Yangon Region Pagoda named Dagon. The British first captured Yangon in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-26) but returned it Burmese administration after the war. The British seized Yangon and all of Lower Burma in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, and subsequently transformed Yangon into the commercial and political hub of British Burma. Yangon was the capital of British Burma and Hanthawaddy Province, which covered today's Yangon and Bago divisions. The British brought in many Indians to serve as workers and civil servants. By the 1930s, the Indians made up half of Yangon city, and only one-third was Bamar (Burmese). Between World
Yangon Region transferred from Bago Division to Yangon Division. Post-war Yangon grew tremendously. Successive Burmese governments built satellite towns near Yangon. Today, Yangon Region is essentially the Greater Yangon metropolitan area surrounded by a hollow rural hinterland. Yangon Region consists of 4 districts and 44 townships. Of the 44, the city of Yangon now encompasses 33 townships. The ethnic Bamar, Rakhine, Karen and Mon make up the majority of the population. The division is also home to a large number of Chinese and South Asians. The majority of the inhabitants are Theravada Buddhists, followed by Muslims, Christians and Hindus. According to 2014