SITTANG RIVER

river in east-central Myanmar (Burma), rising northeast of Yamethin on the edge of the Shan Plateau and flowing south for 260 miles (420 km) to empty into the Gulf of Martaban of the Andaman Sea. The broad Sittang River valley lies between the forested Pegu Mountains (west) and the steep Shan Plateau (east) and holds the main road and railway from Yangon (Rangoon) to Mandalay as well as the major towns of Pegu, Toungoo, Yamethin, and Pyinmana. The river is navigable for 25 miles (40 km) year-round and for 55 miles (90 km) during three months of the year. The Sittang is used to float timber (particularly teak) south for export. Its lower course is linked by canal to Pegu River. This canal, built to bypass the tidal bore that afflicted the mouth of the Sittang, once provided the only route from Yangon to Toungoo. Geomorphologists consider the Sittang a misfit, too small in volume for its large valley, and theorize that the lower course of the Irrawaddy River originally occupied the valley but was deflected westward by geologic movements in Pleistocene times.