Burmans

The designation "Burman" (Bama[r] in Burmese) is mostly used to distinguish the ethnicity of the people associated with the kingdom of Myanmar (Burma), which had become dominant in the region from the tenth century, from the ethnicity of the peoples of other Buddhist kingdoms in the area or from other ethnic groups in general. The native language of Burmans is Burmese, also known as Myanma(r), and Burmans make up approximately 68 percent of Myanmar's estimated 47 million people. Though not consistently, "Burman" usually denotes a particular ethnic group, but "Burmese" by contrast has historically referred mostly to citizenship or nationality, including members of all of Myanmar's ethnic groups.

Burmans arrived relatively late in the region from the highlands north of present-day India and from Yunnan in today's China, assimilating or supplanting several indigenous groups. They asserted themselves in Upper Burma at the expense of earlier established and highly sophisticated Pyu and Mon kingdoms, from which they benefited in their writing, arts, and religion. They established the Pagan dynasty (c. 849–1287 CE), which reached its height under King Anawrahta (reigned 1044–1077) and his son Kyanzittha (reigned 1084–1112). Having adopted Theravada Buddhism, they built an impressively large number of pagodas and Buddhist monasteries. However, the kingdom succumbed under Mongol and Shan attacks, after which the Shan dominated Upper Burma and the Mon Lower Burma.

Burmans reasserted control in the Toungoo dynasty (1530–1752). Centered upon Toungoo in Lower Burma, it reached its height under King Bayinnaung (d. 1581). However, the dynasty was weakened by war with the Siamese, war in Manipur, and wars with the Portuguese and was finally ended by a Lower Burma rebellion.

The Konbaung dynasty (1752–1885), the last Burman royal dynasty, was established in Shwebo under Alaungpaya (1714–1760), who defeated the Mon, attacked the British Negrais trading post, and sacked the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya. This dynasty brought Arakan, Manipur, and other areas under Burman control for the first time.

After adventurers came missionaries, traders, and then representatives from foreign governments. After the Portuguese and the Dutch, the British arrived. From neighboring India, the British conquered the country in the course of three Anglo-Burmese Wars between 1824 and 1885 and put an end to the Burman royal dynasties.

The British emphasized trade, for which control over the sea-lanes was vital. After the third war, Mandalay, the old Burman capital in central Burma, decreased in importance relative to Rangoon (now Yangon) in the delta, leaving the British in control of riverine and sea trade involving the ports and considerably weakening Burman royalty. The colonial government made use of many non-Burmans: the civil service, police, military, and commerce involved mostly Indians, Chinese, and some non-Burman ethnic groups. Many people were brought in, especially from India and China, to fulfill this need. Burmans were primarily targeted by the British to help expand agriculture, in particular, rice cultivation.

Under the royal system, the king was the chief patron of Buddhism, and the British policy of separating state and religion meant that the office of the last sangharaja (thathanabaing), the senior monk adviser to the king, was not renewed. Since Burman ethnicity was shaped by and understood in terms of Buddhism as sponsored by the king, these developments contributed to Burmans' feeling marginalized. They asserted themselves in the early decades of the twentieth century primarily through newly founded Buddhist institutions, including the Young Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA), established in 1906. Buddhism became politicized through the "shoe question" (whether Europeans would be allowed to wear shoes in monasteries and pagodas) in 1917. Uncertainty arose over how Burma, until then ruled as part of India, fit into the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms (proposed in 1918 but implemented in 1919) on the question of India's independence. In the wake of this, the Greater Council for Burmese Associations, an alliance of Buddhist groups, was founded in 1920. It took a more political turn, advocating the boycott of foreign goods. Leadership during this period still came primarily from monks, including U Wisara and U Ottama, who set early parameters for Burman nationalism.

Burman nationalism was strengthened by various factors. The economic downturn of the 1930s indebted Burman farmers, culminating in the 1930 Saya San millenarian rebellion. In the context of this unrest, the nationalist Dobama (or Thakin) movement, founded on narrow Burman ethnic grounds in 1930, most effectively rallied for national independence. This movement recruited students from Rangoon University, including U Nu and Aung San, who eventually became the country's leaders and developed a more inclusive, though no less recognizably Burman form of nationalism.

During the colonial period, other ethnic groups such as the Karen and Indians received what Burmans regarded as favorable treatment from the British. Ethnic groups that during the Konbaung period had been on tributary terms with the king were permitted to keep their traditional chiefdoms, received special employment, and also were deemed more sympathetic to British colonialism and more receptive to "foreign" intervention. Many had converted to Christianity. Where they were Buddhist, many also had a sangha (monastic order) independent of networks dominated by Burman nationalists. This contributed to a politicized ethnicity from which it is still difficult to escape today.

Yet to categorize the population of Myanmar predominantly in terms of Burmans versus non-Burmans is unsatisfactory. With no incontrovertible racial or other markers, the category "Burman" has historically been permeable and open to construction: royal dynasties drew on a variety of ethnicities, and there is much variation among those who consider themselves Burmans. Some ethnic minorities, in particular, the Pyu, dominant between the seventh and ninth centuries, are thought to have been completely assimilated into Burman and other ethnic groups, leaving traces only in their writing, archaeology, and Chinese sources. Some individual members of ethnic groups, particularly Mon, Shan, Karen, and also Chinese residents, may identify themselves as Burmans to various degrees, some to the extent of complete assimilation.

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