Bangladesh

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History

There has long been advanced civilization in what is now Bangladesh, once the eastern part of a greater region called Bengal. There is recent evidence of civilizations dating back to 500 BC, and there are even claims of social structures from around 1000 BC. One of the earliest historical references to be found to date is the mention of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100BC. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) and believed to be referring to an area in Bangladesh.

Related Topics:
Civilization - Bengal - 500 BC - 1000 BC - Greeks

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However, more concrete proof of a political entity in Bengal starts with Shashanka in 7th century A.D. This was followed by (though not immediately) the Pala dynasty and the Sena dynasty. The Pala dynasty was Buddhist while both Shashanka and the Senas were Hindus.

Related Topics:
Bengal - Shashanka - Pala dynasty - Sena dynasty - Buddhist - Hindu

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Bengal became Islamic starting in the 13th century and developed into a wealthy centre of trade and industry under the Mughal Empire during the 16th century. European traders had arrived in the late 15th century and eventually the British East India Company controlled the region by the late 18th century, from which the British extended their rule over all of India. When Indian independence was achieved in 1947, political motivations caused it to be divided into the Islamic state of Pakistan and a secular India.

Related Topics:
Bengal - Islam - 13th century - Mughal Empire - 16th century - Europe - 15th century - British East India Company - 18th century - British - Their rule - India - Indian independence - 1947 - Pakistan

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The Partition of India saw Bengal divided between the two new countries: a Muslim-dominated eastern part called East Bengal corresponding to what is now Bangladesh, and a western part, the Indian state of West Bengal. The abolition of the Zamindari system (which divided the society into lords, owners of property, and commoners, users of property) in East Bengal (1950) was a major landmark in Bangladesh's movement to a "people's state". The Language Movement of 1952 established the rights of the Bengali community to speak in their own language, an event commomorated now as the International Mother Language Day. In 1955, the government of Pakistan changed the name of the province from East Bengal to East Pakistan.

Related Topics:
Partition of India - East Bengal - West Bengal - Zamindari - East Bengal - 1950 - Language Movement - 1952 - International Mother Language Day - 1955 - East Pakistan

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East Pakistan was dominated and neglected by West Pakistan, which comprised the rest of Pakistan (West Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, and the Northwest Frontier Province). Despite the fact that East Pakistan earned the larger share of national income, especially through the export of Jute, most of the development was done in West Pakistan. The Pakistan Army was also mostly dominated by officers from West Pakistan. The tensions peaked in 1971, following an open, non-democratic denial by Pakistani president Yahya Khan, a military ruler, of election results that gave the Awami League an overwhelming majority in the parliament (167 out of 169 seats allocated for East Pakistan) http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/G_0075.HTM.

Related Topics:
East Pakistan - West Punjab - Sindh - Baluchistan - Northwest Frontier Province - Jute - West Pakistan - Pakistan Army - 1971 - Yahya Khan - Awami League

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Under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known as Bôngobondhu (Friend of Bengal), Bangladesh started its struggle for independence. The official onset followed one of the bloodiest genocides of recent times carried out by the Pakistan army on Bengali civilians on 25 March 1971. Virtually the entire Bengali intelligentsia was eliminated. Owing to West Pakistan's effort to rid the country of foreign journalists, accurate numbers are difficult to get, but some estimates claim 50,000 deaths in the first three days of the so-called Operation Searchlight of the Pakistan Army http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/G_0075.HTM.

Related Topics:
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - Struggle for independence - Genocide - 25 March - 1971 - Intelligentsia - Operation Searchlight

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More than ten million Bengalis fled to neighbouring India, which backed the liberation war, with support from the Soviet Union.

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Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested by the Pakistani Government. Before his arrest, Rahman made a formal and official declaration of Independence on 26 March. Hence 26 March is considered the Independence Day of Bangladesh. On 27 March Ziaur Rahman, an army major then, and President of Bangladesh much later, made the announcement of the declaration of Independence of Bangladesh on behalf of Sheikh Mujib, using a makeshift radio transmitter from Kalurghat near Chittagong city. With help of Bengali officers in the army, support of civilians and military/humanitarian aid from India, Bangladesh quickly formed a regular army as well as a guerilla force known as Mukti Bahini (Freedom Fighters). Besides attacks on the Pakistani army, the Mukti Bahini provided local intelligence and guidance of immense value to the allied force of Bangladesh Army and Indian Army which attacked the occupying West Pakistani army of 80,000 in early December 1971. Within two weeks of the Indian invasion, on 16 December 1971, the Lieutenant-General A. A. K. Niazi of the Pakistan army formally surrendered to Lt.Gen. Jagjit Singh Aurora, the head of the Indian army's Eastern Command. India took 93,000 prisoners of war who were held in camps in India. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had been incarcerated in West Pakistan since March, returned triumphantly as the first Prime Minister of the new nation. India withdrew its troops from Bangladesh within three months of the war.

Related Topics:
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - 26 March - 27 March - Ziaur Rahman - President of Bangladesh - Kalurghat - Chittagong - Mukti Bahini - Intelligence - Bangladesh Army - Indian Army - December - 16 December - 1971 - Lieutenant-General A. A. K. Niazi - Jagjit Singh Aurora - Prisoners of war - Prime Minister

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After the war, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became the Prime Minister and later the President of Bangladesh. He along with most of his family were massacred by a group of disgruntled Army officers on 15 August 1975. Following his death, (Major General) Khaled Mosharraf led a military coup on 3 November 1975. Khaled Mosharraf was killed in a counter coup on 7 November 1975 in the Dhaka cantonment culminating in General Ziaur Rahman gaining power and later gained the Presidency. But in 1981, he was killed in yet another coup, in Chittagong. In 1982 General Hossain Mohammad Ershad staged a bloodless coup and deposed the president Abdus Sattar, a former Supreme Court Justice. He installed another supreme court justice Ahsan Uddin Chowdhury as President while keeping all the power with him in capacity of Chief Martial Law Administrator. Ershad later declared himself President and started a new political party named Janadal, which he later renamed as Jatiya Party. The rule of Ershad continued until 1990. A popular uprising forced Ershad to resign and give way to a parliamentary democracy. Since then, Bangladesh has been ruled by three democratically elected governments.

Related Topics:
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman - President - 15 August - 1975 - Coup - 3 November - 7 November - Ziaur Rahman - 1981 - Chittagong - 1982 - Hossain Mohammad Ershad - Jatiya Party - 1990

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