First Burma War (1824-26)

The first war with Burma was fought when the Burmese expansion westwards and occupation of Arakan and Manipur, and the threat to Assam and the Brahmaputra Valley led to continuous friction along the ill-defined border between Bengal and Burma, in the opening decades of the nineteenth

century. The British expeditionary forces occupied Rangoon in May 1824 and reached within 72 km of the capital at Ava. Peace was established in 1826 with the Treaty of Yandabo which provided that the Government of Burma

● pay rupees one crore as war compensation;

● cede its coastal provinces of Arakan and Tenasserim;

● abandon claims on Assam, Cachar and Jaintia;

● recognise Manipur as an independent state;

● negotiate a commercial treaty with Britain; and

● accept a British resident at Ava, while posting a Burmese envoy at Calcutta.