When did the Pagan Kingdom exist?

The Pagan Kingdom existed 849–1297 CE. On this map it is drawn AD 850–1293.

Southeast Asia · Angkor, Pagan and Srivijaya

Pagan Kingdom

Kingdom / Empire ("First Burmese Empire") · 849–1297 CE

Type: Kingdom / Empire ("First Burmese Empire")
Existed: 849–1297 CE
Shown on the map: AD 850–1293
Peak area: ≈447,000 km² (dataset estimate)
Region: Southeast Asia

Origins & foundation

The Pagan Kingdom (classical name Arimaddanapura, "Foe-Crushing City") grew from a 9th-century settlement at Pagan (Bagan) on the Irrawaddy by the Mranma (Burmans), migrants from the Nanzhao kingdom of Yunnan who entered the Irrawaddy valley after Nanzhao raids of the 750s–830s shattered the Pyu city-states. The Burmese chronicles trace the dynasty mythically to the Buddha's Sakya clan and date Pagan's fortification to 849, but modern scholarship treats the earlier chronicle material as appropriated Pyu legend; inscriptional evidence for Pagan's early kings begins only in 956, radiocarbon dating of the city walls points to c. 980, and Song Chinese records first mention Pagan's envoys in 1004.

Political history & notable rulers

At his accession in December 1044, Anawrahta inherited a small principality of roughly 320 × 130 km. In his first decade he turned the arid Kyaukse district into a rice granary through weirs and canals, and from the mid-1050s he founded the Pagan Empire — the first polity to unify the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery — extending power down to the Tenasserim coast and establishing 43 forts along the eastern foothills. Kyansittha (1084–1112) synthesized Burman, Mon and Pyu cultures and won recognition from Song China and Chola India; Alaungsithu (Sithu I, 1112–1167) standardized weights, measures and law. The zenith came under Narapatisithu (Sithu II, 1174–1211) and Htilominlo (1211–1235), when the state's borders, court organization and monumental architecture peaked. Narathihapate (1256–1287) refused Mongol tribute demands; Yuan invasions in 1277 (Ngasaunggyan) and 1283–85 shattered royal authority, the king fled and was assassinated by his own son in 1287. His son Kyawswa became a Mongol viceroy in 1297, only to be overthrown the same year by the three Shan brothers of Myinsaing — the formal end of the dynasty.

Economy, culture & religion

The economy rested on the irrigated Dry Zone "Ledwin" rice country, river trade, and the peninsular ports linking the Indian Ocean to China. Pagan was a mandala state: a directly ruled core (Kyaukse, Minbu) ringed by tributary naingngans — Arakan, the Shan and Chin hills — over which sovereignty was largely ritual. Anawrahta's conversion to Theravada Buddhism made Pagan the school's chief mainland stronghold (it helped re-found the Ceylonese sangha in 1071), though Ari, Mahayana, Brahmanic and animist practices persisted. Rulers and elites built over 10,000 Buddhist temples in the Bagan Archaeological Zone (over 2,000 survive), and Burmese, written in a script derived from Mon, eclipsed Pyu and Mon by the late 12th century.

Peak & territorial extent

At its late-12th/early-13th-century height, Pagan's influence ran from below the China border to the upper Malay Peninsula, east at least to the Salween, and west into northern Arakan and the Chin Hills; chronicle claims to Kengtung and Chiang Mai are doubted. Population is estimated at 1.5–2 million c. 1210.

Decline & end

The structural cause of collapse was fiscal: by 1280 between one and two-thirds of Upper Myanmar's cultivable land had been donated tax-free to the sangha, starving the crown of the resources needed to reward soldiers and officials. Repeated Mongol invasions (1277–1301) then toppled the kingdom; all vassals — the Mons under Wareru, Arakan, the Shan states — broke away, opening 250 years of fragmentation.

Legacy & modern connections

Pagan is the "charter polity" of Myanmar: it fixed the Burmese language and ethnicity in the upper Irrawaddy, anchored Theravada Buddhism in Burmese national identity, and created the administrative and religious templates later dynasties claimed descent from, down to the Konbaung. Bagan was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.

Common questions

What was the Pagan Kingdom?: The Pagan Kingdom (classical name Arimaddanapura, "Foe-Crushing City") grew from a 9th-century settlement at Pagan (Bagan) on the Irrawaddy by the Mranma (Burmans), migrants from the Nanzhao kingdom of Yunnan who entered the Irrawaddy valley after Nanzhao raids of the 750s–830s shattered the Pyu city-states.
When did the Pagan Kingdom exist?: The Pagan Kingdom existed 849–1297 CE. On this map it is drawn AD 850–1293.
How large was the Pagan Kingdom at its height?: At its late-12th/early-13th-century height, Pagan's influence ran from below the China border to the upper Malay Peninsula, east at least to the Salween, and west into northern Arakan and the Chin Hills; chronicle claims to Kengtung and Chiang Mai are doubted. Population is estimated at 1.5–2 million c. 1210.
Who ruled the Pagan Kingdom?: At his accession in December 1044, Anawrahta inherited a small principality of roughly 320 × 130 km. In his first decade he turned the arid Kyaukse district into a rice granary through weirs and canals, and from the mid-1050s he founded the Pagan Empire — the first polity to unify the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery — extending power down to the Tenasserim coast and establishing 43 forts along the eastern foothills.
How did the Pagan Kingdom end?: The structural cause of collapse was fiscal: by 1280 between one and two-thirds of Upper Myanmar's cultivable land had been donated tax-free to the sangha, starving the crown of the resources needed to reward soldiers and officials. Repeated Mongol invasions (1277–1301) then toppled the kingdom; all vassals — the Mons under Wareru, Arakan, the Shan states — broke away, opening 250 years of fragmentation.
What did the economy and culture of the Pagan Kingdom rest on?: The economy rested on the irrigated Dry Zone "Ledwin" rice country, river trade, and the peninsular ports linking the Indian Ocean to China. Pagan was a mandala state: a directly ruled core (Kyaukse, Minbu) ringed by tributary naingngans — Arakan, the Shan and Chin hills — over which sovereignty was largely ritual.
Why does the Pagan Kingdom still matter?: Pagan is the "charter polity" of Myanmar: it fixed the Burmese language and ethnicity in the upper Irrawaddy, anchored Theravada Buddhism in Burmese national identity, and created the administrative and religious templates later dynasties claimed descent from, down to the Konbaung. Bagan was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019.

Sources

Every source below was consulted while writing this entry.

Wikipedia: Pagan Kingdom en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagan_Kingdom
dbpedia.org — Pagan Kingdom dbpedia.org/page/Pagan_Kingdom
heritagevoyager.com — bagan www.heritagevoyager.com/en/sites/bagan/

This entry was written from the sources above and last updated 10 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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