Burma Information

Links to Burma Information

Myanmar Official Homepage (The Golden land)

Free Burma

This contains various information about Burma.

The Burma Project

The Burma Project is dedicated to increasing international awareness of conditions in Burma and to helping the country make the transition from a closed to an open society.

Gopher Menu of Myanmar Resources

This is a gopher site containing information about Myanmar - human rights, travel information, etc.

Gopher Menu of Document Archives

This gopher site contains information archives of the Burma Focus Newsletter, recent history and human rights issues.

The soc.culture.burma newsgroup discusses politics, culture and news about Burma.

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About Burma

Geography

Burma is located in south-east Asia, bordering the Bay of Bengal between Bangladesh and Thailand. This is a strategic location near major Indian Ocean shipping lanes. The country occupies a total of 678,500 sq km of which 657,740 sq km is land. The country has 1,930 km of coastline. It has a 5,876 km long land border, sharing 193 km with Bangladesh, 2,185 km with China, 1,463 km with India, 235 km with Laos and 1,800 km with Thailand. A map of Burma is available.

Burma has a tropical monsoon climate - cloudy, rainy, hot, humid summers (south-west monsoon from June to September); less cloudy, scant rainfall, mild temperatures, lower humidity during winter (north-east monsoon from December to April). The terrain is marked by steep rugged highlands surrounding central lowlands. Natural resources include petroleum, timber, tin, antimony, zinc, copper, tungsten, lead, coal, some marble, limestone, precious stones and natural gas. Burma is subject to destructive earthquakes and cyclones, flooding and landslides common during rainy season, and deforestation.

People

Burma has a population of 43,455,953 (July 1993 est.) consisting primarily of Burman (68%). The predominant regligion is Buddhist (89%). Nationals in Burma are known as Burmese and they speak mainly the Burmese language.

Government

Burma is known fully as Union of Burma and in short, Burma. Burma is a military regime. The capital is Rangoon. The country gained independence on 4 January 1948 from UK. The Burmese flag consists of a red with a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing, all in white, 14 five-pointed stars encircling a cogwheel containing a stalk of rice; the 14 stars represent the 14 administrative divisions

Economy

Burma is a poor Asian country, with a per capita GDP of about $660. The nation has been unable to achieve any substantial improvement in export earnings because of falling prices for many of its major commodity exports. For rice, traditionally the most important export, the drop in world prices has been accompanied by shrinking markets and a smaller volume of sales. In 1985 teak replaced rice as the largest export and continues to hold this position. The economy is heavily dependent on the agricultural sector, which generates about 40% of GDP and provides employment for 65% of the work force. Burma has been largely isolated from international economic forces and has been trying to encourage foreign investment, so far with little success.

Communications

There are 3,991 km of railroads, 27,000 km of highways and 12,800 km of inland waterways. The ports are in Rangoon, Moulmein and Bassein. There are 26 permanent-surface runways, 3 are longer than 2.44 km.

Telecommunications meets minimum requirements for local and intercity service for business and government. International service is good.