40 SMITHSONIAN.COM | December 2019
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Mrauk U. (Another collaborating entity is
China’s Nanjing University.) A 2017 com-
mission chaired by former U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan recommended expedit-
ing Myanmar’s long-standing nomination
of Mrauk U as a Unesco World Heritage site,
calling it “the greatest physical manifesta-
tion of Rakhine’s rich history and culture.”
The life of Mrauk U spanned roughly
350 years, from approximately the 1430s to
1780s, when it was the capital of Arakan, an
independent kingdom that at times extend-
ed more than 400 miles along coastal plains
and mangrove marshlands bordered by the
Bay of Bengal. Built on a hilly plateau above
two river valleys, and off ering easy access to
the sea, the walled city was known for its het-
erogeneity and cross-cultural fertilization.
Muslims and Buddhists served side by side in
the royal court and the bureaucracy. Dutch,
Portuguese, Chinese and other foreign mer-
chants dwelled in their own prosperous
quarter, trading spices, textiles, opium, iron,
tobacco, sulfur and pepper for rice and ivory.
Japanese samurai and soldiers from the Mo-
gul empire guarded the Royal Palace.
The king held court in a hall decorated
with carved and gilded teak pillars, receiv-
THE INTERNET
DIDN’T EXIST. IT
WAS ONE OF THE
MOST ISOLATED
PLACES IN A
SELF-ISOLATING
COUNTRY.”
“