Bagyidaw

Bagyidaw ( Burmese ဘက္ ရီး တော ္ , "Royal Elder Uncle"; * July 1784 , † October 1846 ) was king of the Konbaung dynasty in what is now Burma between 1819 and 1837 . He was the son of Bodawpaya and grandson of the founder of the dynasty, Alaungpaya .

Life

Shortly after his accession to the throne, he moved the capital from Amarapura back to Ava . During the first British Burmese War ( 1824 - 26 ), he was beaten and lost Arakan and Tenasserim . Under the guidance of General Mahabandoola, he embarked on a policy of expansionism, conquering Assam and Manipur and making them tributary vassals . The British responded consistently with military operations that began on March 5, 1824. The Burmese soldiers were ousted from Assam, Arakan and Manipur. On February 24, 1826, Bagyidaw signed the Yandaboo Treaty , which ended the war.

John Crawfurd , the first British envoy after the war, was subsequently unable to conclude a trade agreement or arrange for government officials to be exchanged between Ava and Calcutta . His successor, Major Henry Burney , was more fortunate in that his charming demeanor persuaded the king to accept English representation. His greatest achievement was probably the settlement of the dispute between Manipur and Burma over the valley of Kabaw, which he proposed to Ava. Manipur had annexed the valley after the end of the war with the silent consent of the Indian government, before Burney reconstructed from historical sources that Burney's claim was justified. But he could not arrange for the return of Tenasserim, which was more of a burden than an advantage, even when Siam declared its interests and insisted on its historical rights to this piece of land.

In the following period Bagyidaw suffered increasingly from bouts of depression , and when his condition deteriorated, control went to his wife, Queen Nanmandaw Mè Nu and her brother Minthagyi Maung O over. He was finally forced to abdicate in 1837 in favor of his brother Tharrawaddy Min .

literature

• DGE Hall: Burma. Hutchinson Univ. Lib. 102 (1960), 106-108.