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Descsription: Since the last two centuries of the first millennium BC, except for a short span of sixty years, the pre-colonial state in Burma has been centered in the dry zone of Upper Burma. The basis of this state was agrarian, yet little has been written on its economic wherewithal. Instead, scholars have tended to focus their attention on the state's political, legal, religious, cultural, and administrative structures and institutions. This study attempts to fill this crucial gap. In part, it highlights a major theme in pre-colonial Burmese history"dry-zone paramountcy"which was the result of state-run irrigation works constructed in six critical regions of central Burma, most of them existing before 15th century AD. This volume contains a unique and valuable set of maps to illustrate the areas discussed above.
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