Bangladesh

Bangladesh ( Bengali : বাংলাদেশ, Bāṁlādesh, literally "land of the Bengalis"), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia . The land is bordered on three sides by India, but in the southeast has a piece border with Myanmar (Burma) . In southern Bangladesh has a coastline on the Bay of Bengal . The country consists mainly of the delta of the rivers Ganges and Brahmaputra . Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The low-lying location at the mouth of large rivers there are often floods in the country. The nation's capital, Dhaka (Dacca), is also the largest city.

The country is the eastern half of the area Bengal is called, and the partition of India formed a political entity in 1947. The western half is now the Indian state of West Bengal .

Content

 * 1 Physical Geography
 * 1.1 Geography
 * 1.2 Climate
 * 1.3 Natural Disasters
 * 1.4 Natural vegetation
 * 1.5 Animal Kingdom
 * 2 History
 * 2.1 Antiquity
 * 2.2 Middle Ages
 * 2.3 Mughals and British
 * 2.4 East Pakistan
 * 2.5 After independence
 * 3 Population
 * 3.1 Religion
 * 3.2 Language
 * 4 Government
 * 4.1 Head of State
 * 4.2 Government
 * 4.3 Parliament
 * 5 Administrative divisions
 * 6 Politics
 * 6.1 Internal political problems
 * 6.2 Environmental Issues
 * 6.3 The parties
 * 7 Economy
 * 7.1 Agriculture
 * 7.2 Industry
 * 7.3 Poverty
 * 8 Sports
 * 9 See also
 * 10 Sources and references
 * 10.1 Footnotes
 * 10.2 Literature
 * 10.3 External links

[Geography edit ]
Satellite Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a coastline of 575 kilometers along the Bay of Bengal. The majority of the country consists of the delta of the rivers the Ganges (in Bangladesh Padma ) and the Brahmaputra (Bangladesh the Jamuna called). Both rivers make many branches which flow out into the shape of a fan over the land. The Padma and Jamuna flow together into the Meghna, the principal of the many ramifications that flow into the Bay of Bengal. The country is by the deposits of the rivers very fruitful, but also very prone to flooding.

The delta plain is in the northeast, along the border with the Indian state of Meghalaya, bordered by the Shillong Plateau . The southern edge of the plateau is steep and the rivers that flow from the plateau to the plain have here deeply ingrained into the edge of the plateau. The only mountain in Bangladesh, the Chittagong Hills, located in the extreme southeast, along the border with Myanmar. Among these mountains is the highest mountain in Bangladesh, the Saka Haphong (1052 m ). Cox's Bazar south of the city Chittagong has the longest natural beach in the world.

[Climate edit ]
Bangladesh is located just south of the Tropic of Cancer and has a tropical climate with mild dry winters from October to March when the wind blows from the north, a hot, humid summer from March to June and hot, humid rainy season ( monsoon ) from June to October. The coldest month is January with temperatures below 20 degrees and the hottest month is April, when the temperature can reach the high 30 degrees.

[Natural disasters edit ]
Natural disasters such as floods, tropical cyclones , tornado 's and tidal waves hit the country almost every year, the effects of these natural disasters are exacerbated by deforestation, soil degradation and erosion. These disasters usually occur in the monsoon.

Natural vegetation [ edit ]
The largest part of the country in Bangladesh in human use because of high population density. Forests cover about 50% of the country. Include bamboo forests in the northeast and mangrove in the marshy area of the Sundarbans in the southwest.

[Animal Kingdom edit ]
Bangladesh has a rich forest flora. Thus the endangered (Royal) Bengal tiger for in the southwest of the country in the Sundarbans region.

History [ edit ]
To the partition of India was Bangladesh part of eastern India and the area has a shared history.

Antiquity [ edit ]
Around the 7th century BC. achieved aryanisatie in the Ganges Delta. The Mahabharata is an Aryan kingdom named Varendra mentioned that lay in Bengal. This kingdom was from the 2nd century BC. part of the Mauryarijk . Emperor Asoka was probably responsible for the spread of Buddhism in Bengal. However, little is known about the history of Bengal to the arrival of the Gupta in the 4th century AD .. After the collapse of the Gupta Empire in the 7th century, a large part of present Bangladesh was united by Shashanaka, the founder of the Gaudarijk . The empire was short-lived.

Ages [ edit ]
750 were the local rulers together a " chakravartin choose "ruler over all that would put an end to chaos and mutual strife. They elected Gopala, the first ruler of the Palarijk , to which he gave his name. Under the Pala's (Gopala and his successors) Varendra grew into an important center of Buddhist culture and knowledge. A large Sangha (religious community) of monks was possible in Bengal by the gifts of a wealthy class of merchants and artisans, who was less elsewhere in northern India. [4] Dharmapala, the son and successor of Gopala, the left Somapura Vihara build the largest Buddhist monastery in South Asia. The dominant trend in this and other learning centers was Mahayana, the form of Buddhism that seeks enlightenment for the entire population. Unlike other Mahayana Buddhist schools is characterized by a large pantheon of gods and demons, similar to Hinduism. The Buddhist clergy tried originally Hindu population does not keep off from the worship of gods, but these gods names in the Mayana theology. This is undoubtedly an important reason why Buddhism Hinduism was replaced as the dominant religion. From Palarijk Buddhism was spread further. Monks from the Palarijk converted Tibet and other areas in and behind the Himalayasand founded new learning centers in Southeast Asia. The monasteries of the Palarijk were the cradle of Tantrism, a smaller flow within Buddhism that include self-flagellation and sexual rites as ways to see nirvanareach.

Pala's ruled at their peak (in the 9th century) an empire that most of the north of the Indian subcontinent covered. The later kings, however, were more interested in acquiring religious knowledge than in preserving the conquered territories. In the 12th century the last Palakoning was ousted by the Hindu Sena dynasty, a new dynasty. The Sena dynasty oversaw a return to Hinduism and a gradual decline of Buddhism, a development which incidentally took place throughout South Asia. The caste system was reintroduced and Buddhist learning centers fell into disrepair. Only in the area around Chittagong, which today still has a significant Buddhist minority, Buddhism remained important.

The last Senakoning, Lakshman Sena, was ousted in 1203 by Muhammad Khilji , a Turkish , Muslim warlord who was subordinate in name to the Afghan sultan Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad . Khilji knew according to tradition, with only a handful of soldiers quickly the two main cities of the region, Nabadwip and Gaur to conquer. He destroyed the university of Nalanda, perhaps because he loved the building complex for a military establishment. Hence the decline of Buddhism was sealed. Three years later, however Khilji was killed in a failed expedition to Tibet. In the following centuries Bengal was ruled by Muslim rulers who were in greater or lesser extent tributary to the Sultan of Delhi . Bengal, however, was from Delhi saw a distant corner. Bengali leaders behaved independently, especially at times when the central government faltered in Delhi.Among the Shahidynastie Ilyas, who came to power in 1348, the trade flourished, art and science, and created a new Bengali cultural identity.

The conversion of the population to Islam was like elsewhere on the Indian subcontinent a gradual process, which was not actively encouraged by most rulers. Only from the Mogoltijd (from the 17th century) were the largest Muslim population. Conversion brought social and financial benefits, which mainly attracted the urban middle class of merchants. The fact that in Bengal a larger part of the population was converted elsewhere than can be explained in part because more traders lived in the area. In Mogoltijd also converted the rural population on a large scale, especially in opposition to the powerful Hindu landowners. [4]

Mughals and British [ Edit ]
The sultanate of Delhi in the 16th century by the subject Mughals, a new dynasty originating from Central Asia. After the fall of the Sultanate of Delhi was independent Bengal several decades, until Mogul emperorAkbar in 1575, the Bengal Sultan Daud Karrani, defeated and the area added to the Mogul empire. The administrative capital of the province of Bengal was moved in 1608 from Gaud to Dhaka. Under the Mughals growing trade and industry. The area was a major export center for overseas trade. Therefore Bengal drew the interest of European traders, who at the end of the 15th century arrived. The English, French, Portuguese and Dutch entered into agreements with the Mughals and their governors in Bengal (the " Nawabs ') and were allowed to establish trading posts.

Thanks to a growing middle class of merchants and landowners took the central authority of the Mogolkeizers in the 18th century greatly reduced. After the death of Emperor Aurangzeb Bengal governor declared independence. The Sultanate of Bengal, a half century later be subjected by the British. Worried about the growing power of the British, took the nawab of Bengal, Suraj-ud-Daula, in 1757 in the British trading post Calcutta. British residents, especially traders and officials of the East India Company (EIC), were locked in a dark, small dungeon, where some died of asphyxiation. The British used the incident as a propaganda tool to incite public outrage in England. Under Robert Clive, the nawab was defeated and slain. Clive then proposed a new nawab, who was a puppet of the British.

For the British Bengal was of special interest because of the large production of opium . In 1773 the government introduced a monopoly in which Bengali peasants their opium production could still only supply the EIC. The export of Indian opium to China then boomed: the volume increased from 13 tonnes in 1729 to 2558 tonnes in 1839. [5] Chinese attempts to explain this to opium trade ties in the 19th century led to twoOpium Wars .

The British East India Company controlled the region until 1858, when Bengal a province of British India was.

On July 3, 1946 the province was divided into a predominantly Hindu West Bengal and a predominantly Muslim East Bengal . At independence of India and Pakistan in 1947 came as West Bengal state in India and East Bengal as a province in Pakistan. In 1955, East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan .

East Pakistan [ edit ]
East Pakistan was ignored by the central government in West Pakistan (now Pakistan ) and the area was dominated by West Pakistanis. This led to the emergence of struggles and led to a struggle for independencein 1971. On March 26, Pakistan's army began a bloody suppression of the uprising, hereby were innocent men, women and children killed in droves. Major Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared this the independence of Bangladesh. He made ​​this statement on a homemade radio from the port city of Chittagong. This call led to the Bangladesh Liberation War which cost more than a million Bengalis living [6] and also to a refugee problem resulted.

India hold this in December of the same year and the Pakistani army surrendered on 16 December 1971, after Bangladesh became independent.

After independence [ edit ]
In 1975 (also the year when Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated), Bangladesh was a party state, but the army intervened and a military dictatorship was installed. General Ziaur Rahman showed in theConstitution the word " secularism "is replaced by" trust in God ". The later ruling General Ershad made ​​Islam a state religion. It took until 1991 before Bangladesh after 15 years of military dictatorship, could hold its first free elections since its independence. The Islamic Jamaat-e-Islami achieved when 12% of the votes (only 4% in 2001).

Population [ edit ]
On "small" countries such as Singapore and Bahrain after Bangladesh is the most densely populated country in the world. At the beginning of the 20th century, the area that is now Bangladesh is about thirty million inhabitants; that number has now increased fivefold. [7] The population is relatively homogeneous : 98% ethnically Bengali . The remaining 2% are non- Bengali -moslims and different peoples living in the Chittagong Hills.

[Religion edit ]
The main religion is Islam that is practiced by 83% of the population. The Hindu 16%, the other major religion. There are also small groups of Buddhists , Christians and animists .

Language [ edit ]
The Bengali speaking Bengali (also called Bangla) that is written in a script similar to the Devanagari . Bengali is the official language of the country. The English is still used, mainly in the training and in the government. Further speaking, most non-Bengali Muslims Urdu .

[Government edit ]
Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy .

[Head of State edit ]
The President of Bangladesh is a largely ceremonial position, the power lies with the prime minister who is the head of government. The current president is Abdul Hamid . The president is elected every five years by parliament. The limited power of the president is extended in times of transition between two governments. The president appoints the prime minister from the parliament, he must then choose someone he assumes that enjoys the support of the majority of MPs. The President also appoints the members of the highest court, the Supreme Court.

[Government edit ]
The current Prime Minister of Bangladesh since 2008 Sheikh Sheikh Hasina, she is the head of government. The government consists of ministers chosen by the Prime Minister.

Parliament [ edit ]
Bangladesh has a single-chamber, called the Jatiya Sangsad (home of the nation) with 300 members. Members are elected every five years by election districts.

Administrative divisions [ edit ]
Bangladesh is politically subdivided into seven divisions (bibhag), which are in turn divided into 64 districts (zila).

Internal political problems [ edit ]
Overcrowding is a major problem in the country and large groups called landless have to live in areas with an increased risk of flooding. This portion of the population is plagued by many diseases.

[Environmental edit ]
Because most of Bangladesh consists of low-lying plains, found in the country regularly large floods. The floods occur mainly during the monsoon . During an average monsoon is more than two-thirds of Bangladesh under water. Although the monsoon in Bangladesh also ensures an increase in precipitation, the increase in the flow of the rivers is the main cause. When the water level in all three major rivers at the same time reaches a maximum, this is a disaster for the population. In 1998, 2004 and 2007 were millions of people homeless and caused flooding hundreds of casualties. The floods are not only a problem. The annual supply of fertile silt is very important for agriculture. Since the economy is heavily dependent on agriculture, infrastructure has to stop the flooding controversial. The rivers are mostly not equipped with dikes.

Bangladesh is one of the most sensitive areas for sea level rises . The many climatologists predicted rise due to global warming, the country would be hard hit in the future. Therefore politics in Bangladesh is very strong measures that greenhouse gas emissions reduction. An example is a ban on gasoline in major cities, where today all vehicles run on gas.

Another major problem is the pollution of groundwater with naturally occurring arsenic . This is mainly a problem which has been contributed by western NGO 's drilling wells have encouraged as an alternative to the polluted river water. Arsenic Poisoning threatens about 25% of the population. The working part of the population is growing faster than the number of jobs in the most important sector, agriculture.

Parties [ edit ]
Some parties:
 * the Awami League, a secular center-left party of Sheikh Sheikh Hasina . In January 2005 was former finance minister Shah Kibra , a member of the Awami League, murdered by Muslim extremists.
 * BNP : Bangladesh Nationalist Party
 * Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) was in the struggle for independence from Pakistan on the side of Pakistan . General Ziaur Rehman let the leaders of Jei return from exile.
 * Oikya Jote

Economy [ edit ]
Despite many international aid Bangladesh is still one of the poorest countries in the world. Overpopulation, natural disasters and political instability contribute. Almost 60% of the goods by ship transported.

[Agricultural edit ]
Almost two thirds of the population of Bangladesh is working in agriculture, rice is the main product of which the country is the world's fourth largest producer. Other key products include jute whose country is the second largest producer in the world, sugar cane , tobacco and corn .

Industry [ edit ]
The industrial sector is relatively small and the main goods in the sector leather , paper and textiles .

Poverty [ edit ]
According to the Development of the United Nations living in Bangladesh 89.8% of the population below the poverty line . [8]

[Sports edit ]
The most popular sport in Bangladesh cricket . The national team is known as " The Tigers ". The team is a full member of the International Cricket Council .