Inwa (Myanmar)

Inwa ; အင်းဝ ; Ava
	Ava
	Ava
Coordinates	21 ° 52 ′ N , 96 ° 1 ′ E Coordinates: 21 ° 52 ′ N , 96 ° 1 ′ E
Basic data
Country	Myanmar
region	Mandalay region
District	Kyaukse
ISO 3166-2	MM-04
founding	1364

The Queen's Brick Monastery

Inwa , formerly Ava ( Burmese အင်းဝ မြို့ ; BGN / PCGN : inwamyo; Pali : Ratnapura , "city of precious stones"), is the old capital of the former kingdom of Ava in Upper Burma .

location

Inwa is in the Mandalay Division , about 6.5 km southwest of Amarapura and 20 km southwest of Mandalay , at the confluence of the Ayeyarwady with the Mjitnge . The Myittha Canal connects the two rivers on the south side and makes Inwa an island. The city consists of an outer and an inner city fortified by ramparts and moats.

Numerous Buddhist temples attract tourists from all over the world. The Inwa Nat Pwe takes place depending on the full moon in February / March every year and celebrates the Nat Thon Ban Hla.

history

After the capital Sagaing was conquered by the Shan , Ava was founded in 1364 and was the capital of the Ava Empire until 1783 . Ava was initially ruled by a Burmese Shan dynasty, became the dominant power in Upper Burma and claimed to bring the entire area of the old Bagan Empire (i.e. today's Burma) under its control. From 1385 to 1424 it was in the Forty Years War with the kingdom of Pegu , ruled by Mon , the most important rule of Unterbirma. Pegu was able to maintain its independence and, thanks to its favorable position for overseas trade, continued to grow, while Ava's influence declined. Its vassal states Prome and Taungu rebelled. Taungu became the new strongest power in Upper Burma and in 1539 was also able to bring Lower Burma under its control.

After their expulsion from Pegu in 1599, the kings of the Taungu dynasty temporarily resided in Ava, from 1635 onwards. In the middle of the 18th century, however, they lost their power and Burma fell apart again into many independent states. The new dominant power became the Konbaung dynasty which, after gaining control of large parts of Burma, made Ava their capital in 1765. After a series of bloody intrigues to succeed his father Alaungpaya , King Bodawpaya found that the palace was stained with blood and thus desecrated, and in 1783 he moved the residence to the newly built Amarapura . He also forced the resettlement of the population from the well-developed Ava to the new city surrounded by swamps and moats. He had Ava largely destroyed. His grandson Bagyidaw returned to the more conveniently located Ava in 1821 and rebuilt it. In 1841, Ava was almost completely destroyed by a violent earthquake , subsequently abandoned and the capital moved back to Amarapura.

The place is now a popular destination for tourists.