in Sittwe The area of modern Sittwe was the location of a battle during the conquest of the
Kingdom of Mrauk U (later
Arakan and now
Rakhine State, Myanmar) by the
Burmese king Bodawpaya. In 1784, a Burmese expeditionary force said to be 30,000 strong encountered the governor of U-rit-taung Province, General ("Saite-ké") Aung and his force of 3000. Although heavily outnumbered, the Arakanese force tried to fight the Burmese forces on both land and sea, but were brutally crushed. This defeat opened the route towards the inland Arakanese capital of
Mrauk-U, which was soon conquered, ending the independence of the
Arakanese. According to Arakanese lore, all of the Arakanese defenders were killed. Saittwe or Sittwe was only a small fishing village at the time of the
British conquest of Burma, but its four poorly maintained stupas
Akyattaw,
Thingyittawdhāt,
Letyatalundaw, and
Letwetalundaw were later claimed to date to the 16th century and to hold various
relics of
the Buddha: part of his rear
jawbone, his
thigh, his right
shinbone, and his left
shinbone respectively. The local defenses were stormed by the British under
Gen. Morrison in 1825 during the
First Anglo-Burmese War. Despite Morrison and many of his men succumbing to
malaria,
cholera, and other tropical diseases to the point the entire settlement was abandoned for a time, the port was chosen to serve as Arakan's seat of government in 1826 largely because
Mrauk U was considered even more unhealthy. It was renamed Akyab after the town's hill and its eponymous
pagoda. The bell of the pagoda at the
Mahamuni Buddha Temple south of
Mandalay was removed to the basement of the Akyab courthouse until 1867. Under British occupation, the town grew into an important maritime base, particularly for the export of the area's rice. Despite its bad reputation for disease, historical records indicate Akyab was no more dangerous to its European colonizers than other locations along the India coast. Its population increased to 15,536 inhabitants , In the 1860s, the
Consulate General of the United States (Kolkata) had a consular agency in Akyab. The four stupas along the ridge overlooking the town were rebuilt in the late 19th century very plainly and unattractively. During
World War II, Sittwe was an important site of many battles during the
Burma Campaign due to its possession of both an airfield and a deepwater port. On August 13, 1967, in Sittwe, security forces under General Ne Win's regime fired upon civilians in a
protest demanding rice, killing over 300 protesters. Sittwe is the birthplace of political monks in Myanmar. It was the birthplace of
U Ottama, the first monk who protested against the colonial British in Myanmar. Also, in the recent 2007 protest marches, known as the
Saffron Revolution, it was the monks in Sittwe who started the protest against the military government in Myanmar. Sittwe houses the Dhanyawadi Naval Base, named after the ancient Rakhine city-state of Dhanyawadi. Since 2012, the Myanmar government has held tens of thousands of
Rohingyas in camps at Sittwe. There are now some 140,000 Rohingyas living in poor condition huts with limited electricity and food. Rohingya refugees can not go out or move around and also not allowed to work outside of camp. The beach at Ohn Daw Gyi became the main departure point. In early 2024, as a result of the
Myanmar Civil War, Sittwe was surrounded by
Arakan Army forces, which gained control of most of Rakhine State. Sittwe and a number of other cities are the only remaining areas in the state still controlled by the
ruling military junta. A mass population exodus has been reported, with the only remaining avenue of escape being the airport. In early March 2026, the Arakan Army started to advance around Sittwe. == Climate ==