Bago

History

Various Mon language chronicles report widely divergent foundation dates of Bago, ranging from 573 CE to 1152 CE while the Zabu Kuncha, an early 15th century Burmese administrative treatise, states that Pegu was founded in 1276/77 CE. The earliest extant evidence of Pegu as a place dates only to the late Pagan period (1212 and 1266) when it was still a small town, not even a provincial capital. After the collapse of the Pagan Empire, Bago became part of the breakaway Kingdom of Martaban by the 1290s. The earliest possible external record of Bago dates to 1028 CE. The Thiruvalangadu plate describe Rajendra Chola I, the Chola Emperor from South India, as having conquered "Kadaram" in the fourteenth year of his reign – 1028 CE. According to one interpretation, Kadaram refers to Bago. More modern interpretations understand Kadaram to be Kedah in modern day Malaysia, instead of Bago. The small settlement grew increasingly important in the 14th century as the region became most populous in the Mon-speaking kingdom. In 1369, King Binnya U made Bago the capital. During the reign of King Razadarit, Bago and the Ava Kingdom were engaged in the Forty Years' War. The peaceful reign of Queen Shin Sawbu came to an end when she chose the Buddhist monk Dhammazedi (1471–1492) to succeed her. Under Dhammazedi, Bago became a centre of commerce and Theravada Buddhism. In 1519, António Correia, then a merchant from the Portuguese casados settlement at Cochin, landed in Bago (known to the Portuguese as Pegu) looking for new markets for pepper from Cochin. A year later, Portuguese India Governor Diogo Lopes de Sequeira sent an ambassador to Pegu. The city remained the capital until the kingdom's fall in 1538. The ascendant Toungoo dynasty under Tabinshwehti made numerous…

Most-observed species

• Red-vented Bulbul

  Pycnonotus cafer (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2
• Red-whiskered Bulbul

  Pycnonotus jocosus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2
• Black-hooded Oriole

  Oriolus xanthornus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2
• Common Tailorbird

  Orthotomus sutorius (Pennant, 1769) · Aves
  2
• Puff-throated Babbler

  Pellorneum ruficeps Swainson, 1832 · Aves
  2
• Greater Racket-tailed Drongo

  Dicrurus paradiseus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2
• Golden-fronted Leafbird

  Chloropsis aurifrons (Temminck, 1829) · Aves
  2
• Greater Coucal

  Centropus sinensis (Stephens, 1815) · Aves
  2

Most recent

• M 4.2 — 2026-06-09
  127 km E of Wāngjing, India
• M 4.5 — 2026-02-04
  119 km E of Wāngjing, India
• M 4.4 — 2026-01-11
  124 km SE of Phek, India
• M 4.8 — 2025-10-16
  138 km SE of Phek, India
• M 4.2 — 2025-07-01
  134 km SE of Phek, India
• M 4.3 — 2025-03-09
  116 km SE of Phek, India