Bassein Town (Pathein)
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Bassein Town (Pathein)
Head-quarters of the Irrawaddy Division and of Bassein District, Lower Burma, situated in 16° 46' N. and 94° 46' E., on both banks of the Bassein river, 75 miles from the sea and 192 by rail from Rangoon. The population, including that of Bassein port, has increased steadily from 20,688 in 1872 to 28,147 in 1 881, 30,177 in 1891, and 31,864 in 1901. It comprises Burmans, Karens, natives of India, and Chinamen, the first forming about two-thirds of the whole. The main portion of the town, consisting of the Athegyi, Talainggyaung, and Myothit quarters, which comprise the civil station and the bazar, lies on the left or eastern bank of the river, while the Thinbawgyin quarter on the western bank contains the principal mills. No trustworthy records of the early history of the town exist. One tradition puts its foundation in the thirteenth century, but old Talaing histories mention the thirty-two cities of Bassein (Pathein) much earlier. It is believed by some that the name is Talaing in origin ; but the theory that Pathein has some connexion with Fathi, the Burmese name for a Musalman, is not unreasonable, and it is indisput- able that the town has long been inhabited by natives of India. Bassein has for centuries been a trading centre of some importance ; and even if it be not identical with the ancient port of Cosmin, referred to by Cesare de' Federici and Caspar Balbi, it is possible that Cosmin was within the limits of the existing District. The seizure of the town by the Burmese troops in 1755 was one of the first incidents in the great Alaungpaya's earliest campaign against the Peguans in the south.
The British were at that time estabUshed as traders in Bassein, and in 1757 the East India Company obtained a piece of land in the town by treaty with the victorious monarch of Ava, and secured free trading rights within the port. Two years later all the Europeans were massacred. The town was captured in 1824 during the first Burmese War and held till the Treaty of Yandabo, to be finally occupied in the second Burmese War in 1852.
The town has an area of nearly 12 square miles, the greater part of which is wooded. The principal streets run parallel to the river, with short connecting roads. The most important is the Strand road, following the stream, from which the other main thoroughfares branch off. The total length of roads within municipal limits is 75/2 miles. The Government offices and treasury are on the site of the old Zechaung fort, built after the province of Pegu was annexed. Around the fort lies the civil station. To the east is the Myothit quarter, through which run two main streets to a pagoda-covered plain, where all the local festivals are held. Close by the fort lie the other principal public buildings, post and telegraph offices, the Queen Victoria Memorial Library, the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, and the extensive premises of the American Baptist Mission. There are public gardens and a Jubilee Memorial Park. The town contains a number of pagodas, among the most sacred being the Shwemoktaw within the limits of the Zechaung fort, the Tagaung, the Payagyigon, the Mahabawdi, the Shwezigon, and the Wetlu.
Bassein is well served by the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, the steamers of which run eastwards to Rangoon and Myaungmya, and northwards to Kyonpyaw and Ngathainggyaung, and, during the rains, to Henzada. The new railway gives connexion twice a day with Henzada (82 miles), and once a day with Letpadan and Rangoon (192 miles). The principal industry is rice-milling; eight important mills and some smaller concerns turn out what is known as ' cargo rice ' (one-fifth husk). The manufacture of earthenware and timber-sawing are also important local industries.
Bassein is almost exclusively an exporting market. In 1903-4, 152,000 tons of 'cargo rice,' valued at 104 lakhs, left the port, consigned entirely to Europe. Imports from foreign countries are insignificant ; those from Indian ports were valued in 1903-4 at Rs. 89,000, comprising gunnies, betel-nuts, and other Indian commodities. A steady river-borne trade is carried on with Rangoon, and commerce with the rest of Burma is likely to be stimulated by the new railway.
Bassein is the head-quarters of the Judge of the Bassein Division. The town was constituted a municipality in 1874. The municipal income during the ten years ending 1901 averaged 1.2 lakhs, and the expenditure 1.1 lakhs. The figures for 1903-4 were 1.5 lakhs and 1.6 lakhs respectively. The chief sources of revenue in the latter year were house tax (Rs. 28,000), lighting rate (Rs. 10,000), conservancy (Rs. 11,500), and bazars (Rs. 56,000)- while the chief objects of expenditure were lighting (Rs. 12,000), conservancy (Rs. 25,000), hospitals (Rs. 20,000), schools (Rs. 7,500), and roads (Rs. 31,000).
The port is administered through a Port fund, which derives its income from shipping dues, and:c., and bears the cost of lighting and buoying the channels. The Port fund income in 1903-4 was Rs. 37,000.
There is a municipal high school, teaching up to the ninth standard, in addition to missionary schools, and a Convent school for girls. The civil hospital has 63 beds.
