Countries of the World (Asia) - Bangladesh
Tenth Asian country in my geography series.
Section I - Basic Info on Bangladesh
Official Name: People's Republic of Bangladesh
Population: 170,183,916 (9th largest in the world, 6th largest in Asia)
Area/Size: 57,321 square miles (about the size of Illinois)
Capital: Dhaka (24.7 million - sister city of Kolkata, India)
Other Major Cities: Chittagong (5.7 million), Gazipur (3.0 million)
Spoken Languages: Bengali (official), English
Religions: Sunni Muslim (89%), Hindu (9%)
Life Expectancy: 75.5 years Internet Access Rate: 44.5%
Per Capita Income: $9,647 Unemployment: 4.7%
What do they Export?: Ready-made clothing, jute, home textiles, leather footwear
Export Partners: U.S. (16%), Germany (15%), U.K. (8%), Spain (7%)
Import Partners: China (34%), India (17%), Indonesia (5%), Singapore (5%)
Government Type: Parliamentary republic (Interim government in place after 20 years of authoritarian government and disputed elections)
Section II - Images of Bangladesh
7 Key Dates/Periods in Bengali History
I'm going to keep this one fairly simple, without a lot of focus on ancient history (most of which is a duplication of India and/or Pakistan. Instead, I will do a quick overview of the colonial period, then primarily focus on the past 100 years and the events that led to the partition of Bangladesh first from India, and later from Pakistan. I'll also look briefly at events in the 55 years since independence, without getting too much into current events.
c. 500 BC - 1400 AD - For much of its history, Bangladesh was simply the eastern part of Bengal and was considered a part of India. People have lived in Bangladesh for thousands of years.[7] Farming developed in Bangladesh very early on. By 500 BC, people grew rice there. Farming lead to the development of urban areas like cities. Early houses in Bangladesh were likely built of wood and mud, and adobe. Because Bangladesh has monsoons, there is not a lot of evidence of ancient people living there. From about 300 BC to the 1700s AD, technology like writing and the Bengali language developed. During this time, many religions were popular and many states were founded. The Pala Empire ruled Bengal until the middle of the twelfth century, expanded Bengali power to its farthest extent and supported Buddhism. It was the first independent Buddhist dynasty of Bengal. In the 13th century, Turkic armies took over the Bengal delta. During this time, the delta was ruled by Hindu leaders. In 1206, a Muslim kingdom called the Delhi Sultanate was founded. The rulers of the Bengal delta became friendly with the sultanate, and to stay separately ruled the Bengal rulers would pay tribute to the sultanate using war elephants. In 1341, Bengal became independent from Delhi, and Dhaka became the capital of independent Bengal.
1350 - 1760 - In 1576, Bengal was taken over by Akbar the Great, a Mughal emperor. Bengal stayed part of the Mughal Empire until the eighteenth century. When the Mughals ruled the Bengal, they began to make Bengal part of India politically. Bengal, however, was too far away from the Mughal capital in Delhi. Because it was hard to talk to Bengal, local governors found it easy to ignore what the Mughals wanted for Bengal. Although Bengal remained a province, religious leaders and scientists from Mughal-ruled Bengal have been famous throughout India. As Bengal was part of their empire, the Mughals helped it grow. They built a road from Delhi to Dhaka, started a postal service, and helped make their calendar better. This calendar is still used in Bangladesh today. The Mughals also collected taxes in Bengal. Soon, Bengal was the richest province and was called the "Breadbasket of India". The Mughals used Bengali resources to help maintain their army, but they did not help protect the Bengali people from pirates. This made the Bengali people angry, and the Mughals had to appoint powerful generals to help rule Bengal. Despite this, Bengal became a center of the textile trade in South Asia. In 1704, the capital of Bengal was moved from Dhaka to Murshidabad. In 1707, Aurangzeb, sometimes called the last great Mughal emperor, died. After this, governors in Bengal still paid tribute to the Mughal empire, but were mostly left alone. These governors protected Bengal from Hindu Marathas during the eighteenth century. When the Mughal governor Alivardi Khan died in 1756, he left rule of Bengal to his grandson, who would lose Bengal to the British in 1757 in the Battle of Plassey.
1760 - 1900 - While several European countries attempted to establish trading colonies in Bengal, it was the British who finally succeeded by founding factories in Bengali cities in the late 17th century. After the Battle of Plassey, the British and the East India Company decided to establish colonies rather than continue to buy cooperation from local leaders. The British goal was to increase the productivity of the Bengali economy, and experimented on Bengal's administration and economy. In 1790, the British introduced "permanent settlement" and made it law three years later. It was a framework for taxation on land where landlords were effectively given landholdings in exchange for timely payment of taxes. While Muslims had comprised most of the landlord class during Mughal rule, eastern Bengal witnessed mostly Hindu landlords presiding over mainly Muslim peasants. This factor would become politically important by the end of the colonial rule. The British abandoned the former official language, Persian, in the 1830s and English educational institutions prepared a small part of the Bengali elite for jobs in the lower and middle tiers of government. Muslims took up the British improvements more slowly and lagged behind the Hindus educationally and commercially. The authoritarian regime functioning in alliance with the rural elite was susceptible to resistance and revolts happened frequently during the British rule. However, British rule in Bengal faced no threat by the second half of the 1800s.
1900 - 1947 - In 1905 the British decided to partition Bengal, separating the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. Partition was promoted for administrative reasons - Bengal was geographically as large as France and had a significantly larger population, but was neglected and under-governed. By splitting the province, an improved administration could be established in the east, where subsequently, the population would benefit from new schools and employment opportunities. At the same time the British regarded politically active Muslims as their supporters and the partition created a Muslim-dominated province. Economic issues increased Hindu-Muslim conflict in Bengal, and led to the British moving India's capital from Calcutta to Delhi (later New Delhi). By 1946 Indian politics was dominated by two organizations - the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League. The 1946 election was mainly contended over the question of creating a Muslim homeland: Pakistan. The majority of East Bengal's peasantry saw Pakistan as a good way of eliminating the feudal system. More than religious reasons, it had been because of economic factors they supported the Muslim League and Pakistan. The Muslim League did not want Bengal to be divided, and wanted it fully included in Pakistan. However, the Congress demanded the partition of the province, with Eastern Bengal joining Pakistan while Western Bengal joined India.
1947 - 1971 - A rift within Pakistan quickly developed over the question of the national language. When the state of Pakistan was formed in 1947, its two regions, East Pakistan (also called East Bengal) and West Pakistan, were split along cultural, geographical, and linguistic lines. In Feb 1948, the Government of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Pakistan. After years of conflict, the central government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. Great differences began developing between the two wings of Pakistan. While the west had a minority share of Pakistan's total population, it had the largest share of revenue allocation, industrial development, agricultural reforms and civil development projects. The regime became more unpopular during 1965, in the year of a war between India and Pakistan. Patriotism was high in East Pakistan during the war against India, but this was one of the last cases of national solidarity. East Pakistanis felt they had not been protected by the army from a possible Indian invasion. After efforts to find a negotiated solution failed, in late Mar 1971 a military crackdown by the Pakistan army began. When it became clear that neither the Pakistani military nor local freedom fighters could win, India gradually started an invasion of their own, increasing military activities in East Pakistan while not declaring war out of fear of the geopolitical aftermath. Finally on Dec 16, 1971, General Niazi (commander of Pakistan Army forces located in East Pakistan) signed the Instrument of Surrender and the nation of Bangladesh ("Country of Bengal") was finally established the following day.
1972 - 1992 - Bangladesh declared itself as independent from Pakistan in 1971 after a liberation war in which over a million people died. After Indian military intervention, the provisional government returned from exile in Calcutta in India. However, the government of Bangladesh quickly dissolved into a series of disputed elections, assassinations, and coups over the next 25 years. In particular, Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led the new country for the first 4 years after independence and is today widely regarded as the nation's independence hero and founding father, but after his government was ineffective at solving problems and began to turn more autocratic, he and his family were killed in 1975. Eventually his daughter would return to Bangladesh to lead the country much of the past 30 years. In the midst of the political chaos, some changes were made to establish the new nation. Bengali replaced Urdu and English as the only national and official language, and is largely used in government, business, and schools. At first, people began to stop speaking Arabic in Bangladesh after the break with Pakistan, but today it is widely studied in Madrassas and Islamic schools so people can understand Islamic texts better. Additionally, leaders during the 1980s worked to privatize the largely state-owned economy (up to 70% of industry was in public ownership) and encourage private investment in heavy industries along with light manufacturing, raw materials, and newspapers. Eventually a pro-democracy movement in 1991 spearheaded by female leaders Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina engulfed the entire country and drew the participation of the middle and upper classes, leading to free and fair elections in 1991.
1991 - present - In 1996 Sheikh Hasina (daughter of Bangladesh's initial leader) came to power for the first time. During her first term she is credited with signing the Ganges Water Sharing Treaty with India and the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord with ethnic insurgents, for which Hasina won the UNESCO Peace Prize. However, continued issues with elections led to a series of caretaker governments between 2000 and 2007 (and eventually the arrest of both Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina - the leaders of the two main political parties), ending with an overwhelming electoral victory by the Awami League and Hasina in 2008. In 2010, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh reaffirmed secularism as a fundamental principle in the constitution amidst growing rifts between the country's secular and conservative forces. In 2017, the country faced a fresh challenge from incoming Rohingya refugees from the neighboring country of Myanmar. 400,000 Rohingya refugees (approximately 40% of the remaining Rohingya in Myanmar) fled the country creating a major humanitarian crisis.
During Sheikh Hasina's 16 years as leader (until 2024) her regime had been accused of money laundering, enforced disappearances, lack of press freedom, and constantly described as an authoritarian and dictatorial. This caused the public to build up tension against the government. In June and July 2024 a court ruling about Bangladesh's quota system for jobs (and a subsequent government crackdown against protestors) led university students to demand the resignation of Sheikh Hasina and her cabinet. The movement evolved to what many know as "The Mass Uprising" which led Sheikh Hasina in August 5 to resign and flee to India. After the fall of Hasina, an interim government was formed later in 2024, with Dr. Muhammad Yunus (winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with the Grameen Bank and microcredit) acting as the Chief Advisor of the interim government.
Other Non-Political Issues
Section III - Issues of Bangladesh
General Information on Bangladesh:
“Bangladesh", One World Nations Online, Jan 2025, https://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/bangladesh.htm
"Bangladesh", Wikipedia, Aug 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh or https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh
“Bangladesh - Economy", World Bank Group, Jan 2026, https://data360.worldbank.org/en/economy/BHR
"Bangladesh Facts for Kids", Kids World Travel Guide, Apr 2026, https://www.kids-world-travel-guide.com/bangladesh-facts.html
"Bangladesh Travel Guide", National Geographic, 2026, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destination/bangladesh
"Beautiful Bangladesh", (official tourism site), Bangladesh Tourism Board, 2026, https://beautifulbangladesh.gov.bd/
History Links on Bangladesh:
“Bangladesh Explained in 15 Minutes | History, Geography, Culture” (video), Opentiera, Oct 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_fRMRg5H9E
"The Genocide the U.S. Can’t Remember, But Bangladesh Can’t Forget", Smithsonian Magazine, Dec 2016, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/genocide-us-cant-remember-bangladesh-cant-forget-180961490/
"A history of microfinance | Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank", TedxTalks Vienna, Jan 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UCuWxWiMaQ
“The making of a megacity: how Dhaka transformed in 50 years of Bangladesh", The Guardian (U.K.), Sep 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/mar/26/the-making-of-a-megacity-how-dhaka-transformed-in-50-years-of-bangladesh
"Why the Partition of India and Pakistan still casts a long shadow over the region", National Geographic, Aug 2022, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/partition-of-india-and-pakistan-history-legacy
Current Events Stories on Bangladesh:
"After the Monsoon Revolution, Bangladesh’s economy and government need major reforms", Atlantic Council, Jan 2025, https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/in-depth-research-reports/books/after-the-monsoon-revolution-bangladeshs-economy-and-government-need-major-reforms/
“Bangladesh holds presidential election in first contested vote in 35 years”, Al-Jazeera, Aug 2026, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/20/bangladesh-holds-presidential-election-in-first-contested-vote-in-35-years
"A historic election in Bangladesh brings BNP to power. What to know about its leader", National Public Radio (NPR) News, Feb 2026, https://www.npr.org/2026/02/13/nx-s1-5713306/bangladesh-nationalist-party-victory-election-student-uprising-leader
"Sheikh Hasina vows to return, but will Bangladesh accept convicted ex-PM?", Al-Jazeera, Aug 2026, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/8/6/sheikh-hasina-vows-to-return-but-will-bangladesh-accept-fugitive-ex-pm
“The War Is Making It Harder to Keep the Lights On, 2,000 Miles Away - Bangladesh is taking steps to conserve electricity, which its factories need to keep stitching together the world’s clothing", New York Times, Mar 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/16/business/iran-bangladesh-imported-gas.html
Other Interesting Links Related To Bangladesh:
"Bangladeshi food: Traditional dishes to try" (blog article), Once In A Lifetime Journey, Sep 2021, https://www.onceinalifetimejourney.com/reviews/food/bangladeshi-food-traditional-dishes/
"Climate change creates a new migration crisis for Bangladesh", National Geographic, Jan 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/climate-change-drives-migration-crisis-in-bangladesh-from-dhaka-sundabans
"Explore the world's largest mangrove forest - Get off the beaten path in the Bangladeshi Sundarbans", National Geographic, Feb 2019, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/visit-the-worlds-largest-mangrove-forest-sundarbans OR the UNESCO site - https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/798
"Heritage, history, and Dhakaiya food in Bangladesh (Fork the System series)", Al-Jazeera, Apr 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/4/11/heritage-history-and-dhakaiya-food-in-bangladesh
“It’s got tigers, tea plantations and beaches — so why does Bangladesh struggle to attract tourists?", CNN Travel, Jan 2026, https://www.cnn.com/travel/bangladesh-dhaka-tourism-attractions
Section IV - Resources About Bangladesh
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