Sittwe

Sittwe is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced site-tway in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emptying into the Bay of Bengal. The city has 181,000 inhabitants (2006). It is the administrative seat of Sittwe Township and Sittwe District.

Etymology

The name Sittwe is the Burmese version of Rakhine Saite-Twêy (literally, "the place where the war meets"). When the Burmese King Bodawpaya invaded the Mrauk U Kingdom in 1784, the Rakhine defenders encountered the Burmese force at the mouth of Kalandan river. In the ensuing battle, which was waged on both land and water, the Mrauk U forces were defeated. The place where the battle occurred came to be called Site Twêy by the Rakhine, and colloquially as Sittwe by the Burmese.

In early 1825, during the First Anglo-Burmese War, the British forces landed at Sittwe and stationed their forces by the ancient pagoda, Ahkyaib-daw, which is still standing in the city. The British adopted the name Akyab for the place.

History

Originally a small fishing village, Sittwe became an important seat of maritime commerce, especially as a port for the export of rice after the British occupation of Arakan, now known as Rakhine State, following the First Anglo-Burmese War.

Sittwe was the location of a battle during the conquest of Arakan by the Burmese king Bodawpaya. In 1784, the Burmese expeditionary force, some 30,000 strong, encountered the governor of U-rit-taung Province, Saite-ké (General) Aung and his force of 3000. Outnumbered hugely, the Arakanese force tried to fight the Burmese forces on both land and sea, but were brutally crushed. This defeat opened the route towards the inland Arakanese capital of Mrauk-U, which was soon conquered, ending the independence of the Arakanese. According to Arakanese lore, all of the Arakanese defenders were killed.

In 1826, after the First Anglo-Burmese War, the British transferred the seat of government to Sittwe on the seacoast. During the first 40 years of British rule it increased from a village to a town of 15,536 inhabitants, and by 1901 it was the third port of Burma with a population of 31,687. During colonial times, Site-tway had a bad reputation for malaria and cholera, although historical records indicate that it was no better or worse than many other locations along the India coast.

During World War II the island was an important site of many battles during the Burma Campaign due to its possession of both an airfield and a deepwater port.

Sittwe is the birthplace of political monks in Myanmar. It was the birthplace of U Ottama, the first monk who protested against the colonial British in Myanmar. Also, in the recent 2007 protest marches, known as the Saffron Revolution, it was the monks in Sittwe who started the protest against the military government in Myanmar.

Sittwe houses the Dhanyawadi Naval Base, named after the ancient Rakhine city-state of Dhanyawadi.

Since 2012, when Buddhist mobs set fire to Rohingya homes, the Myanmar government has herded tens of thousands of Rohingya people into camps in Sittwe. There are now some 140,000 Rohingya living in flimsy bamboo huts with no electricity, open concrete sewage drains and no adequate medical facilities. The beach at Ohn Daw Gyi became the main departure point for the 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis, which saw an estimated 25,000 people flee Myanmar and Bangladesh.

Attractions

• Viewpoint, or more popularly known as Point is perhaps the most well known attraction in Sittwe. It is at the end of the Strand Road and looks out into the Bay of Bengal and the mouth of the Kaladan River.
• The hundred year old Shwezedi Monastery is a famous monastery in Sittwe. It was the monastery of U Ottama, who was the first political monk in Myanmar.
• Pyay-Lone-Chan-Thar Pharagri, the focal point of Sittwe's Buddhist environment, beside Shwezedi Monastery.
• Ahkyaib-daw, is one of the most sacred Buddhist pagodas, believed to have built in the days of Emperor Asoka (r. 269-232 BCE). The pagoda Ahkyaib-daw, meaning maxillary bone, is believed to be built on a foundation encasing a piece of Buddha’s maxillary bone hence its name.
• Rakhine State Cultural Museum, which contains exhibits on Rakhine culture and history.

Other

British writer Hector Hugh Munro, better known under his pen name Saki, was born in Sittwe in 1870. A road in Singapore is named after its old name, Akyab.

Image gallery

• Shwe Zedi Monastery

• The main street

• foreshore

• new clock tower