Woman selling produce at market in Rangoon Burma Myanmar
Yangon ( also known as Rangoon) is the largest city and a former capital of Burma. It is the capital of Yangon Division. Although the military government has officially relocated the capital to Naypyidaw since March 2006, Yangon, with a population of four million, continues to be the country's largest city and the most important commercial center. Yangon's infrastructure is relatively undeveloped compared to those of other major cities in Southeast Asia. Yangon has the largest number of colonial buildings in Southeast Asia today. While many high-rise residential and commercial buildings have been constructed or renovated throughout downtown and Greater Yangon in the past two decades, most satellite towns that ring the city continue to be deeply impoverished. Soon after Burma's independence in 1948, many colonial names of streets and parks were changed to more nationalistic Burmese names. In 1989, the current military junta changed the city's English name to "Yangon", along with many other changes in English transliteration of Burmese names. (The changes have not been accepted by many Burmese who consider the junta unfit to make such changes, nor by many publications, news bureaus including the BBC and foreign nations including the USA[6].) See also: List of Name Changes in Yangon Since independence, Yangon has expanded outwards. Successive governments have built satellite towns such as Thuwunna and Okkalapa in the 1950s to Dagon Myothit (New Dagon) in the 1990s. Today, Greater Yangon encompasses an area covering nearly 400 square miles (1000 km²). Maha Bandula Bridge in Downtown During Gen. Ne Win's isolationist rule (1962–88), Yangon's infrastructure deteriorated through poor maintenance and did not keep up with its increasing population. In the 1990s, the current military government's relatively more open market policies attracted domestic and foreign investment, bringing a modicum of modernity to the city's infrastructure. Some inner city resid
Size: 3501px × 5288px
Location: Fruit market, Yangon city, Myanmar, Burma, SE Asia
Photo credit: © rfpYangon / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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