Bago Region, Myanmar — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Bago Region known for?

Magway Region and Mandalay Region close it off to the north, Kayin State and Mon State sit along the eastern side with the Gulf of Martaban beyond them, and Yangon Region takes the southern edge. The west is Ayeyarwady Region and Rakhine State. It touches seven neighbouring units and one arm of the sea, which is what puts the region near the middle of Myanmar's administrative map.

Where is Bago Region?

Seven neighbours press on Bago Region. Magway Region and Mandalay Region form the northern boundary, Kayin State and Mon State run down the east with the Gulf of Martaban beyond them, Yangon Region closes the south, and Ayeyarwady Region and Rakhine State take the west. Only the eastern side reaches salt water.

That single stretch of coast on the Gulf of Martaban is the region's one opening to the sea, and everything else about its outline is drawn against other administrative units of Myanmar. Bago Region lies in the southern central part of the country. The region runs long from north to south, since Magway Region and Mandalay Region sit at one end and Yangon Region at the other, with the whole width of it between Rakhine State and the gulf.

Ayeyarwady Region lies to the west as well. Between those edges the ground is inland country, the sort of interior a region gets when only one of its four sides touches water and the other three are shared with Kayin State, Rakhine State and the regions around them. Its centre sits well back from the coast.

What is Bago Region like?

Myanmar's administrative map mixes two kinds of unit, and Bago Region borders both: Magway Region, Mandalay Region, Yangon Region and Ayeyarwady Region on one side of that distinction, Kayin State, Mon State and Rakhine State on the other. The names carry the difference. A region and a state are not the same kind of unit in this country, and Bago Region has both sorts of neighbour along its own boundary.

The setting is an inland administrative region of Myanmar with the Gulf of Martaban at its eastern shoulder and seven differently constituted neighbours pressing on the rest of it. English serves as the working language for visitors. A route between Yangon Region and Mandalay Region can run the length of Bago Region, since the two lie at opposite ends of it.

Bago is the name to know. The Gulf of Martaban gives the eastern districts a coast, and that single maritime edge sets them apart from the inland stretch that runs west towards Ayeyarwady Region and Rakhine State. Kayin State and Mon State lie just across that eastern boundary.

Two settings, one administrative name.

What is the history of Bago Region?

Bago Region's record here is administrative. It exists as one of the units Myanmar's map is divided into, drawn against Magway Region, Mandalay Region, Kayin State, Mon State, Yangon Region, Ayeyarwady Region and Rakhine State, with the Gulf of Martaban closing the east. A count was taken in 2014.

Those boundaries and that census are what the region's own record carries, and the deeper past of the ground belongs to the towns within it rather than to the administrative name.

What is the climate of Bago Region?

The Gulf of Martaban is the only weather-maker the region's own record names. Sea air reaches the east. Districts along that gulf edge, next to Kayin State and Mon State, sit closest to it, while the inland stretch running west towards Ayeyarwady Region and Rakhine State lies further from any coast.

Distance from the water does the rest, and a traveller crossing Bago Region from the gulf towards the Magway Region border moves steadily away from maritime influence.

How do you get to Bago Region?

Yangon Region is the way in. It runs along the whole southern boundary of Bago Region, so a traveller coming up from that side crosses straight into the region, while the Mandalay Region and Magway Region borders mark the far end. The Gulf of Martaban offers the eastern approach, past Mon State and Kayin State, and the western side opens onto Ayeyarwady Region and Rakhine State.

Bago gives the region its name.