Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar

According to legend, the Shwedagon Pagoda has existed for more than 2,600 years, making it the oldest pagoda in Burma and the world. The story is that two merchant brothers, Taphussa and Bhallika, from the land of Ramanya, met the Lord Gautama Buddha during his lifetime and received eight of the Buddha's hairs in 588 BC. The brothers traveled back to their homeland in Burma and, with the help of the local ruler, King Okkalapa, found Singuttara Hill, where relics of other Buddhas preceding Gautama Buddha had been enshrined. When the king opened the golden casket in which the brothers had carried the hairs, incredible things happened:

“There was a tumult among men and spirits ... rays emitted by the Hairs penetrated up to the heavens above and down to hell ... the blind beheld objects ... the deaf heard sounds ... the dumb spoke distinctly ... the earth quaked ... the winds of the ocean blew ... Mount Meru shook ... lightning flashed ... gems rained down until they were knee deep ... all trees of the Himalayas, though not in season, bore blossoms and fruit.”

The stupa fell into disrepair until the 14th century, when the Mon King Binnya U of Bago had the stupa rebuilt to a height of 18 m (59 ft). A century later, Queen Shinsawbu (1453–72), raised its height to 40 m (131 ft). She terraced the hill on which it stands, paved the top terrace with flagstones, and assigned land for maintenance. She yielded up the throne to Dhammazedi in 1472, retiring to Dagon; during her last illness she had her bed placed so that she could rest her dying eyes upon the gilded dome. By the beginning of the 16th century the pagoda had become the most famous place of pilgrimage in Burma.

In 1608 the Portuguese adventurer Philip de Brito e Nicote, known as Nga Zinka to the Burmese, plundered the Shwedagon Pagoda. His men took the 300-ton Great Bell of Dhammazedi. De Brito's intention was to melt the bell down to make cannons, but it fell into the Bago River when he was carrying it across.

A series of earthquakes during the next centuries caused damage. The worst damage came in 1768 earthquake and brought down the top of the stupa, but afterward King Hsinbyushin (lit. Lord of the White Elephant), raised it to its current height of 99 m.

The British landed on May 11, 1824 during the First Anglo-Burmese War. They immediately seized and occupied the Shwedagon Pagoda and used it as a fortress until they left two years later. There was, regrettably, much pillaging and vandalism, and one officer's excuse for digging a tunnel into the depths of the stupa was to find out if it could be used as a gunpowder magazine.

The Maha Gandha Bell, a 23-ton bronze bell cast in 1779 and donated by King Singu, was carried off with the intention to ship it to Calcutta. It met the same fate as the Dhammazedi Bell and fell into the river. When the British failed in their attempts to recover it, the people offered to help provided it could be restored to the stupa. The British, thinking it would be in vain, agreed, upon which divers went in to tie hundreds of bamboo poles underneath the bell and floated it to the surface.

The Second Anglo-Burmese War saw the British re-occupation of the Shwedagon in April 1852, only this time the stupa was to remain under their military control for 77 years, until 1929, although the people were given access to the Paya.

During the British occupation and fortification of the Pagoda, Maung Htaw Lay, the most prominent Mon-Burmese in British Burma, successfully prevented the British Army from looting the treasures. He eventually restored the Pagoda its former glory and status with the financial help from the British administration.

An earthquake of moderate intensity in October 1970 put the shaft of the hit (crown umbrella) visibly out of alignment. A scaffold was erected and repairs were made.