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Myanmar is known by a name deriving from Burma as opposed to Myanmar in Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Greek – Birmania being the local version of Burma in both Italian and Spanish, Birmânia in Portuguese, and Birmanie in French. [32] As in the past, French-language media today consistently use Birmanie. [33] [34]
Burmese names (Burmese: မြန်မာ အမည်) lack the serial structure of most Western names. Like other Mainland Southeast Asian people (excepted Vietnamese ), the people of Myanmar have no customary matronymic or patronymic naming system and no tradition of surnames .
The name of the country has been a matter of dispute and disagreement, particularly in the early 21st century, focusing mainly on the political legitimacy of those using Myanmar versus Burma. [34] [35] Both names derive from the earlier Burmese Mranma or Mramma, an ethnonym for the majority Burman ethnic group, of uncertain etymology. [36]
[note 2] In June 1989, in an attempt to indigenise both the country's place names and ethnonyms, the military government changed the official English names of the country (from Burma to Myanmar), the language (from Burmese to Myanmar), and the country's majority ethnic group (from Burmans to Bamar). [9] [10] [11]
In Myanmar, the definition of a city is ambiguous with the Burmese term မြို့ ('myo') being translated as any urban area. The General Administration Department only explicitly defines the three cities of Yangon, Mandalay and Naypyidaw. [2] An enlargeable map of Myanmar. An ethnolinguistic map of Burma.
Myanmar (Burma) is an ethnically diverse nation with 135 distinct ethnic groups officially recognised by the Burmese government. These are grouped into eight "major national ethnic races": These are grouped into eight "major national ethnic races":
Burmese people, Officially Myanma people (Burmese: မြန်မာလူမျိုး) are citizens from Myanmar (Burma), irrespective of their ethnic or religious background. Myanmar is a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-lingual country.
Myanmar has been embroiled in armed conflict since 1948, when the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. [5] [6] The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with ethnic armed organisations fighting Myanmar's armed forces, the Tatmadaw, for self-determination.