Mandalay is the second largest city in Myanmar (formerly Burma), with a population of 927,000 (2005 census), agglomeration 2.5 million. It was the last royal capital of Myanmar and is capital of the current Mandalay Division. The city is bounded by the Ayeyarwady River to the west and is located at 21°58′N, 96°04′E, 445 miles (716 km) north of Yangon. Mandalay lies at the centre of Myanmar's dry zone.

• 1 History
• 2 Transportation and economy
  • 2.1 Mandalay beer
• 3 Culture
• 4 Mandalay in popular culture
• 5 See also
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Founded on 23 May 1859 by King Mindon Min[1], Mandalay was the last capital (1860â€"1885) of the last independent Burmese Kingdom before annexation by the British after the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885.

Unlike other Burmese towns, Mandalay did not grow from a smaller settlement to town proportions, although there did exist a village by the name of Hti Baunga nearby. Mandalay was set up in an empty area at the foot of 775 ft high (236 m) Mandalay Hill according to a prophecy made by the Buddha that in that exact place a great city, a metropolis of Buddhism, would come into existence on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism.

King Mindon decided to fulfil the prophecy and during his reign in the Kingdom of Amarapura he issued a royal order on January 13, 1857 to establish a new kingdom. The Ceremony of Ascending the Throne was celebrated in July 1858 and the former royal city of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill. With the ground-breaking ceremony, King Mindon laid the foundation of Mandalay on the 6th waning day of Kason, Burmese Era 1219 (1857). The King simultaneously laid the foundations of seven edifices: the royal city with the battlemented walls, the moat surrounding it, the Maha Lawka Marazein Stupa (Kuthodaw Pagoda), the higher ordination hall named the Pahtan-haw Shwe Thein, the Atumashi (Incomparable) monastery, the Thudhama Zayats or public houses for preaching the Doctrine, and the library for the Buddhist scriptures.

The whole royal city was called Lei Kyun Aung Myei (Victorious Land over the Four Islands) and the royal palace, Mya Nan San Kyaw (The Famed Royal Emerald Palace). The new royal capital was called Yadanabon Naypyidaw, the Burmese version of its Pali name Ratanapura which means "The City of Gems". It then became Mandalay after the hill; the name is a derivative of the Pali word "Mandala", which means "a plains land" - Mandalay is said to be as flat as the face of a drum - and also of the Pali word "Mandare", which means "an auspicious land."

Mandalay would be captured just 29 years later during the Third Anglo-Burmese War. Reigning King Thibaw Min and his queen, Supayalat, were forced to evacuate the palace and eventually exiled to India. Renamed Fort Dufferin, the palace was used to quarter British and Indian troops and many of its fabulous treasures were looted. Some of the best pieces were sent back to Great Britain and can still be see in the Victoria and Albert Museum.[2]

During World War II, the Japanese, seeking to cut China's supply line, occupied Indochina. However, a new supply line via Burma had already been opened in January 1939. This came to be known as the Burma Road and went from Rangoon to Chongqing via Mandalay, Lashio, Baoshan and Kunming.[3] Tens of thousands of tons of war materiel reached the Chinese nationalists by this route, creating difficulties for the Japanese army, which became desperate to cut this supply line. Thus, Japan sought the support of local nationalist groups and helped found the Burma Independence Army (BIA) led by the Thirty Comrades. Under their command, Japan invaded Burma and captured Mandalay on May 2, 1942. The fort that contained the palace was turned into a Japanese supply depot and was heavily bombed by the British prior to their liberation of the city in March 1945 as part of an overland operation to recapture the capital and port of Rangoon. The palace burnt down to the ground and only the masonry plinth of the palace complex with a couple of masonry structures such as the royal mint and the hourdrum tower remained until a faithful replica was built by Ne Win in the 1980s.

In 1948, Burma declared its independence from Britain, and with the formation of the Union of Burma, the city became the capital of Mandalay Division.

Mandalay is the terminus of the main rail line from Yangon and the starting point of branch lines to Pyin Oo Lwin Lashio and Myitkyina farther north. Ethnic Chinese have increasingly dominated Mandalay's economy since the imposition of sanctions by the US and Europe in the 1990s. A new international airport, Mandalay International Airport, was completed in 1999, with Chinese aid. The Ayeyarwaddy of the "Road to Mandalay" fame remains an important arterial route for goods such as farm produce including rice and cooking oil, pottery, bamboo and teak. Mandalay is also the major trading and communications centre for northern and central Myanmar. Among the leading industries are silk weaving, tapestry, jade cutting and polishing, stone and wood carving, making marble and bronze Buddha images, temple ornaments and paraphernalia, the working of gold leaves and of silver, the manufacture of matches, brewing and distilling.

Mandalay beer, brewed in Mandalay by the Ministry of Industry (1), is among the famous beers in Myanmar. As the first state-owned brewery in Myanmar, Mandalay produces Mandalay lager, Mandalay Red Lager, and Mandalay Ale.

Mandalay is Burma's cultural and religious centre of Buddhism, having numerous monasteries and more than 700 pagodas. At the foot of Mandalay Hill sits the world's official "Buddhist Bible", also known as the world's largest book, in Kuthodaw Pagoda. There are 729 slabs of stone that together are inscribed with the entire Buddhist canon, each housed in its own white stupa.

The buildings inside the old Mandalay city walls, surrounded by a moat repaired in recent times using prison labour, comprise the Mandalay Palace, mostly destroyed during World War II and now replaced by a replica, Mandalay Prison and a military garrison, the headquarters of the Northwest Military Command (Na Ma Hka).

• Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem called "Mandalay", which is the origin of the phrase "on the road to Mandalay".[1]
• In 1907, Kipling's poem was set to music by Oley Speaks as "On the Road to Mandalay". Speaks' version was widely recorded. Among the best known renditions is the one by Frank Sinatra on Come Fly With Me.

• Kurt Weill's Happy End includes the "Mandalay Song."
• Manderley (a variant spelling of "Mandalay") is the name of the house in the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier.
• George Orwell was stationed at Mandalay for a time while working for the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, and his first novel, Burmese Days, was based on his experiences in Burma. He also wrote a number of short non-fiction essays and short stories about Burma, such as "Shooting an Elephant" and "A Hanging".
• The children's song "Nellie the Elephant" features the line "they met one night by a silver light on the road to Mandalay."
• Mandalay is referenced in the song "Not Guilty" written by George Harrison for The Beatles but it was not released as a Beatles song until the The Beatles Anthology was released in 1995. A solo version of the song was released by Harrison in 1979.
• Mandalay Bay is the name of a casino in Las Vegas.
• The Ian Dury and the Blockheads song "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick", features the line "On the Road to Mandalay".
• The Electric Light Orchestra had an unreleased track on their 1983 Secret Messages album called Mandalay. It later released on the 3rd CD of their boxed set Afterglow.
• Colin Hay, the lead signer and main writer from the group Men at Work has put out a number of solo albums since the break up of Men at Work. His album Topanga, released in 1996, has a track called Road to Mandalay.
• Mandalay is referenced in the song "Mountains of Burma" by Midnight Oil on the album Blue Sky Mining. Written by Rob Hirst.
• Blackmore's Night has a song called Way to Mandalay on Ghost of a Rose.
• Manderlay is a film by Lars von Trier.
• Robbie Williams had a song called "The Road To Mandalay" on Sing When You're Winning.
• Manfat Voodoo has a song called "The Bus Times to Mandalay" on their album "Erasmus Darwin and the Chicken Ladder"

• Mandalay Chanmyathazi Airport

• Mandalay travel guide from Wikitravel
• See also nearby Pyin Oo Lwin, the historic hill station above Mandalay
• Mandalay Supply Route
• History
• Mandalay in 1885-1888 - the letters of James Alfred Colbeck SOAS
• Mandalay city website
• Mandalay, the Burmese Heartland by Dr. Constance Wilson, Northern Illinois University
• Asian Historical Architecture - Mandalay by Prof. Robert D. Fiala, Concordia University, Nebraska
• Mintha Theater
• Mandalay Photo Gallery
• Photo Gallery

• Maps and aerial photos for 21°58′57″N 96°05′04″E / 21.9824, 96.0844Coordinates: 21°58′57″N 96°05′04″E / 21.9824, 96.0844
  • Maps from Google Maps, Live Search Maps, WikiMapia, Yahoo! Maps, or MapQuest
  • Topographic maps from TopoZone
  • Landuse survey from GlobalGuide