Mogok
Mogok
မိုးကုတ် Mogoke[1] | |
|---|---|
City | |
 | |
  Mogok Location of Mandalay, Burma | |
| Coordinates:22°55′N96°30′E/ 22.917°N 96.500°E | |
| Country |  Myanmar |
| Region |  Mandalay Region |
| District | Thabeikkyin |
| Township | Mogok |
| Area | |
| • Total | 12.48 sq mi (32.3 km2) |
| Population (2019)[2] | |
| • Total | 89,855 |
| • Density | 7,200/sq mi (2,800/km2) |
| • Religions | Buddhism |
| Time zone | UTC+6.30(MMT) |
Mogok(Burmese:မိုးကုတ်မြို့;MLCTS:mui: kut mrui.,[móɡoʊʔ];Shan:မိူင်းၵုတ်ႈ,[mɤ́ŋkut]) is a town of around 90,000 people[2]in theThabeikkyin District[3]ofMandalay RegionofMyanmar,located 200 kilometres (120 mi) north ofMandalayand 148 kilometres (92 mi) north-east ofShwebo.
History
[edit]Mogok is believed to be founded in 1217 by three lost Shan hunters who discovered rubies at the base of a collapsed mountain later known as Kyee Arr Taung.[4]According to the oral history, the hunters returned to their home inMomeikand offered the precious stones to the localsaophawho established a village in what would become modern-day Mogok.[4]
Following the 1885Third Anglo-Burmese Warwhen the British conquered and annexed the hither to independentUpper Burma,in 1886 the British launched a military expedition to "open up" the ruby mines at Mogok and make them available to British merchants. George Skelton Streeter, a gem expert and son of Edmund Streeter of the Streeters & Co Ltd jewellery company in London, accompanied the expedition and stayed there to work as a government valuer in British-run mines.[5]
In 2018, the Mogok commemorated the 800th anniversary of the city's founding.[6]
During theMyanmar civil war,the town was the site of large-scale fighting between theTa'ang National Liberation Armyand Myanmar's military, with large eastern portions of the town falling under rebel control.[7]The town fell to armed ethnic rebel forces on 24 July 2024.[8][9]
Geography
[edit]At 1,170 metres (3,840 ft) in elevation, the city has a fairlytemperate climateyear-round, and is home toBamar,Shan,Lisu,Palaung,andKarenethnic groups,as well asChinese,IndiansandGurkhas. The city is composed of two towns, Mogok and Kyat Pyin. Mogok is four miles long and two miles wide. It is situated in a valley surrounded by a large number of mountains.Taung Min Taung mountain is the highest mountain in the region and is at an elevation of more than 7000 feet. Kyatpyin lies about 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Mogok. Tourists that travel to this area need a special authorization and a guide person.[10]
Climate
[edit]In contrast to the hot to sweltering,semi-aridDry Zone, Mogok has a borderlinehumid subtropical climate(KöppenCwa) and asubtropical highland climate(Cwb) characterised by a warmdry seasonwith cold mornings from mid-November to mid-April, and a very warm and extremely rainywet seasonakin to that ofKachin State,only less extreme in heat discomfort, from mid-April to mid-November. The annual rainfall of around 2,700 millimetres or 106 inches is comparable to that ofYangonand three times that of Mandalay.
| Climate data for Mogok, elevation 1,176 m (3,858 ft), (1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 23.2 (73.8) |
25.5 (77.9) |
28.5 (83.3) |
29.4 (84.9) |
27.8 (82.0) |
25.8 (78.4) |
24.9 (76.8) |
25.3 (77.5) |
26.5 (79.7) |
26.5 (79.7) |
25.6 (78.1) |
23.3 (73.9) |
26.0 (78.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 14.4 (57.9) |
16.5 (61.7) |
20.0 (68.0) |
22.4 (72.3) |
23.1 (73.6) |
22.8 (73.0) |
22.4 (72.3) |
22.5 (72.5) |
22.8 (73.0) |
21.5 (70.7) |
18.6 (65.5) |
15.4 (59.7) |
20.2 (68.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.7 (42.3) |
7.6 (45.7) |
11.4 (52.5) |
15.4 (59.7) |
18.3 (64.9) |
19.9 (67.8) |
19.9 (67.8) |
19.7 (67.5) |
19.0 (66.2) |
16.4 (61.5) |
11.7 (53.1) |
7.4 (45.3) |
14.4 (57.9) |
| Averageprecipitationmm (inches) | 12.9 (0.51) |
10.7 (0.42) |
19.5 (0.77) |
76.1 (3.00) |
352.7 (13.89) |
510.4 (20.09) |
475.1 (18.70) |
482.2 (18.98) |
349.7 (13.77) |
287.5 (11.32) |
69.8 (2.75) |
14.7 (0.58) |
2,661.4 (104.78) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 1.1 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 7.7 | 18.9 | 25.7 | 27.4 | 28.0 | 23.0 | 16.8 | 4.6 | 1.7 | 158.9 |
| Source:World Meteorological Organization[11] | |||||||||||||
Economy
[edit]Mogok and other villages nearby, especiallyKyatpyinhave been famous since ancient times for its gemstones, especiallyrubyandsapphire,butsemi-precious stonessuch asspinel,lapis lazuli,garnet,moonstone,peridotandchrysoberylare also found. The gems are found inalluvialmarblegravelsby means ofpanning,tunnelingand digging pits by hand. There is little mechanization of the mining. The gravels derive from the metamorphosed limestones (marbles) of the Mogok metamorphic belt.[12][13]
Gems are sold inmarketsin Mogok; however, foreigners require special permits to visit the town, and it is illegal to purchase/exportgems from Myanmar other than from government licensed dealers.
90% of a certain version of the world'srubiescome from Myanmar (Burma). There are many other ruby sources in the world such as Sri Lanka and various places in Africa. Only in terms of quality Mogok rubies are best. The red stones from there are prized for their purity andhue.Thailandbuys the majority of Myanmar'sgems.The "Valley of Rubies",the mountainous Mogok area, 200 km (120 mi) north ofMandalay,is noted as the original source of ruby including the world's finest "pigeon's blood" rubies as well as the one of the world's most beautiful sapphires in "royal" blue, only second to the now extinct Kashmir blue.
Health care
[edit]- Mogok General Hospital
- Kyatpyin General hospital
Notable People
[edit]- N Kai Ra,singer
Notes
[edit]- ^"Pyin Oo Lwin / Mogoke Map"Myanmar Information Management Unit (MIMU)
- ^abMyanmar Information Management Unit (September 2019).Mogoke Myone Daethasaingyarachatlatmyaမိုးကုတ်မြို့နယ် ဒေသဆိုင်ရာအချက်လက်များ[Mogok Township Regional Information](PDF)(Report). MIMU.Retrieved24 July2024.
- ^"မန္တလေးတိုင်းဒေသကြီးအတွင်းရှိ ခရိုင်အမည်များ တိုးချဲ့ပြင်ဆင်ဖွဲ့စည်းခြင်း".
- ^ab"Ruby Land's 800th Anniversary showcases peaceful coexistence".The Myanmar Times.23 March 2018.Retrieved4 June2020.
- ^"Edmund Streeter [of the Streeters & Co Ltd jewellery company in London] was a scholar and an author, and a considerable authority on precious stones. The firm's catalogue was more than simply a commercial presentation and it was also an introduction to the infant science of Gemology. Streeter and his family were adventurers in the true Victorian mould. His son George Skelton Streeter accompanied a military expedition to open up the Burmese ruby mines at Mogok in 1886, and stayed there to work as a government valuer. His eldest son Harry lost his life in Australian waters while pearling with the company fleet". Peter Hinks, Introduction to "Victorian Jewellery", Studio Editions, London 1991.
- ^"Mogok prepares to party for 800th birthday".The Myanmar Times.23 February 2018.Retrieved4 June2020.
- ^"Op. 1027 Update: TNLA Captures Seven Myanmar Junta Bases, Two Battalion HQs".The Irrawaddy.1 July 2024.
- ^"မိုးကုတ်ကို TNLA ပူးပေါင်းတပ် သိမ်းပိုက်".The Irrawaddy(in Burmese). 24 July 2024.
- ^"Ethnic armed groups in Myanmar claim capture of regional military headquarters and gem mining center".AP News.25 July 2024.Retrieved27 July2024.
- ^"Tourist Information".Archived fromthe originalon 5 September 2015.Retrieved23 February2015.
- ^"World Meteorological Organization Climate Normals for 1991–2020".World Meteorological Organization.Retrieved16 October2023.
- ^Searle, D. L.; Ba Than Haq (1964) "The Mogok belt of Burma and its relationship to the Himalayan orogeny"Proceedings of the 22nd International Geological Conference, Delhi11: pp. 132–161
- ^Iyer, Lakshinarayanpuran Anantkrishna Narayana (1953)The geology and gem-stones of the Mogok Stone Tract, BurmaGeological Survey of India Memoir 82, Government of India Press, Calcutta,OCLC 6526679;reprinted in 2007 by White Lotus, Bangkok,ISBN978-974-480-123-4
