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Bangladesh

2024-03-30T07:52:14Z

Jinter: People's Republic of Bangladesh

{{Icons|Start|Altverse II}}{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = People's Republic of Bangladesh
| native_name = ''Gôṇoprojātôntrī Bāṅglādesh''
| common_name = Bangladesh
| image_flag =
| image_coat =
| symbol_type = National Emblem
| national_motto = "[[Amar Sonar Bangla]]" ([[Bangla]]) "My Golden Bengal"
| national_anthem = "[[Joy Bangla]]" ([[Bangla]]) "Victory to Bengal"
| image_map =
| alt_map =
| map_caption =
| image_map2 =
| alt_map2 =
| capital = [[Dhaka]]
| largest_city =
| official_languages = [[Bangla]]
| membership =
| membership_type =
| religion =
| demonym = Bangladeshi
| regional_languages =
| ethnic_groups = 99% Bengali
| ethnic_groups_year =
| government_type = {{w|Unitary}} {{w|parliamentary}} {{w|republic}}
| leader_title1 = [[President of Bangladesh|President]]
| leader_name1 =
| leader_title2 = [[Prime Minister of Bangladesh|Prime Minister]]
| leader_name2 =
| leader_title3 = [[Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh]]
| leader_name3 =
| leader_title4 = [[Chief Justice of Bangladesh|Chief Justice]]
| leader_name4 =
| legislature = [[Jatiya Sangsad]]
| sovereignty_type = [[Indian Independence Movement|Independence]]
| sovereignty_note = from the [[Pakistan]]
| established_event1 = Declaration
| established_date1 = 26 March 1971
| established_event2 = Victory
| established_date2 = 16 December 1971
| area =
| area_km2 = 148,460
| area_sq_mi =
| area_footnote =
| population_estimate =
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| currency_code = BDT
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}}
'''Bangladesh''', officially the '''People's Republic of Bangladesh''', is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world and is among the most densely populated countries with a population of nearly 170 million in an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). Bangladesh shares land borders with India to the north, west, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast. To the south, it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal. It is narrowly separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor, and from China by the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial, and cultural centre. Chittagong, the second-largest city, is the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal. The official language of Bangladesh is Bengali.

Bangladesh forms the sovereign part of the historic and ethnolinguistic region of Bengal, which was divided during the Partition of India in 1947 as part of a Muslim union with Pakistan, which it separated from in 1971. The country has a Bengali Muslim majority. Ancient Bengal was known as Gangaridai and was a bastion of pre-Islamic kingdoms. Muslim conquests after 1204 heralded the sultanate and Mughal periods, during which an independent Bengal Sultanate and a wealthy Mughal Bengal transformed the region into an important centre of regional affairs, trade, and diplomacy. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the maximum extent of British Bengal stretched from the Khyber Pass in the west to Singapore in the east. The creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905 set a precedent for the emergence of Bangladesh. The All India Muslim League was founded in Dhaka in 1906. In 1940, the first Prime Minister of Bengal, A. K. Fazlul Huq, supported the Lahore Resolution. Before the partition of Bengal, a Bengali sovereign state was first proposed by premier H. S. Suhrawardy. A referendum and the announcement of the Radcliffe Line established the present-day territorial boundary.

==Etymology==
The etymology of ''Bangladesh'' ("Bengali country") can be traced to the early 20th century, when Bengali patriotic songs, such as ''Namo Namo Namo Bangladesh Momo'' by Kazi Nazrul Islam and ''Aaji Bangladesher Hridoy'' by Rabindranath Tagore, used the term. Starting in the 1950s, Bengali nationalists used the term in political rallies in East Pakistan. The term ''Bangla'' is a major name for both the Bengal region and the Bengali language. The origins of the term ''Bangla'' are unclear, with theories pointing to a Bronze Age proto-Dravidian tribe, and the Iron Age Vanga Kingdom. The earliest known usage of the term is the Nesari plate in 805 AD. The term ''Vangala Desa'' is found in 11th-century South Indian records. The term gained official status during the Sultanate of Bengal in the 14th century. Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah proclaimed himself as the first "Shah of Bangala" in 1342. The word ''Bangāl'' became the most common name for the region during the Islamic period. 16th-century historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak mentions in his ''Ain-i-Akbari'' that the addition of the suffix ''"al"'' came from the fact that the ancient rajahs of the land raised mounds of earth in lowlands at the foot of the hills which were called "al". This is also mentioned in Ghulam Husain Salim's Riyaz-us-Salatin. The Indo-Aryan suffix ''Desh'' is derived from the Sanskrit word ''deśha'', which means "land" or "country". Hence, the name ''Bangladesh'' means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal".
==History==
{{Main|History of Bangladesh}}
===Ancient Bengal===
Stone Age tools have been found in different parts of Bangladesh. Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,000 years. Ancient Bengal was settled by Austroasiatics, Tibeto-Burmans, Dravidians and Indo-Aryans in consecutive waves of migration. Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region. By the 11th century, people lived in systemically aligned housing, buried their dead, and manufactured copper ornaments and black and red pottery. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation, and estuaries on the Bay of Bengal permitted maritime trade. The early Iron Age saw the development of metal weaponry, coinage, agriculture and irrigation. Major urban settlements formed during the late Iron Age, in the mid-first millennium BCE, when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture developed. In 1879, Alexander Cunningham identified Mahasthangarh as the capital of the Pundra Kingdom mentioned in the ''Rigveda''. The oldest inscription in Bangladesh was found in Mahasthangarh and dates from the 3rd century BCE, written in the Brahmi script.

Greek and Roman records of the ancient Gangaridai Kingdom, which (according to legend) deterred the invasion of Alexander the Great, are linked to the fort city in Wari-Bateshwar. The site is also identified with the prosperous trading centre of Souanagoura listed on Ptolemy's world map. Roman geographers noted a large seaport in southeastern Bengal, corresponding to the present-day Chittagong region.

Ancient Buddhist and Hindu states which ruled Bangladesh included the Vanga, Samatata and Pundra kingdoms, the Mauryan and Gupta Empires, the Varman dynasty, Shashanka's kingdom, the Khadga and Candra dynasties, the Pala Empire, the Sena dynasty, the Harikela kingdom and the Deva dynasty. These states had well-developed currencies, banking, shipping, architecture, and art, and the ancient universities of Bikrampur and Mainamati hosted scholars from other parts of Asia. Gopala I was the first ever elected ruler of the region in 750 AD; he went on to form the Pala dynasty that ruled until 1161 AD, during which time Bengal prospered. Xuanzang of China was a noted scholar who resided at the Somapura Mahavihara (the largest monastery in ancient India), and Atisa travelled from Bengal to Tibet to preach Buddhism. The earliest form of the Bengali language emerged during the eighth century. Seafarers in the Bay of Bengal sailed and traded with Southeast Asia and exported Buddhist and Hindu cultures to the region since the early Christian era.

===Medieval Bengal===
Stone Age tools have been found in different parts of Bangladesh. Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,000 years. Ancient Bengal was settled by Austroasiatics, Tibeto-Burmans, Dravidians and Indo-Aryans in consecutive waves of migration. Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region. By the 11th century, people lived in systemically aligned housing, buried their dead, and manufactured copper ornaments and black and red pottery. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation, and estuaries on the Bay of Bengal permitted maritime trade. The early Iron Age saw the development of metal weaponry, coinage, agriculture and irrigation. Major urban settlements formed during the late Iron Age, in the mid-first millennium BCE, when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture developed. In 1879, Alexander Cunningham identified Mahasthangarh as the capital of the Pundra Kingdom mentioned in the ''Rigveda''. The oldest inscription in Bangladesh was found in Mahasthangarh and dates from the 3rd century BCE, written in the Brahmi script.

Greek and Roman records of the ancient Gangaridai Kingdom, which (according to legend) deterred the invasion of Alexander the Great, are linked to the fort city in Wari-Bateshwar. The site is also identified with the prosperous trading centre of Souanagoura listed on Ptolemy's world map. Roman geographers noted a large seaport in southeastern Bengal, corresponding to the present-day Chittagong region.

Ancient Buddhist and Hindu states which ruled Bangladesh included the Vanga, Samatata and Pundra kingdoms, the Mauryan and Gupta Empires, the Varman dynasty, Shashanka's kingdom, the Khadga and Candra dynasties, the Pala Empire, the Sena dynasty, the Harikela kingdom and the Deva dynasty. These states had well-developed currencies, banking, shipping, architecture, and art, and the ancient universities of Bikrampur and Mainamati hosted scholars from other parts of Asia. Gopala I was the first ever elected ruler of the region in 750 AD; he went on to form the Pala dynasty that ruled until 1161 AD, during which time Bengal prospered. Xuanzang of China was a noted scholar who resided at the Somapura Mahavihara (the largest monastery in ancient India), and Atisa travelled from Bengal to Tibet to preach Buddhism. The earliest form of the Bengali language emerged during the eighth century. Seafarers in the Bay of Bengal sailed and traded with Southeast Asia and exported Buddhist and Hindu cultures to the region since the early Christian era

===British Bengal===
'''European arrivals'''

The Bengal Sultanate permitted the Portuguese settlement in Chittagong to be established in 1528. It became the first European colonial enclave in Bengal. The Bengal Sultanate lost control of Chittagong in 1531 after Arakan declared independence and the established Kingdom of Mrauk U. Portuguese ships from Goa and Malacca began frequenting the port city in the 16th century. The ''cartaz'' system was introduced and required all ships in the area to purchase naval trading licenses from the Portuguese. Portuguese piracy in the sea flourished. The nearby island of Sandwip was captured in 1602. In 1615, the Portuguese Navy defeated a joint fleet of the Dutch East India Company and the Arakanese near the coast of Chittagong.

==== British East India Company rule ====
After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Bengal was the first major part of the Indian subcontinent to be conquered by the British East India Company. Under the terms of the Treaty of Allahabad, the company would collect taxes on behalf of the Mughal emperor. The treaty was written by the Bengali Muslim diplomat I'tisam-ud-Din. Under Company rule in India, Bengal was effectively ruled by the British on behalf of the Mughal emperor under Mughal suzerainty. The East India Company formed the Bengal Presidency, through which it administered the region until 1858. A notable aspect of the company's rule was the Permanent Settlement, which established the feudal zamindari system; in addition, Company policies led to the deindustrialisation of Bengal's textile industry. The capital amassed by the East India Company in Bengal was invested in the emerging Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. Economic mismanagement, alongside drought and a smallpox epidemic, directly led to the Great Bengal famine of 1770, which is estimated to have caused the deaths of millions of people. Several rebellions broke out during the early 19th century, as Company rule had displaced the Muslim ruling class from power. A conservative Islamic cleric, Haji Shariatullah, sought to overthrow the British by propagating Islamic revivalism. Several towns in Bangladesh participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

==== British Raj ====
After the 1857 rebellion, the British parliament transferred India's administration from the company to the British government. Direct rule by the Crown was imposed. The British government took over all the administrative functions of the Bengal Presidency.

At its maximum extent, the Bengal Presidency stretched from the Khyber Pass to Southeast Asia. According to the British historian Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, the Bengal Presidency was an administrative jurisdiction introduced by the East India Company and staffed by British civil servants, aristocrats and military officers. It would stretch across the whole of northern India up to the Khyber Pass on the north-west frontier with Afghanistan. It spread eastwards to Burma and Singapore. The Bengal Presidency was arguably the largest division of the British Empire. Its territorial evolution can be contrasted with the maximum extent of New Spain in the Spanish Empire, which stretched from the Philippines to the Americas. The Bengal Presidency originally covered the territory gained from the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, including the regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. It later stretched into areas of the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal capital in Delhi after the Battle of Buxar in 1764. The Second Anglo-Sikh War resulted in the British conquest of Punjab, and the eventual extension of the presidency to the Khyber Pass. The Bengal Army played a key role in the expansion into North India up to the Khyber Pass. The native Gurkha infantry played a key role in the expansion of the presidency into the northeastern frontier regions of Assam. The East India Company also took control of coastal Burma, while English traders brought trading settlements in the Malacca Straits under British rule.

The Bengal Army played an important role in the expansion of British India. It was the largest among the presidency armies of Bengal, Bombay and Madras. It was made up of recruits from Bengal, Bihar and Oudh who served under British officers. Its cavalry regiments included sowars from the former Mughal army. The Bengal Army fought in the First Anglo-Afghan War, the First Anglo-Burmese War, the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the First Opium War, the Second Anglo-Burmese War, and the Third Anglo-Burmese War.The rebellion of 1857 upended the government of British India. The Straits Settlements were separated from Bengal and became a crown colony in 1867. By the turn of the century, most of northern India was reorganized into separate provinces, including Punjab, the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, and Assam. In Burma, the Arakan region which bordered Bengal received many settlers. Agriculturalists from Chittagong played an important role in developing the rice economy in Burma. Arakan Division was one of the top rice exporters in the world, due in large part to agricultrualists from Chittagong.

Within what is now Bangladesh, the trade networks of the British Empire brought traders and diplomats from far and wide. Benjamin Joy was nominated by George Washington as the first U.S. consul and a consular agency was created for Chittagong. In Dhaka, the Mughal legacy was reflected the city's courtly-genteel manners based on Mughal etiquette. Dhaka became to communities of Armenians, Greeks, and Jews. The British established several schools, colleges, and a university in what is now Bangladesh. Syed Ahmed Khan and Ram Mohan Roy promoted modern and liberal education in the subcontinent, inspiring the Aligarh movement and the Bengal Renaissance. During the late 19th century, novelists, social reformers, and feminists emerged from Muslim Bengali society. Electricity and municipal water systems were introduced in the 1890s; cinemas opened in many towns during the early 20th century. East Bengal's plantation economy was important to the British Empire, particularly its jute and tea. The British established tax-free river ports, such as the Port of Narayanganj, and large seaports like the Port of Chittagong.

Bengal had the highest gross domestic product in British India, with the summer capital of Shillong boasting the highest per capita income in the subcontinent. Bengal was one of the first regions in Asia to have a railway, which began operating in 1862. The main railway companies in the region were the Eastern Bengal Railway and Assam Bengal Railway. Railways competed with waterborne transport to become one of the main means of transport. Supported by the Muslim aristocracy, the British government created the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905; the new province received increased investment in education, transport, and industry. However, the first partition of Bengal created an uproar in Calcutta and the Indian National Congress. In response to growing Hindu nationalism, the All India Muslim League was formed in Dhaka in 1906. The British government reorganized the provinces in 1912, reuniting East and West Bengal and making Assam a second province.

The Raj was slow to allow self-rule in the colonial subcontinent. It established the Bengal Legislative Council in 1862, and the council's native Bengali representation increased during the early 20th century. The Bengal Provincial Muslim League was formed in 1913 to advocate civil rights for Bengali Muslims. During the 1920s, the league was divided into factions supporting the Khilafat movement and favouring cooperation with the British to achieve self-rule. Segments of the Bengali elite supported Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist forces. In 1929, the All Bengal Tenants Association was formed in the Bengal Legislative Council to counter the influence of the Hindu landed gentry, and the Indian Independence and Pakistan Movements strengthened during the early 20th century. After the Morley-Minto Reforms and the diarchy era in the legislatures of British India, the British government promised limited provincial autonomy in 1935. The Bengal Legislative Assembly, British India's largest legislature, was established in 1937. British Burma was also separated from British India in 1937. Although it won most seats in 1937, the Bengal Congress boycotted the legislature. A. K. Fazlul Huq of the Krishak Praja Party was elected as the first Prime Minister of Bengal. In 1940 Huq supported the Lahore Resolution, which envisaged independent states in the subcontinent's northwestern and eastern Muslim-majority regions. Huq was succeeded by Khawaja Nazimuddin, who grappled with the effects of the Burma Campaign, the Bengal famine of 1943 which claimed the lives of millions of people, and the Quit India movement. During World War II, Bengal faced a possible Japanese invasion from Burma. Chittagong was bombed by the Japanese air force in April and May 1942. Allied forces were stationed across eastern Bengal during the war. In 1946, the Bengal Provincial Muslim League won the provincial election with the largest Muslim League mandate in British India. H. S. Suhrawardy, who made a final futile effort for a United Bengal in 1946, was the last premier of Bengal.

=== Partition of Bengal (1947) ===
Main article: Partition of Bengal (1947)

On 3 June 1947, the Mountbatten Plan outlined the partition of British India. On 6 July, the Sylhet region of Assam voted in a referendum to join East Bengal. Cyril Radcliffe was tasked with drawing the borders of Pakistan and India, and the Radcliffe Line established the boundaries of present-day Bangladesh. The Radcliffe Line awarded two-thirds of Bengal as the eastern wing of Pakistan, but the medieval and early modern Bengali capitals of Gaur, Pandua and Murshidabad fell on the Indian side close to the border with Pakistan.

===Union with Pakistan===
The Dominion of Pakistan was created on 14 August 1947. East Bengal, with Dhaka as its capital, was the most populous province of the 1947 Pakistani federation (led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who promised freedom of religion and secular democracy in the new state).

Khawaja Nazimuddin was East Bengal's first chief minister with Frederick Chalmers Bourne its governor. The All Pakistan Awami Muslim League was formed in 1949. In 1950, the East Bengal Legislative Assembly enacted land reform, abolishing the Permanent Settlement and the zamindari system. The 1952 Bengali Language Movement was the first sign of friction between the country's geographically separated wings. The Awami Muslim League was renamed the more secular Awami League in 1953. The first constituent assembly was dissolved in 1954. The United Front coalition swept aside the Muslim League in a landslide victory in the 1954 East Bengali legislative election. The following year, East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan as part of the One Unit programme, and the province became a vital part of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.

Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956. The Pakistan Army imposed military rule in 1958, and Ayub Khan was the country's strongman for 11 years. Political repression increased after the coup. Khan introduced a new constitution in 1962, replacing Pakistan's parliamentary system with a presidential and gubernatorial system (based on electoral college selection) known as Basic Democracy. In 1962, Dhaka became the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan, a move seen as appeasing increased Bengali nationalism. The Pakistani government built the controversial Kaptai Dam, displacing the Chakma people from their indigenous homeland in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 blocked cross-border transport links with neighbouring India in what is described as a second partition. In 1966, Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced a six-point movement for a federal parliamentary democracy.

According to senior World Bank officials, the Pakistani government practised extensively economic discrimination against East Pakistan. Despite generating 70% of Pakistan's export revenue with jute and tea, East Pakistan received much less government spending than West Pakistan. Economists in East Pakistan, including Rehman Sobhan and Nurul Islam among others, demanded a separate foreign exchange account for the eastern wing. The economists paraphrased Pakistan's Two-Nation Theory ideology against India, by pointing to the existence of two different economies with Pakistan itself, dubbed the Two-Economies Theory. The central government also refused to release foreign aid allocated for East Pakistan. The populist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested for treason in the Agartala Conspiracy Case and was released during the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan which resulted in Ayub Khan's resignation. General Yahya Khan assumed power, reintroducing martial law.

Ethnic and linguistic discrimination was common in Pakistan's civil and military services, in which Bengalis were under-represented. Cultural discrimination also prevailed, making East Pakistan forge a distinct political identity. Authorities banned Bengali literature and music in state media. A cyclone devastated the coast of East Pakistan in 1970, killing an estimated 500,000 people, and the central government was criticised for its poor response. After the December 1970 elections, the Bengali-nationalist Awami League won 167 of 169 East Pakistani seats in the National Assembly. The League claimed the right to form a government and develop a new constitution but was strongly opposed by the Pakistani military and the Pakistan Peoples Party (led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto).

=== War of Independence ===
In early 1971, negotiations began on the transfer of power.[172] The Awami League wanted to develop a constitution based on its Six Points agenda;[172] this was opposed by the Pakistani military, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muslim League factions. Around midnight on 26 March 1971, military operations under the code name of Operation Searchlight began. The first targets were the student dormitories of Dhaka University, the police barracks in Dhaka's Rajarbagh locality, and Hindu neighbourhoods in Old Dhaka. The Pakistan Army arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and flew him to a jail in West Pakistan. The army burnt down the ''Ittefaq'' newspaper's office. Before his arrest, Mujib proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh. Pakistani forces launched a widespread campaign of killings, torture, rape, arson and destruction across East Pakistan, targeting segments of the population perceived to be pro-Awami League and pro-independence. The Hindu minority was distinctly targeted because of Pakistan's hostility with neighbouring Hindu-majority India.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Mukti Bahini emerged as the Bengali resistance force. A highly successful guerrilla war was fought against Pakistan. Bengalis continued to defect from Pakistan's diplomatic service, military, police, and bureaucracy. In April, they helped Awami League leaders to set up the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, which operated in exile from Calcutta with the support of the Indian government until December 1971. The Bangladesh Armed Forces was formally established in November 1971, when Bengali forces secured control of much of the countryside. The Mukti Bahini forced the railway network to shut down to stop Pakistani troop movements. Some of the notable operations of the Mukti Bahini included Operation Jackpot and Operation Barisal.

Around midnight on 26 March 1971, military operations under the code name of Operation Searchlight began. The first targets were the student dormitories of Dhaka University, the police barracks in Dhaka's Rajarbagh locality, and Hindu neighbourhoods in Old Dhaka. The Pakistan Army arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and flew him to a jail in West Pakistan. The army burnt down the ''Ittefaq'' newspaper's office. Before his arrest, Mujib proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh. Pakistani forces launched a widespread campaign of killings, torture, rape, arson and destruction across East Pakistan, targeting segments of the population perceived to be pro-Awami League and pro-independence. The Hindu minority was distinctly targeted because of Pakistan's hostility with neighbouring Hindu-majority India.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Mukti Bahini emerged as the Bengali resistance force. A highly successful guerrilla war was fought against Pakistan. Bengalis continued to defect from Pakistan's diplomatic service, military, police, and bureaucracy. In April, they helped Awami League leaders to set up the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, which operated in exile from Calcutta with the support of the Indian government until December 1971. The Bangladesh Armed Forces was formally established in November 1971, when Bengali forces secured control of much of the countryside. The Mukti Bahini forced the railway network to shut down to stop Pakistani troop movements. Some of the notable operations of the Mukti Bahini included Operation Jackpot and Operation Barisal.

=== Modern Bangladesh ===
The new government of Bangladesh transformed East Pakistan's state apparatus into an independent Bangladeshi state. The Awami League successfully reorganised the bureaucracy, framed a written constitution, and rehabilitated war victims. In January 1972, Mujib introduced a parliamentary republic through a presidential decree. On 12 January 1972 Mujib took oath and assumed office as Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The emerging state structure was heavily influenced by the British Westminster model. The Constitution Drafting Committee led by Kamal Hossain established a bill of rights influenced by the Universal Declaration of Human Right

==Geography==
==Biodiversity==
==Politics and government==
===Politics===
===Government===
Bangladesh is a ''de jure'' representative democracy under its constitution, with a Westminster-style parliamentary republic that has universal suffrage. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who forms a government every five years. The President invites the leader of the largest party in parliament to become Prime Minister.

The Jatiya Sangshad (National Parliament) is the unicameral parliament. It has 350 Members of Parliament (MPs), including 300 MPs elected on the first past the post system and 50 MPs appointed to reserved seats for women's empowerment. Article 70 of the Constitution of Bangladesh forbids MPs from voting against their party. However, several laws proposed independently by MPs have been transformed into legislation, including the anti-torture law. The parliament is presided over by the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad, who is second in line to the president as per the constitution.

===Administrative divisions===
Bangladesh is divided into eight administrative divisions, each named after their respective divisional headquarters: Barisal (officially ''Barishal''), Chittagong (officially ''Chattogram''), Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet.

==Foreign, economic and strategic relations==
''Main article:''
==Economy==
==Demographics, languages and religion==
==Culture==
==See also==
{{Countries of Asia}}{{Altverse II}}{{En-WP attribution notice}}{{NationBox}}

Bangladesh

2024-03-30T07:50:02Z

Jinter:

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| native_name = ''Gôṇoprojātôntrī Bāṅglādesh''
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| image_flag =
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| footnote_h =
| footnotes =
}}'''Bangladesh''', officially the '''People's Republic of Bangladesh''', is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world and is among the most densely populated countries with a population of nearly 170 million in an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). Bangladesh shares land borders with India to the north, west, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast. To the south, it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal. It is narrowly separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor, and from China by the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial, and cultural centre. Chittagong, the second-largest city, is the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal. The official language of Bangladesh is Bengali.

Bangladesh forms the sovereign part of the historic and ethnolinguistic region of Bengal, which was divided during the Partition of India in 1947 as part of a Muslim union with Pakistan, which it separated from in 1971. The country has a Bengali Muslim majority. Ancient Bengal was known as Gangaridai and was a bastion of pre-Islamic kingdoms. Muslim conquests after 1204 heralded the sultanate and Mughal periods, during which an independent Bengal Sultanate and a wealthy Mughal Bengal transformed the region into an important centre of regional affairs, trade, and diplomacy. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the maximum extent of British Bengal stretched from the Khyber Pass in the west to Singapore in the east. The creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905 set a precedent for the emergence of Bangladesh. The All India Muslim League was founded in Dhaka in 1906. In 1940, the first Prime Minister of Bengal, A. K. Fazlul Huq, supported the Lahore Resolution. Before the partition of Bengal, a Bengali sovereign state was first proposed by premier H. S. Suhrawardy. A referendum and the announcement of the Radcliffe Line established the present-day territorial boundary.

==Etymology==
The etymology of ''Bangladesh'' ("Bengali country") can be traced to the early 20th century, when Bengali patriotic songs, such as ''Namo Namo Namo Bangladesh Momo'' by Kazi Nazrul Islam and ''Aaji Bangladesher Hridoy'' by Rabindranath Tagore, used the term. Starting in the 1950s, Bengali nationalists used the term in political rallies in East Pakistan. The term ''Bangla'' is a major name for both the Bengal region and the Bengali language. The origins of the term ''Bangla'' are unclear, with theories pointing to a Bronze Age proto-Dravidian tribe, and the Iron Age Vanga Kingdom. The earliest known usage of the term is the Nesari plate in 805 AD. The term ''Vangala Desa'' is found in 11th-century South Indian records. The term gained official status during the Sultanate of Bengal in the 14th century. Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah proclaimed himself as the first "Shah of Bangala" in 1342. The word ''Bangāl'' became the most common name for the region during the Islamic period. 16th-century historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak mentions in his ''Ain-i-Akbari'' that the addition of the suffix ''"al"'' came from the fact that the ancient rajahs of the land raised mounds of earth in lowlands at the foot of the hills which were called "al". This is also mentioned in Ghulam Husain Salim's Riyaz-us-Salatin. The Indo-Aryan suffix ''Desh'' is derived from the Sanskrit word ''deśha'', which means "land" or "country". Hence, the name ''Bangladesh'' means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal".
==History==
{{Main|History of Bangladesh}}
===Ancient Bengal===
Stone Age tools have been found in different parts of Bangladesh. Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,000 years. Ancient Bengal was settled by Austroasiatics, Tibeto-Burmans, Dravidians and Indo-Aryans in consecutive waves of migration. Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region. By the 11th century, people lived in systemically aligned housing, buried their dead, and manufactured copper ornaments and black and red pottery. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation, and estuaries on the Bay of Bengal permitted maritime trade. The early Iron Age saw the development of metal weaponry, coinage, agriculture and irrigation. Major urban settlements formed during the late Iron Age, in the mid-first millennium BCE, when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture developed. In 1879, Alexander Cunningham identified Mahasthangarh as the capital of the Pundra Kingdom mentioned in the ''Rigveda''. The oldest inscription in Bangladesh was found in Mahasthangarh and dates from the 3rd century BCE, written in the Brahmi script.

Greek and Roman records of the ancient Gangaridai Kingdom, which (according to legend) deterred the invasion of Alexander the Great, are linked to the fort city in Wari-Bateshwar. The site is also identified with the prosperous trading centre of Souanagoura listed on Ptolemy's world map. Roman geographers noted a large seaport in southeastern Bengal, corresponding to the present-day Chittagong region.

Ancient Buddhist and Hindu states which ruled Bangladesh included the Vanga, Samatata and Pundra kingdoms, the Mauryan and Gupta Empires, the Varman dynasty, Shashanka's kingdom, the Khadga and Candra dynasties, the Pala Empire, the Sena dynasty, the Harikela kingdom and the Deva dynasty. These states had well-developed currencies, banking, shipping, architecture, and art, and the ancient universities of Bikrampur and Mainamati hosted scholars from other parts of Asia. Gopala I was the first ever elected ruler of the region in 750 AD; he went on to form the Pala dynasty that ruled until 1161 AD, during which time Bengal prospered. Xuanzang of China was a noted scholar who resided at the Somapura Mahavihara (the largest monastery in ancient India), and Atisa travelled from Bengal to Tibet to preach Buddhism. The earliest form of the Bengali language emerged during the eighth century. Seafarers in the Bay of Bengal sailed and traded with Southeast Asia and exported Buddhist and Hindu cultures to the region since the early Christian era.

===Medieval Bengal===
Stone Age tools have been found in different parts of Bangladesh. Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,000 years. Ancient Bengal was settled by Austroasiatics, Tibeto-Burmans, Dravidians and Indo-Aryans in consecutive waves of migration. Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region. By the 11th century, people lived in systemically aligned housing, buried their dead, and manufactured copper ornaments and black and red pottery. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation, and estuaries on the Bay of Bengal permitted maritime trade. The early Iron Age saw the development of metal weaponry, coinage, agriculture and irrigation. Major urban settlements formed during the late Iron Age, in the mid-first millennium BCE, when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture developed. In 1879, Alexander Cunningham identified Mahasthangarh as the capital of the Pundra Kingdom mentioned in the ''Rigveda''. The oldest inscription in Bangladesh was found in Mahasthangarh and dates from the 3rd century BCE, written in the Brahmi script.

Greek and Roman records of the ancient Gangaridai Kingdom, which (according to legend) deterred the invasion of Alexander the Great, are linked to the fort city in Wari-Bateshwar. The site is also identified with the prosperous trading centre of Souanagoura listed on Ptolemy's world map. Roman geographers noted a large seaport in southeastern Bengal, corresponding to the present-day Chittagong region.

Ancient Buddhist and Hindu states which ruled Bangladesh included the Vanga, Samatata and Pundra kingdoms, the Mauryan and Gupta Empires, the Varman dynasty, Shashanka's kingdom, the Khadga and Candra dynasties, the Pala Empire, the Sena dynasty, the Harikela kingdom and the Deva dynasty. These states had well-developed currencies, banking, shipping, architecture, and art, and the ancient universities of Bikrampur and Mainamati hosted scholars from other parts of Asia. Gopala I was the first ever elected ruler of the region in 750 AD; he went on to form the Pala dynasty that ruled until 1161 AD, during which time Bengal prospered. Xuanzang of China was a noted scholar who resided at the Somapura Mahavihara (the largest monastery in ancient India), and Atisa travelled from Bengal to Tibet to preach Buddhism. The earliest form of the Bengali language emerged during the eighth century. Seafarers in the Bay of Bengal sailed and traded with Southeast Asia and exported Buddhist and Hindu cultures to the region since the early Christian era

===British Bengal===
'''European arrivals'''

The Bengal Sultanate permitted the Portuguese settlement in Chittagong to be established in 1528. It became the first European colonial enclave in Bengal. The Bengal Sultanate lost control of Chittagong in 1531 after Arakan declared independence and the established Kingdom of Mrauk U. Portuguese ships from Goa and Malacca began frequenting the port city in the 16th century. The ''cartaz'' system was introduced and required all ships in the area to purchase naval trading licenses from the Portuguese. Portuguese piracy in the sea flourished. The nearby island of Sandwip was captured in 1602. In 1615, the Portuguese Navy defeated a joint fleet of the Dutch East India Company and the Arakanese near the coast of Chittagong.

==== British East India Company rule ====
After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Bengal was the first major part of the Indian subcontinent to be conquered by the British East India Company. Under the terms of the Treaty of Allahabad, the company would collect taxes on behalf of the Mughal emperor. The treaty was written by the Bengali Muslim diplomat I'tisam-ud-Din. Under Company rule in India, Bengal was effectively ruled by the British on behalf of the Mughal emperor under Mughal suzerainty. The East India Company formed the Bengal Presidency, through which it administered the region until 1858. A notable aspect of the company's rule was the Permanent Settlement, which established the feudal zamindari system; in addition, Company policies led to the deindustrialisation of Bengal's textile industry. The capital amassed by the East India Company in Bengal was invested in the emerging Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. Economic mismanagement, alongside drought and a smallpox epidemic, directly led to the Great Bengal famine of 1770, which is estimated to have caused the deaths of millions of people. Several rebellions broke out during the early 19th century, as Company rule had displaced the Muslim ruling class from power. A conservative Islamic cleric, Haji Shariatullah, sought to overthrow the British by propagating Islamic revivalism. Several towns in Bangladesh participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

==== British Raj ====
After the 1857 rebellion, the British parliament transferred India's administration from the company to the British government. Direct rule by the Crown was imposed. The British government took over all the administrative functions of the Bengal Presidency.

At its maximum extent, the Bengal Presidency stretched from the Khyber Pass to Southeast Asia. According to the British historian Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, the Bengal Presidency was an administrative jurisdiction introduced by the East India Company and staffed by British civil servants, aristocrats and military officers. It would stretch across the whole of northern India up to the Khyber Pass on the north-west frontier with Afghanistan. It spread eastwards to Burma and Singapore. The Bengal Presidency was arguably the largest division of the British Empire. Its territorial evolution can be contrasted with the maximum extent of New Spain in the Spanish Empire, which stretched from the Philippines to the Americas. The Bengal Presidency originally covered the territory gained from the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, including the regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. It later stretched into areas of the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal capital in Delhi after the Battle of Buxar in 1764. The Second Anglo-Sikh War resulted in the British conquest of Punjab, and the eventual extension of the presidency to the Khyber Pass. The Bengal Army played a key role in the expansion into North India up to the Khyber Pass. The native Gurkha infantry played a key role in the expansion of the presidency into the northeastern frontier regions of Assam. The East India Company also took control of coastal Burma, while English traders brought trading settlements in the Malacca Straits under British rule.

The Bengal Army played an important role in the expansion of British India. It was the largest among the presidency armies of Bengal, Bombay and Madras. It was made up of recruits from Bengal, Bihar and Oudh who served under British officers. Its cavalry regiments included sowars from the former Mughal army. The Bengal Army fought in the First Anglo-Afghan War, the First Anglo-Burmese War, the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the First Opium War, the Second Anglo-Burmese War, and the Third Anglo-Burmese War.The rebellion of 1857 upended the government of British India. The Straits Settlements were separated from Bengal and became a crown colony in 1867. By the turn of the century, most of northern India was reorganized into separate provinces, including Punjab, the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, and Assam. In Burma, the Arakan region which bordered Bengal received many settlers. Agriculturalists from Chittagong played an important role in developing the rice economy in Burma. Arakan Division was one of the top rice exporters in the world, due in large part to agricultrualists from Chittagong.

Within what is now Bangladesh, the trade networks of the British Empire brought traders and diplomats from far and wide. Benjamin Joy was nominated by George Washington as the first U.S. consul and a consular agency was created for Chittagong. In Dhaka, the Mughal legacy was reflected the city's courtly-genteel manners based on Mughal etiquette. Dhaka became to communities of Armenians, Greeks, and Jews. The British established several schools, colleges, and a university in what is now Bangladesh. Syed Ahmed Khan and Ram Mohan Roy promoted modern and liberal education in the subcontinent, inspiring the Aligarh movement and the Bengal Renaissance. During the late 19th century, novelists, social reformers, and feminists emerged from Muslim Bengali society. Electricity and municipal water systems were introduced in the 1890s; cinemas opened in many towns during the early 20th century. East Bengal's plantation economy was important to the British Empire, particularly its jute and tea. The British established tax-free river ports, such as the Port of Narayanganj, and large seaports like the Port of Chittagong.

Bengal had the highest gross domestic product in British India, with the summer capital of Shillong boasting the highest per capita income in the subcontinent. Bengal was one of the first regions in Asia to have a railway, which began operating in 1862. The main railway companies in the region were the Eastern Bengal Railway and Assam Bengal Railway. Railways competed with waterborne transport to become one of the main means of transport. Supported by the Muslim aristocracy, the British government created the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905; the new province received increased investment in education, transport, and industry. However, the first partition of Bengal created an uproar in Calcutta and the Indian National Congress. In response to growing Hindu nationalism, the All India Muslim League was formed in Dhaka in 1906. The British government reorganized the provinces in 1912, reuniting East and West Bengal and making Assam a second province.

The Raj was slow to allow self-rule in the colonial subcontinent. It established the Bengal Legislative Council in 1862, and the council's native Bengali representation increased during the early 20th century. The Bengal Provincial Muslim League was formed in 1913 to advocate civil rights for Bengali Muslims. During the 1920s, the league was divided into factions supporting the Khilafat movement and favouring cooperation with the British to achieve self-rule. Segments of the Bengali elite supported Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist forces. In 1929, the All Bengal Tenants Association was formed in the Bengal Legislative Council to counter the influence of the Hindu landed gentry, and the Indian Independence and Pakistan Movements strengthened during the early 20th century. After the Morley-Minto Reforms and the diarchy era in the legislatures of British India, the British government promised limited provincial autonomy in 1935. The Bengal Legislative Assembly, British India's largest legislature, was established in 1937. British Burma was also separated from British India in 1937. Although it won most seats in 1937, the Bengal Congress boycotted the legislature. A. K. Fazlul Huq of the Krishak Praja Party was elected as the first Prime Minister of Bengal. In 1940 Huq supported the Lahore Resolution, which envisaged independent states in the subcontinent's northwestern and eastern Muslim-majority regions. Huq was succeeded by Khawaja Nazimuddin, who grappled with the effects of the Burma Campaign, the Bengal famine of 1943 which claimed the lives of millions of people, and the Quit India movement. During World War II, Bengal faced a possible Japanese invasion from Burma. Chittagong was bombed by the Japanese air force in April and May 1942. Allied forces were stationed across eastern Bengal during the war. In 1946, the Bengal Provincial Muslim League won the provincial election with the largest Muslim League mandate in British India. H. S. Suhrawardy, who made a final futile effort for a United Bengal in 1946, was the last premier of Bengal.

=== Partition of Bengal (1947) ===
Main article: Partition of Bengal (1947)

On 3 June 1947, the Mountbatten Plan outlined the partition of British India. On 6 July, the Sylhet region of Assam voted in a referendum to join East Bengal. Cyril Radcliffe was tasked with drawing the borders of Pakistan and India, and the Radcliffe Line established the boundaries of present-day Bangladesh. The Radcliffe Line awarded two-thirds of Bengal as the eastern wing of Pakistan, but the medieval and early modern Bengali capitals of Gaur, Pandua and Murshidabad fell on the Indian side close to the border with Pakistan.

===Union with Pakistan===
The Dominion of Pakistan was created on 14 August 1947. East Bengal, with Dhaka as its capital, was the most populous province of the 1947 Pakistani federation (led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who promised freedom of religion and secular democracy in the new state).

Khawaja Nazimuddin was East Bengal's first chief minister with Frederick Chalmers Bourne its governor. The All Pakistan Awami Muslim League was formed in 1949. In 1950, the East Bengal Legislative Assembly enacted land reform, abolishing the Permanent Settlement and the zamindari system. The 1952 Bengali Language Movement was the first sign of friction between the country's geographically separated wings. The Awami Muslim League was renamed the more secular Awami League in 1953. The first constituent assembly was dissolved in 1954. The United Front coalition swept aside the Muslim League in a landslide victory in the 1954 East Bengali legislative election. The following year, East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan as part of the One Unit programme, and the province became a vital part of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.

Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956. The Pakistan Army imposed military rule in 1958, and Ayub Khan was the country's strongman for 11 years. Political repression increased after the coup. Khan introduced a new constitution in 1962, replacing Pakistan's parliamentary system with a presidential and gubernatorial system (based on electoral college selection) known as Basic Democracy. In 1962, Dhaka became the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan, a move seen as appeasing increased Bengali nationalism. The Pakistani government built the controversial Kaptai Dam, displacing the Chakma people from their indigenous homeland in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 blocked cross-border transport links with neighbouring India in what is described as a second partition. In 1966, Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced a six-point movement for a federal parliamentary democracy.

According to senior World Bank officials, the Pakistani government practised extensively economic discrimination against East Pakistan. Despite generating 70% of Pakistan's export revenue with jute and tea, East Pakistan received much less government spending than West Pakistan. Economists in East Pakistan, including Rehman Sobhan and Nurul Islam among others, demanded a separate foreign exchange account for the eastern wing. The economists paraphrased Pakistan's Two-Nation Theory ideology against India, by pointing to the existence of two different economies with Pakistan itself, dubbed the Two-Economies Theory. The central government also refused to release foreign aid allocated for East Pakistan. The populist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested for treason in the Agartala Conspiracy Case and was released during the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan which resulted in Ayub Khan's resignation. General Yahya Khan assumed power, reintroducing martial law.

Ethnic and linguistic discrimination was common in Pakistan's civil and military services, in which Bengalis were under-represented. Cultural discrimination also prevailed, making East Pakistan forge a distinct political identity. Authorities banned Bengali literature and music in state media. A cyclone devastated the coast of East Pakistan in 1970, killing an estimated 500,000 people, and the central government was criticised for its poor response. After the December 1970 elections, the Bengali-nationalist Awami League won 167 of 169 East Pakistani seats in the National Assembly. The League claimed the right to form a government and develop a new constitution but was strongly opposed by the Pakistani military and the Pakistan Peoples Party (led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto).

=== War of Independence ===
In early 1971, negotiations began on the transfer of power.[172] The Awami League wanted to develop a constitution based on its Six Points agenda;[172] this was opposed by the Pakistani military, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muslim League factions. Around midnight on 26 March 1971, military operations under the code name of Operation Searchlight began. The first targets were the student dormitories of Dhaka University, the police barracks in Dhaka's Rajarbagh locality, and Hindu neighbourhoods in Old Dhaka. The Pakistan Army arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and flew him to a jail in West Pakistan. The army burnt down the ''Ittefaq'' newspaper's office. Before his arrest, Mujib proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh. Pakistani forces launched a widespread campaign of killings, torture, rape, arson and destruction across East Pakistan, targeting segments of the population perceived to be pro-Awami League and pro-independence. The Hindu minority was distinctly targeted because of Pakistan's hostility with neighbouring Hindu-majority India.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Mukti Bahini emerged as the Bengali resistance force. A highly successful guerrilla war was fought against Pakistan. Bengalis continued to defect from Pakistan's diplomatic service, military, police, and bureaucracy. In April, they helped Awami League leaders to set up the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, which operated in exile from Calcutta with the support of the Indian government until December 1971. The Bangladesh Armed Forces was formally established in November 1971, when Bengali forces secured control of much of the countryside. The Mukti Bahini forced the railway network to shut down to stop Pakistani troop movements. Some of the notable operations of the Mukti Bahini included Operation Jackpot and Operation Barisal.

Around midnight on 26 March 1971, military operations under the code name of Operation Searchlight began. The first targets were the student dormitories of Dhaka University, the police barracks in Dhaka's Rajarbagh locality, and Hindu neighbourhoods in Old Dhaka. The Pakistan Army arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and flew him to a jail in West Pakistan. The army burnt down the ''Ittefaq'' newspaper's office. Before his arrest, Mujib proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh. Pakistani forces launched a widespread campaign of killings, torture, rape, arson and destruction across East Pakistan, targeting segments of the population perceived to be pro-Awami League and pro-independence. The Hindu minority was distinctly targeted because of Pakistan's hostility with neighbouring Hindu-majority India.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Mukti Bahini emerged as the Bengali resistance force. A highly successful guerrilla war was fought against Pakistan. Bengalis continued to defect from Pakistan's diplomatic service, military, police, and bureaucracy. In April, they helped Awami League leaders to set up the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, which operated in exile from Calcutta with the support of the Indian government until December 1971. The Bangladesh Armed Forces was formally established in November 1971, when Bengali forces secured control of much of the countryside. The Mukti Bahini forced the railway network to shut down to stop Pakistani troop movements. Some of the notable operations of the Mukti Bahini included Operation Jackpot and Operation Barisal.

=== Modern Bangladesh ===
The new government of Bangladesh transformed East Pakistan's state apparatus into an independent Bangladeshi state. The Awami League successfully reorganised the bureaucracy, framed a written constitution, and rehabilitated war victims. In January 1972, Mujib introduced a parliamentary republic through a presidential decree. On 12 January 1972 Mujib took oath and assumed office as Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The emerging state structure was heavily influenced by the British Westminster model. The Constitution Drafting Committee led by Kamal Hossain established a bill of rights influenced by the Universal Declaration of Human Right

==Geography==
==Biodiversity==
==Politics and government==
===Politics===
===Government===
Bangladesh is a ''de jure'' representative democracy under its constitution, with a Westminster-style parliamentary republic that has universal suffrage. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who forms a government every five years. The President invites the leader of the largest party in parliament to become Prime Minister.

The Jatiya Sangshad (National Parliament) is the unicameral parliament. It has 350 Members of Parliament (MPs), including 300 MPs elected on the first past the post system and 50 MPs appointed to reserved seats for women's empowerment. Article 70 of the Constitution of Bangladesh forbids MPs from voting against their party. However, several laws proposed independently by MPs have been transformed into legislation, including the anti-torture law. The parliament is presided over by the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad, who is second in line to the president as per the constitution.

===Administrative divisions===
Bangladesh is divided into eight administrative divisions, each named after their respective divisional headquarters: Barisal (officially ''Barishal''), Chittagong (officially ''Chattogram''), Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet.

==Foreign, economic and strategic relations==
''Main article:''
==Economy==
==Demographics, languages and religion==
==Culture==
==See also==
{{Countries of Asia}}{{Altverse II}}{{En-WP attribution notice}}{{NationBox}}

Bangladesh

2024-03-30T07:03:42Z

Jinter: Created a page Bangladesh for universal use. Can be used for reference link.

{{Icons|Start|Altverse II}}{{Infobox country
| conventional_long_name = Republic of Bangladesh
| native_name = ''Gôṇoprojātôntrī Bāṅglādesh''
| common_name = Bangladesh
| image_flag =
| image_coat =
| symbol_type = National Emblem
| national_motto = "[[Amar Sonar Bangla]]" ([[Bangla]]) "My Golden Bengal"
| national_anthem = "[[Joy Bangla]]" ([[Bangla]]) "Victory to Bengal"
| image_map =
| alt_map =
| map_caption =
| image_map2 =
| alt_map2 =
| capital = [[Dhaka]]
| largest_city =
| official_languages = [[Bangla]]
| membership =
| membership_type =
| religion =
| demonym = Bangladeshi
| regional_languages =
| ethnic_groups =99% Bengali
| ethnic_groups_year =
| government_type = {{w|Unitary}} {{w|parliamentary}} {{w|republic}}
| leader_title1 = [[President of Bangladesh|President]]
| leader_name1 =
| leader_title2 = [[Prime Minister of Bangladesh|Prime Minister]]
| leader_name2 =
| leader_title3 = [[Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh]]
| leader_name3 =
| leader_title4 = [[Chief Justice of Bangladesh|Chief Justice]]
| leader_name4 =
| legislature = [[Jatiya Sangsad]]
| sovereignty_type = [[Indian Independence Movement|Independence]]
| sovereignty_note = from the [[Pakistan]]
| established_event1 = Declaration
| established_date1 = 26 March 1971
| established_event2 = Victory
| established_date2 = 16 December 1971
| area =
| area_km2 =148,460
| area_sq_mi =
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}}'''Bangladesh''', officially the '''People's Republic of Bangladesh''', is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world and is among the most densely populated countries with a population of nearly 170 million in an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). Bangladesh shares land borders with India to the north, west, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast. To the south, it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal. It is narrowly separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor, and from China by the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial, and cultural centre. Chittagong, the second-largest city, is the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal. The official language of Bangladesh is Bengali.

Bangladesh forms the sovereign part of the historic and ethnolinguistic region of Bengal, which was divided during the Partition of India in 1947 as part of a Muslim union with Pakistan, which it separated from in 1971. The country has a Bengali Muslim majority. Ancient Bengal was known as Gangaridai and was a bastion of pre-Islamic kingdoms. Muslim conquests after 1204 heralded the sultanate and Mughal periods, during which an independent Bengal Sultanate and a wealthy Mughal Bengal transformed the region into an important centre of regional affairs, trade, and diplomacy. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the maximum extent of British Bengal stretched from the Khyber Pass in the west to Singapore in the east. The creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905 set a precedent for the emergence of Bangladesh. The All India Muslim League was founded in Dhaka in 1906. In 1940, the first Prime Minister of Bengal, A. K. Fazlul Huq, supported the Lahore Resolution. Before the partition of Bengal, a Bengali sovereign state was first proposed by premier H. S. Suhrawardy. A referendum and the announcement of the Radcliffe Line established the present-day territorial boundary.

==Etymology==
The etymology of ''Bangladesh'' ("Bengali country") can be traced to the early 20th century, when Bengali patriotic songs, such as ''Namo Namo Namo Bangladesh Momo'' by Kazi Nazrul Islam and ''Aaji Bangladesher Hridoy'' by Rabindranath Tagore, used the term. Starting in the 1950s, Bengali nationalists used the term in political rallies in East Pakistan. The term ''Bangla'' is a major name for both the Bengal region and the Bengali language. The origins of the term ''Bangla'' are unclear, with theories pointing to a Bronze Age proto-Dravidian tribe, and the Iron Age Vanga Kingdom. The earliest known usage of the term is the Nesari plate in 805 AD. The term ''Vangala Desa'' is found in 11th-century South Indian records. The term gained official status during the Sultanate of Bengal in the 14th century. Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah proclaimed himself as the first "Shah of Bangala" in 1342. The word ''Bangāl'' became the most common name for the region during the Islamic period. 16th-century historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak mentions in his ''Ain-i-Akbari'' that the addition of the suffix ''"al"'' came from the fact that the ancient rajahs of the land raised mounds of earth in lowlands at the foot of the hills which were called "al". This is also mentioned in Ghulam Husain Salim's Riyaz-us-Salatin. The Indo-Aryan suffix ''Desh'' is derived from the Sanskrit word ''deśha'', which means "land" or "country". Hence, the name ''Bangladesh'' means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal".
==History==
{{Main|History of Bangladesh}}
===Ancient Bengal===
Stone Age tools have been found in different parts of Bangladesh. Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,000 years. Ancient Bengal was settled by Austroasiatics, Tibeto-Burmans, Dravidians and Indo-Aryans in consecutive waves of migration. Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region. By the 11th century, people lived in systemically aligned housing, buried their dead, and manufactured copper ornaments and black and red pottery. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation, and estuaries on the Bay of Bengal permitted maritime trade. The early Iron Age saw the development of metal weaponry, coinage, agriculture and irrigation. Major urban settlements formed during the late Iron Age, in the mid-first millennium BCE, when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture developed. In 1879, Alexander Cunningham identified Mahasthangarh as the capital of the Pundra Kingdom mentioned in the ''Rigveda''. The oldest inscription in Bangladesh was found in Mahasthangarh and dates from the 3rd century BCE, written in the Brahmi script.

Greek and Roman records of the ancient Gangaridai Kingdom, which (according to legend) deterred the invasion of Alexander the Great, are linked to the fort city in Wari-Bateshwar. The site is also identified with the prosperous trading centre of Souanagoura listed on Ptolemy's world map. Roman geographers noted a large seaport in southeastern Bengal, corresponding to the present-day Chittagong region.

Ancient Buddhist and Hindu states which ruled Bangladesh included the Vanga, Samatata and Pundra kingdoms, the Mauryan and Gupta Empires, the Varman dynasty, Shashanka's kingdom, the Khadga and Candra dynasties, the Pala Empire, the Sena dynasty, the Harikela kingdom and the Deva dynasty. These states had well-developed currencies, banking, shipping, architecture, and art, and the ancient universities of Bikrampur and Mainamati hosted scholars from other parts of Asia. Gopala I was the first ever elected ruler of the region in 750 AD; he went on to form the Pala dynasty that ruled until 1161 AD, during which time Bengal prospered. Xuanzang of China was a noted scholar who resided at the Somapura Mahavihara (the largest monastery in ancient India), and Atisa travelled from Bengal to Tibet to preach Buddhism. The earliest form of the Bengali language emerged during the eighth century. Seafarers in the Bay of Bengal sailed and traded with Southeast Asia and exported Buddhist and Hindu cultures to the region since the early Christian era.

===Medieval Bengal===
Stone Age tools have been found in different parts of Bangladesh. Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,000 years. Ancient Bengal was settled by Austroasiatics, Tibeto-Burmans, Dravidians and Indo-Aryans in consecutive waves of migration. Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region. By the 11th century, people lived in systemically aligned housing, buried their dead, and manufactured copper ornaments and black and red pottery. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation, and estuaries on the Bay of Bengal permitted maritime trade. The early Iron Age saw the development of metal weaponry, coinage, agriculture and irrigation. Major urban settlements formed during the late Iron Age, in the mid-first millennium BCE, when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture developed. In 1879, Alexander Cunningham identified Mahasthangarh as the capital of the Pundra Kingdom mentioned in the ''Rigveda''. The oldest inscription in Bangladesh was found in Mahasthangarh and dates from the 3rd century BCE, written in the Brahmi script.

Greek and Roman records of the ancient Gangaridai Kingdom, which (according to legend) deterred the invasion of Alexander the Great, are linked to the fort city in Wari-Bateshwar. The site is also identified with the prosperous trading centre of Souanagoura listed on Ptolemy's world map. Roman geographers noted a large seaport in southeastern Bengal, corresponding to the present-day Chittagong region.

Ancient Buddhist and Hindu states which ruled Bangladesh included the Vanga, Samatata and Pundra kingdoms, the Mauryan and Gupta Empires, the Varman dynasty, Shashanka's kingdom, the Khadga and Candra dynasties, the Pala Empire, the Sena dynasty, the Harikela kingdom and the Deva dynasty. These states had well-developed currencies, banking, shipping, architecture, and art, and the ancient universities of Bikrampur and Mainamati hosted scholars from other parts of Asia. Gopala I was the first ever elected ruler of the region in 750 AD; he went on to form the Pala dynasty that ruled until 1161 AD, during which time Bengal prospered. Xuanzang of China was a noted scholar who resided at the Somapura Mahavihara (the largest monastery in ancient India), and Atisa travelled from Bengal to Tibet to preach Buddhism. The earliest form of the Bengali language emerged during the eighth century. Seafarers in the Bay of Bengal sailed and traded with Southeast Asia and exported Buddhist and Hindu cultures to the region since the early Christian era

===British Bengal===
'''European arrivals'''

The Bengal Sultanate permitted the Portuguese settlement in Chittagong to be established in 1528. It became the first European colonial enclave in Bengal. The Bengal Sultanate lost control of Chittagong in 1531 after Arakan declared independence and the established Kingdom of Mrauk U. Portuguese ships from Goa and Malacca began frequenting the port city in the 16th century. The ''cartaz'' system was introduced and required all ships in the area to purchase naval trading licenses from the Portuguese. Portuguese piracy in the sea flourished. The nearby island of Sandwip was captured in 1602. In 1615, the Portuguese Navy defeated a joint fleet of the Dutch East India Company and the Arakanese near the coast of Chittagong.

==== British East India Company rule ====
[[null|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lord_Cornwallis.jpg|thumb|Charles Cornwallis was responsible for enacting the Permanent Settlement.]]
After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Bengal was the first major part of the Indian subcontinent to be conquered by the British East India Company. Under the terms of the Treaty of Allahabad, the company would collect taxes on behalf of the Mughal emperor. The treaty was written by the Bengali Muslim diplomat I'tisam-ud-Din. Under Company rule in India, Bengal was effectively ruled by the British on behalf of the Mughal emperor under Mughal suzerainty. The East India Company formed the Bengal Presidency, through which it administered the region until 1858. A notable aspect of the company's rule was the Permanent Settlement, which established the feudal zamindari system; in addition, Company policies led to the deindustrialisation of Bengal's textile industry. The capital amassed by the East India Company in Bengal was invested in the emerging Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. Economic mismanagement, alongside drought and a smallpox epidemic, directly led to the Great Bengal famine of 1770, which is estimated to have caused the deaths of millions of people. Several rebellions broke out during the early 19th century, as Company rule had displaced the Muslim ruling class from power. A conservative Islamic cleric, Haji Shariatullah, sought to overthrow the British by propagating Islamic revivalism. Several towns in Bangladesh participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857.

==== British Raj ====
[[null|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1786_-_A_map_of_Bengal,_Bahar,_Oude_%26_Allahabad_-_James_Rennell_-_William_Faden.jpg|thumb|Bengal, Bihar, Awadh and Allahabad in 1786]]
After the 1857 rebellion, the British parliament transferred India's administration from the company to the British government. Direct rule by the Crown was imposed. The British government took over all the administrative functions of the Bengal Presidency.

At its maximum extent, the Bengal Presidency stretched from the Khyber Pass to Southeast Asia. According to the British historian Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, the Bengal Presidency was an administrative jurisdiction introduced by the East India Company and staffed by British civil servants, aristocrats and military officers. It would stretch across the whole of northern India up to the Khyber Pass on the north-west frontier with Afghanistan. It spread eastwards to Burma and Singapore. The Bengal Presidency was arguably the largest division of the British Empire. Its territorial evolution can be contrasted with the maximum extent of New Spain in the Spanish Empire, which stretched from the Philippines to the Americas. The Bengal Presidency originally covered the territory gained from the Nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey in 1757, including the regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. It later stretched into areas of the Nawab of Awadh and the Mughal capital in Delhi after the Battle of Buxar in 1764. The Second Anglo-Sikh War resulted in the British conquest of Punjab, and the eventual extension of the presidency to the Khyber Pass. The Bengal Army played a key role in the expansion into North India up to the Khyber Pass. The native Gurkha infantry played a key role in the expansion of the presidency into the northeastern frontier regions of Assam. The East India Company also took control of coastal Burma, while English traders brought trading settlements in the Malacca Straits under British rule.

The Bengal Army played an important role in the expansion of British India. It was the largest among the presidency armies of Bengal, Bombay and Madras. It was made up of recruits from Bengal, Bihar and Oudh who served under British officers. Its cavalry regiments included sowars from the former Mughal army. The Bengal Army fought in the First Anglo-Afghan War, the First Anglo-Burmese War, the Second Anglo-Afghan War, the First Opium War, the Second Anglo-Burmese War, and the Third Anglo-Burmese War.
[[null|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Northeast-India-in-1855-Colton-map.jpg|thumb|Arakan under the Bengal Presidency after the First Anglo-Burmese War led to the British annexation of Arakan.]]
The rebellion of 1857 upended the government of British India. The Straits Settlements were separated from Bengal and became a crown colony in 1867. By the turn of the century, most of northern India was reorganized into separate provinces, including Punjab, the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, and Assam. In Burma, the Arakan region which bordered Bengal received many settlers. Agriculturalists from Chittagong played an important role in developing the rice economy in Burma. Arakan Division was one of the top rice exporters in the world, due in large part to agricultrualists from Chittagong.

Within what is now Bangladesh, the trade networks of the British Empire brought traders and diplomats from far and wide. Benjamin Joy was nominated by George Washington as the first U.S. consul and a consular agency was created for Chittagong. In Dhaka, the Mughal legacy was reflected the city's courtly-genteel manners based on Mughal etiquette. Dhaka became to communities of Armenians, Greeks, and Jews. The British established several schools, colleges, and a university in what is now Bangladesh. Syed Ahmed Khan and Ram Mohan Roy promoted modern and liberal education in the subcontinent, inspiring the Aligarh movement and the Bengal Renaissance. During the late 19th century, novelists, social reformers, and feminists emerged from Muslim Bengali society. Electricity and municipal water systems were introduced in the 1890s; cinemas opened in many towns during the early 20th century. East Bengal's plantation economy was important to the British Empire, particularly its jute and tea. The British established tax-free river ports, such as the Port of Narayanganj, and large seaports like the Port of Chittagong.

Bengal had the highest gross domestic product in British India, with the summer capital of Shillong boasting the highest per capita income in the subcontinent. Bengal was one of the first regions in Asia to have a railway, which began operating in 1862. The main railway companies in the region were the Eastern Bengal Railway and Assam Bengal Railway. Railways competed with waterborne transport to become one of the main means of transport.
[[null|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:George_Nathaniel_Curzon_by_John_Singer_Sargent_1914.jpeg|thumb|Lord Curzon oversaw the creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905.]]
Supported by the Muslim aristocracy, the British government created the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905; the new province received increased investment in education, transport, and industry. However, the first partition of Bengal created an uproar in Calcutta and the Indian National Congress. In response to growing Hindu nationalism, the All India Muslim League was formed in Dhaka in 1906. The British government reorganised the provinces in 1912, reuniting East and West Bengal and making Assam a second province.

The Raj was slow to allow self-rule in the colonial subcontinent. It established the Bengal Legislative Council in 1862, and the council's native Bengali representation increased during the early 20th century. The Bengal Provincial Muslim League was formed in 1913 to advocate civil rights for Bengali Muslims. During the 1920s, the league was divided into factions supporting the Khilafat movement and favouring cooperation with the British to achieve self-rule. Segments of the Bengali elite supported Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's secularist forces. In 1929, the All Bengal Tenants Association was formed in the Bengal Legislative Council to counter the influence of the Hindu landed gentry, and the Indian Independence and Pakistan Movements strengthened during the early 20th century. After the Morley-Minto Reforms and the diarchy era in the legislatures of British India, the British government promised limited provincial autonomy in 1935. The Bengal Legislative Assembly, British India's largest legislature, was established in 1937. British Burma was also separated from British India in 1937.
[[null|link=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nawab_Salimullah_car.jpg|left|thumb|Sir Khwaja Salimullah oversaw the creation of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka in 1906.]]
Although it won most seats in 1937, the Bengal Congress boycotted the legislature. A. K. Fazlul Huq of the Krishak Praja Party was elected as the first Prime Minister of Bengal. In 1940 Huq supported the Lahore Resolution, which envisaged independent states in the subcontinent's northwestern and eastern Muslim-majority regions. Huq was succeeded by Khawaja Nazimuddin, who grappled with the effects of the Burma Campaign, the Bengal famine of 1943 which claimed the lives of millions of people, and the Quit India movement. During World War II, Bengal faced a possible Japanese invasion from Burma. Chittagong was bombed by the Japanese air force in April and May 1942. Allied forces were stationed across eastern Bengal during the war. In 1946, the Bengal Provincial Muslim League won the provincial election with the largest Muslim League mandate in British India. H. S. Suhrawardy, who made a final futile effort for a United Bengal in 1946, was the last premier of Bengal.

=== Partition of Bengal (1947) ===
Main article: Partition of Bengal (1947)

On 3 June 1947, the Mountbatten Plan outlined the partition of British India. On 6 July, the Sylhet region of Assam voted in a referendum to join East Bengal. Cyril Radcliffe was tasked with drawing the borders of Pakistan and India, and the Radcliffe Line established the boundaries of present-day Bangladesh. The Radcliffe Line awarded two-thirds of Bengal as the eastern wing of Pakistan, but the medieval and early modern Bengali capitals of Gaur, Pandua and Murshidabad fell on the Indian side close to the border with Pakistan.

===Union with Pakistan===
The Dominion of Pakistan was created on 14 August 1947. East Bengal, with Dhaka as its capital, was the most populous province of the 1947 Pakistani federation (led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who promised freedom of religion and secular democracy in the new state).

Khawaja Nazimuddin was East Bengal's first chief minister with Frederick Chalmers Bourne its governor. The All Pakistan Awami Muslim League was formed in 1949. In 1950, the East Bengal Legislative Assembly enacted land reform, abolishing the Permanent Settlement and the zamindari system. The 1952 Bengali Language Movement was the first sign of friction between the country's geographically separated wings. The Awami Muslim League was renamed the more secular Awami League in 1953. The first constituent assembly was dissolved in 1954. The United Front coalition swept aside the Muslim League in a landslide victory in the 1954 East Bengali legislative election. The following year, East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan as part of the One Unit programme, and the province became a vital part of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.

Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956. The Pakistan Army imposed military rule in 1958, and Ayub Khan was the country's strongman for 11 years. Political repression increased after the coup. Khan introduced a new constitution in 1962, replacing Pakistan's parliamentary system with a presidential and gubernatorial system (based on electoral college selection) known as Basic Democracy. In 1962, Dhaka became the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan, a move seen as appeasing increased Bengali nationalism. The Pakistani government built the controversial Kaptai Dam, displacing the Chakma people from their indigenous homeland in the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 blocked cross-border transport links with neighbouring India in what is described as a second partition. In 1966, Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced a six-point movement for a federal parliamentary democracy.

According to senior World Bank officials, the Pakistani government practised extensively economic discrimination against East Pakistan. Despite generating 70% of Pakistan's export revenue with jute and tea, East Pakistan received much less government spending than West Pakistan. Economists in East Pakistan, including Rehman Sobhan and Nurul Islam among others, demanded a separate foreign exchange account for the eastern wing. The economists paraphrased Pakistan's Two-Nation Theory ideology against India, by pointing to the existence of two different economies with Pakistan itself, dubbed the Two-Economies Theory. The central government also refused to release foreign aid allocated for East Pakistan. The populist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested for treason in the Agartala Conspiracy Case and was released during the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan which resulted in Ayub Khan's resignation. General Yahya Khan assumed power, reintroducing martial law.

Ethnic and linguistic discrimination was common in Pakistan's civil and military services, in which Bengalis were under-represented. Cultural discrimination also prevailed, making East Pakistan forge a distinct political identity. Authorities banned Bengali literature and music in state media. A cyclone devastated the coast of East Pakistan in 1970, killing an estimated 500,000 people, and the central government was criticised for its poor response. After the December 1970 elections, the Bengali-nationalist Awami League won 167 of 169 East Pakistani seats in the National Assembly. The League claimed the right to form a government and develop a new constitution but was strongly opposed by the Pakistani military and the Pakistan Peoples Party (led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto).

=== War of Independence ===
In early 1971, negotiations began on the transfer of power.[172] The Awami League wanted to develop a constitution based on its Six Points agenda;[172] this was opposed by the Pakistani military, the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Muslim League factions. Around midnight on 26 March 1971, military operations under the code name of Operation Searchlight began. The first targets were the student dormitories of Dhaka University, the police barracks in Dhaka's Rajarbagh locality, and Hindu neighbourhoods in Old Dhaka. The Pakistan Army arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and flew him to a jail in West Pakistan. The army burnt down the ''Ittefaq'' newspaper's office. Before his arrest, Mujib proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh. Pakistani forces launched a widespread campaign of killings, torture, rape, arson and destruction across East Pakistan, targeting segments of the population perceived to be pro-Awami League and pro-independence. The Hindu minority was distinctly targeted because of Pakistan's hostility with neighbouring Hindu-majority India.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Mukti Bahini emerged as the Bengali resistance force. A highly successful guerrilla war was fought against Pakistan. Bengalis continued to defect from Pakistan's diplomatic service, military, police, and bureaucracy. In April, they helped Awami League leaders to set up the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, which operated in exile from Calcutta with the support of the Indian government until December 1971. The Bangladesh Armed Forces was formally established in November 1971, when Bengali forces secured control of much of the countryside. The Mukti Bahini forced the railway network to shut down to stop Pakistani troop movements. Some of the notable operations of the Mukti Bahini included Operation Jackpot and Operation Barisal.

Around midnight on 26 March 1971, military operations under the code name of Operation Searchlight began. The first targets were the student dormitories of Dhaka University, the police barracks in Dhaka's Rajarbagh locality, and Hindu neighbourhoods in Old Dhaka. The Pakistan Army arrested Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and flew him to a jail in West Pakistan. The army burnt down the ''Ittefaq'' newspaper's office. Before his arrest, Mujib proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh. Pakistani forces launched a widespread campaign of killings, torture, rape, arson and destruction across East Pakistan, targeting segments of the population perceived to be pro-Awami League and pro-independence. The Hindu minority was distinctly targeted because of Pakistan's hostility with neighbouring Hindu-majority India.

During the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Mukti Bahini emerged as the Bengali resistance force. A highly successful guerrilla war was fought against Pakistan. Bengalis continued to defect from Pakistan's diplomatic service, military, police, and bureaucracy. In April, they helped Awami League leaders to set up the Provisional Government of Bangladesh, which operated in exile from Calcutta with the support of the Indian government until December 1971. The Bangladesh Armed Forces was formally established in November 1971, when Bengali forces secured control of much of the countryside. The Mukti Bahini forced the railway network to shut down to stop Pakistani troop movements. Some of the notable operations of the Mukti Bahini included Operation Jackpot and Operation Barisal.

=== Modern Bangladesh ===
The new government of Bangladesh transformed East Pakistan's state apparatus into an independent Bangladeshi state. The Awami League successfully reorganised the bureaucracy, framed a written constitution, and rehabilitated war victims. In January 1972, Mujib introduced a parliamentary republic through a presidential decree. On 12 January 1972 Mujib took oath and assumed office as Prime Minister of Bangladesh. The emerging state structure was heavily influenced by the British Westminster model. The Constitution Drafting Committee led by Kamal Hossain established a bill of rights influenced by the Universal Declaration of Human Right

==Geography==
==Biodiversity==
==Politics and government==
===Politics===
===Government===
Bangladesh is a ''de jure'' representative democracy under its constitution, with a Westminster-style parliamentary republic that has universal suffrage. The head of government is the Prime Minister, who forms a government every five years. The President invites the leader of the largest party in parliament to become Prime Minister.

The Jatiya Sangshad (National Parliament) is the unicameral parliament. It has 350 Members of Parliament (MPs), including 300 MPs elected on the first past the post system and 50 MPs appointed to reserved seats for women's empowerment. Article 70 of the Constitution of Bangladesh forbids MPs from voting against their party. However, several laws proposed independently by MPs have been transformed into legislation, including the anti-torture law. The parliament is presided over by the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad, who is second in line to the president as per the constitution.

===Administrative divisions===
Bangladesh is divided into eight administrative divisions, each named after their respective divisional headquarters: Barisal (officially ''Barishal''), Chittagong (officially ''Chattogram''), Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet.

==Foreign, economic and strategic relations==
''Main article:''
==Economy==
==Demographics, languages and religion==
==Culture==
==See also==
{{Countries of Asia}}{{Altverse II}}{{En-WP attribution notice}}{{NationBox}}