Annexation of Burma to British India

The British colonisation on the Indian subcontinent stretched to territories that were unlikely ever part of the Indian diaspora or had anything common in terms of ethnicity or religion. At one point territories such as Aden and Strait Settlements of Malaya were also part of British India. Even Ceylon or Sri Lanka was briefly added by East India Company under the Madras Presidency in the 18th century, but later separated out and administrated as a Crown colony. This post shall discuss the easternmost border of British India that stood at the borders of the French Indochina peninsula. We are talking about BURMA. 

Burma or Myanmar, as a whole, didn't add to British India all at once. When the first Anglo-Burmese War was fought in 1824, the Burmese Konbaung dynasty stretched throughout today's Burma and had vassal states in northeast India such as the Ahoms, Nagas and Manipur regions. The coastal territories of Aracan (or Arakan), Sandoway and Tenasserim were added first, followed by Pegu, Prome, Bassein and Rangoon in the later battles of the 1870s. This entire territory was known as Lower Burma, while the remaining was still under the Konbaung dynasty. It bordered the Rattanakosin dynasty of Siam (or Thailand) in the east while the mightily Qing Dynasty of China in the north. Gradually in 1885, the remaining part of Burma (except the numerous Shan States in the east) was annexed as Upper Burma. The rest of the lot was clubbed under the Princely States category and was administrated till 1937. 

Geographically, if Upper and Lower Burma are to be combined, it would become the largest province of British India at that time. But the separation of Burma in 1937 has many angles to see from. Ethnically, neither was the Ahom Dynasty part of the Indian diaspora nor were the westernmost boundaries of Balochistan. These were annexed by the British for its colonial interest as it would keep a check on its rival empires - the Russians in the northwest and the French in the east. It's interesting as during the 1930s when there were mass-scale anti-Indian uprising in Burma (highlighting the 1930 Rangoon riots) and there was a major resentment towards Indians by Burmese minority groups such as Karen, Kachin and Shan States. Ironically, the Burseme political section stressed anti-separatist reforms and supported the fact that Burma must remain part of British India. But the times were tight as the 1930s gave way to the independence movement in mainland India which gave rise to the seeding of an independent Burmese identity among many. Delegates at the Burma Round Table in London in 1931-32 opposed separation and the anti-separatist leaders such as U Chit Hlaing and Dr Ba Maw even won the Burma general elections on these grounds. But in spite of such feelings, the British separated out Burma in 1937 and ruled it as a separate colony until its independence in 1948, one year after India got its freedom. 

But just to separate out a territory based on a civil clash was not the only catch for the British. As part of British India, Burma was restricted by trade tariffs set by the Indian government and the Burmese were unable to create their own trade policies, leading to a deterioration of the province. Adding all these factors, the Government of Burma Act 1935 confirmed that the separation would take place on 1st April 1937, ending 51 years of the country being ruled as a province of India. And on 4th January 1948, Burma became an independent nation under the name Union of Burma. 

The map here shows administrative divisions as in 1858, during the end of the Sepoy Rebellion. The territories that covered from Arakan to Tenasserim are as follows: 

1. Akyab
2. Ramree
3. Sandoway
4. Prome
5. Tharawady
6. Henzada
7. Bassein
8. Rangoon
9. Toungoo
10. Amherst
11. Tavoy
12. Mergui

The important towns of this region such as Rangoon (Yangon), Prome, Pegu, Moelmyne (Moulmein), Arakan, Akyab, Ye, Tavoy Mergui etc. are still of equal importance as it was that time. Rangoon served as the capital of Burma from 1852 to 2005 when it was recently shifted to Nay Pyi Taw (Naypyidaw) in 2005. In 1989, the ruling military government changed the names of Burma and Rangoon (among many other places) to Myanmar and Yangon respectively.