Rangoon was not colonial Burma’s only urban center, nor the only center for British settlement, administration, or commercial operations. Different centers had been important at earlier stages of colonial rule, such as Akyab and Moulmein, while Mandalay played a role in the north – though to a lesser degree – akin to that of Rangoon in the south. However, Rangoon was the most significant center for the colony as a whole as well as the colonial capital.

More importantly, Rangoon was a foreign city erected on Burmese soil. It was here, to the exclusion of anywhere else save for a few hill stations, that Burmese life was thoroughly pushed to one side. In its imposing architecture, its physical arrangement, its landscaped gardens, its focus on the harbor and maritime trade, the ethnic division of its population, and in many other ways, Rangoon was a mimeograph of dozens of port cities scattered throughout colonial South and Southeast Asia. A person only had to squint to be confused as to whether he or she was standing in Singapore, Penang, Calcutta, or elsewhere.