San Diego Ballet School students wear protective masks backstage during a performance of “The Nutcracker”, presented by the San Diego Ballet in a drive-in performance at a parking lot in San Diego, California, December 5, 2020. (Photo by Bing Guan/Reuters)

Migrants bathe in the Huixtla River, Chiapas state, Mexico, Tuesday, October 26, 2021, as they take a day of rest before continuing their trek across southern Mexico to the U.S. border. (Photo by Marco Ugarte/AP Photo)

In this photograph taken on September 13, 2022, newly recruited Taliban fighters parade in armoured vehicles after their graduation ceremony in Herat. (Photo by Mohsen Karimi/AFP Photo)

Carol Sofia Sanchez strikes a pose in her Shakira-inspired costume as she waits in line for the doors to open at Metropolitano Stadium, where pop star Shakira will perform in her hometown of Barranquilla in Colombia, Thursday, February 20, 2025. (Photo by Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)

Myanmar civil security personnel escort an eight-metre tall wicker puppet from the French cultural group L'Homme Debout during a parade in Yangon city's Dala township on December 2, 2016 to mark the opening of the Mingalabar Festival. (Photo by Romeo Gacad/AFP Photo)

Ma Jiaqi, 5, and her mother arrive at Beijing Railway Station for their train to Changchun of Jilin province, in Beijing, China, January 25, 2016. According to traffic police, over 2.9 billion trips will be made around China during the 40-day Spring Festival travel rush, which started on January 24. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)

About a dozen dogs traded in their leashes for life vests Saturday for the chance to ride the waves at Jupiter beach as part of a canine surfing competition to raise money for an animal rescue group. Photo: Musso paddles in with Jengo. (Photo by Taylor Jones/The Palm Beach Post)

The Kingdom of Pagan (also commonly known as the Pagan Dynasty and the Pagan Empire) was the first kingdom to unify the regions that would later constitute modern-day Burma (Myanmar). Pagan's 250-year rule over the Irrawaddy valley and its periphery laid the foundation for the ascent of Burmese language and culture, the spread of Burman ethnicity in Upper Burma, and the growth of Theravada Buddhism in Burma and in mainland Southeast Asia.