Bangladesh
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| People's Republic of Bangladesh গনপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ (Gôno Projatontri Bangladesh) |
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| National information | |||||
| National motto: | none | ||||
| National anthem: | "Amar Shonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal)" | ||||
| About the people | |||||
| Official languages: | Bengali | ||||
| Population: (# of people) | |||||
| - Total: | 144,319,628 (ranked 7) | ||||
| - Density: | 2,595 per km² | ||||
| Geography / Places | |||||
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| Capital city: | Dhaka | ||||
| Largest city: | Dhaka | ||||
| Area | |||||
| - Total: | 144,000 (ranked 91) | ||||
| - Water: | n/a km² (7.0%) | ||||
| Politics / Government | |||||
| Established: | March 26, 1971 | ||||
| Leaders: | President: DR.Iajuddin Ahmed |
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| Economy / Money | |||||
| Currency: (Name of money) |
Taka (BDT) | ||||
| International information | |||||
| Time zone: | +6 | ||||
| Telephone dialing code: | +880 | ||||
| Internet domain: | .bd | ||||
Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. Its capital is Dhaka. It is close to India, Myanmar, China, Nepal, and Bhutan. It became an independent nation in 1971, when it gained its independence from Pakistan after a war that cost over a million lives.
The country shares its border with Myanmar, and is very close to China, Nepal, and Bhutan. Bangladesh is surrounded on all three sides by India.
The local currency is called Taka. The official language is Bengali.
There are two main rivers in Bangladesh, the Ganges river and the Brahmaputra. There are often floods because of these two rivers.
[change] History
Bangladesh was formerly called East Pakistan. In 1948, it was made part of Pakistan. The people of East Pakistan were mostly Bengalis who were different from their west Pakistani counterparts in terms of language and culture. Language and political differences eventually led to war. On 26 December, 1971 Bangladesh gained independence.
Its capital Dhaka, also spelt as Dacca, was the capital of the East Bengal province. East Bengal was then a part of Pakistan.
Following the birth of Bangladesh, Bangla came to replace English as the mediumof instruction. Bangla also became the sole national language and the standard language of communications. The initial shortage of Bangla textbooks and other instructional materials was alleviated by the accelerated production of textbooks in the vernacular under the patronage of government education departments. The Bangla Academy also played a pioneering role in this area. In the 1980s, British education was maintained marginally through private English-language institutions attended by upper classchildren. English continued to be offered as an elective subject in most institutions of higher education and was offered as a subject for bachelor's and master's degrees.
Initially, Arabic also lost ground in independent Bangladesh. This trend ended in the late 1970s, however, after Bangladesh strengthened its ties with Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich, Arabicspeaking countries. An unsuccessful attempt was made in 1983 to introduce Arabic as a required language in primary and secondary levels. Arabic is widely studied in Madrassas and Islamic institutions around the country for better understanding of Quran, Hadith and any other Islamic texts.
Despite 30 years of independence, Bangladesh is still a very poor country. The country is riddled with extensive poverty, corruption and political unrest. Literacy rate is just below 50 percent and the country is one of the most densely populated in the world.
Bangladesh is also proned to heavy cyclones and natural disasters. Cyclones are very common in Bay of Bengal during middle of the year usually strikes the south of country in areas like Sundarban, Chittagong, Cox's Bazaar or in neighbouring Burma and India. Despite, it's frequent occurrence, Bangladesh does not have a very effective storm prevention system and cyclones usually inflict heavy damage to infrastructure and loss of lives.
| Countries and territories of Asia |
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| Afghanistan · Armenia2 · Azerbaijan · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Cambodia · China (PRC) · Cyprus2 · East Timor · Gaza Strip · Georgia2 · Hong Kong3 · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Macau3 · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Myanmar · Nepal · North Korea · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia1 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · South Korea · Sri Lanka · Syria · Taiwan (ROC) · Tajikistan · Thailand · Turkey1 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · West Bank · Yemen |
| 1. Includes territory in both Europe and Asia. 2. Usually thought of Europe for cultural, Politically and historical reasons. 3. Special territories. |
