Rise of the Pagan Kingdom

Timeline

1. 901–950Bagan · MyanmarIn the 10th century Pagan developed from a local city-state on the middle Irrawaddy into a regional power center. Early rulers integrated surrounding tribal forces and controlled valley rice paddies and salt and iron trade routes, and Pagan's position in the political map of central Myanmar grew ever more prominent.
2. 930–1000Bagan stupa complexes · Myanmar10th-century Pagan rulers vigorously built stupas and monasteries, and Theravada Buddhist faith became an important source of royal legitimacy. The accumulated religious architecture laid the foundation for the later City of a Thousand Temples and made Pagan an important center of Southeast Asian Buddhist civilization.
3. 960–1000Middle Irrawaddy · MyanmarBy the late 10th century Pagan possessed the basic framework of a unified kingdom: a centralized monarchy, a Buddhist state ideology, and a valley agricultural economic base. This created the conditions for Anawrahta's large-scale conquests and the establishment of Myanmar's first unified empire in the 11th century.