Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh , is a country in South Asia, bordered by India and Myanmar, at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. It is separated from Nepal and Bhutanby the narrow Siliguri Corridor. It is the world's eighth most populous country and the ninety-third largest country by area, making it one of themost densely populated nations on Earth.

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The majority of the population are Bengali Muslims, followed by Bengali Hindus, with diverse Buddhistand Christian communities. The official language is Bengali, which is also spoken in the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura.

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Dominated by the fertile Bengal delta, Bangladesh is rich in biodiversityand is home to the world's largest mangrove forest. It has a mountainous east and a 600 km (370 mi) coastline that has one of the world's longestbeaches.Forming part the historical Bengal region, the earliest cities in Bangladesh date back to the Vedic period. The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai.

The mighty Ganges andBrahmaputra rivers connected Bengal to India and China, making the region a central entrepot of the historic Silk Road. During the Pala andSena periods, the people of the land developed their own language,script, literature, music, art and architecture. Islam was established in the second millennium CE under the Delhi Sultanate, the Bengal Sultanateand the Mughal Empire. Annexed by the British East India Company in 1765, the region was a part of British-ruled India until the creation of Pakistan in 1947. The rise of Bengali nationalism in East Pakistanresulted in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. After independence, Bangladesh experienced several military coups. Since the widely boycotted 2014 general election, opposition parties have accused the ruling Awami League of authoritarianism, human rights abuses, and attempting to destroy the long tradition of Bangladeshi multiparty politics, and to replace it with a dominant party system.

Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary republic with a diverse cultural heritage. It is a Next Eleven emerging economy. It is the world's largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations; and it is a member of theCommonwealth of Nations, the World Trade Organization, the OIC, NAM, the D8, SAARC, BIMSTEC and BCIM. Despite steady progress in human development, the country continues to face challenges ofpoverty, corruption, political instability, terrorism and global warming.The name Bangladesh was originally written as two words, Bangla Desh. 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 earliest references to the term date to the Nesari plate in 805 AD. The term "Vangaladesa" is found in South Indian records in the 11th century. 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. Persian writers frequently used the term Bangala to refer to the Bengal Sultanate. The word Bangla became the most common name for the region during the Islamic period. Taking a cue from the Persianate term, the Portuguese referred to the region as Bengala in the 16th century.

This probably gave rise to the English term Bengal. The origins of the term Bangla are unclear, with theories pointing to a Bronze Age proto-Dravidian tribe, the Austric word "Bonga" (Sun god), and the Iron Age Vanga Kingdom. The Indo-Aryan suffix Desh is derived from the Sanskrit word desha, which means "land" or "country". Hence, the name Bangladesh means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal". Stone age tools found in the Greater Bengal region indicate human habitation for over 20,000 years. Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,000 years. Ancient Bengal was settled by Austroasiatics, Tibeto-Burmans, Dravidians andIndo-Aryans in consecutive waves of migration. Major urban settlements formed during the Iron Age in the middle of the first millennium BCE, when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture developed in the Indian subcontinent. In 1879, Sir Alexander Cunningham identified the archaeological ruins of Mahasthangarh as the ancient city of Pundranagara, the capital of the Pundra Kingdom mentioned in the Rigveda.

The Wari-Bateshwar ruins are regarded by archaeologists as the capital of an ancientjanapada, one of the earliest city states in the subcontinent. An indigenouscurrency of silver punched marked coins dating between 600 BCE and 400 BCE has been found at the site. Excavations of glass beads suggest the city had trading links with Southeast Asia and the Roman world. 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 center of Souanagoura mentioned in Ptolemy's world map. Roman geographers noted the existence of a large and important seaport in southeastern Bengal, corresponding to the modern-day Chittagong region. The legendary Vanga Kingdom is mentioned in the Indian epic Mahabharatacovering the region of Bangladesh. It was described as a seafaring nation of South Asia.

According to Sinhalese chronicles, the Bengali Prince Vijaya led an maritime expedition to Sri Lanka, conquering the island and establishing its first recorded kingdom. The Bengali people also embarked on overseas colonization in Southeast Asia, including in modern-day Malaysia and Indonesia. Bengal was ruled by the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. With their bastions in the Bengal and Bihar regions (collectively known as Magadha), the Mauryans built the first geographically extensive Iron Age empire in Ancient India. They promoted Jainism and Buddhism. The empire reached its peak under emperorAshoka. The Mauryans were also influenced by the Persian Achaemenid Empire. They were eventually succeeded by the Gupta Empire in the 3rd century.

According to historian H. C. Roychowdhury, the Gupta dynasty originated in the Varendraregion in Bangladesh, corresponding to the modern-day Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions. The Gupta era saw the invention of chess, the concept of zero, the theory of Earth orbiting the Sun, the study of solar and lunar eclipses and the flourishing of Sanskrit literature and drama. In classical antiquity, Bengal was divided between various kingdoms. The Pala Empire stood out as the largest Bengali state established in ancient history, with an empire covering most of the north Indian subcontinent at its height in the 9th century. The Palas were devout Mahayana Buddhists. They strongly patronized art, architecture and education, giving rise to the Pala School of Painting and Sculptural Art, the Somapura Mahavihara and the universities of Nalanda and Vikramshila.

The proto-Bengali language emerged under Pala rule. In the 11th-century, the resurgent Hindu Sena dynasty gained power. The Senas were staunch promoters of Brahmanical Hinduism and laid the foundation of Bengali Hinduism. They patronized their own school of Hindu art taking inspiration from their predecessors. The Senas consolidated the caste system in Bengal. Bangladesh is a developing country, with a market-based mixed economy and is listed as one of the Next Eleven emerging markets. The per capita income of Bangladesh was US$1,190 in 2014, with a GDP of US$209 billion. Bangladesh is the third-largest economy in South Asia after India and Pakistan. Bangladesh's foreign exchange remittances were US$15 billion in 2014, contributed to its economy by 9 million Bangladeshi emigrant workers. In the early five years of independence, Bangladesh adopted socialist policies which proved to be a critical blunder by the Awami League.

The subsequent military regime and BNP and Jatiya Party governments restored free markets and promoted the Bangladeshi private sector. In 1991, finance minister Saifur Rahmanlaunched a range of liberal reforms. The Bangladeshi private sector has since rapidly expanded, with numerous conglomerates now driving the economy. Major industries include textiles, pharmaceuticals, shipbuilding, steel, electronics, energy, construction materials, chemicals, ceramics, food processing, and leather goods. Export-oriented industrialization has increased in recent years, with the country's exports amounting to US$30 billion in FY2014-15. The predominant export earnings of Bangladesh come from its garments sector.

The country also has a vibrant social enterprise sector, including the Nobel Peace Prize-winningmicrofinance institution Grameen Bank and the world's largest nongovernmental development agency BRAC.The insufficient power supply is a significant obstacle to growth. According to the World Bank, poor governance, corruption and weak public institutions are major challenges for Bangladesh's development. In April 2010, Standard & Poor's awarded Bangladesh a BB- long term credit rating, which is below India and well above Pakistan and Sri Lanka. White rice is the staple of Bangladeshi cuisine, along with manyvegetables and lentils. Rice preparations also include Bengali biryanis,pulaos, and khichuris.

Mustard sauce, ghee, sunflower oil and fruitchutneys are widely used in Bangladeshi cooking. Fish is the main source of protein in Bengali cuisine. The Hilsa is the national fish and immensely popular across Bangladesh. Other fishes eaten includerohu, butterfish, catfish, tilapia and barramundi. Fish eggs are a gourmet delicacy. Seafood holds an important place in Bengali cuisine, especially lobsters, shrimps and dried fish. Meat consumption includeschicken, beef, mutton, venison, duck and squab. In Chittagong, Mezbanfeasts are a popular tradition featurjg the serving of hot beef curry. In Sylhet, the shatkora lemons are used to marinate dishes. In the tribal Hill Tracts, bamboo shoot cooking is prevalent.

Bangladesh has a vast spread of desserts, including distinctive sweets like Rôshogolla,Rôshomalai, Chomchom, Mishti Doi and Kalojaam. Pithas are traditional boiled desserts made with rice or fruits. Halwa is served during religious festivities. Naan, paratha, luchi and bakarkhani are the main local breads. Black tea is the national beverage and offered to guests as a gesture of welcome. Kebabs are widely popular across Bangladesh, particularly seekh kebabs, chicken tikka and shashliks.Bangladesh shares its culinary heritage with the neighboring Indian state of West Bengal. The two regions have several differences, however. In Muslim-majority Bangladesh, meat consumption is greater; whereas in Hindu-majority West Bengal, vegetarianism is more prevalent. The Bangladeshi diaspora dominates the South Asian restaurant industry in many Western countries, particularly in the United Kingdom.

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