Mandalay is the second largest city and the last royal capital of Burma (Myanmar), and is the economic and cultural hub of Upper Burma. The city, located 445 miles (716 km) north of Yangon on the right bank of Irrawaddy river, has a population of nearly 1 million (2.5 million metropolitan area), and is also the capital of Mandalay Division. Founded in 1857 by King Mindon, Mandalay was the last capital (1860–1885) of the last independent Burmese Kingdom before colonised by the British after the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885.
Unlike other Burmese towns, Mandalay did not grow from a smaller settlement, although a small village Hti Baunga did exist nearby. Mandalay was set up in an empty area at the foot of 775 ft high (236 m) Mandalay Hill according to a prophecy by the Buddha that a great city, a metropolis of Buddhism, would come into existence in that exact place on the occasion of the 2,400th jubilee of Buddhism. King Mindon decided to fulfill the prophecy and during his reign in the Kingdom of Amarapura he issued a royal order on January 13, 1857 to establish a new kingdom. The Ceremony of Ascending the Throne was celebrated in July 1858. The former royal city of Amarapura was dismantled and moved by elephants to the new location at the foot of Mandalay Hill.
