Akyab, Apostolic Prefecture of

AKYAB, APOSTOLIC PREFECTURE of. — Established in 1940 with territory detached from the diocese of Chittagong (Burma). It is entrusted to the Missionaries of Our Lady of La Salette (American province) and comprises four civil districts, which form the provinces of Arakan, with an area of 37,905 sq km. Arakan was evangelized around 1600 by the Portuguese Jesuits, then by the Augustinians and the Theatines, by the priests of the Seminary for Foreign Missions of Paris, by the Belgian Benedictines, and by the Religious of the Holy Cross. Population: 1,008,535, of whom 653,699 are Buddhists (of Burmese race), 255,469 Muslims (immigrants from India), 18,350 Hindus, 1,218 Protestants (Anglicans and Baptists), and approximately 80,000 members of various aboriginal tribes. In 1940 the Catholics numbered 850 (of whom 440 belonged to the aboriginal Chin tribe), with five churches, 8 American missionaries, 18 English nuns, and 7 indigenous catechists.