First Toungoo Empire

Common card · No. 432930

The First Toungoo Empire (TOW-NG-oo; Burmese: တောင်ငူခေတ်, [tàʊɴŋù kʰɪʔ], lit. "Toungoo Period"), also known as the Second Burmese Empire in traditional historiography, or simply the Taungoo dynasty, was the dominant power in mainland Southeast Asia in the second half of the 16th century. At its peak, Toungoo "exercised suzerainty from Manipur to the Cambodian marches and from the borders of Arakan to Yunnan" and was "the largest empire in the history of Southeast Asia." The "most adventurous and militarily successful" dynasty in Burmese history was also the "shortest-lived." The empire grew out of the principality of Toungoo, a minor vassal state of Ava until 1510. The landlocked petty state began its rise in the 1530s under Tabinshwehti who went on to found the largest polity in Myanmar since the Pagan kingdom by 1550. His more celebrated successor Bayinnaung then greatly expanded the empire, conquering much of mainland Southeast Asia by 1565. He spent the next decade keeping the empire...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Soewinhan, CC BY-SA 3.0