Mongpan State Explained

Native Name:မိုင်းပန်နယ်
Conventional Long Name:Mongpan
Common Name:Mongpan State
Nation:the Shan States
Subdivision:State
Year Start:1637
Event Start:State founded
Year End:1959
Event End:Abdication of the last Saopha
P1:Hsenwi
S1:Shan State
Flag S1:Flag of Shan State.svg
Image Map Caption:Möng Pan State in an Imperial Gazetteer of India map
Capital:Mong Pan
Stat Area1:3703
Stat Year1:1901
Stat Pop1:16629

Mongpan (also spelt Möngpan), also known as Maingpan (Burmese: မိုင်းပန်) was a Shan state in what is today Burma. It belonged to the Eastern Division of the Southern Shan States.

The town of Mong Pan was formerly the residence of the Sawbwa of Mongpan State. The capital is in the middle of a fertile plain. Most of the other areas of the state are mountainous, rich in teak forests. Loi Hkilek, a 2,133 high mountain is located in Mongkyawt District.[1]

History

According to legend there had been a predecessor state. Mongpan state was founded in 1637, but little is known of the history of the state before the times of British Burma.[1]

The four districts of Mongtang, Monghang, Mongkyawt and Monghta, located east of the Salween were historically claimed by Siam, but the British upheld the view that they belonged to the Cis-Salween Sawbwa of Mongpan. In 1888 Siamese troops were posted in the four trans-Salween districts; Siam also claimed a further district, Monghsat, but posted no troops there.[2]

In 1889 the British formed the 1889-90 Anglo-Siamese Boundary Commission, in order to solve the difficulties with Siam concerning the trans-Salween dependencies of Mawkmai, Mongpan, and Karenni. This commission however, would not be successful for Siam declined to join it at the last moment. Nevertheless, the commission went ahead despite the lack of agreement from the Siamese government and brought about the partition of these tracts and their incorporation into British Burma. British troops forced the Siamese garrisons to withdraw from the territories of the trans-Salween that were deemed not to belong to Siam. Finally the demarcation of the new frontier was carried out by the joint 1892-3 Anglo-Siamese Boundary Commission.[3]

Between December 1943 and 1945 the occupying Japanese allowed the government of Siam to annex all four districts of Mongpan State east of the Salween as part of the Saharat Thai Doem territory —together with Kengtung State.[4]

Rulers

The rulers of Mongpan bore the title of Saopha after 1867; their ritual style was Kambawsa Mahawuntha Thirdamaraza.[5]

Myozas

Saophas

See also

External links

20.1°N 135°W

Notes and References

  1. https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V17_413.gif Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 17, p. 407
  2. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/45915/45915-h/45915-h.htm The Pacification of Burma, by Sir Charles Haukes Todd Crosthwaite
  3. https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/text.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V22_260.gif Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 22, p. 254.
  4. http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Myanmar_shankaren.html Shan and Karenni States of Burma
  5. Web site: World Statesmen.org: Shan and Karenni States of Burma. Ben Cahoon. 2000. 7 July 2014.