Kingdom of Arakan

The Kingdom of Arakan, sometimes called the Kingdom of Mrauk Oo, is a coastal entity located along the eastern side of the Bay of Bengal, extending southwards from the delta of the Brahmaputra for about 350 miles. The Arakan Mountain separate the kingdom from central Burma. The kingdom is a multi-ethnic centre of multiple religions, notably Hindu, Buddhism and Islam. The wild and heavily jungled coastline has served as a haven for pirates and those engaged in the slave trade. The region is regularly visited by Arab, Dutch, Danish and Portuguese traders.

The Kingdom covers an area of 73.8 hexes and has a population of 2,494,662. It borders on Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram, Kalay, Pagan, Bago and Ayeyarwady.

The Kingdom is divided into two sultanates, that of Chittagong and Mrauk Oo.

Geography

The region consists of a long, narrow strip of land between five and forty miles wide, bounded on the inland by the Arakan mountains. This range varies from 2,000 to 10,000 feet above sea level along it's length. The hilly countryside consists of a dense rainforest where comparatively little of the land is cultivated. The coast has several big offshore islands, including Cheduba and Ramree. Estuaries provide river access to the interior. The main towns are coastal; the largest coastal towns are Chittagong and Sittwe. The enormous city of Arrakan, or Mrauk Oo, located some 36 miles inland from Sittwe, has a population of 166 thousand.

History

The first Arakanese state flourished between the 4th and 6th centuries. As Buddhism took root in Arakan, the region fell under the authority of the Bengalese Chandra dynasty. Arab merchants began conducting missionary activities in the 8th century, so that Arakan became part of the southern Silk Road which connected Burma with China. Chinese and Tibetans began migrating into the region through the Arakan mountains in the 9th century, establishing cities in Burma which flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries. This led to a Burmese invasion of Arakan in 1406 by the Rakhine people. The region would remain in turmoil for the next thirty years; in 1430 the Bengalese reasserted their control, but the region threw off their overlords in 1437, establishing the independent Arakan Kingdom. Chittagong was taken in 1459. Since that time, Arakan has twice resisted efforts by the Burmese to conquer the kingdom, in 1546 and 1580.