Ba Than (, ; 1870s 1931) was a Burmese school teacher, writer, and historian in the early 20th century British Burma. He is best known for his seminal Burmese history textbook Myanmar Yazawin, used in Burmese high schools from the 1930s to the 1950s. He is also known for his 1919 novel B.A. Maung Ba Lwin and the short-lived Myo-Chit newspaper, which he co-founded in 1924. Early life Ba Than was the youngest son of U Maung Lay and Daw Ma Ma of Bassein (Pathein). He and his brothers Sein (b. 1870) and Ba Gyan all became notable figures in British Burma. Sein became the longtime chief editor of the anti-colonialist Myanma Alin newspaper while Ba Gyan became a writer with the pen name of Pathein Ba Gyan. Ba Than received a B.A. from Rangoon College, in an era when only a select few could pursue a university education. Career After college, Ba Than chose to become a school teacher, spurning more lucrative career opportunities. He ended up at Shin Maha Buddhaghosa High School, a nationalist school in Moulmein (Mawlamyine) where he taught several subjects: English, Burmese, geography, mathematics and history. He also dabbled as a writer and journalist on the side, writing several newspaper columns, short stories and poems under several pen names, and publishing his first novel B.A. Maung Ba Lwin in 1919. In 1924, he and his brother Ba Gyan started the Myo-Chit (lit. "The Patriot") newspaper in Rangoon (Yangon). But the paper failed, and he returned to teaching, ending up at Taingyintha High School in Kangyidaunt, near his native Bassein, by 1929. (By his own account in 1929, he had taught in three schools over his career: Shin Maha Buddhaghosa High School, and Taingyintha High School in Moulmein, and Taingyintha High School in Kangyidaunt.) Success with Myanmar Yazawin It was then that he wrote his most famous book, Myanmar Yazawin, intended to be a high school textbook on Burmese history. It was based on his many years' experience as a history teacher, and the research he had done over the years. He had consulted several Burmese chronicles, primarily Hmannan Yazawin and Maha Yazawin, Burmese history books written by British historians (including A.P. Phayre, S.W. Cocks and G.E. Harvey) as well as English translations of Siamese and Lan Na history. He had wanted to bring a more complete textbook than those in use at the time when