HANTHAWADDY, a district in the Pegu division of Lower Burma, the home district of Rangoon, from which the town was detached to make a separate district in 1880. It has an area of 1,931 sq.m., with a population in 1931 of 408,831, of whom 46,086 lived in the two towns of Syriam, where the oil refineries are situated, and Thongwa. Ma-ubin and Hanthawaddy are the two most densely populated districts in the province. It consists of a vast plain stretching up from the sea, and lies on either side of the Rangoon river by which the port of Rangoon is approached from the sea. The country is intersected by numerous tidal creeks, many navigable by large boats and some, like the Bassein creek which connects the Rangoon river with the To or China Bakir mouth of the Irrawaddy, by steamers. The Twante canal affords a more direct communication between the Rangoon and China Bakir rivers, and is used by the regular steamer services between Rangoon and Bassein across the delta. The British Admiralty oiling base, constructed between 1922 and 1927, lies on the east bank of the Rangoon river in the Hanthawaddy district. Cultiva tion in the district is almost wholly confined to rice, and there are considerable tracts of unreclaimed marshland.