The City of Bhagarn, Burma

The chosen location for the city of Bhagarn owed much to the geography of the land around it. It seems to have been built on the ruins of a previous settlement belonging to the Pew people, and stood on a sizable bend in the meandering course of the Irowadi river. The settlement had easy access to water, and was surrounded by countryside that would be the most fertile and productive of all Myanmar for the next 500 years. Part of the reason for this was the region's violent geological history. Around 50 kilometers to the southeast of Bhagawan was a great dormant volcano named Mount Poppa. This volcanic cone covered in thick forest and shaded bamboo groves is a sacred site