Rakhine State, Myanmar — Towns & Travel Guide

What is Rakhine State known for?

Rakhine State was recorded as Arakan State before the change, and the Arakan Mountains that carry the same root still divide its coast from the interior of Myanmar. Sittwe runs it. Offshore, Ramree, Cheduba and Myingun stand out among the islands scattered along the shore, and the Chattogram Division of Bangladesh closes the coast at the north-western end.

Where is Rakhine State?

The Arakan Mountains do the shaping. Running north to south, the range known as the Arakan Mountains or the Rakhine Yoma stands between the coastal strip and the rest of Myanmar, and it is the reason the state has always looked seaward. Chin State closes the north.

Eastward the boundary runs against Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region, all of them on the far side of the divide, while the Bay of Bengal takes the whole western edge. The divide is not decorative. Because the Rakhine Yoma runs the length of the state, movement between the coast and Magway Region or Bago Region means climbing the range, which is why the plain along the Bay of Bengal has kept a character distinct from the interior.

Offshore the picture changes. Ramree, Cheduba and Myingun are the fairly large islands set off this coast, and they break the shoreline into channels and bays rather than leaving it a single unbroken run of sand. Sittwe stands at the northern end of that shore.

Beyond it the Chattogram Division of Bangladesh continues the same coastal ground, so the boundary there is an administrative line drawn across a plain that carries on unchanged.

What is Rakhine State like?

This coast is known by two names. Rakhine State carries ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ် as its official form and Arakan as the name it answered to before, and both are still heard, which says something about how long this coast has held an identity of its own. The Bay of Bengal is the reason.

A shoreline open to the whole bay put the ground here within reach of traffic from the Chattogram Division and from further round the water, at a time when crossing the Arakan Mountains overland was the harder road. Sittwe gathers it now. The capital is where the administration of Rakhine State and its outward traffic concentrate, and a coastal state with a mountain wall behind it tends to put everything in one port.

The islands keep their own rhythm. Ramree, Cheduba and Myingun sit far enough offshore to run on boat and tide, while the mainland districts facing Magway Region and Bago Region across the Rakhine Yoma answer to a different geography again. Neighbours shape a place too.

Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region to the east, and the Chattogram Division of Bangladesh to the north-west give this state four quite different edges to face.

What is the history of Rakhine State?

Arakan came first. The division Myanmar now lists as Rakhine State appeared on earlier maps as Arakan State, and the older word survives in the Arakan Mountains that still form the inland wall. Sittwe is the capital.

Its coastal position follows from the same fact the whole state turns on, that the Rakhine Yoma made the Bay of Bengal an easier direction of travel than the climb into Magway Region.

What is the climate of Rakhine State?

The Bay of Bengal sets the terms. Weather arriving off the bay meets the Arakan Mountains and stops there, which is why the coastal strip and the country beyond the Rakhine Yoma do not share the same skies. Sittwe feels it first.

The capital and the islands of Ramree, Cheduba and Myingun stand in the open water's path with nothing between them and the bay.

How do you get to Rakhine State?

The mountains decide the approach. Any land route from Magway Region, Bago Region or Ayeyarwady Region has to cross the Rakhine Yoma, and that single fact has always made this coast easier to reach by water than overland. Sittwe is the arrival point.

The capital anchors the state's traffic, with Ramree, Cheduba and Myingun taken up from the mainland shore, and the Chattogram Division of Bangladesh lying past the north-western boundary.