Manmaw

Manmaw, or Bhamo, stands on the upper Irrawaddy where routes from Yunnan descend through the mountains to the river. The town was the centre of a Shan principality and a meeting place for merchants travelling between China and Burma. Its position at the junction of river and caravan routes brought wealth as well as competition among the neighbouring powers of Ava, Möng Mit and other Shan states.

From the later fifteenth century Man Maw repeatedly became an object of contention. Merchants continued to bring caravans from Yunnan; Burmese records mention a large party of oxen bound for Bhamo in 1765. Shortly afterwards the Qing and Burmese empires went to war. During the campaigns of the 1760s armies fought for the approaches to the Irrawaddy, and the principality was occupied by Burma after a Chinese invasion was repelled. Its trade routes remained vital to the relationship between the two countries.