A long thin coast between the sea and the Tenasserim range, with river-mouth ports at Tavoy (Dawei), Mergui (Myeik) and Tenasserim and the land gate of the Three Pagodas pass.
The Pyu-period city of Old Dawei (Sagara) lies about six miles north of the present town. English Wikipedia (Myeik, Dawei) says the south was the southernmost part of Pagan from the eleventh to the thirteenth century (uncited); the chronicle has Tenasserim's Mons in revolt at the accession of 1174 and quiet after; scholars read governors sent to the ports in this reign. The Khmer of Jayavarman VII stand across the ridge and the lands south of about 10.5 north belong to the peninsular kingdoms (Island Southeast Asia map).
It is a tributary shore, not a province.
Who holds it
- Title
- Pagan's governors of the ports (supervision on a scholarly reading); local lords
- Since
- not known
- Born
- not known
- Family
- not known
- Confidence
- low
No source we read names a holder.
How things stand that morning
Claimed and supervised; no governor named; Khmer influence on the far side of the range.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1287 and afterThe coast passes to Sukhothai and later Ayutthaya (English Wikipedia).Depends on: Pagan's collapse. Stopped by: Pagan keeping the ports.
Places of note
- Tavoy: River-mouth port.
- Mergui: Port.
- Kawthaung: Southern tip.
Where the sources disagree
- The campaign board entry tavoy-dawei: 'governors and tribute rather than settlement': agreed. Brief: Mae Sot and the Thai side of the pass belong to the Tai north and Khmer records.
- The campaign board entry tenasserim-tin-workings (14.68, 98.42; power given as the Khmer empire, contested) lies about 6 km across the border in Thailand by the Natural Earth line, not on Pagan's claimed coast. Nothing I read ties tin or the Khmer to this place in 1200. Left to the Thai-side researchers.
- Map ruling (sheet builder, pass 1): the Myanmar strip from Bokpyin to Kawthaung is drawn in the Pagan colour, as a claim of this record's anchors (Bokpyin, Kawthaung). The Thai bank of the Pakchan (Ranong, Kra Buri) is drawn as contested ground on the island map.
Evidence: Uncited Wikipedia lines, a chronicle revolt and one pagoda attribution.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: The shore and the islands are drawn on today's coast; the claim is thin and the south end is a guess.
Primary sources for Kingdom of Pagan
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Glass Palace Chronicle of the Kings of Burma, The Royal Historical Commission of King Bagyidaw (Monywe Sayadaw and others), drawing on U Kala's Maha Yazawin (about 1724) and earlier chronicles (1829 to 1832). The standard Burmese court chronicle, compiled six centuries after 1200 from older chronicles now lost. Read online
- The later Tai, Lao and Mon chronicles of the north, Ratanapanna (Jinakalamali); Bodhiramsi (Chamadevivamsa); anonymous monks and court scribes (the Chamadevivamsa about 1410; the Jinakalamali 1516 to 1528; the Chiang Mai Chronicle in its surviving form 1827; the Nithan Khun Borom 16th to 17th century). There is no text of 1200 for the Mon kingdom of Haripunjaya, the Tai muang of Ngoenyang (Chiang Saen), Chiang Rung, the Yom and Nan valleys, or the Lao middle Mekong.
- History of Song, chapters 488 and 489: Jiaozhi, Dali, Champa, Zhenla, Pagan, Srivijaya, Java, Brunei, Chola and Tambralinga, Toqto'a (Tuotuo) and the Yuan history office, from the Song court records (1343 to 1345, from Song veritable records and court diaries). The Chinese court's record of its southern neighbours, compiled from Song archives. Read online
- Epigraphia Birmanica, being lithic and other inscriptions of Burma, Various, edited by Taw Sein Ko, C. Duroiselle and C. O. Blagden (inscriptions of the 11th to 15th centuries; the series ran from 1919 to 1936). The Archaeological Survey of Burma's series of edited inscriptions with full translations. Read online
- Inscriptions of Pagan, Pinya and Ava; Inscriptions of Burma, Various (the Pagan kings, queens, ministers and donors), edited by Tun Nyein, Taw Sein Ko, G. H. Luce and Pe Maung Tin (inscriptions of the 11th to 14th centuries; editions 1899 and 1933 to 1956). The dedicatory inscriptions of Pagan are the only contemporary texts for the kingdom of Narapatisithu (reigning 1174 to 1211). Read online
- A Description of the Foreign Peoples (Records of Foreign Nations), Zhao Rukuo (Zhao Rugua) (1225 at Quanzhou). The best single text for the island world around 1200, written by the superintendent of maritime trade at Quanzhou from merchants' reports a generation after the date. Read online
- Notes in Answer to Questions about the Lands beyond the Passes, Zhou Qufei (周去非) (1178, after service in Guangxi). A Guangxi official's notes, written twenty years before 1200, on the south-western frontier of the Song and the countries beyond. Read online
Sources and studies
- English Wikipedia, Pagan Kingdom
- English Wikipedia, Myeik
- English Wikipedia, Dawei
- English Wikipedia, Three Pagodas Pass
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.