The Shan States (1885–1948) were a collection of minor Shan kingdoms called mueang whose rulers bore the title saopha in British Burma. They were analogous to the princely states of British India.
Nyaungyan Min was king of the Toungoo Dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) from 1599 to 1605. He is also referred to as the founder of the Restored Toungoo Dynasty or Nyaungyan Dynasty for starting the reunification process following the collapse of the Toungoo Empire.
Thihathu of Ava was king of Ava from 1421 to 1425. It was during his reign that the Forty Years' War (1385–1424) between Ava and Hanthawaddy Pegu kingdoms came to a formal close. Unlike his late elder brother Minye Kyawswa, he did not consider Pegu his enemy, and followed a policy of conciliation and friendship toward Pegu. In 1423, he actually helped to broker a truce between two rival claimants to the Hanthawaddy throne. For his help in breaking up the fight, Thihathu was given the rival princes' sister Lady Shin Sawbu whom he made his queen.
Minhlange was king of Ava for about three months in 1425. Minhlange ascended to the throne in August 1425 after his father King Thihathu had been killed in an ambush by raiders from the Shan State of Hsipaw (Thibaw). He was only about seven years old. The ambush was arranged by Thihathu's powerful queen Shin Bo-Me who wanted to place her lover, Kale Kyetaungnyo, the Saopha of Kale, on the throne. About three months later, Shin Bo-Me poisoned the young king in early November 1425 and made Kyetaungnyo king a few days later.
Narapati I of Ava was king of Ava from 1442 to 1468. In the early years of his reign, this former viceroy of Prome (Pyay) was forced to deal with raids from the Shan State of Mogaung as well as the Ming Chinese intrusions into Avan territory (1444–1446). In the wake of renewed Chinese determination to pacify the Yunnan frontier region, Narapati was able to maintain Ava's control of northern Shan States of Kale and Mohnyin, and gained allegiance of Thibaw. However, he continued to have trouble with Toungoo which was in revolt between 1451 and 1459. One of his grandsons attempted on his life in June 1467. The king fled Ava for Prome and died there in July 1468.
Thihathura of Ava was king of Ava from 1468 to 1480. He was the last king of Ava who was able to hold on to the increasingly fractious kingdom in its entirety. Soon after succeeding his father Narapati, the new king had to put down a rebellion in Toungoo (Taungoo) in 1470, and suppressed an insurrection by his brother the lord of Prome (Pyay), whom the king pardoned. He gained submission of the eastern Shan state of Yawnghwe, and quelled a potential rebellion in the northern Shan states of Mohnyin and Mogaung. He was succeeded by his son Minkhaung II.
Shwenankyawshin Narapati was king of Ava from 1501 to 1527. His reign saw the disintegration of the Ava Kingdom. He spent much of his reign fighting back the attacks from the Confederation of Shan States. But his efforts ultimately proved unsuccessful. The king died fighting while defending his capital from Confederation attacks, after which Ava Kingdom was taken over by the Confederation.
Sawlon of Mohnyin was saopha of the Shan state of Mohnyin in the early the 16th century. He is best remembered in Burmese history as the conqueror of Ava Kingdom.
Mobye Narapati was the penultimate king of Ava who reigned from 1545 to 1551. The ethnically Shan king ruled as the disputed leader of the Confederation of Shan states that had ruled Ava since 1527. He ended the seven years' war with Toungoo as soon as he came to power. Throughout his six years of reign, he faced an active rebellion by Sithu Kyawhtin, who was supported by the Shan state of Mohnyin. He controlled only a rump state, east of the Irrawaddy and north of Pagan (Bagan). After he was finally driven out of Ava (Inwa) in October 1551, he fled south to Pegu (Bago) where he was given protection by King Bayinnaung of Toungoo Dynasty. He lived out his years at Pegu.
Sithu Kyawhtin was the last king of Ava from 1551 to 1555. He came to power by overthrowing King Narapati III in 1551, the culmination of his six-year rebellion (1545–1551) with the support of the Shan state of Mohnyin.
Thohanbwa was king of Ava from 1527 to 1542. The eldest son of Sawlon of Mohnyin was a commander who actively participated in Monhyin's numerous raids of Ava's territories in the first quarter of 16th century. In March 1527, the ethnically Shan king was appointed king of Ava by Sawlon after Mohnyin-led confederation of Shan States defeated Ava in 1527. After Sawlon was assassinated in 1533, Thohanbwa became the undisputed king of Ava as well as chief of Mohnyin. However, he was not immediately accepted by other chiefs as the leader of the confederation.
Hkonmaing was king of Ava from 1542 to 1545. The saopha of the Shan state of Onbaung–Hsipaw was elected by the Ava court to the Ava throne in 1542, by extension the leader of the Confederation of Shan States, despite strenuous objections by the House of Mohnyin. He was accepted as the leader by other Confederation leaders only because the Confederation was in the middle of a serious war with Toungoo Dynasty. After the Confederation's failed military campaigns in 1543–45 that resulted in the loss of Central Burma, Hkonmaing lost the support of Sawlon II of Mohnyin. He died in 1545 while fighting a Mohnyin-backed rebellion by Sithu Kyawhtin.
Saw Mon Hla was a principal queen of King Anawrahta of Pagan. She is known in Burmese history for her beauty and her eventual exile instigated by other rival queens. Her story is still part of popular Burmese theater, and she is portrayed as a sad romantic figure.
Atula Thiri Maha Yaza Dewi was the chief queen consort of King Bayinnaung of Burma (Myanmar) from 1550 to 1568. The queen was of Toungoo royalty, daughter of King Mingyi Nyo and younger half-sister of King Tabinshwehti. She was the mother of King Nanda. Her 1534 marriage to Bayinnaung, a commoner, solidified an unfailing alliance between Tabinshwehti and Bayinnaung who together would go on to found the Toungoo Empire.
Hsenwi Yazawin or Theinni Yazawin is a 19th-century Burmese chronicle that covers the history of the Shan state of Hsenwi (Theinni). It is believed to have been written after the publication of Hmannan Yazawin.
Mong Yawng Yazawin is a 19th-century Burmese chronicle that covers the history of the Shan state of Mong Yawng. It is believed to have been written after the publication of Hmannan Yazawin.
Hkonmaing was saopha of the Shan principality of Onbaung–Hsipaw in what is now Myanmar. He was the only main ally of King Narapati II of Ava in the latter's 25-year struggle against the Mohnyin-led Confederation of Shan States, Prome and Toungoo. After Ava's fall, he became a member of the Confederation. He died during or shortly after his participation in the Confederation's 1542 campaign against Toungoo Dynasty. His son, also named Hkonmaing, and grandson Narapati III became kings of Ava.
