TENASSERIM, or Tha-neng-tha-ri, a tract of inountainous country between lat. 11° and 17° N., lying along the E. coast of the Bay of Bengal, and between it and a high chain of hilla about 40 miles inland. It is British territory, a division of the province of British Burma, comprising the Iseven districts of Amherst, Tavoy, Mergui, Moul mein, Shwe-gying, Tounghoo, and the Salwin Hill tracts. Area, 46,780 square miles ; population (1881), 825,741 persons. These districts formed the tract South of Pegu which British hidia'con quered from Burma in 1826, and were for many years generally known under their official name of the Tenasserim Provinces. The mountains, 40 utiles inland, are about 500 miles in length, and in parts exceed 80 miles in breadth, and in places 5000 feet high. The small town of Tenasserim, in lat. 12° 6' N., and long. 99° E., is built on tlle Great Tenasserim river. A chain of islands, called the Mergui Archipelago, runs along the coast 15 or 20 miles distant from it.
Coal occurs in several parts of Tenasserim on the Great and Little Tenasserim rivers. At Mer gui the beds are very extensive, from 9 to 18 feet thick, and about 16 feet from the surface. The principal mine is about 90 miles up the Great Tenasserim river. It was at one time worked by Government, but from want of management did not prove remunerative and was abandoned. The Mergui coal was regarded by the coal commit tee as true mineral coal, but of inferior quality. A similar coal is found on the banks of Tenasserim north of the latitude of Tavoy.
The principal metallic ores are tin, antimony, iron, gold, and galena, those of tin being widely diffused, and are worked.
The races and tribes occupying Tenasserim are Burmese, Karen, Lawa, Selon or Selung, Shan, Siamese, Tavoyer of Arakanese descent, and Talaing or Mon.