Sittwe

Sittwe
စစ်တွေမြို့

Sittwe main street
Sittwe

Location in Myanmar (Burma)

Coordinates: 20°09′00″N 92°54′00″E / 20.15000°N 92.90000°E / 20.15000; 92.90000
Country  Myanmar
Division Rakhine State
District Sittwe District
Township Sittwe Township
Population (2006)
 • Total 181,000
 • Ethnicities Rakhine, Bamar, Kaman, Maramagyi, Hindus, Rohingya, Bengalis and others
 • Religions Buddhism, Islam
Time zone MMT (UTC+6.30)
Area code(s) 42, 43
[1]

Sittwe (Burmese: စစ်တွေမြို့; MLCTS: cac twe mrui.; Burmese pronunciation: [sɪʔtwè mjo̰]; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced site-tway in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emptying into the Bay of Bengal. The city has 181,000 inhabitants (2006). It is the administrative seat of Sittwe Township and Sittwe District.

Etymology

The name Sittwe is the Burmese version of Rakhine Saite-Twêy (literally, "the place where the war meets"). When the Burmese King Bodawpaya invaded the Mrauk U Kingdom in 1784, the Rakhine defenders encountered the Burmese force at the mouth of Kalandan river. In the ensuing battle, which was waged on both land and water, the Mrauk U forces were defeated. The place where the battle occurred came to be called Site Twêy by the Rakhine, and colloquially as Sittwe by the Burmese.

In early 1825, during the First Anglo-Burmese War, the British forces landed at Sittwe and stationed their forces by the ancient pagoda, Ahkyaib-daw, which is still standing in the city. The British adopted the name Akyab for the place.

History

Originally a small fishing village, Sittwe became an important seat of maritime commerce, especially as a port for the export of rice after the British occupation of Arakan, now known as Rakhine State, following the First Anglo-Burmese War.

Sittwe was the location of a battle during the conquest of Arakan by the Burmese king Bodawpaya. In 1784, the Burmese expeditionary force, some 30,000 strong, encountered the governor of U-rit-taung Province, Saite-ké (General) Aung and his force of 3000.[2] Outnumbered hugely, the Arakanese force tried to fight the Burmese forces on both land and sea, but were brutally crushed. This defeat opened the route towards the inland Arakanese capital of Mrauk-U, which was soon conquered, ending the independence of the Arakanese. According to Arakanese lore, all of the Arakanese defenders were killed.

In 1826, after the First Anglo-Burmese War, the British transferred the seat of government to Sittwe on the seacoast. During the first 40 years of British rule it increased from a village to a town of 15,536 inhabitants, and by 1901 it was the third port of Burma with a population of 31,687. During colonial times, Site-tway had a bad reputation for malaria and cholera, although historical records indicate that it was no better or worse than many other locations along the India coast.

During World War II the island was an important site of many battles during the Burma Campaign due to its possession of both an airfield and a deepwater port.

Sittwe is the birthplace of political monks in Myanmar. It was the birthplace of U Ottama, the first monk who protested against the colonial British in Myanmar. Also, in the recent 2007 protest marches, known as the Saffron Revolution, it was the monks in Sittwe who started the protest against the military government in Myanmar.

Sittwe houses the Dhanyawadi Naval Base, named after the ancient Rakhine city-state of Dhanyawadi.

Since 2012, when Buddhist mobs set fire to Rohingya homes, the Myanmar government has herded tens of thousands of Rohingya people into camps in Sittwe. There are now some 140,000 Rohingya living in flimsy bamboo huts with no electricity, open concrete sewage drains and no adequate medical facilities. The beach at Ohn Daw Gyi became the main departure point for the 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis, which saw an estimated 25,000 people flee Myanmar and Bangladesh.[3]

Demographics

The largest ethnic group in Sittwe is the Rakhine people. Alongside, there are some Burmese from other parts of the country. The vast majority practices Theravada Buddhism, Hinduism or Animism. The Rohingya Muslim quarter used to be called Aung Mingala, until the Muslims were driven out during the 2012 riots in October.[4] It is difficult to document the number of Rohingya who remain in the Internally Displaced Persons camps as the Rohingya were not permitted to register for the national census and the government refuses to address this minority ethnic group by name.

Human Rights Watch, Fortify Rights, Amnesty International and the UN Special Rapporteur have documented the spread of orchestrated anti-Rohingya violence with the permission (and sometimes the direct involvement of) government and military authorities.[5]

Attractions

Climate

Sittwe's climate is classified as a tropical monsoon climate (Am), according to the Köppen climate classification system. The city experiences a dry season from December through April, and an extraordinarily rainy wet season covering the remaining seven months. Sittwe sees average rainfall in excess of 1 metre (40 in) per month during June, July and August. Conditions are noticeably cooler and less humid in the months of December, January and February than during the remainder of the year.

Climate data for Sittwe
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 28.0
(82.4)		 29.4
(84.9)		 31.4
(88.5)		 34.1
(93.4)		 31.5
(88.7)		 29.5
(85.1)		 28.9
(84)		 28.9
(84)		 30.1
(86.2)		 31.1
(88)		 30.3
(86.5)		 28.5
(83.3)		 30.14
(86.25)
Average low °C (°F) 14.7
(58.5)		 15.9
(60.6)		 18.2
(64.8)		 23.6
(74.5)		 25.1
(77.2)		 24.6
(76.3)		 24.7
(76.5)		 24.5
(76.1)		 24.6
(76.3)		 24.0
(75.2)		 21.0
(69.8)		 16.6
(61.9)		 21.46
(70.63)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 11
(0.43)		 8
(0.31)		 5
(0.2)		 44
(1.73)		 268
(10.55)		 1,091
(42.95)		 1,155
(45.47)		 1,025
(40.35)		 537
(21.14)		 289
(11.38)		 105
(4.13)		 17
(0.67)		 4,555
(179.31)
Average rainy days 0 0 0 3 13 23 25 25 18 10 4 0 121
Mean monthly sunshine hours 279 252 279 240 186 120 93 93 120 186 240 248 2,336
Source #1: HKO (1961-1990)[7]
Source #2: World Climate Guide (rain days & sunshine, 1961-1990)[8]

Education

Economy

In February 2007, India announced a plan to develop the port, which would enable ocean access from Indian north-eastern states, so called "Seven sisters", like Mizoram, via the Kaladan River.[9] Sittwe's citizenry, especially Buddhist monks, have participated in the 2007 Burmese anti-government protests

In October 2011, as part of a recent bilateral trade deal signed by Myanmar and India, the two countries pledged a US$120 million port and multimodal investment to complete the infrastructure linking Indian north-eastern provinces to Sittwe overland via India's Mizoram by 2013.

The port of Sittwe will undergo extensive dredging and the construction of new berthing terminals. Once operational it will offer direct passage to enable Burmese and Indian shippers to pick up mainline services to and from Kolkata. The two countries also pledged to double bilateral trade to US$3 billion by 2015 by reducing trade tariffs.

Other

British writer Hector Hugh Munro, better known under his pen name Saki, was born in Sittwe in 1870. A road in Singapore is named after its old name, Akyab.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "National Telephone Area Codes". Myanmar Yellow Pages.
  2. ↑ Shwe Lu Maung alias Shahnawaz Khan: The Price of Silence, A Muslim-Buddhist War of Bangladesh and Myanmar - A Social Darwinist's Analysis, DewDrop Arts & Technology, 2005
  3. ↑ Fuller, Thomas (12 June 2015). "Myanmar to Bar Rohingya From Fleeing, but Won't Address Their Plight". New York Times. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "Unforgiving history". The Economist. 3 November 2012.
  5. ↑ http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/reports/patterns-of-anti-muslim-violence-in-burma.html
  6. ↑ Shwe Lu Maung alias Shahnawaz Khan, The Price of Silence: Muslim-Buddhist War of Bangladesh and Myanmar – A Social Darwinist’s Analysis, DewDrop Arts & Technology, 2005, p174.
  7. ↑ "Climatological Information for Sittwe, Myanmar". Hong Kong Observatory. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  8. ↑ "Sittwe Climate Guide, Burma (Myanmar)". World Climate Guide. Retrieved January 12, 2013.
  9. ↑ "India to develop Myanmar port to benefit northeast". Hindustan Times. Press Trust of India. February 3, 2007. Archived from the original on February 5, 2007.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Sittwe.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sittwe.
Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article Akyab.
Sittwe
Preceded by
None		 Capital of British Arakan
24 February 1826 – 31 January 1862 		Succeeded by
Yangon

Coordinates: 20°08′40″N 92°53′49″E / 20.14444°N 92.89694°E / 20.14444; 92.89694

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.