SHWEBO, town and district in the Sagaing division of Burma. The town is situated in the midst of a rice plain, 53 m. N.E. from Mandalay by rail. Pop. (1931) 11,286. It is of his toric interest as the birthplace and capital of Alompra, the founder of the last Burmese dynasty. After British annexation it became an important military cantonment ; but there is no longer any garrison. The area of the district is 5,749 sq.m. ; pop. (1930 446,790, showing an increase of 55,5°6 in the decade. It lies between the Katha, Upper and Lower Chindwin and Mandalay districts. The Irrawaddy forms the dividing line on the east. The physical features of the district vary considerably. The Minwun range runs down the whole eastern side, skirting the Irrawaddy. In the north it is a defined range, but at Sheinmaga, in the south, it sinks to an undulation. West of the Mu river, in the centre of the district, there is a gradual ascent to the hills which divide Shwebo from the Upper Chindwin. Between these ranges and on both sides of the Mu is a plain, unbroken except for some isolated hills in the north and north-east and the low Sadaung-gyi range in the south-east. The greater part of this
plain is a rice-growing tract, but on the sloping ground maize, millets, sesamum, cotton and peas are raised. A good deal of sugar is also produced from groves of the taxi palm. The Mu river is navigable for three months in the year, from June to August, but in the dry season it can be forded almost anywhere.
Extensive irrigation works existed in Shwebo district, but they fell into disrepair in King Thibaw's time. Chief of these was the Mahananda lake. The old works have been restored and extended, and in 1906 the main canal was formally opened. The district is on the northern borders of the dry belt ; the southern tracts have between 25 and 4o in. of rain, the northern tracts rather more. The Sagaing-Myitkyina railway runs through the heart of the district, and a railway was recently opened connecting Ye-u (pop. 3,739 in 1931) with the Chindwin river port of Monywa.