Tanintharyi Region

Tanintharyi Region, formerly Tenasserim Division and Tanintharyi Division, is a region of Myanmar, covering the long narrow southern part of the country on the northern Malay Peninsula, reaching to the Kra Isthmus. It borders the Andaman Sea to the west and the Tenasserim Hills, beyond which lie Thailand, to the east. To the north is the Mon State. There are many islands off the coast, the large Mergui Archipelago in the southern and central coastal areas and the smaller Moscos Islands off the northern shores. The capital of the division is Dawei (Tavoy). Other important cities include Myeik (Mergui) and Kawthaung. The division covers an area of 43,344.9 square kilometres (16,735.6 sq mi), and had a population of 1,406,434 at the 2014 Census.

Tanintharyi has historically been known by a number of names, reflecting changes in administrative control throughout history, as the region changed hands from the Kedah Sultanate, to the Hanthawaddy, Ayutthaya and Konbaung kingdoms, and British Burma. The region is called Tanah Sari in Malay, Tanao Si (Thai: ตะนาวศรี, RTGS: Tanao Si, pronounced [tā.nāːw sǐː]) in Thai, ဏၚ်ကသဳ and တနၚ်သြဳ in Mon. In 1989, the Burmese government officially changed the division's English name from Tenassarim to Tanintharyi.

Tanintharyi Region historically included the entire Tanintharyi salient–today's Tanintharyi Region, Mon State, and southern Kayin State. In the first millennium, its southern coastline formed part of the ancient emporium named Takkola in the Geōgraphikē Hyphēgēsis of Ptolemy. and in the Buddhist texts, Mahāniddesa and Milinda Panha. Takkola itself was also one of the five kingdoms in the confederative polity of Tun Sun. Meanwhile, the northernmost region was part of the Thaton Kingdom before 1057. The entire coastline later became part of King Anawrahta's Pagan Empire after 1057. After the fall of Bagan in 1287, the area fell to the Siamese kingdom of Sukhothai, and later its successor Ayutthaya Kingdom. The region's northernmost border was around the Thanlwin (Salween) river near today's Moulmein.

The region reverted to Burmese rule in 1564 when King Bayinnaung of Toungoo Dynasty conquered all of Siam. Ayutthaya had regained independence by 1587, and reclaimed the southern half of Tanintharyi in 1593 and the entire peninsula in 1599. In 1614, King Anaukpetlun recovered the northern half of the coast to Dawei but failed to capture the rest. Tenasserim south of Dawei (Tavoy) remained under Siamese control. Myeik (Mergui) port was a principal centre of trade between the Siamese and Europeans.

For nearly seven decades, from the middle of the 18th century to the early 19th century, Burma and Siam were involved in multiple wars for control of the coastline. Taking advantage of the Burmese civil war of 1740–1757, the Siamese cautiously moved along the coast to the south of Mottama in 1751. The winner of the civil war, King Alaungpaya of Konbaung Dynasty recovered the coastline to Dawei from the Siamese in 1760. His son King Hsinbyushin conquered the entire coastline in 1765. In the following decades, both sides tried to extend the line of control to their advantage but they both failed. The Burmese used Tanintharyi as a forward base to launch several unsuccessful invasions of Siam (1775–1776; 1785–1786; 1809–1812); the Siamese too were unsuccessful in their attempts to retake Tanintharyi (1787 and 1792). (On the northern front, Burma and Siam were also locked in a struggle for the control of Kengtung and Lan Na.)

Burma ceded the region south of Salween River to the British after the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824–1826) under the Treaty of Yandabo. The British and the Siamese signed a boundary demarcation treaty on 20 June 1826, and another one in 1868. Mawlamyine (Moulmein) became the first capital of British Burma. The British seized all of Lower Burma after the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and moved the capital to Rangoon. After 1852, the Tanintharyi Region consisted the entire southeastern part of Myanmar, including today's Mon State, Kayin State, and Taungoo District, in Bago Region. Mawlamyine was the capital of Tanintharyi.

Upon independence from Britain in 1948, the northeastern districts of Tanintharyi were placed into the newly created Karen State. In 1974, the northern part of remaining Tanintharyi was carved out to create Mon State. With Mawlamyine now inside Mon State, the capital of Tanintharyi Region was moved to Dawei.

Tanintharyi Region comprises ten townships and six subtownships, spreading over four districts: