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After independence, in 1948, the Burmese majority took control of the country. Dissatisfied with the policy pursued by the successive Burmese central powers, the minorities took up arms in order to control the territories on which their respective populations lived.
The democratization of the country now under way holds on hope for an end to the populations’ suffering from the consequences of the longest civil war in contemporary history.
Officially, Burma is the home to 135 ethnic minorities, belonging to nine main ethnic groups. The dominant ethnic group, the Burmese, represents more than 60% of the population.
The largest of the minorities, the Shan ethnic group, constitutes slightly less than 10% of the total Burmese population. While, throughout history, certain ethnic groups such as the Mon, the Shan and the Arakanese, had their own kingdoms, the progressive colonization by the British between 1824 and 1885 brought together all the ethnic groups in the same state.
