THE BURMA DELTA Economic Development and Social Change on an Asian Rice Frontier, 1852-1941 NEW PERSPECTIVES IN SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES Series Editors Alfred W McCoy R. Anderson Sutton Thongchai Winichakul Kenneth M. George Associate Editors Warwick H. Anderson Katherine Bowie Ian Coxhead Michael Cullinane AnnaM. Gade Anne Ruth Hansen Paul D. Hutchcraft Courtney Johnson Kris aids THE BURMA DELTA Economic Development and Social Change on an Asian Rice Frontier, 1852-1941 Michael Adas THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS The University of Wisconsin Press 1930 Monroe Street, 3rd Floor Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2059 uwpress.wisc.edu 3 Henrietta Street London WC2E 8LU, England eurospanbookstore.com Copyright © 1974,2011 The Board of Regents ofthe University of Wisconsin System All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any format or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without written permission of the University of Wisconsin Press, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews. Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Adas, Michael, 1943-The Burma Delta: economic development and social change on an Asian rice frontier, 1852-1941 I Michael Adas. p. cm. -(New perspectives in Southeast Asian studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-299-28354-4 (pbk. : aile paper)-ISBN 978-0-299-28353-7 (e-book) 1. Burma, Lower-Economic conditions. 2. Burma, Lower-Social conditions. 3. Rice trade-Burma, Lower. I. Title. II. Series: New perspectives in Southeast Asian studies. HC422.z7B872 2011 338.9591-dc22 2010054359 TO JANE, JOEL, AND CLAIRE List of Maps, ix List of Tables, xi CONTENTS Preface to the 2011 Edition, xiii Acknowledgments, xxi Citation of Selected Government Reports, xxiii Introduction, 3 I. THE FOUNDATIONS OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The Delta Rice Frontier under Konbaung and Early British Rule, 15 II. THE EARLY PHASE OF GROWTH, 1852-1907 2 Internal Migration in the Last Half of the Nineteenth Century, 41 3 Agrarian Development on the Advancing Rice Frontier, 58 4 Indian Immigration to Lower Burma in the First Phase of Development, 83 5 The Genesis of the Plural Society in Lower Burma: The Era of Symbiosis, 103 vii viii Contents III. THE DECADES OF TRANSITION, 1908-30 6 The Closing Rice Frontier and New Patterns of Agrarian Development, 127 7 Changing Migration Patterns and the Rise of Competition in the Mature Plural Society, 154 IV. THE YEARS OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CRISES, 1931-41 8 The Depression and Burma's Time of Troubles: Communal Violence and Agrarian Rebellion, 185 Conclusion, 209 Glossary, 227 Appendix, 231 Bibliography, 235 Index, 253 MAPS Political Divisions of the Provi...
