ГЕОГРАФИЯ МЬЯНМЫ: ЯНГОН (СТОЛИЦА) [+фото] [НА АНГЛИЙСКОМ]

Yangon (pop. 1,315,964; met. area pop. 2,452,881) is the capital and largest city of Myanmar. It is also the country's chief port and industrial center. Yangon, also spelled Rangoon, lies in southern Myanmar on both banks of the Yangon River. It is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of the Gulf of Martaban, an arm of the Indian Ocean. Yangon has many Buddhist temples. The most famous is the Shwe Dagon pagoda, which dates from ancient times. The city has a national museum and a number of parks and lakes. It is the home of the University of Yangon, the Yangon Institute of Technology, and the Institute of Medicine. Many of Yangon's people work for the government. The city's industries include shipbuilding, oil refining, and the milling of rice and wood. Rice and teakwood are Yangon's principal exports. Yangon's factories manufacture pottery and cloth made of cotton and silk. In the A.D. 500's, a settlement called Dagon occupied the area that is now Yangon. Dagon was a small town until the 1750's, when Alaungpaya, a Burmese king, founded the city and named it Yangon. The British captured Yangon in 1825 during the First AngloBurman War, but they did not occupy the city until after the Second Anglo-Burman War in 1852. Fire destroyed Yangon in 1851, but the city was soon rebuilt. Yangon remained under British occupation until the Japanese drove them out during World War II. In 1948, Myanmar--then called Burma--gained independence. Yangon's population has grown rapidly since 1948.