Namkham

Location :

Namhkam, also spelt ''is the principal town of Namhkam Township in northern Shan State, Burma, situated on the southern bank of Shweli River near the border with Yunnan Province, China.

HistoryThe region belonged to China but the British colonial administration built a road in 1894-1897 between this frontier town and Bhamo by the Ayeyarwady River in Kachin State, a distance of 56 miles, for Chinese muleteers in order to benefit from the border trade. The town was rented to the British in 1897 by Qing Dynasty(similar to the New Territories of Hong Kong). The area became formally part of Burma in 1960 when China and Burma signed a border treaty, swapping some border land.

During the Second World War the Allies built the Ledo Road from Ledo in Assam, India to Kunming, China across northern Burma, and by the end of 1944, completed 439 miles to Namhkam, linking up with the old Burma Road at Bhamo. Dr Gordon Seagrave of the Burma Surgeon fame ran the US missionary hospital overlooking Namhkam. He was believed to have had intelligence duties as well as medical. He wrote some articles on his experience in NamHkam.

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