Place · river

Irrawaddy River

Also known as Ayeyarwady River, Ayeyarwady

The Irrawaddy, or Ayeyarwady, is the principal river of Myanmar, flowing about 2,170 kilometres from the mountains of the far north to a broad delta on the Andaman Sea. It is the country's main artery of trade and transport, and its dry-zone valley and delta supported the Pyu city-states, Pagan, Ava and later Burmese kingdoms, as well as the rice economy of British Burma.

Irrawaddy River
Image: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 11 state histories

Tagaung KingdomSri Ksetra KingdomPagan KingdomMomeik StateMohnyinHsenwi StateSagaing KingdomAva KingdomProme KingdomPortuguese SyriamBritish Burma

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Irrawaddy River. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/irrawaddy-river
MLA
“Irrawaddy River.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/irrawaddy-river. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Irrawaddy River.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/irrawaddy-river.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Irrawaddy River’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/irrawaddy-river (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻