Myanmar (formerly Burma) was a British colony, from 1826 until 1948. Many European groups vied for control of the country before the British arrived. Intermarriage and mixed-relationships between these settlers and merchants with the local Burmese population and subsequently between British colonists and the Burmese created a local Eurasian population, known as the Anglo-Burmese. This group dominated colonial society and through the early years of independence. Most Anglo-Burmese now reside primarily in Australia, New Zealand and the UK since Burma received her independence in 1948, with an estimated 52,000 left behind in Burma.