Monywa is a city in central Myanmar and situated on the eastern bank of the Chindwin River, Sagaing division. It is a major trade center for India and Burma.

The name Monywa comes from the word of combination of MON and YWA since"Mon" means "cake or snacks" and "Ywa" means village. So the meaning of MONYWA means that village of snack. The legend which says that in the old days, a Myanmar King fell in love with a seller of cakes from this town and made herhis queen. The original name some says is Mon-thema-ywa or "Village of the woman cake seller". Monywa was a big village during Bagan period.

The classical name for Monywa is Thallawadi.

The chronicles mention that Monywa was one of the places where King Alaungphaya encamped for the night on his campaign to Manipura in 1758. During the Myanmar Kings' time Monywa remained just a big village as the administrative center for the region was at Ahlon.

It was only a year after the Annexation of 1886 that Monywa became the Headquarters of the Lower Chindwin District. After legalizing of the border trade with India, Monywa has been growing into a bustling trading.