Why go
The Pyu city states and Mon kingdoms predate the rise of the Bamar led Pagan kingdom in the Irrawaddy valley. Pagan's rulers helped establish Burmese language and Theravada Buddhism as major forces, but later dynasties and British rule changed the political map again. This background connects widely separated sites without treating the country's many ethnic communities as one culture.
The full story
Early Pyu city states developed in Upper Myanmar, while Mon kingdoms shaped parts of the south. From the 11th century, the Pagan kingdom expanded from the Irrawaddy valley. Its rulers and donors built the religious monuments that still define Bagan, and Burmese language and Theravada Buddhism spread more widely during and after this period. The kingdom fragmented in the late 13th century. Taungoo rulers reunited much of the country in the 16th century, and the Konbaung dynasty followed in the 18th century. Britain conquered the territory through three wars in the 19th century. Independence came in 1948; a military coup in 1962 began decades of military rule and conflict. That history matters when moving between Bagan's Buddhist monuments, Mon State's towns and the Shan Plateau: each place belongs to a wider and more varied story than a single capital or dynasty can tell.