142-496: The Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium (SBNCS; Bengali : শের-ই-বাংলা জাতীয় ক্রিকেট স্টেডিয়াম ), also called Mirpur Stadium , is an International cricket ground at Mirpur , in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh . Located 10 kilometres from Mirpur city centre, the ground holds approximately 25,000 people and is named after the Bengali statesman A. K. Fazlul Huq , who was accorded
284-482: A Bengali Muslim majority. 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. The creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1905 set
426-669: A Status of Forces Agreement , an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement and a General Security of Military Information Agreement. In 2019, Bangladesh ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons . Since the colonial period, Bangladesh has had a prominent civil society . There are various special interest groups, including non-governmental organisations , human rights organisations, professional associations, chambers of commerce , employers' associations, and trade unions. The National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh
568-492: A bid to lessen this burden on young learners, efforts have been made by educational institutions in the two main Bengali-speaking regions (West Bengal and Bangladesh) to address the opaque nature of many consonant clusters, and as a result, modern Bengali textbooks are beginning to contain more and more "transparent" graphical forms of consonant clusters, in which the constituent consonants of a cluster are readily apparent from
710-564: A critical role in addressing regional issues, including the Rohingya refugee crisis , which has strained its resources and highlighted its humanitarian commitments. The poverty rate went down from 80% in 1971 to 44% in 1991 to 13% in 2021. Bangladesh emerged as the second-largest economy in South Asia, surpassing the per capita income levels of both India and Pakistan. As part of the green transition , Bangladesh's industrial sector emerged as
852-590: A different word from a speaker of Standard Bengali in Bangladesh, even though both words are of native Bengali descent. For example, the word salt is লবণ lôbôṇ in the east which corresponds to নুন nun in the west. Bengali exhibits diglossia , though some scholars have proposed triglossia or even n-glossia or heteroglossia between the written and spoken forms of the language. Two styles of writing have emerged, involving somewhat different vocabularies and syntax : Linguist Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar categorises
994-480: A diphthong. The total number of diphthongs is not established, with bounds at 17 and 31. An incomplete chart is given by Sarkar (1985) of the following: In standard Bengali, stress is predominantly initial. Bengali words are virtually all trochaic ; the primary stress falls on the initial syllable of the word, while secondary stress often falls on all odd-numbered syllables thereafter, giving strings such as in সহযোগিতা shô -hô- jo -gi- ta "cooperation", where
1136-534: A habitat for many aquatic plants. Water lilies and lotuses grow vividly during the monsoon season. The country has 50 wildlife sanctuaries . Bangladesh is home to most of the Sundarbans , the world's largest mangrove forest , covering an area of 6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi) in the southwest littoral region. It is divided into three protected sanctuaries: the South , East , and West zones. The forest
1278-622: A large scale and were communally limited. Owing to Bengal's geographic location, Bengali areas bordering non-Bengali regions have been influenced by each other. Small numbers of people in Midnapore , which borders Odisha , have used the Odia script to write in Bengali. In the border areas between West Bengal and Bihar , some Bengali communities historically wrote Bengali in Devanagari , Kaithi and Tirhuta . In Sylhet and Bankura , modified versions of
1420-506: A leader in building green factories, with the country having the largest number of certified green factories in the world in 2023. In January 2024, Awami League led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina secured a fourth straight term in Bangladesh's general election . Following nationwide protests against the Awami League government, on 5 August 2024, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign and flee to India. An interim government
1562-600: A long sea coastline, numerous rivers and tributaries , lakes, wetlands , evergreen forests, semi evergreen forests, hill forests, moist deciduous forests , freshwater swamp forests and flat land with tall grass. The Bangladesh Plain is famous for its fertile alluvial soil which supports extensive cultivation. The country is dominated by lush vegetation, with villages often buried in groves of mango , jackfruit , bamboo , betel nut , coconut , and date palm . The country has up to 6000 species of plant life, including 5000 flowering plants. Water bodies and wetland systems provide
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#17330856874511704-660: A majority in Bangladesh speaks dialects notably different from SCB. Some dialects, particularly those of the Chittagong region, bear only a superficial resemblance to SCB. The dialect in the Chittagong region is least widely understood by the general body of Bengalis. The majority of Bengalis are able to communicate in more than one variety – often, speakers are fluent in Cholitobhasha (SCB) and one or more regional dialects. Even in SCB,
1846-454: A parliamentary act was passed to reserve three seats (out of 12) in every union for female candidates. Bangladesh is the second largest economy in South Asia after India. The country has outpaced India and Pakistan in terms of per capita income. According to the World Bank , "when the newly independent country of Bangladesh was born on December 16, 1971, it was the second poorest country in
1988-709: A part in the adoption of the English alphabet to write Bengali, with certain social media influencers publishing entire novels in Roman Bengali. Bangladesh 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 seventh most densely populated with a population of 173,562,364 in an area of 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi). Bangladesh shares land borders with India to
2130-511: A precedent for the emergence of Bangladesh. The All-India Muslim League was founded in Dhaka in 1906. The Lahore Resolution in 1940 was supported 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
2272-562: A rounded total of 280 million) worldwide. The Bengali language is native to the region of Bengal , which comprises the present-day nation of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal . Besides the native region it is also spoken by the Bengalis living in Tripura , southern Assam and the Bengali population in the Indian union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Bengali is also spoken in
2414-408: A special diacritic, called the hôsôntô (্) , may be added below the basic consonant grapheme (as in ম্ [m] ). This diacritic, however, is not common and is chiefly employed as a guide to pronunciation. The abugida nature of Bengali consonant graphemes is not consistent, however. Often, syllable-final consonant graphemes, though not marked by a hôsôntô , may carry no inherent vowel sound (as in
2556-575: A state language of the then Dominion of Pakistan . On 21 February 1952, five students and political activists were killed during protests near the campus of the University of Dhaka ; they were the first ever martyrs to die for their right to speak their mother tongue. In 1956, Bengali was made a state language of Pakistan. 21 February has since been observed as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh and has also been commemorated as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO every year since 2000. In 2010,
2698-677: A successful armed revolution ; the conflict saw the Bangladeshi genocide . 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 H M Ershad . After 1990, the Battle of the Begums between Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina defined Bangladesh's politics for next 35 years. In 2024, an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus took power after
2840-463: A vowel in isolation from any preceding or following consonant, the independent form of the vowel is used. For example, in মই [moj] "ladder" and in ইলিশ [iliʃ] "Hilsa fish", the independent form of the vowel ই is used (cf. the dependent form ি) . A vowel at the beginning of a word is always realised using its independent form. In addition to the inherent-vowel-suppressing hôsôntô , three more diacritics are commonly used in Bengali. These are
2982-596: Is Bangladesh's largest economic aid provider, and the two maintain a strategic and economic partnership . Political relations with Middle Eastern countries are robust. Bangladesh receives 59% of its remittances from the Middle East, despite poor working conditions affecting over four million Bangladeshi workers . Bangladesh plays a major role in global climate diplomacy as a leader of the Climate Vulnerable Forum . The Bangladesh Armed Forces have inherited
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#17330856874513124-441: Is Bangladesh's national march, written by The National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in Bengali in 1928. It was adopted as the national marching song by the Bangladeshi government in 1972. Additionally, the first two verses of Vande Mataram , a patriotic song written in Bengali by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee , was adopted as the "national song" of India in both the colonial period and later in 1950 in independent India. Furthermore, it
3266-536: Is a classical Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. With over 237 million native speakers and another 41 million as second language speakers as of 2024, Bengali is the fifth most spoken native language and the seventh most spoken language by the total number of speakers in the world. It is the fifth most spoken Indo-European language . Bengali
3408-468: Is a cursive script with eleven graphemes or signs denoting nine vowels and two diphthongs , and thirty-nine graphemes representing consonants and other modifiers. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms. The letters run from left to right and spaces are used to separate orthographic words . Bengali script has a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the graphemes that links them together called মাত্রা matra . Since
3550-465: Is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The northeastern Sylhet region is home to haor wetlands, a unique ecosystem. It also includes tropical and subtropical coniferous forests , a freshwater swamp forest , and mixed deciduous forests. The southeastern Chittagong region covers evergreen and semi-evergreen hilly jungles. Central Bangladesh includes the plainland Sal forest running along with the districts of Gazipur, Tangail , and Mymensingh . St. Martin's Island
3692-400: Is an abugida , a script with letters for consonants, with diacritics for vowels, and in which an inherent vowel (অ ô ) is assumed for consonants if no vowel is marked. The Bengali alphabet is used throughout Bangladesh and eastern India (Assam, West Bengal, Tripura). The Bengali alphabet is believed to have evolved from a modified Brahmic script around 1000 CE (or 10th–11th century). It
3834-584: Is being developed for production in the country. Biogas is being used to produce organic fertilizer. Bangladesh continues to have huge untapped reserves of natural gas, particularly in its maritime territory. A lack of exploration and decreasing proven reserves have forced Bangladesh to import LNG from abroad. Gas shortages were further exasperated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine . While government-owned companies in Bangladesh generate nearly half of Bangladesh's electricity, privately owned companies like
3976-668: Is believed by many that the national anthem of Sri Lanka ( Sri Lanka Matha ) was inspired by a Bengali poem written by Rabindranath Tagore , while some even believe the anthem was originally written in Bengali and then translated into Sinhala . After the contribution made by the Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force in the Sierra Leone Civil War under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone ,
4118-699: Is considered a separate language, although it shares similarities to Northern Bengali dialects. During the standardisation of Bengali in the 19th century and early 20th century, the cultural centre of Bengal was in Kolkata , a city founded by the British. What is accepted as the standard form today in both West Bengal and Bangladesh is based on the West-Central dialect of Nadia and Kushtia District . There are cases where speakers of Standard Bengali in West Bengal will use
4260-523: Is derived from the Sanskrit word deśha , which means "land" or "country". Hence, the name Bangladesh means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal". The history of Bangladesh dates back over four millennia to the Chalcolithic period. The region's early history was characterized by a succession of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms and empires that fought for control over the Bengal region . Islam arrived in
4402-418: Is divided into several unions , with each union consisting of multiple villages. In the metropolitan areas, police stations are divided into wards, further divided into mahallas . There are no elected officials at the divisional or district levels, and the administration is composed only of government officials. Direct elections are held in each union (or ward) for a chairperson and several members. In 1997,
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4544-510: Is estimated that about 10% of its land would be flooded if the sea level were to rise by 1 m (3.3 ft). 12% of the country is covered by hill systems. The country's haor wetlands are of significance to global environmental science. The highest point in Bangladesh is the Saka Haphong , located near the border with Myanmar, with an elevation of 1,064 m (3,491 ft). Previously, either Keokradong or Tazing Dong were considered
4686-699: Is home to the Asian elephant , hoolock gibbon , Asian black bear and oriental pied hornbill . The chital deer are widely seen in southwestern woodlands. Other animals include the black giant squirrel , capped langur , Bengal fox , sambar deer , jungle cat , king cobra , wild boar , mongooses , pangolins , pythons and water monitors . Bangladesh has one of the largest populations of Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphins . The country has numerous species of amphibians (53), reptiles (139), marine reptiles (19) and marine mammals (5). It also has 628 species of birds . Several animals became extinct in Bangladesh during
4828-404: Is known as Apabhraṃśa , by the end of the first millennium. The Bengali language evolved as a distinct language over the course of time. Though some archaeologists claim that some 10th-century texts were in Bengali, it is not certain whether they represent a differentiated language or whether they represent a stage when Eastern Indo-Aryan languages were differentiating. The local Apabhraṃśa of
4970-498: Is often strained by water politics of the Ganges and the Teesta , and the border killings of Bangladeshi civilians . Post-independent Bangladesh has continued to have a problematic relationship with Pakistan, mainly due to its denial of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. It maintains a warm relationship with China, which is its largest trading partner, and the largest arms supplier. Japan
5112-493: Is overseen by a cabinet headed by the Prime Minister of Bangladesh . The tenure of a parliamentary government is five years. The Bangladesh Civil Service assists the cabinet in running the government. Recruitment for the civil service is based on a public examination. In theory, the civil service should be a meritocracy. But a disputed quota system coupled with politicisation and preference for seniority have allegedly affected
5254-858: Is presided over by the Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad , who is second in line to the president as per the constitution. Bangladesh is considered a middle power in global politics . It plays an important role in the geopolitical affairs of the Indo-Pacific , due to its strategic location between South and Southeast Asia. Bangladesh joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1972 and the United Nations in 1974. It relies on multilateral diplomacy on issues like climate change, nuclear nonproliferation, trade policy and non-traditional security issues. Bangladesh pioneered
5396-477: Is set out below in the International Phonetic Alphabet (upper grapheme in each box) and romanisation (lower grapheme). Bengali is known for its wide variety of diphthongs , combinations of vowels occurring within the same syllable . Two of these, /oi̯/ and /ou̯/ , are the only ones with representation in script, as ঐ and ঔ respectively. /e̯ i̯ o̯ u̯/ may all form the glide part of
5538-545: Is the official , national , and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh , with 98% of Bangladeshis using Bengali as their first language. It is the second-most widely spoken language in India . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura and the Barak Valley region of the state of Assam . It is also the second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. It
5680-486: 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
5822-500: Is the most widely spoken language in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal , and is spoken by significant populations in other states including Bihar , Arunachal Pradesh , Delhi , Chhattisgarh , Meghalaya , Mizoram , Nagaland , Odisha and Uttarakhand . Bengali is also spoken by the Bengali diasporas ( Bangladeshi diaspora and Indian Bengalis) across Europe, North America,
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5964-471: Is the only coral reef in the country. Bangladesh has an abundance of wildlife in its forests, marshes, woodlands, and hills. The vast majority of animals dwell within a habitat of 150,000 square kilometres (58,000 sq mi). The Bengal tiger , clouded leopard , saltwater crocodile , black panther and fishing cat are among the chief predators in the Sundarbans. Northern and eastern Bangladesh
6106-548: Is threatened by this growth. The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act was enacted in 1995. The government has designated several regions as Ecologically Critical Areas , including wetlands, forests, and rivers. The Sundarbans tiger project and the Bangladesh Bear Project are among the key initiatives to strengthen conservation. It ratified the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 3 May 1994. As of 2014 ,
6248-467: Is vital to ensuring stability and security in northeast India . Bangladesh's strategic importance in the eastern subcontinent hinges on its proximity to China, its frontier with Burma, the separation of mainland and northeast India, and its maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal. In 2002, Bangladesh and China signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement. The United States has pursued negotiations with Bangladesh on
6390-465: The 2017–18 Bangladesh Tri-Nation Series , it became the sixth and fastest to host 100 ODIs . For the 2019–20 Bangabandhu BPL Final , 27,725 people gathered at this venue, the highest crowd attendance and beyond its official capacity. On 3 March 2023, during the 2nd ODI between Bangladesh and England , the venue hosted its 200th men's international match, which was also the 100th ODI match played by Bangladesh men's cricket team at this venue. During
6532-500: The Aesop's Fables in Bengali was printed using Roman letters based on English phonology by the Scottish linguist John Gilchrist . Consecutive attempts to establish a Roman Bengali have continued across every century since these times, and have been supported by the likes of Suniti Kumar Chatterji , Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda , and Muhammad Enamul Haq . The Digital Revolution has also played
6674-606: The Arabic , Persian , and Turkic languages . The arrival of merchants and traders from the Middle East and Turkestan into the Buddhist -ruling Pala Empire , from as early as the 7th century, gave birth to Islamic influence in the region. In the 13th century, subsequent Arab Muslim and Turco-Persian expeditions to Bengal heavily influenced the local vernacular by settling among the native population. Bengali absorbed Arabic and Persian influences in its vocabulary and dialect, including
6816-634: The Awami League was the dominant party. Between 1975 and 1991, the country was placed under martial law twice (1975-1979 and 1982-1986) while a semi-presidential system existed in which the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and National Party (JP) were dominant. The BNP and National Party promoted gradual economic liberalization and free market reforms, while Islam was declared the state religion in 1988. The restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1991 saw power alternate between
6958-468: The Constitution of Bangladesh states Bengali to be the sole official language of Bangladesh. The Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 , made it mandatory to use Bengali in all records and correspondences, laws, proceedings of court and other legal actions in all courts, government or semi-government offices, and autonomous institutions in Bangladesh. It is also the de facto national language of
7100-564: The Kaithi script had some historical prominence, mainly among Muslim communities. The variant in Sylhet was identical to the Baitali Kaithi script of Hindustani with the exception of Sylhet Nagri possessing matra . Sylhet Nagri was standardised for printing in c. 1869 . Up until the 19th century, numerous variations of the Arabic script had been used across Bengal from Chittagong in
7242-520: The Nadia region . Bengali shows a high degree of diglossia , with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language. Modern Bengali vocabulary is based on words inherited from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, along with tatsamas and reborrowings from Sanskrit and borrowings from Persian , Arabic , Austroasiatic languages and other languages with which it has historically been in contact. In
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#17330856874517384-590: The University of Karachi (established by East Pakistani politicians before Independence of Bangladesh ) also offers regular programs of studies at the Bachelors and at the Masters levels for Bengali Literature. The national anthems of both Bangladesh ( Amar Sonar Bangla ) and India ( Jana Gana Mana ) were written in Bengali by the Bengali Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore . Notuner Gaan known as " Chol Chol Chol"
7526-482: The Westminster system . Bengalis make up almost 99% of the population. The country consists of eight divisions , 64 districts , and 495 subdistricts , and includes the world's largest mangrove forest . Bangladesh has one of the largest refugee populations in the world due to the Rohingya genocide in neighboring Myanmar. Bangladesh faces challenges like corruption , political instability , overpopulation , and
7668-499: The boldface represents primary and secondary stress. Native Bengali words do not allow initial consonant clusters ; the maximum syllabic structure is CVC (i.e., one vowel flanked by a consonant on each side). Many speakers of Bengali restrict their phonology to this pattern, even when using Sanskrit or English borrowings, such as গেরাম geram (CV.CVC) for গ্রাম gram (CCVC) "village" or ইস্কুল iskul (VC.CVC) for স্কুল skul (CCVC) "school". The Bengali-Assamese script
7810-582: The effects of climate change . Bangladesh has twice chaired the Climate Vulnerable Forum and hosts the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) headquarters. It is a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Commonwealth of Nations . The etymology of Bangladesh ("Bengali country") can be traced to
7952-409: The fall of Sheikh Hasina . A middle power in the Indo-Pacific , Bangladesh is home to the fifth-most spoken native language , the third-largest Muslim-majority population , and the second-largest economy in South Asia. It maintains the third-largest military in the region and is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations. Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary republic based on
8094-419: The garments industry . Other major industries include shipbuilding , pharmaceuticals , steel , ceramics , electronics , and leather goods . Muhammad Aziz Khan became the first person from Bangladesh to be listed as a billionaire by Forbes . Since 2009, Bangladesh has embarked on a series of megaprojects . For instance, the 6.15 km long Padma Bridge was built for US$ 3.86 billion. The bridge
8236-541: The home team played India . The first ODI took place on 8 December 2006, when Bangladesh played Zimbabwe . On 11 October 2011, the stadium hosted its first T20I , between Bangladesh and West Indies . Till 2019-20 BPL, the venue has hosted most of the matches (198) including all Playoff matches and Finals. The stadium hosted 4 Group matches and 2 Quarter Finals during the 2011 Cricket World Cup which took place in 19 February – 2 April, jointly hosted by Bangladesh , Sri Lanka and India . The other venue in Bangladesh
8378-399: The latter killing approximately 140,000 people. In September 1998, Bangladesh saw the most severe flooding in modern history, after which two-thirds of the country went underwater, along with a death toll of 1,000. As a result of various international and national level initiatives in disaster risk reduction, the human toll and economic damage from floods and cyclones have come down over
8520-558: The partition of Bengal between India and Pakistan during the Partition of India in August 1947, when the region became East Pakistan as part of the newly formed State of Pakistan following the end of the British rule in the region . The Proclamation of Bangladeshi Independence on 26 March 1971 by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led to the nine-month-long Bangladesh Liberation War , which culminated in
8662-557: The phonology of Eastern Bengali is seen through the lack of nasalised vowels and an alveolar articulation of what are categorised as the "cerebral" consonants (as opposed to the postalveolar articulation of western Bengal). Some varieties of Bengali, particularly Sylheti , Chittagonian and Chakma , have contrastive tone ; differences in the pitch of the speaker's voice can distinguish words. Kharia Thar and Mal Paharia are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages. Similarly, Hajong
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#17330856874518804-608: The 16th century, Portuguese missionaries began a tradition of using the Roman alphabet to transcribe the Bengali language. Though the Portuguese standard did not receive much growth, a few Roman Bengali works relating to Christianity and Bengali grammar were printed as far as Lisbon in 1743. The Portuguese were followed by the English and French respectively, whose works were mostly related to Bengali grammar and transliteration. The first version of
8946-637: The 19th and 20th centuries, there were two standard forms of written Bengali: In 1948, the government of Pakistan tried to impose Urdu as the sole state language in Pakistan, giving rise to the Bengali language movement . This was a popular ethnolinguistic movement in the former East Bengal (today Bangladesh ), which arose as a result of the strong linguistic consciousness of the Bengalis and their desire to promote and protect spoken and written Bengali's recognition as
9088-576: The 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time. The ancestor of Bengali was the language of the Pala Empire and the Sena dynasty . During the medieval period, Middle Bengali was characterised by the elision of the word-final অ ô and the spread of compound verbs, which originated from the Sanskrit Schwa . Slowly, the word-final ô disappeared from many words influenced by
9230-758: The 8th century and gradually became dominant from the early 13th century with the conquests led by Bakhtiyar Khalji in 1204 and the activities of Sunni missionaries like Shah Jalal . Muslim rulers promoted the spread of Islam by building mosques across the region. In 1338 Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah established independent sultanate in Bengal, establishing the capital at Sonargaon and founded an individual currency. The Bengal Sultanate expanded under rulers like Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah , leading to economic prosperity and military dominance, with Bengal being referred to by Europeans as
9372-525: The Awami League and BNP. In recent decades, Bangladesh has achieved significant economic growth, emerging as one of the world's fastest-growing economies, driven by its garment industry , remittances, and infrastructure development. However, it continues to grapple with political instability, human rights issues, and the impact of climate change. The return of the Awami League to power on 6 January 2009 under Sheikh Hasina 's leadership saw economic progress but criticisms of authoritarianism . Bangladesh has played
9514-572: The Bay of Bengal . Relations with neighbouring Myanmar have been severely strained since 2016–2017, after over 700,000 Rohingya refugees illegally entered Bangladesh. The parliament, government, and civil society of Bangladesh have been at the forefront of international criticism against Myanmar for military operations against the Rohingya, and have demanded their right of return to Arakan . Bangladesh shares an important bilateral and economic relationship with its largest neighbour India, which
9656-401: The Bengali equivalent of a full stop – have been adopted from Western scripts and their usage is similar. Unlike in Western scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, etc.) where the letter forms stand on an invisible baseline, the Bengali letter-forms instead hang from a visible horizontal left-to-right headstroke called মাত্রা matra . The presence and absence of this matra can be important. For example,
9798-426: The Bengali script is an abugida, its consonant graphemes usually do not represent phonetic segments , but carry an "inherent" vowel and thus are syllabic in nature. The inherent vowel is usually a back vowel , either [ɔ] as in মত [m ɔ t] "opinion" or [o] , as in মন [m o n] "mind", with variants like the more open [ɒ] . To emphatically represent a consonant sound without any inherent vowel attached to it,
9940-421: The British East India Company in the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and thus Bengal was conquered by the British. Bengal played a crucial role in the Industrial Revolution in Britain, but also faced significant deindustrialization . The Great Bengal famine of 1770 resulted in millions of deaths. The Bengal Presidency was established during British rule. The borders of modern Bangladesh were established with
10082-444: The Jamuna (main channel of the Brahmaputra) and later joins the Meghna, finally flowing into the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh is called the "Land of Rivers", as it is home to over 57 trans-boundary rivers , the most of any nation-state. Water issues are politically complicated since Bangladesh is downstream of India. Bangladesh is predominantly rich fertile flat land. Most of it is less than 12 m (39 ft) above sea level, and it
10224-520: The Middle East and other regions. Bengali was accorded the status of a classical language by the government of India on 3 October 2024. It is the second most spoken and fourth fastest growing language in India , following Hindi in the first place, Kashmiri in the second place, and Meitei ( Manipuri ), along with Gujarati , in the third place, according to the 2011 census of India . Bengali has developed over more than 1,400 years. Bengali literature , with its millennium-old literary history,
10366-561: The Mosque City , the Paharpur Buddhist Ruins and the Sundarbans ) and five tentative-list sites. Activities for tourists include angling , water skiing , river cruising, hiking, rowing , yachting , and beachgoing . The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reported in 2019 that the travel and tourism industry in Bangladesh directly generated 1,180,500 jobs in 2018 or 1.9% of the country's total employment. According to
10508-469: The Pacific has observed the fastest Human Development Index (HDI) progress in the world—with Bangladesh being one of the best performers, moving from an HDI of 0.397 in 1990, the fourth lowest in the region, to a HDI of 0.661 in 2021. Only China had greater improvements in the region over this period". In 2022, Bangladesh had the second largest foreign-exchange reserves in South Asia. The reserves have boosted
10650-488: The Summit Group and Orion Group are playing an increasingly important role in both generating electricity, and supplying machinery, reactors, and equipment. Bangladesh increased electricity production from 5 gigawatts in 2009 to 25.5 gigawatts in 2022. It plans to produce 50 gigawatts by 2041. U.S. companies like Chevron and General Electric supply around 55% of Bangladesh's domestic natural gas production and are among
10792-428: The athletics tracks had to be dug up. About three feet of soil was excavated to remove the red clay. PVC pipes were fitted before re-filling with rock chips and sand, and then grass. The slope is even, a difference of 29 inches from the wicket to the boundary. The ground was fitted with floodlights in 2009 and is able to host day/night cricket matches. The ground hosted its first Test match on 25 May 2007, when
10934-536: The basis of modern standard colloquial Bengali. In the dialects prevalent in much of eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh ( Barisal , Chittagong , Dhaka and Sylhet Divisions of Bangladesh), many of the stops and affricates heard in West Bengal and western Bangladesh are pronounced as fricatives . Western alveolo-palatal affricates চ [ tɕɔ ] , ছ [ tɕʰɔ ] , জ [ dʑɔ ] correspond to eastern চ [tsɔ] , ছ [tsʰɔ~sɔ] , জ [dzɔ~zɔ] . The influence of Tibeto-Burman languages on
11076-454: The busiest port. The official language is Bengali , with Bangladeshi English also used in government. 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 enclave of the Dominion of Pakistan . The country came into existence in 1971 after declaring independence from Pakistan at the start of Bangladesh Liberation War . The country has
11218-584: The civil service's meritocracy. The President of Bangladesh is the ceremonial head of state whose powers include signing bills passed by parliament into law. The President is the Supreme Commander of the Bangladesh Armed Forces and the chancellor of all universities. The Supreme Court of Bangladesh is the highest court of the land, followed by the High Court and Appellate Divisions. The head of
11360-755: The climate changes, each seriously affecting agriculture, water and food security, human health, and shelter. It is estimated that by 2050, a three-foot rise in sea levels will inundate some 20 percent of the land and displace more than 30 million people. To address the sea level rise threat in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 has been launched. Bangladesh is located in the Indomalayan realm , and lies within four terrestrial ecoregions: Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests , Mizoram–Manipur–Kachin rain forests , Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests , and Sundarbans mangroves . Its ecology includes
11502-469: The consonant which comes first is put on top of or to the left of the one that immediately follows. In these ligatures, the shapes of the constituent consonant signs are often contracted and sometimes even distorted beyond recognition. In the Bengali writing system, there are nearly 285 such ligatures denoting consonant clusters. Although there exist a few visual formulas to construct some of these ligatures, many of them have to be learned by rote. Recently, in
11644-499: The country is now setting the stage for further economic growth and job creation by ramping up investments in energy, inland connectivity, urban projects, and transport infrastructure, as well as focusing on climate change adaptation and disaster preparedness on its path toward sustainable growth." Bangladesh has made one of the greatest leaps on the Human Development Index among Asian countries. According to UNDP , "Asia and
11786-521: The country was set to revise its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan . 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 Government of Bangladesh
11928-503: The country. In India, Bengali is one of the 23 official languages . It is the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal , Tripura and in Barak Valley of Assam . Bengali has been a second official language of the Indian state of Jharkhand since September 2011. In Pakistan , Bengali is a recognised secondary language in the city of Karachi mainly spoken by stranded Bengalis of Pakistan . The Department of Bengali in
12070-589: The crackdown on the opposition, mass media, and civil society through politicized enforcement. Bangladesh is ranked "partly free" in Freedom House's Freedom in the World report, but its press freedom has deteriorated from "free" to "not free" in recent years due to increasing pressure from the government. According to the British Economist Intelligence Unit , the country has a hybrid regime :
12212-590: The creation of SAARC , which has been the preeminent forum for regional diplomacy among the countries of the Indian subcontinent . It joined the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in 1974, and is a founding member of the Developing 8 Countries . In recent years, Bangladesh has focused on promoting regional trade and transport links with support from the World Bank . Dhaka hosts the headquarters of BIMSTEC , an organisation that brings together countries dependent on
12354-587: The development of Dobhashi . Bengali acquired prominence, over Persian, in the court of the Sultans of Bengal with the ascent of Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah . Subsequent Muslim rulers actively promoted the literary development of Bengali, allowing it to become the most spoken vernacular language in the Sultanate. Bengali adopted many words from Arabic and Persian , which was a manifestation of Islamic culture on
12496-480: The dressing rooms have also been given a makeover. Also adjacent to the main ground, a new Cricket Academy has been formed and with it came a whole new training ground, adding to the already existing indoor training facility. 23°48′24.9″N 90°21′48.9″E / 23.806917°N 90.363583°E / 23.806917; 90.363583 Bengali language Bengali , also known by its endonym Bangla ( বাংলা , Bāṅlā , [ˈbaŋla] ),
12638-483: 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. 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
12780-566: The east to Meherpur in the west. The 14th-century court scholar of Bengal, Nur Qutb Alam , composed Bengali poetry using the Persian alphabet . After the Partition of India in the 20th century, the Pakistani government attempted to institute the Perso-Arabic script as the standard for Bengali in East Pakistan ; this was met with resistance and contributed to the Bengali language movement. In
12922-549: The eastern subcontinent, Purbi Apabhraṃśa or Abahatta (lit. 'meaningless sounds'), eventually evolved into regional dialects, which in turn formed three groups, the Bengali–Assamese languages , the Bihari languages , and the Odia language . The language was not static: different varieties coexisted and authors often wrote in multiple dialects in this period. For example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around
13064-770: The emergence of the independent People's Republic of Bangladesh after victory was achieved on 16 December 1971. The Constitution of Bangladesh , enacted in 1972, established a democratic state with fundamental rights, an independent judiciary, and an elected parliament called the Jatiya Sangsad . Since gaining independence, Bangladesh has faced issues of political instability, economic reconstruction, and social transformation. The country experienced one party socialism under Sheikh Mujib in 1975, followed by military coups and military rule, notably under General Ziaur Rahman and General Hussain Muhammad Ershad . Between 1972 and 1975,
13206-466: The final ন in মন [m o n] or the medial ম in গামলা [ɡamla] ). A consonant sound followed by some vowel sound other than the inherent [ɔ] is orthographically realised by using a variety of vowel allographs above, below, before, after, or around the consonant sign, thus forming the ubiquitous consonant-vowel typographic ligatures . These allographs, called কার kar , are diacritical vowel forms and cannot stand on their own. For example,
13348-602: 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
13490-474: The forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership . Straddling the Tropic of Cancer , Bangladesh's climate is tropical, with a mild winter from October to March and a hot, humid summer from March to June. The country has never recorded an air temperature below 0 °C (32 °F), with a record low of 1.1 °C (34.0 °F) in
13632-657: The government of Ahmad Tejan Kabbah declared Bengali as an honorary official language in December 2002. In 2009, elected representatives in both Bangladesh and West Bengal called for Bengali to be made an official language of the United Nations . Regional varieties in spoken Bengali constitute a dialect continuum . Linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji grouped the dialects of Bengali language into four large clusters: Rarhi , Vangiya , Kamrupi and Varendri ; but many alternative grouping schemes have also been proposed. The south-western dialects ( Rarhi or Nadia dialect) form
13774-665: The government's spending capacity despite tax revenues forming only 7.7% of government revenue. A big chunk of investments have gone into the power sector. In 2009, Bangladesh was experiencing daily blackouts several times a day. In 2022, the country achieved 100% electrification. One of the major anti-poverty schemes of the Bangladeshi government is the Ashrayan Project which aims to eradicate homelessness by providing free housing. The poverty rate has gone down from 80% in 1971, to 44.2% in 1991, to 12.9% in 2021. The literacy rate
13916-499: The graph মি [mi] represents the consonant [m] followed by the vowel [i] , where [i] is represented as the diacritical allograph ি (called ই-কার i-kar ) and is placed before the default consonant sign. Similarly, the graphs মা [ma] , মী [mi] , মু [mu] , মূ [mu] , মৃ [mri] , মে [me~mɛ] , মৈ [moj] , মো [mo] and মৌ [mow] represent the same consonant ম combined with seven other vowels and two diphthongs. In these consonant-vowel ligatures,
14058-412: The graphical form. However, since this change is not as widespread and is not being followed as uniformly in the rest of the Bengali printed literature, today's Bengali-learning children will possibly have to learn to recognise both the new "transparent" and the old "opaque" forms, which ultimately amounts to an increase in learning burden. Bengali punctuation marks, apart from the downstroke । daṛi –
14200-486: The highest. In Bangladesh forest cover is around 14% of the total land area, equivalent to 1,883,400 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 1,920,330 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 1,725,330 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 158,070 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 33% of
14342-644: The institutional framework of the British military and the British Indian Army . In 2022, the active personnel strength of the Bangladesh Army was around 250,000, excluding the Air Force and the Navy (24,000). In addition to traditional defence roles, the military has supported civil authorities in disaster relief and provided internal security during periods of political unrest. For many years, Bangladesh has been
14484-527: The judiciary is the Chief Justice of Bangladesh , who sits on the Supreme Court. The courts have wide latitude in judicial review , and judicial precedent is supported by Article 111 of the constitution. The judiciary includes district and metropolitan courts divided into civil and criminal courts. Due to a shortage of judges, the judiciary has a large backlog. The Jatiya Sangshad (National Parliament)
14626-483: The language as: While most writing is in Standard Colloquial Bengali (SCB), spoken dialects exhibit a greater variety. People in southeastern West Bengal, including Kolkata, speak in SCB. Other dialects, with minor variations from Standard Colloquial, are used in other parts of West Bengal and western Bangladesh, such as the Midnapore dialect, characterised by some unique words and constructions. However,
14768-510: The language movement. Although Sanskrit has been spoken by Hindu Brahmins in Bengal since the 3rd century BC, the local Buddhist population spoke varieties of the Prakrit . These varieties are generally referred to as "eastern Magadhi Prakrit ", as coined by linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji , as the Middle Indo-Aryan dialects were influential in the first millennium when Bengal
14910-535: The language. Major texts of Middle Bengali (1400–1800) include Yusuf-Zulekha by Shah Muhammad Sagir and Srikrishna Kirtana by the Chandidas poets. Court support for Bengali culture and language waned when the Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the late 16th and early 17th century. The modern literary form of Bengali was developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries based on the west-central dialect spoken in
15052-615: The largest publicly traded companies in Bangladesh include Beximco , BRAC Bank , BSRM , GPH Ispat , Grameenphone , Summit Group , and Square Pharmaceuticals . Capital markets include the Dhaka Stock Exchange and the Chittagong Stock Exchange . Its telecommunications industry is one of the world's fastest-growing, with 172 million cellphone subscribers in January 2021. Over 80% of Bangladesh's export earnings come from
15194-551: The largest river delta in the world. The northwest and central parts of the country are formed by the Madhupur and the Barind plateaus. The northeast and southeast are home to evergreen hill ranges. The Ganges delta is formed by the confluence of the Ganges (local name Padma or Pôdda ), Brahmaputra ( Jamuna or Jomuna ), and Meghna rivers and their tributaries. The Ganges unites with
15336-644: The last century, including the one-horned and two-horned rhinoceros and common peafowl . The human population is concentrated in urban areas, limiting deforestation to a certain extent. Rapid urban growth has threatened natural habitats. The country has widespread environmental issues; pollution of the Dhaleshwari River by the textile industry and shrimp cultivation in Chakaria Sundarbans have both been described by academics as ecocides . Although many areas are protected under law, some Bangladeshi wildlife
15478-428: The letter ত tô and the numeral ৩ "3" are distinguishable only by the presence or absence of the matra , as is the case between the consonant cluster ত্র trô and the independent vowel এ e , also the letter হ hô and Bengali Ôbogroho ঽ (~ô) and letter ও o and consonant cluster ত্ত ttô . The letter-forms also employ the concepts of letter-width and letter-height (the vertical space between
15620-404: The longstanding Bangladesh Export Processing Zone Authority (BEPZA). The Bangladeshi taka is the national currency. The service sector accounts for about 51.3% of total GDP and employs 39% of the workforce. The industrial sector accounts for 35.1% of GDP and employs 20.4% of the workforce. The agriculture sector makes up 13.6% of the economy but is the biggest employment sector, with 40.6% of
15762-585: The neighbouring states of Odisha , Bihar , and Jharkhand , and sizeable minorities of Bengali speakers reside in Indian cities outside Bengal, including Delhi , Mumbai , Thane , Varanasi , and Vrindavan . There are also significant Bengali-speaking communities in the Middle East , the United States , Singapore , Malaysia , Australia , Canada , the United Kingdom , and Italy . The 3rd article of
15904-467: 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
16046-418: The northwest city of Dinajpur on 3 February 1905. A warm and humid monsoon season lasts from June to October and supplies most of the country's rainfall. Natural calamities, such as floods , tropical cyclones , tornadoes , and tidal bores occur almost every year, combined with the effects of deforestation , soil degradation and erosion . The cyclones of 1970 and 1991 were particularly devastating,
16188-478: The one-off test between Bangladesh and Afghanistan from 14–18 June 2023, when Baangladesh's Najmul Hossain Shanto scored a century in their first innings, it was the 100th century at this venue combining all three international format. The ground was originally built for football and athletics, and was hence rectangular in shape. To restore it to a shape suitable for cricket, a lot of renovation had to be done, and
16330-514: The parliament of Bangladesh and the legislative assembly of West Bengal proposed that Bengali be made an official UN language. As of January 2023, no further action has been yet taken on this matter. However, in 2022, the UN did adopt Bangla as an unofficial language, after a resolution tabled by India. In 2024, the government of India conferred Bengali with the status of classical language . Approximate distribution of native Bengali speakers (assuming
16472-417: The population. Like many developing countries, institutional corruption is an issue of concern for Bangladesh. Bangladesh was ranked 146th among 180 countries on Transparency International 's 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index . Land administration was the sector with the most bribery in 2015, followed by education, police and water supply. The Anti Corruption Commission was formed in 2004, and it
16614-453: The redeveloped ground was held in December 2006, and the stadium has since hosted matches of the 2011 World Cup , 2012 and 2014 Asia Cup , 2016 Asia Cup along with the majority of Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) matches. The finals of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 and Women's World Twenty20 were hosted at the stadium. The stadium hosted its first International T20 on 11 October 2011, Bangladesh vs West Indies. On 17 January 2018, during
16756-517: The richest country to trade with. The region later became a part of the Mughal Empire . By the 18th century, Mughal Bengal emerged as the wealthiest province of the empire. Following the decline of the Mughal Empire in the early 1700s, Bengal became a semi-independent state under the Nawabs of Bengal , founded by Murshid Quli Khan in 1717 and ultimately led by Siraj-ud-Daulah who was defeated by
16898-445: The same report, Bangladesh experiences around 125,000 international tourist arrivals per year. Domestic spending generated 97.7 percent of direct travel and tourism gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012. Bangladesh is gradually transitioning to a green economy . It has the largest off-grid solar power programme in the world, benefiting 20 million people. An electric car called the Palki
17040-731: The shrinking space for independent civil society in recent years. Torture is banned by the Constitution of Bangladesh , but is rampantly used by Bangladesh's security forces. Bangladesh joined the Convention against Torture in 1998 and it enacted its first anti-torture law, the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act , in 2013. The first conviction under this law was announced in 2020. Amnesty International Prisoners of Conscience from Bangladesh have included Saber Hossain Chowdhury and Shahidul Alam . The widely criticized Digital Security Act
17182-427: The so-called "inherent" vowel [ɔ] is first expunged from the consonant before adding the vowel, but this intermediate expulsion of the inherent vowel is not indicated in any visual manner on the basic consonant sign ম [mɔ] . The vowel graphemes in Bengali can take two forms: the independent form found in the basic inventory of the script and the dependent, abridged, allograph form (as discussed above). To represent
17324-536: The superposed chôndrôbindu (ঁ) , denoting a suprasegmental for nasalisation of vowels (as in চাঁদ [tʃãd] "moon"), the postposed ônusbar (ং) indicating the velar nasal [ŋ] (as in বাংলা [baŋla] "Bengali") and the postposed bisôrgô (ঃ) indicating the voiceless glottal fricative [h] (as in উঃ! [uh] "ouch!") or the gemination of the following consonant (as in দুঃখ [dukʰːɔ] "sorrow"). The Bengali consonant clusters ( যুক্তব্যঞ্জন juktôbênjôn ) are usually realised as ligatures, where
17466-578: 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
17608-463: The third of four rankings in its Democracy Index . Bangladesh was ranked 96th among 163 countries in the 2022 Global Peace Index . According to National Human Rights Commission, 70% of alleged human-rights violations are committed by law-enforcement agencies. LGBT rights are frowned upon among social conservatives. Homosexuality is affected by Section 377 of the Penal Code of Bangladesh , which
17750-618: The title Sher-e-Bangla ("Tiger of Bengal"). The ground was originally constructed for football in the late 1980s and first hosted matches at the 1987 Asian Club Championship and 1988–89 Asian Club Championship . The venue was taken over by the Bangladesh Cricket Board in 2004, replacing the Bangabandhu National Stadium as the home of both the men's and women's national teams . The stadium has field dimensions of 186 m × 136 m. The first international match at
17892-484: The visible matra and an invisible baseline). There is yet to be a uniform standard collating sequence (sorting order of graphemes to be used in dictionaries, indices, computer sorting programs, etc.) of Bengali graphemes. Experts in both Bangladesh and India are currently working towards a common solution for this problem. Throughout history, there have been instances of the Bengali language being written in different scripts, though these employments were never popular on
18034-435: The vocabulary may differ according to the speaker's religion: Muslims are more likely to use words of Persian and Arabic origin, along with more words naturally derived from Sanskrit ( tadbhava ), whereas Hindus are more likely to use tatsama (words directly borrowed from Sanskrit). For example: The phonemic inventory of standard Bengali consists of 29 consonants and 7 vowels, as well as 7 nasalised vowels . The inventory
18176-416: The workforce. In agriculture, the country is a major producer of rice , fish , tea , fruits, vegetables, flowers, and jute. Lobsters and shrimps are some of Bangladesh's well-known exports. The private sector accounts for 80% of GDP compared to the dwindling role of state-owned companies. Bangladesh's economy is dominated by family-owned conglomerates and small and medium-sized businesses. Some of
18318-625: The world's largest contributor to UN peacekeeping forces . The military budget of Bangladesh accounts for 1.3% of GDP, amounting to US$ 4.3 billion in 2021. The Bangladesh Navy , one of the largest in the Bay of Bengal, includes a fleet of frigates, submarines, corvettes, and other vessels. The Bangladesh Air Force has a small fleet of multi-role combat aircraft. Most of Bangladesh's military equipment comes from China. In recent years, Bangladesh and India have increased joint military exercises, high-level visits of military leaders, counter-terrorism cooperation and intelligence sharing. Bangladesh
18460-600: The world—making the country's transformation over the next 50 years one of the great development stories. Since then, poverty has been cut in half at record speed. Enrollment in primary school is now nearly universal. Hundreds of thousands of women have entered the workforce. Steady progress has been made on maternal and child health. And the country is better buttressed against the destructive forces posed by climate change and natural disasters. Bangladesh's success comprises many moving parts—from investing in human capital to establishing macroeconomic stability. Building on this success,
18602-514: The years. The 2007 South Asian floods ravaged areas across the country, leaving five million people displaced, with a death toll around 500. Bangladesh is recognised to be one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change . Over the course of a century, 508 cyclones have affected the Bay of Bengal region, 17 percent of which are believed to have made landfall in Bangladesh. Natural hazards that come from increased rainfall, rising sea levels, and tropical cyclones are expected to increase as
18744-509: Was Chittagong . Prior to the tournament, the stadium has undergone radical renovations. A giant screen and an electronic scoreboard had been installed, the traditional sight-screens have been replaced with electronic ones, the floodlights have been improved, a hover cover has been bought from the UK for about $ 16,000, plastic seats have been installed for the whole ground, a new media center has been built which accommodates about 200 journalists and
18886-565: Was 74.66% in 2022. Bangladesh has a labor force of roughly 70 million, which is the world's seventh-largest ; with an unemployment rate of 5.2% as of 2021 . The government is setting up 100 special economic zones to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and generate 10 million jobs. The Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) and the Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority (BEZA) have been established to help investors in setting up factories; and to complement
19028-554: Was a part of the Greater Magadhan realm. The local varieties had no official status during the Gupta Empire , and with Bengal increasingly becoming a hub of Sanskrit literature for Hindu priests, the vernacular of Bengal gained a lot of influence from Sanskrit. Magadhi Prakrit was also spoken in modern-day Bihar and Assam , and this vernacular eventually evolved into Ardha Magadhi . Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what
19170-638: Was active during the 2006–08 Bangladeshi political crisis , indicting many leading politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen for graft . 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. Divisions are subdivided into districts ( zila ). There are 64 districts in Bangladesh, each further subdivided into upazila (subdistricts) or thana . The area within each police station, except for those in metropolitan areas,
19312-597: Was extensively developed during the Bengali Renaissance and is one of the most prolific and diverse literary traditions in Asia. The Bengali language movement from 1948 to 1956 demanding that Bengali be an official language of Pakistan fostered Bengali nationalism in East Bengal leading to the emergence of Bangladesh in 1971. In 1999, UNESCO recognised 21 February as International Mother Language Day in recognition of
19454-480: Was formed on 8 August 2024, with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as the Chief Advisor . Bangladesh is in South Asia on the Bay of Bengal . It is surrounded almost entirely by neighbouring India, and shares a small border with Myanmar to its southeast, though it lies very close to Nepal , Bhutan , and China. The country is divided into three regions. Most of the country is dominated by the fertile Ganges Delta ,
19596-475: Was originally enacted by the British colonial government. An underground LGBT scene is flourishing across the country. However, Bangladesh only recognises the local transgender and intersex community known as the Hijra , which is the most widely accepted LGBT group among poorer sections of society. According to the 2016 Global Slavery Index, an estimated 1,531,300 people are enslaved in Bangladesh, or roughly 1% of
19738-524: 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 Awami League , led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman , triggered the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The Mukti Bahini , aided by India, waged
19880-750: Was repealed and replaced by the Cyber Security Act in 2023. The repeal was welcomed by the International Press Institute . On International Human Rights Day in December 2021, the United States Department of the Treasury announced sanctions on commanders of the Rapid Action Battalion for extrajudicial killings, torture, and other human rights abuses. Freedom House has criticised the government for human rights abuses,
20022-777: Was set up in 2007. Notable human rights organisations and initiatives include the Centre for Law and Mediation , Odhikar , the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety , the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association , the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the War Crimes Fact Finding Committee . The world's largest international NGO BRAC is based in Bangladesh. There have been concerns regarding
20164-691: Was the first self-financed megaproject in the country's history. Other megaprojects include the Dhaka Metro , a mass rapid-transit system in the capital; Karnaphuli Tunnel , an underwater expressway in Chittagong ; Dhaka Elevated Expressway ; Chittagong Elevated Expressway ; and the Bangladesh Delta Plan , designed to mitigate the impact of climate change. The tourism industry is expanding, contributing some 3.02% of total GDP. Bangladesh's international tourism receipts in 2019 amounted to $ 391 million. The country has three UNESCO World Heritage Sites (
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