Myitkyina

關於Myitkyina

Myitkyina is the capital city of Kachin State in Myanmar (Burma), located 1,480 kilometers (920 mi) from Yangon, and 785 kilometers (488 mi) from Mandalay. In Burmese it means "near the big river", and Myitkyina is on the west bank of the Ayeyarwady River, just 40 kilometers (25 mi) downstream from Myit-son (Burmese for confluence) of its two headstreams (the Mali and N'mai rivers). It is the northernmost river port and railway terminus in Myanmar. The city is served by Myitkyina Airport.

The area surrounding Myitkyina, including what is now Waingmaw, has been an important trading zone between China and Myanmar since ancient times. The nearby town of Katkyo, from the Shan Kat Kio, had its legendary founding in 1294 on the left (east) bank of the river. The region was then under the rule of Möng Kawng and other Shan states until the Konbaung dynasty, when it increasingly came under the control of Burmese and Kachin authorities.

American Baptist missionary George J. Geis and his wife arrived in Myitkyina in the late 1890s...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.