speak various languages and dialects of their homelands: Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Mandarin, Fujianese, and Cantonese.
According to the 1974 Constitution, Buddhism is the official religion of Burma. An estimated 89% of the population practices it. Other religions, Christian 4%--Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1%--Muslim 4%, and animist 1%, are less prevalent, although the regime may underestimate adherents of these other religions.
Much of the population lives without basic sanitation or running water. In 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) ranked Burma among the lowest countries worldwide in healthcare delivery to its citizens. High infant mortality rates and short life expectancies further highlight poor health and living conditions. The HIV/AIDS epidemic poses a serious threat to the Burmese population, as do tuberculosis and malaria. In 2005, the UNDP’s Human Development Index, which measures achievements in terms of life expectancy, educational attainment and adjusted real income, ranked Burma 129 out of 177 countries.
There are numerous documented human rights violations, and internal displacement of ethnic minorities also is prevalent. Several million Burmese, many of them ethnic minorities, have fled for economic and political reasons to Bangladesh, India, China, Malaysia and Thailand to seek work and asylum. More than 170,000 Burmese live in the nine refugee camps in Thailand and the two in Bangladesh. Over one million Burmese work and reside legally and illegally in the countries in the region.
www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910.htm
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Flag of Myanmar