2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Study of the Emergence of Unitary Control of State Resources in 19th Century Myanmar
| Project/Area Number |
17401022
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 海外学術 |
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| Research Field |
Asian history
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| Research Institution | Aichi University |
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Principal Investigator |
ITO Toshikatsu Aichi University, Faculty of Letters, Professor (60148228)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
WATANABE Yoshinari Okayama University, Graduate School, Associate Professor (80210962)
IWAKI Takahiro Chiba University, Faculty of Letters, Associate Professor (90312925)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2007
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| Keywords | Myanmar / early modern / local chieftain / unitary control of State / Thathameda tax / Ahmudan system / village system / colonial rule |
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| Research Abstract |
The introduction of the Thathameda tax system during the late Konbaung period was an attempt to establish unitary control over human and material resources by creating a new administrative system for the Ahmudan (royal service groups constituting not more than 50% of the population) with a land revenue system based on data relating to land in the kingdom and its productivity.
Unfortunately, this land revenue system failed because it was not possible to gather the local data about land and productivity necessary to claim taxes. Because of the lack of annual revenue, local chieftains had not been involved in the bureaucracy, and the tense international situation made it impossible to reorganize the Ahmudan system. Therefore, Thathameda taxation proved incapable of providing unitary control over state resources.
However, the British colonial government accomplished unitary control through the abolition of the Ahmudan system in order to demilitarize Myanmar, and by setting up a land revenue system with so-called impartial imposition of taxes under the new village system. The Upper Burma Village Regulation shook the foundations of rural society in Myanmar, and the early colonial administration experienced various difficulties because the Regulation ignored the realities of rural society at the time.
The Regulation and its supplement, Rules for Regulating the Appointment of Headmen, contained policies shaped under the government of King Mindon, who had introduced the Thathameda tax. He and his successor, King Thibaw, were not able to achieve their administrative aims, while the colonial government was able to change the indigenous local order after the 1890's. The first steps toward a nation state in Myanmar were taken during the late Konbaung period and accelerated by the colonial government.
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