View source for Bassein Town (Pathein)

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This article has been extracted from <br/>

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>

OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
</div>
|} 
[[Category:India|B]]
[[Category:Places|B]]
''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.