Taninthayi Division

Infobox Burmesestatedivision


englishname = Tanintharyi Division
burmesename = တနင်္တရီတိုင်း
transcription = ta.nangsayi. tuing:
capital = Dawei (Tavoy)
region = South
area = 43,328
population = 1,327,400
ethnic = Bamar, Rakhine, Mon, Shan,Burmese-Thai, Kayin, Salone, Malay
religious = Buddhism, Islam
locatormapfile = Taninthayidivision

Tanintharyi Division, better known by the old name Tenasserim (Thai:ตะนาวศรี), is a division of Myanmar, covering the long narrow southern part of the country on the Kra Isthmus. It borders the Andaman Sea to the west and Thailand to the east. To the north is the Mon State. The capital of the division is Dawei (Tavoy). The other main city is Mergui.

Tenasserim was a part of Siam (Ayudhya) from the 13th to the 19th century, becoming part of Burma for a short period before being absorbed by the British.

The division covers an area of 43,328 km², and in the 1983 census it had a population of 917,628. The division is sub-divided into 3 districts: Amherst, Mergui, Tavoy. The ISO 3166-2 code for the division is MM-05.

Historically the area belonged to the Thai kingdoms of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya but was in the possession of the Burmese kingdom at the start of the 1800s. At the end of the First Burmese War in 1826 Tenasserim became part of the territory controlled by the British East India company with the Treaty of Yandaboo. It was then part of Lower Burma. The British had taken the territory as a bargaining chip for future negotiations with either Burma or Thailand. The territory was unprofitably run for a number of years and the British considered giving it up to either Burma or Thailand in the 1830s.

Long after the independence of Burma the northeastern part of Tenasserim became Karen State (now Kayin State). In 1974 Mon State was created, taking the northwestern part of Tenasserim. As the previous capital Moulmein is in the Mon state, the capital of Tenasserim was moved to Tavoy. In 1989 the division was officially renamed to Tanintharyi.

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