Originally the northern province of Sagaing of the Pinya Kingdom, it became de facto independent after Prince Saw Yun successfully fought for autonomy from his father King Thihathu in 1315–17.

The northern petty state stayed independent for the next four decades mainly due to Pinya's internal divisions.

Sagaing itself was full of palace intrigues, and the court led by Nanda Pakyan came to control a string of weak monarchs from the mid-1330s to the 1350s.

In the 1350s, Princess Soe Min successfully repaired Sagaing's long-strained relationship with Pinya in order to defend against the northern Shan state of Maw.

In the wake of the latest Maw raid, Saw Yun's grandson Prince Thado Minbya seized both devastated capitals in 1364, and founded the Ava Kingdom in 1365.

The small kingdom is remembered in Burmese history as the polity that gave birth to Ava, the dominant power of Upper Myanmar from the 14th to 16th centuries.

At the end of the 13th century, Sagaing was the northernmost vassal state of Myinsaing, the polity that succeeded Pagan in Central Burma.

Various Shan states, nominal Mongol vassals, now dominated the entire northwestern-to-southeastern arc surrounding the Irrawaddy valley.

[3] For the first time since the 1280s, the entire Irrawaddy between Prome (Pyay) in the south and Tagaung in the north was under a single ruler.

First, the Myinsaing-Pinya rulers had inherited the longstanding problem that had existed since the late Pagan period: between one and two-thirds of Upper Burma's cultivated land had been donated to religion, and the crown had lost resources needed to retain the loyalty of courtiers and military servicemen.

[4] Furthermore, "markedly drier weather during the late 13th and much of the 14th centuries" in Upper Burma forced large migrations from the established granaries (Kyaukse, Minbu, and Mu valley)[5] "to better watered districts farther south".

[note 1] He found support among a sect of forest-dwelling monks and their followers who had become politically powerful during the chaotic conditions of the upcountry.

[10] The young prince went on to upgrade Sagaing's timber walls to brick without his father's permission, and completed it in 1316.

The king allowed Saw Yun to remain in office at Sagaing in exchange for his son's nominal submission.

[16] King Uzana I's authority was openly contested by Crown Prince Kyawswa I with the half-brothers maintaining their own military units.

The dowager Queen Saw Hnaung with the help of Chief Minister Nanda Pakyan hid the children in Mindon inside Pinya territory.

He ran the day-to-day affairs for the inexperienced usurper while regularly taking bribes from the dowager queen to keep the royal children hidden.

At any rate, the two kingdoms made peace through a marriage of state between the new king Kyaswa and Uzana I's daughter Saw Pa Oh.

[19] But the situation turned cold again in 1340 when Uzana I lost his long power struggle with Kyawswa I, and abdicated the throne.

[25] But Tarabya II tried to cool the situation by sending his sister Princess Soe Min and her husband Gov.

The agreed to an alliance through a marriage of state between Princess Shin Saw Gyi of Sagaing and King Kyawswa II of Pinya (r.

Kyawswa II simply did not command enough manpower to assist Sagaing and hold his southern vassals at the same time.

Thihapate escaped through the porous blockade but subsequently put to death by his stepson Thado Minbya (r. 1364–67) who seized the throne.

[note 2]) Unlike with its larger neighbor to the south, Sagaing, according to the chronicles, did not have any governor-level rulers in districts (except for Tagaung).

[10][41] By the early 14th century, many of the monks tilled the land on their own, and had become a political force that reported lent support to Saw Yun's insurrection in 1315.