Theft From Shwedagon Pagoda
European explorers and merchants began to make contacts in Lower Burma in the early 16th century. Filipe de Brito e Nicote, a Portuguese warlord and mercenary known as Nga Zinka to the Burmese, arrived in Lower Burma sometime in the 1590s. At that time, Syriam (now known as Thanlyin) was the most important seaport in the Burmese Kingdom of Taungoo.
In 1599, de Brito led an Arakanese force which sacked Syriam and Pegu (now known as Bago), the capital of Lower Burma. The King of Arakan appointed de Brito as governor of Syriam. By 1600, de Brito had extended his power across the Bago River to Dagon and the surrounding countryside. De Brito declared independence from the Arakanese king in 1603 and established Portuguese rule under Aires de Saldanha, Viceroy of Portuguese India.
In 1608 De Brito and his men removed the Dhammazedi bell from the Shwedagon Pagoda and rolled it down Singuttara Hill to a raft on the Pazundaung Creek. From here, the bell was hauled by elephants to the Bago River. The bell and raft were lashed to de Brito's flagship for the journey across the river to Syriam, to be melted down and made into ships cannons. The load proved to be too heavy however: at the confluence of the Bago and Yangon Rivers, off what is now known as Monkey Point, the raft broke up and the bell went to the bottom, taking de Brito's ship with it.
Burmese forces under King Anaukpetlun recaptured Syriam in September 1613. De Brito was executed by impalement on a wooden stake, a punishment reserved for defilers of Buddhist temples.
Read more about this topic: Great Bell Of Dhammazedi
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