Kingdom of Mrauk U
The Kingdom of Mrauk-U (Arakanese: မြောက်ဦး ဘုရင့်နိုင်ငံတော်) was a kingdom that existed on the Arakan littoral from 1429 to 1785. Based in the capital Mrauk-U, near the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal, the kingdom ruled over what is now Rakhine State, Myanmar and southern part of Chittagong Division, Bangladesh. Though started out as a protectorate of the Bengal Sultanate from 1429 to 1531, Mrauk-U went on to conquer Chittagong with the help of the Portuguese. It twice fended off the Toungoo Burma's attempts to conquer the kingdom in 1546–1547, and 1580–1581. At its height of power, it briefly controlled the Bay of Bengal coastline from the Sundarbans to the Gulf of Martaban from 1599 to 1603. In 1666, it lost control of Chittagong after a war with the Mughal Empire. Its reign continued until 1785, when it was conquered by the Konbaung dynasty of Burma.
Kingdom of Mrauk-U မြောက်ဦးဘုရင့်နိုင်ငံ | |||||||||||||||||
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| September 1430–1785 | |||||||||||||||||
View of Mrauk-U in the XVII century | |||||||||||||||||
Early Dutch map of Arakan (present-day Rakhine State, Myanmar, and southern part of Chittagong Division, Bangladesh) | |||||||||||||||||
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| Common languages | Official Arakanese | ||||||||||||||||
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| Government | Feudal monarchy (until 1782) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1429–1433 | Min Saw Mon (first) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1433–1459 | Min Khayi | ||||||||||||||||
• 1531–1554 | Min Bin | ||||||||||||||||
• 1593–1612 | Min Razagyi | ||||||||||||||||
• 1622–1638 | Thiri Thudhamma | ||||||||||||||||
• 1652–1674 | Sanda Thudhamma | ||||||||||||||||
• 1782–1785 | Maha Thammada (last) | ||||||||||||||||
| Legislature | Royal Parliamentary System | ||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | AD 15th to 18th Century | ||||||||||||||||
• Founding of dynasty | September 1430 | ||||||||||||||||
• Vassalage of Bengal Sultanate | 1429–1437 | ||||||||||||||||
• Conquest of Chittagong | 1459 | ||||||||||||||||
• Joint-control of Lower Burma | 1599–1603 | ||||||||||||||||
• Loss of Chittagong | 1666 | ||||||||||||||||
• End of kingdom | 2 January 1785 | ||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Dinga | ||||||||||||||||
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| History of Myanmar |
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| Myanmar portal |
It was home to a multiethnic population with the city of Mrauk U being home to mosques, temples, shrines, seminaries and libraries. The kingdom was also a center of piracy and the slave trade. It was frequented by Arab, Danish, Dutch and Portuguese traders.