Shwebo

It is the site of Shwebo University and Shwebo Palace.

• Settlement Type — Town • Native Name — ရွှေဘိုမြို့ • Official Name — Shwebo • Pushpin Label Position — bottom • Pushpin Map — Burma • Pushpin Map Caption — Location in Burma • Image Caption — King Alaungpaya • Image Map — Shwebo Palace.jpg • Map Caption — Shwebo Palace • Subdivision Type — Country • Subdivision Name — Myanmar • Subdivision Type1 — Region • Subdivision Name1 — Sagaing Region • Subdivision Type2 — District • Subdivision Name2 — Shwebo • Subdivision Type3 — Township • Unit Pref — Imperial • Population Total — 88,914 • Population As Of — 2021 • Population Blank1 — Burmans • Population Blank1 Title — Ethnicities • Population Blank2 — Theravada Buddhism • Population Blank2 Title — Religions • Population Density Km2 — auto • Established Date — 29 February 1752 • Established Title — Founded • Timezone — MST • Utc Offset — 6:30 Shwebo, also called Ratanāsiṅga or Ratanāsikhā ("Center of Treasure") in Pali, is a city in Sagaing Region, Burma, 110 km north-west of Mandalay between the Irrawaddy and the Mu rivers. The city was the origin of the Konbaung Dynasty, established by King Alaungpaya in 1752, that was the dominant political force in Burma after the mid-18th century. It served as Alaungpaya's capital from 1752 to 1760. As of 2021, it has a population of 88,914. It is the site of Shwebo University and Shwebo Palace.

• Illustration — Alaungpaya's Tomb Up to 1752, Shwebo was a village, called Moksobo (Hunter Chief) of about 300 houses. It lies near the site of the ancient Pyu city-state of Hanlin. On 29 February 1752, the chief of the village Aung Zeya founded the Konbaung Dynasty to resist the upcoming invasion of Lower Burma-based Hanthawaddy forces. Aung Zeya, who also assumed the royal title of Alaungpaya, gained the allegiance of 46 surrounding villages, and organized defenses building a stockade and digging a moat around Moksobo. He renamed his village, Shwebo (Golden Chief). Over the next eight years, Alaungpaya led the reunification of Burma with Shwebo as his capital. Shwebo lost its status as capital after Alaungpaya's death in 1760. The successor Naungdawgyi moved the capital to Sagaing closer to the Irrawaddy river. Nonetheless, Shwebo continued to be an important region throughout the Konbaung era (1752–1885), providing a disproportionate share of soldiers that served in Konbaung's armies. The region was usually held as an appanage by the most senior princes, usually the crown prince. It was to Shwebo that Prince of Mindon went in 1853 to raise the standard of rebellion in his successful bid to overthrow his half brother Pagan.

Burmese Shwebo is famous for its five names. Five titles had been conferred to the city namely: • Moksobo (မုဆိုးဘို, "Widower" or "Hunterham"), its original name as a village. • Ratanāsiṅga or Ratanāsikhā, burmanized as Yadanaa-Thein-ga (ရတနာသိင်္ဃ, "Center of Treasure") • Konbaung (ကုန်းဘောင်, "land-ridge" or "gangplank") • Yangyi-Aung (ရန်ကြီးအောင်,"Conquering A Big Foe"), and • Shwebo (ရွှေဘို,"Goldham"), its modern name. Most of the people know the above names but the name "အယုဇ္ဈပူရ" (Ayujjhapura, "Unassailable") and "မြေဘုံသာ" (Myay-bhome-thaa, "Prosperous Realm") are rarely known.

Located in the “Dry Valley” in the rain shadow of the Arakan Mountains, Shwebo lies on the boundary between a tropical savanna climate (Köppen Aw) and a hot semi-arid climate (BSh). The city received 4.37 in of rainfall on 19 October 2011. It was the record breaking rainfall within 24 hours of October for past 48 years. The previous record was 3.84 in of 24 October 1993.

• Illustration — A view of Shwebo-Myitkyina Highway Road Shwebo is served by Myanmar Railways's Mandalay-Myitkyina railway line.