..Burma (present-day Myanmar) became a province of India on January 1, 1886, when India was part of the British Empire.
.......European interest in India began when the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama arrived there in 1498. In 1600, England chartered the East India Company to exploit Asian resources and within decades established trading posts in key Indian cities. Over the next two-and-a-half centuries, Britain expanded its economic interest in India. In 1858, Britain transferred control of India from the East India Company to the British government. The British overlords directly imposed their will and their ways on three-fifths of the populace in what became known as "British India" and indirectly on two-fifths of the populace in autonomous native states.
.......Meanwhile, after fighting three wars with the Burmese—the first from 1824 to1826, the second in 1852, and the third in 1885—the British gained control of Burma and incorporated it into India.
.......Britons dominated the economic, political, and social life of the their conquered lands. The British got the best jobs, held the top government posts, and exploited the natural resources. They also erected social barriers between themselves and the natives. All the while, native resentment of the English was building. In the twentieth century, this resentment continued to increase. George Orwell and other writers, including E.M. Forster, were among dissident voices that called attention to the evils of British imperialism.