200 BC to 849

The Pyu cities

From about two thousand years ago the Pyu, a Tibeto Burman people, build walled cities such as Sri Ksetra, Halin and Beikthano in the dry zone of the Irrawaddy and adopt Buddhism. Mon peoples hold the southern coast, and Arakan has its own kings. In the ninth century raids from Nanzhao, in Yunnan, weaken the Pyu, and Bamar settlers gather around Pagan.