Better known for the name of its Nobel Prize winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi than for that of its prime minister, Myanmar is struggling to overcome 50 years of ethnic strife, one-party socialist government, and military rule. With an ancient literary tradition and style of script going back to the Mon civilization (third century BC), Myanmar was at various times ruled by the eleventh century Tibeto-Burman Dynasty of Anarutha the Great, by the Mongols under Khublai Khan (1287), and by the British, who incorporated the country into its Indian Empire in 1886.

After the country won independence in 1948, General Ne Win's Burmese Socialist Program Party abolished all private enterprise and private trade, nationalized industry, and placed the country under military control. Soon one of the region's richest countries had become an impoverished backwater. For decades, much of the government's energy and 35% of its budget has gone into trying to suppress ethnic insurgent movements led by Karens, Shans, Kachins, Mons, and others. To fund their resistance these groups grew opium poppies, a traditional crop, which has led to the country becoming the world's largest opium producer.

On the Bay of Bengal between Bangladesh and Thailand, Myanmar consists of central lowlands, where 75% of the people live, enclosed by mountains to the north, bordering China, and west, bordering India, and the Shan Plateau to the east forming a frontier with Laos. The western mountains run southwest along the Indian border and form a series of forested ridges, ending in the Arakan Yoma Range (Pegu Yoma). From the mountains in the north the Irawaddy River flows south 2,100 km (1,300 miles), passing the old city of Mandalay and the capital of Yangon (Rangoon) on its way to the Andaman Sea. While the coast has a wet climate, the inner region, sheltered from the monsoon, has an annual rainfall of less than 1,000 mm (40 in). Here, in narrow valleys, small-scale irrigation supports such crops as rice, sugarcane, cotton, and jute.

Myanmar is rich in natural resources, having fertile soils and good fisheries, along with teak, gems, and natural gas and oil. Recently there has been some liberalization of the economy, notably of small scale enterprise. Twenty-five percent, however, remains under state control, the key industries-in energy, heavy industry, and foreign trade-being 20 military-run enterprises, A recent boom in trade with China has filled the north with Chinese goods and visitors, Economic weaknesses include a shortage of skilled labor, and of trained managers and technicians, Price controls mean that the economy is permeated by the black market. Published estimates of Myanmar's foreign trade are therefore greatly understated.

Fact File

OFFICIAL NAME Union of Myanmar (Burma)

FORM OF GOVERNMENT Military regime; legislative body

(People's Assembly) never convened since military takeover in 1988

CAPITAL Yangon (Rangoon)

AREA 678,500 sq km (261,969 sq miles)

TIME ZONE GMT + 6.5 hours

POPULATION 48,081,302

PROJECTED POPULATION 2005 52,697,795

POPULATION DENSITY 70.9 per sq km (183.6 per sq mile) LIFE EXPECTANCY 54.7

INFANT MORTALITY (PER 1,000) 76.3

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE Burmese

OTHER LANGUAGES Indigenous languages, English LITERACY RATE 82.7%

RELIGIONS Buddhist 89%, Christian 4% (Baptist 3%, Roman Catholic 1 %), Muslim 4%, other 3%

ETHNIC GROUPS Burman 68%, Shan 9%, Karen 7%, Rakhine 4%, Chinese 3%, Mon 2%, other 7%

CURRENCY Kyat

ECONOMY Agriculture 64%, services 27%, industry 9%

GNP PER CAPITA Est. < US$765

CLIMATE Tropical monsoon; dry zone around Mandalay; moderate temperature on Shan Plateau

HIGHEST POINT Hkakabo Razi 5,881 m (19,294 It)