Mindon Min

Mindon Min (, ; 1808 – 1878), born Maung Lwin, was the penultimate king of Burma (Myanmar) from 1853 to 1878. He was one of the most popular and revered kings of Burma. Under his half brother King Pagan, the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852 ended with the annexation of Lower Burma by the British Empire. Mindon and his younger brother Kanaung overthrew their half brother King Pagan. He spent most of his reign trying to defend the upper part of his country from British encroachments, and to modernize his kingdom. Early life Mindon was born Maung Lwin in 1808, a son of Tharrawaddy Min and Chandra Mata Mahay, Queen of the south Royal Chamber. He studied at the Maha Zawtika monastic college in Amarapura until the age of 23, and he held deep respect for religion and religious scholarship throughout his entire life. Mindon grew up in the shadow of British control – by 1853, the year of his coronation, Burma had gone through radical changes. The British annexations of Arakan, the Himalayan kingdoms of the north of India, and the Irrawaddy Delta and their blockade of Burma caused a tightening of the food supply, the loss of trade through ports, an erosion of Burma as an imperial power, and the incorporation of Burma into the world market as a result. There was an atmosphere of reform due to translated works and better knowledge about the outside world. At the same time, migrations of people from the national core to Lower Burma, controlled by the British, were sapping Burma of its labor and taxes. Taking the throne