Pyinmana (pyin'mänä") [key], town and township (1983 pop. 52,962), S central Myanmar, 55 mi (89 km) NNW of Toungoo. Pyinmana is located on Yangon–Mandalay railroad in a mountainous, forested region. Sugarcane is raised in the surrounding area and processed in the town. A forestry college is there. The forces of nationalist leader Aung San were based in Pyinmana during World War II, and the area was later a Communist insurgent stronghold. In late 2005 Myanmar's military government announced that the capital would be moved from Yangon to an extensive compound outside the town, and began transferring several government ministries to the new administrative capital, which was named Naypyidaw in 2006.
