Ancient Bagan by Rebecca Settle

Timeline

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-06 19:50:05 UTC

Today: Bagan is in danger!!!

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-07 22:42:35 UTC

The ancient city of Bagan is being negatively impacted due to its close proximity to conflict zones and the threat of modern infrastructure. Archeologists and scholars are even asking the United Nations to name the city an endangered World Heritage Site. In 2022 the army stationed itself in the city, and have been restricting the area to outsiders and have been charging the residents for outside travel. It is believed that the military stationed itself here because they thought the city's status as a World Heritage site would discourage resistance groups from attacking. A protection of heritage sites from the army and resistance groups had been issued, but it has been ignored and bombing and fighting has continued. Soldiers have even been robbing the ancient city and selling of its relics. As for the infrastructure threat, a Hilton hotel is planned to be built right in the city among the ancient temples. Due to an agreement made when Bagan first became a World Heritage Site if this continues Bagan may be removed from the list if this issue is not fixed (Frontier).

Image Source: Photo taken by Adam Ferguson in January on The New York Times

Snapshot 1: 2016 Earthquake

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-07 22:42:41 UTC

On August 24, 2016, a huge earthquake struck the ancient city of Bagan. Old Bagan is the center of Myanmar's tourism, and is only growing, but the earthquake damaged over 170 of the city's sacred structures!! The earthquake shocked tourists, and left three people dead (Moe).

Interestingly, most of the temples that were significantly damaged by the earthquakes were ones that had been altered by modern builders. These reconstructions included building new structures on top of the old ones, and other alterations. In contrast to this, structures that had not been subject to renovation were not as significantly damaged or in some cases were not damaged at all. The renovated temples were built with low quality materials, and lacked proper attention leading to their easy decline in the earthquake. In many cases, new parts of the temples fell onto old parts ("Reconstructed Monuments").

Image Source: VOA News on August 25, 2016

Snapshot 2: Bagan is in the middle of a Civil War

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-07 22:42:47 UTC

In 2021, the military of Myanmar organized a coup and took over the country. When the junta took control peaceful protests immediately started, but these protests did nothing, and the junta continue to torture and murder. Resistance groups have formed who are fighting to protect the rights of ethnic minority groups. The common enemy of the Junta helped unify ethnic groups and militias helped the resistance stay strong. On just April 11, they claimed a hugely important territory. This conflict has been extremely deadly, killing over tens of thousands of people and leaving millions more stranded. Despite all this the conflict in Myanmar gets very little attention when put next to Ukraine and Russian and Gaza (Beech and Cai)

Image Source: Photo taken February 6, 2021 by Getty Images on Global Conflict Tracker

Summary

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-07 22:43:05 UTC

Ancient Bagan is a cultural gem filled to the brim with incredible architecture and history. However, conflict and infrastructure threaten its survival. Little attention is paid to the conflict in Myanmar, and if nothing is done Bagan could even have its title of a UNESCO World Heritage Site revoked. It is necessary for Bagan to become an Endangered Heritage Site in order to protect it and to preserve it for future generations.

Image Source: Taken by Tim Chong on March 4, 2015 on Flickr

Founding

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-07 22:44:05 UTC

There are many different theories about the founding of Bagan:

Theory 1:

This is a common theory believed among modern scholars. In the 9th century, Bagan was founded by the Mranma people, who migrated from Nanzhao Kingdom and settled along the Irrawaddy River, an area already inhabited by the Pyu people. The Mranma took on different aspects of Buddhist culture, and steadily developed their city. The city really expanded when King Anawrahta came to power.

*This is the theory I support in my Padlet

Theory 2:

This is a theory based off of the writing of Burmese Chronicles. It is said that Buddha made a prophecy stating that a great city would be founded in the area he stood 651 years later. Exactly 651 years after this prophecy, Thamoddarit founded Bagan in the exact area Buddah stated (Shally-Jensen and Vivian 61-62).

Works Cited

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-07 22:44:35 UTC

Works Cited Links

Name Key

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-08 18:11:35 UTC

Mranma: Burmese people who founded the Bagan Kingdom

Pyu: an ethnic group that was already living in the area where Bagan was founded

Mon: another ethnic group present in Bagan

Bagan/Pagan: both names for the city

Burma/Myanmar: both names for the country today

Bagan Overview

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-08 18:20:16 UTC

Who:

Founded by the Mranma people and today occupied by a hugely diverse population, though the majority is Burman

What:

A UNESCO World Heritage site known for its thousands of religious artifacts

Where:

In Burma/Myanmar on the East bank of the Irrawaddy River
Where the Bagan Empire was located

When:

Bagan Kingdom: 9th century - late 13th century
Became a UNESCO site in
("Bagan")

Image Source: Photo taken by Dave Wong on November 2, 2018 on Flickr

Culture and Society

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-08 18:43:33 UTC

The Bagan Empire was a culturally diverse empire that was dependent on agriculture, and included a hierarchical society. The social structure of Bagan consisted of the King at the top and the peasants as the majority. The Bagan Empire was full of tons of different people, the main groups being Pyu and the Mon. Burmese script came from a combination of these two. There were also lots of different religions, but Theravada Buddhism was the most prominent(as of King Anawrahta's rule). Agriculture was the most important part of the Bagan Empire's economy. Irrigation systems were used to produce rice generating wealth to the empire. This wealth helped the empire expand (Shally-Jensen and Vivian 62-63).

Modern Map

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-13 18:48:28 UTC

Image Source: New York Times April 2024

rebeccasettle27 — 2024-05-14 03:06:11 UTC

Image Source: Created by Hybernator on January 22, 2021 on Wikimedia Commons