Bangladesh,[a] officially the People’s Republic of Bangladesh,[b] is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world and among the most densely populated with a population exceeding 170 million within 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. To the north, it is separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor, and from China by the mountainous Indian state of Sikkim. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation’s political, financial, and cultural centre. Chittagong is the second-largest city and the busiest port of the country. The official language is Bengali. Islam is the official and largest religion and Bengali Muslims form the largest ethnoreligious group in the country.
Bangladesh is part of the historic and ethnolinguistic region of Bengal, which was divided during the Partition of British India in 1947 as the eastern exclave of the Dominion of Pakistan. Ancient Bengal was known as Gangaridai and was a stronghold of pre-Islamic kingdoms. The Muslim conquest after 1204 led to the sultanate and Mughal periods, during which an independent Bengal Sultanate and wealthy Mughal Bengal transformed the region into an important centre of regional affairs, trade, and diplomacy. The Battle of Plassey in 1757 marked the beginning of British rule for next 200 years. The creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905 set a precedent for the emergence of Bangladesh. The All-India Muslim League, which was founded in Dhaka in 1906,[14] fought for a separate Bengali Muslim homeland in the Eastern Bengal, which was proposed in the Lahore Resolution in 1940 by A. K. Fazlul Huq, the first Prime Minister of Bengal. The present-day territorial boundary was established with the announcement of the Radcliffe Line.
In 1947, East Bengal became the most populous province in the Dominion of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh was renamed East Pakistan, with Dhaka as the legislative capital. The Bengali Language Movement in 1952, the 1958 Pakistani coup d’état, and the 1970 Pakistani general election spurred Bengali nationalism and pro-democracy movements. The refusal of the Pakistani military junta to transfer power to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, triggered the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The Mukti Bahini waged a successful armed revolution; the conflict saw the Bangladeshi genocide. The country came into existence on 16 December 1971 after the surrender of Pakistan, ending the 9-month long Liberation War.
After the war, Sheikh Mujib became the leader of the country. Mujib’s assassination in 1975 led to the rise of Ziaur Rahman, who himself was assassinated in 1981. The 1980s was dominated by the presidency of Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who was overthrown in a mass uprising in 1990. After 1990, the “Battle of the Begums” between Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina defined Bangladesh’s politics and history for next three decades. Following the overthrow of Hasina in a student–led mass uprising in August 2024, an interim government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus took power.
Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary republic based on the Westminster system. It is a middle power with the second-largest economy in South Asia. Bangladesh is home to the third-largest Muslim-majority population and the fifth-most spoken native language. It maintains the third-largest military in South Asia and is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. It consists of eight divisions, 64 districts, and 495 sub districts, and includes the largest mangrove forest in the world. However, Bangladesh has one of the largest refugee populations in the world and continues to face challenges such as corruption, political instability, overpopulation, and the effects of climate change. It has twice chaired the Climate Vulnerable Forum and hosts the headquarters of the BIMSTEC. Bangladesh is also a founding member of SAARC and a member of the OIC and the Commonwealth of Nations.
Etymology
Main article: Names of Bengal
The etymology of Bangladesh (“Bengali country”) can be traced to the early 20th century, when Bengali patriotic songs, such as Aaji Bangladesher Hridoy by Rabindranath Tagore and Namo Namo Namo Bangladesh Momo by Kazi Nazrul Islam, used the term in 1905 and 1932 respectively.[15] 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,[16] and the Iron Age Vanga Kingdom.[17] 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.[18][19] The term gained official status during the Sultanate of Bengal in the 14th century.[20][21] Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah proclaimed himself as the first “Shah of Bangala” in 1342.[20] The word Bangāl became the most common name for the region during the Islamic period.[22] 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”.[23] This is also mentioned in Ghulam Husain Salim’s Riyaz-us-Salatin.[24]
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”.