ethnic lines, with the former dynastic Bamar ethnic group residing in the ministerial region and the frontier territories combining a vast mix of many different ethnicities. These internal boundaries came to be strictly enforced and resulted in severely restricted internal migration. British occupation was a time of great suffering for many Burmese citizens. As the eastern-most annex of British India, the Burmese saw the effects of colonialism similar to that in West Africa. Following the conquest of Mandalay, the British moved the capital of Burma to Rangoon and economic growth quickly ensued (Myint-U, 2006). Burmese society changed quickly as globalism began to steadily find its way into the country. The fall of the monarchy had a significant impact on the decline of traditional Burmese culture. With no monarchy, monks no longer had the political clout they once did. This was further exacerbated by the British implementation of separation of church and state. Armed resistance to British rule continued into the late 1800s, with the British reacting to these rebel acts by systematically destroying villages. Intermarriage occurred frequently, creating a new Eurasian community that quickly emerged as a middle class— higher on the social ladder than the Burmese, but below the British (Myint-U, 2006). Meanwhile, the demand for export-rice rose drastically following the 1850s. As Charney explains: Cultivation was intense, leading to a twenty-three-fold increase in the volume of rice cultivated over the course of the same period. The growth of the rice export economy in the south encouraged a massive migration of cultivators from the north into the delta, attracted by growing prosperity. Because of Lower Burma’s sparse settlement, there was a yet unexploited rice frontier in the south that could be opened up for rice cultivation by northern settlers. (Charney, 2009, p. 6) 4