Alaungpaya

Alaungpaya (əlŏng`pāyä), 1711–60, Burmese king, founder of the Konbaung dynasty, which ruled until 1885. His name, also given as Alompra, means "the coming Buddha." The son of a village headman, he rallied the Burmese and led them against their Mons rulers. He seized the important town of Ava in 1753 and moved south, uniting upper and lower Myanmar under his rule. Pursuing the Mons, he invaded Siam but was wounded in a siege of Ayuthia and died while returning to Myanmar.

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Alaungpaya 

Born 1714; died 1760. Burmese ruler from 1752. Founder of the Konbaung dynasty. Alaungpaya, a feudal lord of the Shwebo region, led the struggle of the Burmese against Mon rule in 1752. In 1754, Alaungpaya captured Ava, and by 1755 he had subjugated all of Upper and Central Burma. In honor of his victories, the city of Rangoon was established in 1754. Alaungpaya forced the Shan princes to accept vassal dependency on Burma. In 1756, Alaungpaya’s army seized Syriam and in 1757, Pegu, after which the Mons were defeated. During an expedition to Siam, he conquered Tenasserim (1760). Alaungpaya’s activity led to the unification of feudally fragmented Burma and the creation of a strong centralized Burmese state.

M. G. KOZLOVA