Tavoy

Tavoy, town, southeastern Myanmar (formerly known as Burma), capital of Tenasserim Division, a port at the head of the Tavoy River estuary, near the Andaman Sea. The town is in an area in which rice and timber are produced; iron, tin, and tungsten mines are in the vicinity. A coastal port of Lower Myanmar, Tavoy is a center for rice-processing and sawmilling industries; for manufacture of silk textiles; and for trade in fish and wood products. Once capital of an independent kingdom, it has been at times subject to both Myanmar and Thailand and came under British rule in 1824. The Myanmar name is Tavai. Population (1979 estimate) 114,979.