Rohingya hail from coastal as well as mountainous areas of northern Rakhine State Most Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh hail from either Maungdaw or Buthidaung Township in Northern Rakhine State. Much of the Maungdaw Township population dwells in villages along or near the riverbanks and coastline that mark the Myanmar-Bangladesh border, and many residents relied on these waters for livelihoods of fishing and trading. Maungdaw residents thus had greater access to cross-border trade, and businesspeople from various ethnic groups in the region imported goods from other parts of Myanmar and exported them across the border through Maungdaw. The legacy of trade between Cox’s Bazar residents and Maungdaw-based Rohingya is still visible today in Teknaf as well as Cox’s Bazar. Both towns have markets, nicknamed “Burma Bazar,” that sell traditional Myanmar snack foods and textiles. Until the 2017 exodus, roughly 30 percent of the Rakhine State population was Rohingya. The Rohingya population is more concentrated in the northern part of the state, and 93 percent of the Maungdaw Township population was Rohingya, according to the Myanmar government’s 2016 estimate.18 Buthidaung Township lies further inland to the east. It is more mountainous and less populous than Maungdaw. Rohingya comprised 84 percent of the Buthidaung population until 2017, and this township is described as more ethnically diverse than Maungdaw.19 In Rathedaung Township, to the southeast of Maungdaw, Rakhine people comprise the majority of the population, but the Rohingya were a sizeable minority, likely over 20 percent.20 In addition, 3 percent of registered refugees— less than 0.5 percent of the overall population—hail from Sittwe Township, which houses the state capital in central Rakhine State. Sittwe is also home to a sizeable Rohingya population, most of whom have been confined to IDP camps since 2012, but this population has limited links to Rohingya from northern Rakhine. Some Rohingya refugees have opened small shops within the camps. 15