Dagon ( ) was a small fishing village founded by the
Mon in the 6th century, CE, around the Shwedagon Pagoda. Throughout history, the village was just on the periphery of
Thanlyin (Syriam), the commercial city across the
Yangon River. Still, because of the pagoda, Dagon's cultural significance was far greater than its size. In 1755, King
Alaungpaya captured the village, renamed it Yangon (most commonly translated as "End of Strife"), and founded a larger city by adding settlements such as
Ahlon,
Pabedan,
Kyauktada, and
Botataung. During the British colonial period, Dagon was mostly a prosperous neighborhood, though the areas closer to downtown were full of
squatters. Dagon boasted both the
Methodist English High School, one of the top English-language medium schools and the nationalist Burmese language medium high school,
Myoma High School. In the 1950s, the Burmese government cleared the squatters in the southern part of the township and built the
Minmanaing Housing Project for senior civil servants. In the 1980s, when Gen. Ne Win commissioned the
Maha Wizaya Pagoda, Dagon gained another prominent pagoda. Dagon Town was designated a township in 1971. ==Demographics==