End Of Strife – Yangon ( or ) The Town with the Golden Pagoda

King Alaungpaya essentially founded Yangon and started it on its modern path in 1755 when he captured the villege of Dagon from the Mon people.He called the settlement Yangon, or End Of Strife.With the destruction of Syriam the following year,Yangon assumed its commercial functions. After the British conquered the town in 1824 during the First Anglo-Burmese War, its importance as a trade port flourished. But fire devastated the town in 1841 and 11 years later it was again almost completely destroyed in the Second Anglo – Burmese War. In the heart of Yangon is the Sule Pagoda, another gold crowned stupa reputed to have been built in the 3rd Century B.C. The British use this landmark as the nucleus when they rebilt Yangon on a Vitorian grid pattern.Yangon may have been a costal village when the Shwedagon was built .But in 2500 years, a vast delta has been created in Lower Burma by the Ayeyarwaddy and Hlaing carrying silt to the sea. Still Yangon’s river is easily navigable to the capital and beyond, and a vast majority of Myanmar’s import and export trade is still handle in Yangon’s dock. Most important highlight of Yangon, and the ultimate sources of its distinctive flair, is the magnificent Shwedagone Pagoda, the symbol of the entire country. Located a short distance outside the old city proper atop 164 foot (50 km) Theingottara Hill, Which is some 327 feet (100m) high, appears at once majestic and graceful even from a distance. Its golden, gleaming exterior gives it the air of mystical dream, framed by day with green palm trees and the deep-blue sky, and bathed at night in the brilliance of legion floodlights.