Cox's Bazar Beach ( bn, কক্সবাজার সমুদ্র সৈকত), located at

Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; bn, কক্সবাজার, Kôksbajar; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and district headquarters in Southeastern Bangladesh. It is located south of the city of Chittagong. Cox's Bazar is also known by the n ...

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, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, is the longest natural sea beach in the world running and 5th longest beach after

Praia do Cassino Praia do Cassino (Portuguese for ''Casino Beach'') is the world's longest sea beach and is located in the southernmost of the Brazilian coast (), on the South Atlantic Ocean, in the Rio Grande do Sul state. It is the longest uninterrupted sandy ...

of Brazil,

Padre Island Padre Island is the largest of the Texas barrier islands and the world's longest barrier island. The island is located along Texas's southern coast of the Gulf of Mexico and is noted for its white sandy beaches. Meaning ''father'' in Spanish, i ...

on the US

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

, Eighty Mile Beach in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

, and Ninety Mile Beach of Australia. It is the top tourist destination of

.Mariam Whyte and Jui Lin Yong, ''Bangladesh'', page 136, Marshall Cavendish, 2010, Cox's Bazar Beach Panaroma

Geography

At high

tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables can ...

the beach is wide and at low tide it is wide on average.

Quicksand Quicksand is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it creates a liquefied soil that los ...

is a danger during

ebb tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ca ...

History

From the early 9th century the greater Chittagong area, including Cox's Bazar, was under the rule of

Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it acces ...

kings until its conquest by the

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

in 1666 AD. When the Mughal Prince Shah Shuja was passing through the hilly terrain of the present-day Cox's Bazar on his way to Arakan, he was attracted to its scenic and captivating beauty. He commanded his forces to camp there. His retinue of one thousand

palanquin The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the el ...

s stopped there for some time. A place named ''Dulahazara,'' meaning "one thousand palanquins," still exists in the area. After the Mughals, the place came under the control of the Tipras and the Arakanese, followed by the Portuguese and then the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. The name Cox's Bazar originated from the name of a

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

officer, Captain Hiram Cox, who was appointed as the Superintendent of Palonki (today's Cox's Bazar) outpost. He succeeded

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first Governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first Governor-General ...

, who became the

Governor of Bengal The Governor was the chief colonial administrator in the Bengal presidency, originally the "Presidency of Fort William" and later "Bengal province". In 1644, Gabriel Boughton procured privileges for the East India Company which permitted them t ...

following the British East India Company Act in 1773. Cox embarked upon the task of rehabilitation and settlement of the Arakanese refugees in the area. He rehabilitated many refugees in the area, but died in 1799 before finishing his work. To commemorate him, a market was established and named after him, called Cox's Bazar. Cox's Bazar was first established in 1854 and became a municipality in 1869. Just after the end of British rule in 1947, Cox's Bazar became part of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Scheme, One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India ...

. Captain Advocate Fazlul Karim, the first post-independence chairman of Cox's Bazar Municipality, established the Tamarisk Forest along the beach. He wanted to attract tourists as well as to protect the beach from

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater explo ...

s. He donated much of his father-in-law's and his own lands as sites for constructing a public library and a town hall. Karim was inspired to build Cox's Bazar as a tourist spot after seeing beaches of Bombay and Karachi, and was a resort pioneer in developing Cox's Bazar as a destination. Karim established a maternity hospital, the stadium and the drainage system by procuring grants from the

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a US$25,000 gift from Edsel Ford. By 1947, after the death ...

and

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The second-oldest major philanthropic institution in America, after the Carne ...

through correspondence. T. H. Matthews, the principal of the Dacca Engineering College (1949~1954), was a friend who had helped him in these fundraising efforts. Engineer Chandi Charan Das was the government civil engineer who worked on all these projects.

Parts of the beach

Kolatoli Point

Kolatoli Point ( bn, কলাতলী পয়েন্ট) is an important part of Cox's Bazar beach situated near Dolphine intersection of Cox's Bazar city. Many hotel and restaurant are reside in this area. Buses stop near this point. Before restrictions of government, stoppage of bus was the beach area of Kolatoli. Now all bus stop near Dolphine moure. Sayeman Beach Resort is located on the shores of this stretch of beach.

Sugandha Point

Sugandha Point ( bn, সুগন্ধা পয়েন্ট) situated from the north of Kolatoli point. There is a Burmese Market that is famous in Cox's bazar. There were sea food restaurants but demolished by government. It has fly dining restaurant too.

Laboni Point

Laboni point ( bn, লাবনী পয়েন্ট) is another famous part of the beach. People mainly gather mostly here. This part is best for horse riding, speed-boat riding etc.

Darianagar Beach

Darianagar ( bn, দরিয়ানগর সৈকত) is situated near Himchhori waterfall and hilltrack. It is a beach with waterways flowing through it. Darianagar is well known for parasailing too.

Inani Beach

Inani Beach ( bn, ইনানী সৈকত) is an sea beach in Ukhia Upazila of

Cox's Bazar District Cox's Bazar ( bn, কক্সবাজার জেলা , ''Cox's Bazar Jela'' also ''Cox's Bazar Zila'') is a district in the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh. It is named after Cox's Bazar town. It is located south of Chittagong. Cox's ...

. It has a lot of coral stones, which are very sharp. These coral stones look black and green, and they are found in summer or rainy seasons. Patuartek beach is situated nearby.

Teknaf Section

Teknaf Beach ( bn, টেকনাফ সৈকত) situated in Teknaf Upazila of Cox's bazar district. This is unlike of main part of the beach. Teknaf beach is more wild than main beach and surrounded by teknaf peninsula mangrove. This section is divided by many beaches. Other beaches of the section are: * Shamlapur Beach (Baharchara Beach) * Shilakhali Beach * Hajampara Beach * Shapuree Island Beach

Tourism

According to a survey of

Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics The Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) is the centralized official bureau in Bangladesh for collecting statistics on demographics, the economy, and other facts about the country and disseminating the information. History Although independen ...

in December 2021, each year 17% citizen of the country visit Cox's Bazar which is about 3 million. However, the number of trips to Cox's Bazar beach is declining due to various issues.

Controversy

In 2021 an area of Cox's Bazar beach was declared a women-only zone, but the government reversed the decision after controversy.

Gallery

Cox's Bazar–Teknaf Marine Drive *

St. Martin's Island Saint Martin Island ( bn, সেন্টমার্টিন দ্বীপ) is a small island (area only 3 km2) in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Cox's Bazar- Teknaf peninsula, and f ...

* List of beaches in Bangladesh * Tourism in Bangladesh

References

External Links

Places of interest in Cox's Bazar : Cox's Bazar Development Authority
{{Asia topic, List of beaches in

Beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells ...

5 Tourism in Bangladesh Tourist attractions in Chittagong Division Tourist attractions in Bangladesh Seaside resorts in Bangladesh