Pyu city-states
Beikthano ( ) situated in the irrigated Minbu region (near present-day Taungdwingyi) with direct land access to the well-watered Kyaukse plains to its northeast, is the oldest urban site so far discovered and scientifically excavated site. Its remains—the structures, pottery, artefacts, and human skeletons—date from 200 BCE to 100 CE. Named after the Hindu god Vishnu, the city may be the first capital of a culturally and perhaps even politically uniform state in the history of Burma. It was a large fortified settlement, measuring approximately 300 hectares inside the rectangular (3 km by 1 km) walls. The walls and fortifications along it measured six meters thick, and are radiocarbon dated to a period between 180 BCE and 610 CE. Like most subsequent cities, the main entrance of the walls led to the palace, which faced east. Stupas and monastic buildings have also been excavated within the city walls.
Myanmar Railways
Rail transport was first introduced in Myanmar in May 1877 when Lower Burma was a British colony with the opening of the Yangon to Pyay line by "The Irrawaddy Valley State Railway". In 1884, a new company, "The Sittang Valley State Railway", opened a line along the Sittaung River from Yangon to the town of Taungoo via Bago. After the annexation of Upper Burma following the Third Anglo-Burmese War of 1885, the Taungoo line was extended to Mandalay, the fallen capital, by 1889. Following the opening of this section, the Mu Valley State Railway was formed and construction began on a railway line from Sagaing to Myitkyina and connected Mandalay to Shwebo in 1891, to Wuntho in 1893, to Katha in 1895, and to Myitkyina in 1898.