VOLUME 1, NUMBERVOLUME 1, NUMBER 1

ISSN 1479-8484

SOAS BULLETIN OF BURMA RESEARCH

SPRING 2003 VOLUME 1, NUMBER 1

ISSN 1479-8484

I ISSN 1479-8484

The SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research offers current information on Burma research, activities, and resources at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, as well as information on international Burma research of relevance to Burma scholars in the United Kingdom.

General Editor: Michael W. Charney (SOAS) Book Review Editor: William Womack (SOAS)

Editorial Board Anne Booth (SOAS) Andrew Huxley (SOAS) Ian Brown (SOAS) Elizabeth Moore (SOAS) Michael W. Charney (SOAS) John Okell (SOAS) William G. Clarence-Smith (SOAS) Justin Watkins (SOAS)

International Advisory Board Michael Aung-Thwin (University of Hawaii) Kei Nemoto (Tokyo University of Foreign Studies) Tilman Frasch (Manchester Metropolitan University) Ryuji Okudaira (Tokyo University of Foreign

Studies, Retired) Kyaw Yin Hlaing (National University of Singapore) Joerg Schendel (Humboldt University) Takeshi Hamashita (Kyoto University) Sun Laichen (National University of Singapore) Marilyn Longmuir (Independent Scholar) Robert H. Taylor (Independent Consultant) Victor Lieberman (University of Michigan) Mika Toyota (National University of Singapore)

SOAS BULLETIN OF BURMA RESEARCH

Publishing Information Format:: Electronic PDF, with a limited number of hard copies for deposit in libraries Issues: twice yearly. Spring Issue, March 20th, Autumn Issue, September 20th Deadlines for submissions: March 5th (Spring), September 1st (Autumn) Correspondence, information, and books for review should be directed to: Burma Research (SBBR), Department of History, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom. Email correspondence should be directed to Burmaresearch@soas.ac.uk Current information on the SBBR and Burma research at SOAS can be found at: http://web.soas.ac.uk/burma/index.htm ©2003 School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. All rights reserved. No portion of the SOAS Bulletin of Burma Research may be reproduced or re-transmitted by any means, electronic or otherwise, without prior written consent of the editor and the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Contents ARTICLES 1 ANNE BOOTH. The Burma Development Disaster in Comparative

Historical Perspective 24 ELIZABETH MOORE. Bronze and Iron Age Sites in Upper Myanmar:

Chindwin, Samon, and Pyu 40 FRANCIS BUCHANAN. A Comparative Vocabulary of Some of the

Languages Spoken in the Burma Empire (1799) SEMINAR SUMMARIES 58 WILLIAM WOMACK. Politics and Press Censorship in British Burma: The

case of the Moulmein Chronicle DOCUMENTS 61 Documents on Western Burmese Economic History 1) WILLIAM TURNER. Extract of a Letter dated Nagore, 7th July 1761 2) ANONYMOUS. Memorandum of Arracan Trade, circa 1770s 3) ANONYMOUS. History of the Mugs, 1777 4) W. F. NUTHALL. Memorandum Regarding the Trade of Arracan and the

Port of Akyab in the East Indies, Lat. 20° S’N Long 92° 56 ¼ E. (1849) BOOK REVIEWS 74 THANT MYINT-U. The Making of Modern Burma.

Reviewed by MARILYN LONGMUIR 75 ROBERT H. TAYLOR (ed.). Burma: Political Economy Under Military Rule. Reviewed by JÖRG SCHENDEL ARCHIVE REPORTS 77 WIL O. DIJK. The Archives of the Dutch East India Company as They

Relate to Burma DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS 79 JÖRG SCHENDEL. The Mandalay Economy: Upper Burma’s External

Trade, c. 1850–90

80 MARILYN V. LONGMUIR. Oil in Burma: The Extraction of “Earth-Oil” to 1914

81 ANNE-MAY CHEW. Les Temples Excavés de la Colline de Po Win en

Birmanie Centrale: Architecture, Sculpture et Peintures murales 82 MICHAEL W. CHARNEY. Where Jambudipa and Islamdom Converged:

Religious Change and the Emergence of Buddhist Communalism in Early Modern Arakan (Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries)

NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 84 ASEASUK Conference Announcement 84 ASEASUK Website 85 Britain-Burma Society 86 Remembering World War II in Burma—The Burma Campaign Society. 87 “Relics and Relic Worship in the Early Buddhism of India and Burma” 88 Living Bibliography of Myanmar/Burma Research 88 Introduction to the Online Burma/Myanmar Library 90 New Appointments CORRESPONDENCE 91 Information. Cover illustration: Image from the interior of the Shitthaung-phaya, Mrauk-U, Yakhine State, Union of Myanmar, courtesy of Atsuko Naono (University of Michigan)