Arakan

Arakan, formerly romanized as Aracan, is the historical geographical name for the northeastern coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, covering present-day Bangladesh and Myanmar. Historically known as "Arakan" for several centuries, the region is now generally associated with the geographically smaller Rakhine State, situated in western Myanmar. The people of the region were known as the Arakanese. When Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948, the Burmese part of the region was called Arakan State. The Burmese military junta changed its name to Rakhine State in 1989 – along with the country's name being changed from Burma to Myanmar, and its capital name from Rangoon to Yangon, while Burmese language name remained unchanged as မြန်မာ (Myanmar) and ရန်ကုန် (Yangon).

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