Myanmar is a forest-clad mountainous country. In the northern part of the Country there are three parallel chains of mountain ranges beginning at the eastern extremity of the Himalayas and running from north to south: these are the Rakhine Yoma, the Bago Yoma and the Shan Plateau. In the northernmost extremity of Myanmar in Kachin State is Hkakabo-Razi which, at 5881 metres, is the highest mountain in South-East Asia. In the southern part of the Country there is the Tanintharyi Yoma. The northern mountain chains divide Myanmar into three major river systems: the Ayeyawady ("Irrawaddy"), the Sittoung and the Thanlwin. With these mountain chains and river systems, the country can be divided into seven major topographic regions: the Northern Hills, the Western Hills, the Shan Plateau, the Central Belt, the Lower Myanmar Delta, the Rakhine Coastal Region and the Tanintharyi Coastal Strip.
Click on the image below to see a more detailed map of the western coastal strip of Myanmar including the Myeik (Mergui) Archipelago where the Moken or Salone people ("Sea Gypsies") live
(courtesy of DPS Maps, Yangon, Myanmar)
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