The early-nineteenth-century realm of the Burmese monarchs stretched from the Himalayan mountains in the north to the Andaman Sea in the south and from the plains of Siam in the east to British Bengal in the west. But the writ of the king and his ministers only penetrated sections of this vast territory. Much remained under the cover of dense jungle or within the effective authority of tributary chiefs. In Arakan, Burmese governors, backed by elephants and musketeers, barely controlled more than the main towns of Mrohaung, Ramree, Cheduba and Sandoway, as the peoples of the marshy countryside and the adjacent hills held out against their grasp. Ava's occupation lasted only forty years and throughout this time rebellions and cross-border raids by Arakanese insurgents continually challenged a precarious presence.

In the small northern and eastern principalities nearby, local rulers accepted or resisted Burmese sovereignty but never lost their autonomy. The Shan and other sawbwa were required to attend regular homage ceremonies, bring tribute of gold and silver and provide daughters for the king's western apartments. Burmese troops were posted at selected garrison towns and the largest was at Mong Nai. But these soldiers were there to suppress outright rebellion and were not part of a more general structure of government. These lesser states were viewed by the regime as their principal tributaries, a vast arc of dependent polities. In areas close to Ava, there existed strong cultural and often personal ties between the Shanspeaking and Burmese-speaking courts. Marriage tied the Ava aristocracy to all important tributary princely clans and the sons of Shan rulers often spent their formative years as pages to their paramount ruler.