Encyclopedia > Rangoon

  Article Content

Rangoon

Rangoon (also Yangon), population 2,458,712 (1983), is the capital of Myanmar. The city is located on the Yangon River[?], near the Gulf of Martaban[?]. Major exports include rice, teak[?], petroleum, cotton, and metal ores. There are rice mills, sawmills[?], oil refineries[?], and steel, iron, and copper mills.

The city was probably founded in the 6th century, but it was a small fishing village until King Alaungapaya[?] made it his capital in 1753. It came under British rule in 1852. Rangoon was heavily damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in 1930, and again during World War II.

During World War II Japan forces captured the city on March 8, 1942.

The University of Yangon[?] was founded in 1920 and reorganized in 1964, when it became the Arts and Science University.



All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

 
  Search Encyclopedia

Search over one million articles, find something about almost anything!
 
 
  
  Featured Article
Jamesport, New York

...     Contents Jamesport, New York Jamesport is a town located in Suffolk County, New York. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population ...

 
 
 
This page was created in 23.1 ms