Arakan Hills

Arakan Mountains
Rakhine Mountains
View of the Arakan Mountains in Maungdaw district rising above the banks of the Naf River
Highest point
Peak	Mount Victoria
Elevation	3,094 m (10,151 ft)
Coordinates	21°25′46.36″N 93°49′10.75″E / 21.4295444°N 93.8196528°E / 21.4295444; 93.8196528
Naming
Native name	ရခိုင်ရိုးမ (Arakan Yoma)
Geography
The Arakan Mountains are an elongated range in Western Burma
Country	Burma
State	Rakhine State
Range coordinates	21°16′N 93°57′E / 21.267°N 93.950°E / 21.267; 93.950Coordinates: 21°16′N 93°57′E / 21.267°N 93.950°E / 21.267; 93.950
Geology
Type of rock	metamorphic and tightly folded sedimentary rocks over crystalline basement

The Arakan Mountains (Arakan Range, Rakhine Range, Rakhine Yoma, Arakan Yoma, Rakhine Roma, Arakan Roma; Burmese: ရခိုင်ရိုးမ) is a mountain range in western Burma (Myanmar), between the coast of Rakhine State and the Central Burma Basin, in which flows the Irrawaddy River. It is the most prominent of a series of parallel ridges that arc through Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram and Burma. The Arakan Mountains run from Cape Negrais in the south in to the Manipur State of India in the north. They include the Naga Hills, the Chin Hills, and the Patkai range which includes the Lushai Hills. These mountains are submerged in the Bay of Bengal for a sufficiently long stretch and emerges again in the form of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Arakan Mountains and the parallel arcs to the west and east were formed by compression as the Indian Plate collided with the Eurasian Plate approximately along the boundary between India and Nepal.

The Arakan Mountain Range is over 600 miles (950 km) long, with about 250 miles (400 km) of actual mountains. The highest point in the range is Khonu Msung (or Mount Victoria) at 3,094 metres (10,151 ft).

The Arakan Mountains are crossed by a road between Ngape and Minbu and by an all-weather road from Taungup to Pyay on the Irrawaddy.

The Arakan Mountains divide the Rakhine coast from the rest of Burma, and thus have acted as a barrier between the peoples of central Burma and those of the Indian subcontinent. This played a role in fostering the separate development of the Rakhine people, both linguistically and culturally, from the Burmese. The Arakan Mountains also served as a barrier inhibiting Burmese invasions, and allowing Arakan to develop as a separate political entity. Thus the coastal cities, such as Mrauk U and Waithali, formed the core of Arakan civilization.