capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
and
largest city
The United Nations uses three definitions for what constitutes a city, as not all cities in all jurisdictions are classified using the same criteria. Cities may be defined as the cities proper, the extent of their urban area, or their metropo ...
of
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 ...
Greater Dhaka Area
Greater Dhaka is the conurbation surrounding the Bangladeshi capital city of Dhaka, which has grown into one of the world's largest megacities, and shows a very rapid rate of expansion. Dhaka not only grows because it is the capital and largest ur ...
. According to a
Demographia
Wendell Cox is an American urban policy analyst and proponent of the use of the private car over rail projects. He is the principal and sole owner of Wendell Cox Consultancy/Demographia, based in the St. Louis metropolitan region and editor of thre ...
survey, Dhaka has the most densely populated built-up urban area in the world, and is popularly described as such in the news media. Dhaka is one of the major cities of
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
Buriganga River
The Buriganga River ( bn, বুড়িগঙ্গা, ''Buŗigônga'', ) is a river in Bangladesh which flows past the southwest outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka. Its average depth is and its maximum depth is . It ranks among the most p ...
,
Turag River
Turag River ( bn, তুরাগ নদী; ) is the upper tributary of the Buriganga, a major river in Bangladesh. The Turag originates from the Bangshi River, the latter an important ''tributary'' of the Dhaleshwari River, flows through Ga ...
,
Dhaleshwari River
The Dhaleshwari River ( bn, ধলেশ্বরী ''Dhôleshshori'') is a distributary, long, of the Jamuna River (Bangladesh), Jamuna River in central Bangladesh. It starts off the Jamuna near the northwestern tip of Tangail District. After ...
and
Shitalakshya River
Shitalakshya River ( bn, শীতলক্ষ্যা নদী pronounced: ''Shitalokkha Nodi'') (also known as Lakshymā River) is a distributary of the Brahmaputra. A portion of its upper course is known as Banar River or Banor River. In the ...
.
The area of Dhaka has been inhabited since the first millennium. An early modern city developed from the 17th century as a provincial capital and commercial centre of the
Mughal Empire
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 ...
Mughal Bengal
The Bengal Subah ( bn, সুবাহ বাংলা; fa, ), also referred to as Mughal Bengal ( bn, মোগল বাংলা), was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire (and later an independent state under the Nawabs of Beng ...
for 75 years (1608–39 and 1660–1704). It was the hub of the
muslin trade in Bengal
Muslin, a cotton fabric of plain weave, was historically hand woven in the areas of Dhaka and Sonargaon in Bangladesh and exported for many centuries. The region forms the eastern part of the historic region of Bengal.
Origins
Bengal has manufa ...
and one of the most prosperous cities in the world. The Mughal city was named Jahangirnagar (''City of Jahangir'') in honour of the erstwhile ruling emperor
Jahangir
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
. The city's wealthy Mughal elite included princes and the sons of Mughal emperors. The pre-colonial city's glory peaked in the 17th and 18th centuries when it was home to merchants from across
Eurasia
Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...
. The
Port of Dhaka
The Port of Dhaka is a major river port on the Buriganga River in Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. The port is located in the southern part of the city. It is Bangladesh's busiest port in terms of passenger traffic. The port has s ...
was a major trading post for both riverine and seaborne trade. The Mughals decorated the city with well-laid gardens, tombs, mosques, palaces and forts. The city was once called the ''
Venice of the East
The following is an incomplete list of places which have been nicknamed Venice of the East.
List
See also
* Venezuela, country whose name means "Little Venice"
* Venice of the North
* Little Venice
* Paris of the East
* Paris of the West
* Li ...
''. Under
British rule
The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent;
*
* it is also called Crown rule in India,
*
*
*
*
or Direct rule in India,
* Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...
, the city saw the introduction of
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
,
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
s,
cinema
Cinema may refer to:
Film
* Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography
* Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image
** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking
* ...
s, Western-style universities and colleges and a modern water supply. It became an important administrative and educational centre in the British Raj, as the capital of
Eastern Bengal and Assam
Eastern Bengal and Assam was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India between 1905 and 1912. Headquartered in the city of Dacca, it covered territories in what are now Bangladesh, Northeast India and Northern West Bengal.
Hist ...
province after 1905. In 1947, after the end of British rule, the city became the administrative capital 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 ...
. It was declared the legislative capital of Pakistan in 1962. In 1971, after the
Liberation War
Wars of national liberation or national liberation revolutions are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) to establish separat ...
, it became the capital of independent Bangladesh. In 2008, Dhaka celebrated 400 years as a municipal city.https://www.thedailystar.net/news-detail-65599https://www.voabangla.com/a/a-16-2008-11-28-voa6-94432729/1396287.htmlhttps://books.google.com.bd/books/about/400_Years_of_Capital_Dhaka_and_Beyond_Ec.html?id=dYchNAEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
A beta-global city, Dhaka is the center of political, economic and culture life in Bangladesh. It is the seat of the
Government of Bangladesh
The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Con ...
, many Bangladeshi companies and leading Bangladeshi educational, scientific, research and cultural organizations. Since its establishment as a modern capital city; the population, area and social and economic diversity of Dhaka have grown tremendously. The city is now one of the most densely industrialized regions in the country. The city accounts for 35% of
Bangladesh's economy
The economy of Bangladesh is a major economy of South Asia and a developing market economy.
—
—
—Siddiqi, Dina M. “Miracle Worker or Womanmachine? Tracking (Trans)National Realities in Bangladeshi Factories.” Economic and Political ...
. The
Dhaka Stock Exchange
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ( bn, ঢাকা স্টক এক্সচেঞ্জ ''Dhaka stôk ekschenj''), located in Nikunja, Dhaka, is one of the two stock exchanges of Bangladesh, the other being the Chittagong Stock Exchange. In ...
has over 750 listed companies. Dhaka hosts over 50
diplomatic missions
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
as well as the headquarters of
BIMSTEC
The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, housing 1.73 billion people and having a combined gross domestic pro ...
,
CIRDAP Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) is a Bangladesh-based intergovernmental organization involved in rural development and poverty alleviation. It was established on 6 July 1979 at the initiative of the countries ...
and the
International Jute Study Group
The International Jute Study Group (IJSG) is an intergovernmental organization of states that functions as the international commodity board for jute, kenaf, and related fibres. The IJSG functions as a body of the United Nations Conference on Tra ...
. Dhaka has a renowned culinary heritage. The city's culture is known for its
rickshaw
A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...
s, biryani,
art festivals
An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and isn't solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lite ...
and religious diversity. The
old city Old City often refers to old town, the historic or original core of a city or town.
Old City may refer to several places:
Historical cities or regions of cities
''(by country)''
*Old City (Baku), Azerbaijan
* Old City (Dhaka), Bangladesh, also ca ...
is home to around 2000 buildings from the Mughal and British periods. Since 1947, the city saw significant growth in its publishing industry, including the emergence of a thriving press. In Bengali literature, Dhaka's heritage has been reflected in the works of
Akhteruzzaman Elias
Akhteruzzaman Elias (12 February 1943 – 4 January 1997) (Bengali: আখতারুজ্জামান ইলিয়াস) was a Bangladeshi novelist and short story writer. Despite writing only two novels, critics place Elias "in the pant ...
The origins of the name Dhaka are uncertain. Once '' dhak'' trees were very common in the area and the name may have originated from it. Alternatively, this name may refer to the hidden Hindu goddess Dhakeshwari, whose
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
is located in the south-western part of the city. Another popular theory states that Dhaka refers to a
membranophone
A membranophone is any musical instrument which produces sound primarily by way of a vibrating stretched membrane. It is one of the four main divisions of instruments in the original Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification. ...
instrument, '' dhak'' which was played by order of
Subahdar
Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who w ...
Islam Khan I
Shaikh Alauddin Chisti (1570–1613; known as Islam Khan Chisti) was a Mughal general and the Subahdar of Bengal. He transferred the capital of Bengal from Rajmahal to Dhaka and renamed it Jahangirnagar. He was awarded the titular name of Islam ...
during the inauguration of the Bengal capital in 1610.
Some references also say it was derived from a
Prakrit
The Prakrits (; sa, prākṛta; psu, 𑀧𑀸𑀉𑀤, ; pka, ) are a group of vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The term Prakrit is usu ...
dialect called Dhaka Bhasa; or Dhakka, used in the
Rajtarangini
''Rajatarangini'' ("The River of Kings") is a metrical legendary and historical chronicle of the north-western part of India, particularly the kings of Kashmir. It was written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri historian Kalhana in the 12th century CE. The ...
for a watch-station; or it is the same as Davaka, mentioned in the
Allahabad
Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...
pillar inscription of
Samudragupta
Samudragupta (Gupta script: ''Sa-mu-dra-gu-pta'', (c. 335–375 CE) was the second emperor of the Gupta Empire of ancient India, and is regarded among the greatest rulers of the dynasty. As a son of the Gupta emperor Chandragupta I and the Li ...
as an eastern frontier kingdom. According to
Rajatarangini
''Rajatarangini'' ("The River of Kings") is a metrical legendary and historical chronicle of the north-western part of India, particularly the kings of Kashmir. It was written in Sanskrit by Kashmiri historian Kalhana in the 12th century CE. The ...
written by a Kashmiri Brahman,
Kalhana
Kalhana ( sa, कल्हण, translit=kalhaṇa) was the author of ''Rajatarangini'' (''River of Kings''), an account of the history of Kashmir. He wrote the work in Sanskrit between 1148 and 1149. All information regarding his life has to be d ...
, the region was originally known as ''Dhakka''. The word ''Dhakka'' means ''watchtower''.
Bikrampur
Bikrampur ("City of Courage") was a pargana situated south of Dhaka, the modern capital city of Bangladesh. In the present day, it is known as Munshiganj District of Bangladesh. It is a historic region in Bengal and was a part of the Bhawal Est ...
and
Sonargaon
Sonargaon ( bn, সোনারগাঁও; pronounced as ''Show-naar-gaa''; lit. ''Golden Hamlet'') is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It corresponds to the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division.
Sonargaon is one ...
—the earlier strongholds of Bengal rulers were situated nearby. So Dhaka was most likely used as the watchtower for the fortification purpose.
History
Pre-Mughal
The history of urban settlements in the area of modern-day Dhaka dates to the first millennium. The region was part of the ancient district of
Bikrampur
Bikrampur ("City of Courage") was a pargana situated south of Dhaka, the modern capital city of Bangladesh. In the present day, it is known as Munshiganj District of Bangladesh. It is a historic region in Bengal and was a part of the Bhawal Est ...
, which was ruled by the
Sena dynasty
The Sena dynasty was a Hindu dynasty during the early medieval period on the Indian subcontinent, that ruled from Bengal through the 11th and 12th centuries. The empire at its peak covered much of the north-eastern region of the Indian subcont ...
. Under
Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
rule, it became part of the historic district of
Sonargaon
Sonargaon ( bn, সোনারগাঁও; pronounced as ''Show-naar-gaa''; lit. ''Golden Hamlet'') is a historic city in central Bangladesh. It corresponds to the Sonargaon Upazila of Narayanganj District in Dhaka Division.
Sonargaon is one ...
, the regional administrative hub of the
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
and the
Bengal Sultanate
The Sultanate of Bengal ( Middle Bengali: শাহী বাঙ্গালা ''Shahī Baṅgala'', Classical Persian: ''Saltanat-e-Bangālah'') was an empire based in Bengal for much of the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. It was the dominan ...
s. The
Grand Trunk Road
The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. ...
passed through the region, connecting it with
North India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
, Central Asia and the southeastern port city of Chittagong. Before Dhaka, the capital of Bengal was Gour. Even earlier capitals included Pandua, Bikrampur and Sonargaon. The latter was also the seat of
Isa Khan
Isa Khan (c. 1529 – September 1599) was a Muslim Rajput zamindar who was one of the Baro Bhuiyans (twelve landlords) and a Zamindar of Khizirpur in 16th-century Bengal. Throughout his reign he resisted the Mughal empire invasion. It was on ...
and his son Musa Khan, who both headed a confederation of twelve chieftains that resisted Mughal expansion in eastern Bengal during the late 16th century. Due to a change in the course of the Ganges, the strategic importance of Gour was lost. Dhaka was viewed with strategic importance due to the Mughal need to consolidate control in eastern Bengal. The Mughals also planned to extend their empire beyond into
Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
and
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 accessi ...
. Dhaka and Chittagong became the eastern frontiers of the Mughal Empire.
Early period of Mughal Bengal
Dhaka became the capital of the Mughal province of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in 1610 with a jurisdiction covering modern-day Bangladesh and
eastern India
East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha
and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The region roughly corresponds to the historical region of Magadha fr ...
, including the modern-day
Indian state
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
History
Pre-indepen ...
s of
West Bengal
West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...
,
Bihar
Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...
and
Orissa
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...
. This province was known as
Bengal Subah
The Bengal Subah ( bn, সুবাহ বাংলা; fa, ), also referred to as Mughal Bengal ( bn, মোগল বাংলা), was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire (and later an independent state under the Nawabs of Ben ...
. Dhaka became one of the richest and greatest cities in the world during the early period of Bengal Subah (1610-1717). The prosperity of Dhaka reached its peak during the administration of governor
Shaista Khan
Mirza Abu Talib (22 November 1600 – 1694), better known as Shaista Khan, was a general and the subahdar of Mughal Bengal. A maternal uncle to the emperor Aurangzeb, he acted as a key figure during his reign. Shaista Khan initially governed ...
(1644-1677 and 1680-1688). Rice was then sold at eight maunds per rupee. Thomas Bowrey, an English merchant sailor who visited the city between 1669 and 1670, wrote that the city was 40 miles in circuit. He estimated the city to be more populated than
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
with 900,000 people.
Bengal became the economic engine of the Mughal Empire. Dhaka played a key role in the
proto-industrialisation
Proto-industrialization is the regional development, alongside commercial agriculture, of rural handicraft production for external markets.
The term was introduced in the early 1970s by economic historians who argued that such developments in par ...
of Bengal. It was the center of the
muslin trade in Bengal
Muslin, a cotton fabric of plain weave, was historically hand woven in the areas of Dhaka and Sonargaon in Bangladesh and exported for many centuries. The region forms the eastern part of the historic region of Bengal.
Origins
Bengal has manufa ...
, leading to muslin being called "daka" in distant markets as far away as
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
. Mughal India depended on Bengali products like rice, silk and cotton textiles. European East India Companies from Britain, Holland, France and Denmark also depended on Bengali products. Bengal accounted for 40% of
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
imports from Asia, with many products being sold to Dutch ships in Bengali harbors and then transported to
Batavia
Batavia may refer to:
Historical places
* Batavia (region), a land inhabited by the Batavian people during the Roman Empire, today part of the Netherlands
* Batavia, Dutch East Indies, present-day Jakarta, the former capital of the Dutch East In ...
in the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
. Bengal accounted for 50% of textiles and 80% of silks in Dutch textile imports from Asia. Silk was also exported to premodern
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. The region had a large
shipbuilding industry
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...
which supplied the
Mughal Navy
The Army of the Mughal Empire was the force by which the Mughal emperors established their empire in the 15th century and expanded it to its greatest extent at the beginning of the 18th century. Although its origins, like the Mughals themselves, ...
. The shipbuilding output of Bengal during the 16th and 17th centuries stood at 223,250 tons annually, compared to 23,061 tons produced by North America from 1769 to 1771. The Mughals decorated the city with well-laid out gardens.
Caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes covering ...
included the
Bara Katra
Bara Katra ( bn, বড় কাটরা; Great Caravanserai) is one of the oldest historical and architectural monuments in Dhaka. The word Katra may have originated from Arabic word Katara which means colonnaded building. 'Katra/ katara' in ...
and
Choto Katra
Chhota Katra ( bn, ছোট কাটারা; ''Small Katra'') is one of two Katras built during Mughal's regime in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was constructed in 1663 by Subahdar Shaista Khan. It is on Hakim Habibur Rahman lane on the bank of the B ...
. The architect of the palatial Bara Katra was Abul Qashim Al Hussaini Attabatayi Assemani. According to inscriptions in the Bangladesh National Museum, the ownership of Bara Katra was entrusted to an Islamic ''
waqf
A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitabl ...
''. The Bara Katra also served as a residence for Mughal governors, including Prince
Shah Shuja Shāh Shujā' ( fa, شاه شجاع, meaning: ''brave king'') may refer to the following:
*Shah Shoja Mozaffari, the 14th-century Muzaffarid ruler of Southern Iran
*Shah Shuja (Mughal prince) (1616-1661), the second son of Shah Jahan
*Shah Shujah D ...
(the son of Mughal Emperor
Shah Jahan
Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
). Dhaka was home to an array of Mughal bureaucrats and military officials, as well as members of the imperial family. The city was guarded by
Mughal artillery
Mughal artillery included a variety of cannons, rockets, and mines employed by the Mughal Empire. This gunpowder technology played an important role in the formation and expansion of the empire.
History
Artillery was not widely employed in Cent ...
like the
Bibi Mariam Cannon
The Bibi Mariam Cannon ( bn, বিবি মরিয়ম কামান) is a large early modern artillery piece on display on the grounds of the Osmani Udyan in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The cannon dates from the 17th century.
History
The cannon w ...
(Lady Mary Cannon).
Islam Khan I
Shaikh Alauddin Chisti (1570–1613; known as Islam Khan Chisti) was a Mughal general and the Subahdar of Bengal. He transferred the capital of Bengal from Rajmahal to Dhaka and renamed it Jahangirnagar. He was awarded the titular name of Islam ...
was the first Mughal governor to reside in the city. Khan named it "Jahangir Nagar" (''City of Jahangir'') in honour of the
Emperor Jahangir
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
. The name was dropped soon after the English conquered. The main expansion of the city took place under governor Shaista Khan. The city then measured , with a population of nearly one million. Dhaka became home to one of the richest elites in Mughal India.
The construction of
Lalbagh Fort
Lalbagh Fort ( bn, লালবাগ কেল্লা) is a fort in the old city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Its name is derived from its neighborhood Lalbagh, which means Red Garden. The term Lalbagh refers to reddish and pinkish architecture from ...
was commenced in 1678 by Prince Azam Shah, who was the governor of Bengal, a son of
Emperor Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
and a future
Mughal Emperor
The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...
himself. The Lalbagh Fort was intended to be the viceregal residence of Mughal governors in eastern India. Before the fort's construction could be completed, the prince was recalled by Emperor Aurangzeb. The fort's construction was halted by Shaista Khan after the death of his daughter
Pari Bibi Pari Bibi (meaning Fairy Lady; died 1678) was the daughter of Shaista Khan, who was the son of Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan, Asaf Khan IV and brother of Mumtaz Mahal. At the time of her death, she was betrothed to Prince Azam, who became the future Mughal ...
, who is buried in a tomb in the center of the unfinished fort. Pari Bibi, whose name means ''Fairy Lady'', was legendary for her beauty, engaged to Prince Azam Shah, and a potential future Mughal empress before her premature death. Internal conflict in the Mughal court cut short Dhaka's growth as an imperial city. Prince Azam Shah's rivalry with
Murshid Quli Khan
Murshid Quli Khan ( fa, , bn, মুর্শিদকুলি খান; 1660 – 30 June 1727), also known as Zamin Ali Quli and born as Surya Narayan Mishra, was the first Nawab of Bengal, serving from 1717 to 1727.
Born a Hindu in the D ...
resulted in Dhaka losing its status as the provincial capital. In 1717, the provincial capital was shifted to
Murshidabad
Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district.
During ...
where Murshid Quli Khan declared himself as the
Nawab of Bengal
The Nawab of Bengal ( bn, বাংলার নবাব) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar, ...
.
Naib Nizamat
Under the Nawabs of Bengal, the
Naib Nazim of Dhaka
The Naib Nazim of Dhaka, officially the Naib Nazim of Jahangir Nagar, was the chief Mughal political officer in the city of Dhaka, the present-day capital of Bangladesh, between the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries. It was the second highest office ...
was in charge of the city. As the principal tax collector, the annual revenue of the Naib Nazim was 1 million rupees, which was a staggeringly high amount in that era. The Naib Nazim was the deputy governor of Bengal. He also dealt with the upkeep of the Mughal Navy. The Naib Nazim was in charge of Dhaka Division, which included Dhaka,
Comilla
Comilla (; bn, কুমিল্লা, Kumillā, ), officially spelled Cumilla, is the fifth largest city of Bangladesh and second largest in Chittagong division. It is the administrative centre of the Comilla District. The name Comilla was ...
, and Chittagong. Dhaka Division was one of the four divisions under the Nawabs of Bengal. The Nawabs of Bengal allowed European trading companies to establish factories across Bengal. The region then became a hotbed for European rivalries. The British moved to oust the last independent Nawab of Bengal in 1757, who was allied with the French. Due to the defection of the Nawab's army chief
Mir Jafar
Sayyid Mīr Jaʿfar ʿAlī Khān Bahādur ( – 5 February 1765) was a military general who became the first dependent Nawab of Bengal of the British East India Company. His reign has been considered by many historians as the start of the expan ...
to the British side, the last Nawab lost the
Battle of Plassey
The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive. The victory was made possible by the defection of Mir Jafar, ...
.
After the
Battle of Buxar
The Battle of Buxar was fought between 22 and 23 October 1764, between the forces under the command of the British East India Company, led by Hector Munro, and the combined armies of Mir Qasim, Nawab of Bengal till 1764; the Nawab of Awadh, Sh ...
in 1765, the
Treaty of Allahabad
The Treaty of Allahabad was signed on 12 August 1765, between the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II, son of the late Emperor Alamgir II, and Robert Clive, of the East India Company, in the aftermath of the Battle of Buxar of 23 October 1764. The tre ...
allowed the British East India Company to become the tax collector in Bengal on behalf of the Mughal Emperor in Delhi. The Naib Nazim continued to function until 1793, when all his powers were transferred to the East India Company. The city formally passed to the control of the East India Company in 1793. British military raids damaged a lot of the city's infrastructure. The military conflict caused a sharp decline in the urban population. Dhaka's fortunes received a boost with connections to the mercantile networks of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
. With the dawn of the
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
in
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, Dhaka became a leading center of the
jute trade
The jute trade is centered mainly around India's West Bengal and Assam, and Bangladesh. The major producing country of jute is India and biggest exporter being Bangladesh, due to their natural fertile soil. Production of jute by India and Bangl ...
, as Bengal accounted for the largest share of the world's
jute
Jute is a long, soft, shiny bast fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. It is produced from flowering plants in the genus ''Corchorus'', which is in the mallow family Malvaceae. The primary source of the fiber is ''Corchorus olit ...
production.
But the British neglected Dhaka's industrial and urban development until the late 19th century. Income from the pre-colonial, proto-industrialized textile industry dried up. Bengali weavers went out of business after the imposition of a 75% tax on the export of cotton from Bengal, as well as the surge in imports of cheap, British-manufactured fabrics after the advent of the spinning mule and steam power. Many of the city's weavers starved to death during Bengal's great famines under British rule. The rapid growth of the colonial capital
Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
contributed to the decline in Dhaka's population and economy in the early 1800s. In 1824, an Anglican bishop described Dhaka as a "city of magnificent ruins".
Trade and migration
Dhaka hosted factories of the English East India Company, the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
, and
French East India Company
The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the ...
. The property of the
Ahsan Manzil
Ahsan Manzil is the erstwhile official residential palace and seat of the Nawab of Dhaka. The building is situated at Kumartoli along the banks of the Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Construction was started in 1859 and was completed in ...
was initially bought by the French for their factory and later sold to the Dhaka Nawab Family. The Portuguese were reportedly responsible for introducing
cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During production, ...
. Dhaka saw an influx of migrants during the Mughal Empire. An Armenian community from the
Safavid Empire
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
settled in Dhaka and was involved in the city's textile trade, paying a 3.5% tax. The Armenians were very active in the city's social life. They opened the
Pogose School
Pogose Laboratory School and College, IER, Jagannath University ( bn, পোগোজ ল্যাবরেটরি স্কুল এন্ড কলেজ ,আ.ই.আর,জগন্নাথ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়) was es ...
. Marwaris were the Hindu trading community. Dhaka also became home to
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and Greeks. The city has a Greek memorial. Several families of Dhaka's elite spoke
Persians
The Persians are an Iranian ethnic group who comprise over half of the population of Iran. They share a common cultural system and are native speakers of the Persian language as well as of the languages that are closely related to Persian.
...
also settled in the city to serve as administrators and military commanders of the Mughal government in Bengal. The legacy of cosmopolitan trading communities lives on in the names of neighborhoods in Old Dhaka, including
Farashganj
Farashganj ( bn, ফরাশগঞ্জ) is a neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The name comes from the Bengali word for French which is ''Forashi'' and ''ganj'', meaning market-town.
History
Farashganj literally means French town, it takes i ...
(French Bazaar),
Armanitola
Armanitola ( bn, আরমানিটোলা) is an area in the old city of Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. The area takes its name from the Armenian settlement that surrounded Armenian church there.
First Public Meeting ...
(Armenian Quarter) and Postogola (Portuguese Quarter).
According to those who lived in the historic city, "Dhaka was a courtly, genteel town – the very last flowering, in their telling, of Mughal etiquette and sensibility. It is this history that is today still reflected in the faded grandeur of the old city, now crumbling due to decades of neglect. The narrow, winding, high-walled lanes and alleyways, the old high-ceilinged houses with verandas and balconies, the old neighbourhoods, the graveyards and gardens, the mosques, the grand old mansions – these are all still there if one goes looking". Railway stations, postal departments, civil service posts and river port stations were often manned by
Anglo-Indians
Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...
.
The city's hinterland supplied rice, jute,
gunny sack
A burlap sack or gunny sack, also known as a gunny shoe, hessian sack or tow sack, is an inexpensive bag, traditionally made of fibres which are also known as "tow," such as hessian fabric (burlap) formed from jute, hemp or other natural fibre ...
s, turmeric, ginger, leather hides, silk, rugs,
saltpeter
Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Indian saltpetre (large deposits of which were historically mined in India). It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrat ...
, salt, sugar,
indigo
Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...
, cotton, and iron. British opium policy in Bengal contributed to the
Opium War
The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
s with
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. American traders collected artwork, handicrafts, terracotta, sculptures, religious and literary texts, manuscripts and military weapons from Bengal. Some objects from the region are on display in the
Peabody Essex Museum
The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and the ...
. The increase in international trade led to profits for many families in the city, allowing them to buy imported luxury goods.
British Raj
During the
Indian mutiny of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
, the city witnessed revolts by the
Bengal Army
The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire.
The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Govern ...
. Direct rule by the British crown was established following the successful quelling of the mutiny. It bestowed privileges on the Dhaka Nawab Family, which dominated the city's political and social elite. The
Dhaka Cantonment
Dhaka Cantonment ( bn, ঢাকা সেনানিবাস) is a cantonment located in the northern part of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The headquarters of the Bangladesh Army, and Bangladesh Air Force, Air Force are situated within the cantonment w ...
was established as a base for the
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, commonly referred to as the Indian Army, was the main military of the British Raj before its dissolution in 1947. It was responsible for the defence of the British Indian Empire, including the princely states, which co ...
. The British developed the modern city around
Ramna
Ramna Thana ( bn, রমনা থানা) is a police jurisdiction in central Dhaka. It is a historic colonial neighborhood. Once the site of Mughal gardens, it developed into an institutional area during British rule in the late 19th centu ...
,
Shahbag
Shahbag or Shahbagh (also Shahbaugh, bn, শাহবাগ, Shāhbāg, ) is a major neighbourhood and a police precinct or ''thana'' in Dhaka, the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is also a major public transport hub. It is a juncti ...
Garden and
Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to:
Places Australia
* Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales
* Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse
* Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...
. Dhaka got its own version of the
hansom cab
The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, ...
as public transport in 1856. The number of carriages increased from 60 in 1867 to 600 in 1889.
A modern civic water system was introduced in 1874. In 1885, the Dhaka State Railway was opened with a 144 km metre gauge (1000 mm) rail line connecting
Mymensingh
Mymensingh ( bn, ময়মনসিংহ) is the capital of Mymensingh Division, Bangladesh. Located on the bank of Brahmaputra River, about north of the national capital Dhaka, it is a major financial center and educational hub of north ...
and the
Port of Narayanganj
The Port of Narayanganj is a river port in Narayanganj, Bangladesh. It is one of the oldest and busiest river ports in Bangladesh; and one of the major ports of the Bengal delta. The port is located on the Shitalakshya River. The port area is home ...
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
shown in Dhaka was screened on the riverfront Crown Theatre on 17 April 1898. The film show was organized by the Bedford Bioscope Company. The electricity supply began in 1901.
This period is described as being "the colonial-era part of Dhaka, developed by the British during the early 20th century. Similar to colonial boroughs the length and breadth of the Subcontinent, this development was typified by stately government buildings, spacious tree-lined avenues, and sturdy white-washed bungalows set amidst always overgrown (the British never did manage to fully tame the landscape) gardens. Once upon a time, this was the new city; and even though it is today far from the ritziest part of town, the streets here are still wider and the trees more abundant and the greenery more evident than in any other part".
Some of the early educational institutions established during the period of British rule include the
Dhaka College
Dhaka College ( bn, ঢাকা কলেজ also known as DC) is the oldest secular educational institution of Bangladesh located in Dhaka. It offers higher secondary education ( HSC). It has Honours and Masters programs as well which are aff ...
Jagannath College
Jagannath University (JnU) ( bn, জগন্নাথ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ''Jagannātha biśbabidyālaẏa'', University Acrostic : জবি or JnU) is a state-funded public university at 9–10, Chittaranjan Avenue in Sa ...
and the
Ahsanullah School of Engineering
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, commonly known by the acronym BUET, is a public technological research university in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in 1876 as the Dacca Survey School, it is the oldest institution for the study ...
.
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
was a favourite pastime for elite residents in the city's Ramna Race Course beside the
Dhaka Club
The Dhaka Club (formerly spelled as Dacca Club) is the oldest recreation organisation and the largest of elite clubs in Dhaka. Originally it was an all-white association in British India.
Description
Dhaka club has been described as "an oasis of ...
. The
Viceroy of India
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...
would often dine and entertain with Bengali aristocrats in the city.
Automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...
s began appearing after the turn of the century. An 1937
Sunbeam-Talbot Ten
The Sunbeam-Talbot Ten is a compact executive car or small sports saloon manufactured by Rootes Group in their Clément-Talbot factory in North Kensington between 1938 and 1939, and then reintroduced after the Second World War and sold between 1 ...
was preserved in the Liberation War Museum. The Nawabs of Dhaka owned
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
s.
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
cars were widely used.
Beauty Boarding
Beauty Boarding ( bn, বিউটি বোর্ডিং) is a hotel and restaurant located in old Dhaka. It is a historical center of the intellectual gathering of Bengali authors, poets, cultural activists, and politicians. The place has been ...
was a popular inn and restaurant.
Dhaka's fortunes changed in the early 20th century. British neglect of Dhaka's urban development was overturned with the first partition of Bengal in 1905, which restored Dhaka's status as a regional capital. The city became the seat of government for
Eastern Bengal and Assam
Eastern Bengal and Assam was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India between 1905 and 1912. Headquartered in the city of Dacca, it covered territories in what are now Bangladesh, Northeast India and Northern West Bengal.
Hist ...
, with a jurisdiction covering most of modern-day Bangladesh and all of what is now
Lord Curzon
George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925), styled Lord Curzon of Kedleston between 1898 and 1911 and then Earl Curzon of Kedleston between 1911 and 1921, was a British Conservative statesman ...
, who finally acted on British ideas for partitioning Bengal with a view to improve administration, education and business. Dhaka became the seat of the
Eastern Bengal and Assam Legislative Council
The Eastern Bengal and Assam Legislative Council () was the legislative council of Eastern Bengal and Assam, a province of the British India covering Bangladesh and Northeast India. It would meet in the Government House of Dacca, the provincial ...
. While Dhaka was the main capital throughout the year,
Shillong
Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...
acted as the summer retreat of the administration. Lieutenant Governors were in charge of the province. They resided in Dhaka. The Lt Governors included Sir
Bampfylde Fuller
Sir Joseph Bampfylde Fuller (20 March 1854 – 29 November 1935) was a British inventor, writer and first Lieutenant Governor of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam, knighted for his service in India.
Early life and career
Fuller studied ...
(1905-1906), Sir Lancelot Hare (1906-1911) and Sir Charles Stuart Bayley (1911-1912). Their legacy lives on in the names of three major thoroughfares in modern Dhaka, including Hare Road, Bayley Road, and Fuller Road. The period saw the construction of stately buildings, including the High Court and Curzon Hall.
Dhaka was the seat of government for 4 administrative divisions, including the Assam Valley Division, Chittagong Division, Dacca Division, Rajshahi Division and the Surma Valley Division. There were a total of 30 districts in Eastern Bengal and Assam, including Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur and
Backergunge
Backergunge, Backergunje, Bakarganj, or Bakerganj was a former district of British India. It was the southernmost district of the Dacca Division. The district was located in the swampy lowlands of the vast delta of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra r ...
in Dacca Division;
Tippera
Tripura State, also known as Hill Tipperah, was a princely state in India during the period of the British Raj and for some two years after the departure of the British. Its rulers belonged to the Manikya dynasty and until August ...
, Noakhali, Chittagong and the
Hill Tracts
The Chittagong Hill Tracts ( bn, পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম, Parbotto Chottogram), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, are group of districts within the Chittagong Division in southeast ...
in Chittagong Division; Rajshahi, Dinajpur,
Jalpaiguri
Jalpaiguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Jalpaiguri district as well as of the Jalpaiguri division of West Bengal, covering the jurisdiction of the five districts of North Bengal. The city is loca ...
, Rangpur, Bogra, Pabna and Malda in Rajshahi Division; Sylhet,
Cachar
Cachar district is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. After independence the undivided Cachar district was split into four districts in Assam: Dima Hasao district (formerly North Cachar Hills), Cachar district alongside ...
, the
Khasi and Jaintia Hills
The Khasi and Jaintia Hills are a mountainous region that was mainly part of Assam and Meghalaya. This area is now part of the present Indian constitutive state of Meghalaya (formerly part of Assam), which includes the present districts of East ...
Lushai Hills
The Lushai (Pron: ˌlʊˈʃaɪ) Hills (or Mizo Hills) are a mountain range in Mizoram and Manipur, India. The range is part of the Patkai range system and its highest point is 2,157 m high Phawngpui, also known as 'Blue Mountain'.
Flora and fau ...
in Surma Valley Division; and
Goalpara
Goalpara, Pron: ) is the district headquarters of Goalpara district, Assam, India. It is situated to the west of Guwahati.
Etymology
The name Goalpara is said to have originated from the word "Gwaltippika" meaning Guwali village, or The villa ...
Garo Hills
The Garo Hills (Pron: ˈgɑ:rəʊ) are part of the Garo-Khasi range in Meghalaya, India. They are inhabited by the Garo people. It is one of the wettest places in the world. The range is part of the Meghalaya subtropical forests ecoregion.
De ...
,
Darrang
Darrang () is an administrative district in the state of Assam in India. The district headquarters are located at Mangaldoi. The district occupies an area of 1585 km2.
History
No definitive records about Darrang are available for the pre-med ...
Sibsagar
Sivasagar (Pron: or ) ("the sea of Shiva"), is a city in and headquarters of the Sivasagar district, Assam. Sivasagar is situated about 360 kilometers (224 mi) northeast of Guwahati. It is well known for its Ahom palaces and monuments. Si ...
and Lakhimpur in Assam Valley Division. The province was bordered by
Cooch Behar State
Cooch Behar, also known as Koch Bihar, was a princely state in India during the British Raj. The state was placed under the Bengal States Agency, part of the Eastern States Agency of the Bengal Presidency. It is located south of the Hima ...
,
Hill Tipperah
Tripura State, also known as Hill Tipperah, was a princely state in India during the period of the British Raj and for some two years after the departure of the British. Its rulers belonged to the Manikya dynasty and until August ...
and the
Kingdom of Bhutan
Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...
.
On the political front, partition allowed Dhaka to project itself as the standard-bearer of Muslim communities in
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
; as opposed to the heavily Hindu-dominated city of Calcutta. In 1906, the
All India Muslim League
The All-India Muslim League (AIML) was a political party established in Dhaka in 1906 when a group of prominent Muslim politicians met the Viceroy of British India, Lord Minto, with the goal of securing Muslim interests on the Indian subcontin ...
was founded in the city during a conference on liberal education hosted by the
Nawab of Dhaka
The Nawab of Dhaka (Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of ''na ...
and the
Aga Khan III
Sultan Muhammad Shah (2 November 187711 July 1957), commonly known by his religious title Aga Khan III, was the 48th Imam of the Nizariyya. He played an important role in British Indian politics.
Born to Aga Khan II in Karachi, Aga Khan III ...
. The Muslim population in Dhaka and eastern Bengal generally favored partition in the hopes of getting better jobs and educational opportunities. Many Bengalis, however, opposed the bifurcation of the ethnolinguistic region. The partition was annulled by an announcement of King
George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936.
Born duri ...
during the
Delhi Durbar
The Delhi Durbar ( lit. "Court of Delhi") was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by the British at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was ...
in 1911. The British decided to reunite Bengal while the
capital of India
This is a list of locations which have served as the capital city of India. The current capital city is New Delhi, which replaced Calcutta in 1911.
Early period
* Rajgir : Initial capital of the Magadha Empire from 6th century BCE to 460 BCE, ...
was shifted to
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
from Calcutta.
As a "splendid compensation" for the annulment of partition, the British gave the city a newly formed university in the 1920s. The
University of Dhaka
The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...
was initially modelled on the residential style of the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
. It became known as the
Oxford of the East
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
because of its residential character. Like Oxford, students in Dhaka were affiliated with their halls of residence instead of their academic departments (this system was dropped after 1947 and students are now affiliated with academic departments). The university's faculty included scientist
Satyendra Nath Bose
Satyendra Nath Bose (; 1 January 1894 – 4 February 1974) was a Bengali mathematician and physicist specializing in theoretical physics. He is best known for his work on quantum mechanics in the early 1920s, in developing the foundation for ...
(who is the namesake of the
Higgs boson
The Higgs boson, sometimes called the Higgs particle, is an elementary particle in the Standard Model of particle physics produced by the quantum excitation of the Higgs field,
one of the fields in particle physics theory. In the Stand ...
); linguist
Muhammad Shahidullah
Muhammad Shahidullah ( bn, মুহম্মদ শহীদুল্লাহ; 10 July 1885 – 13 July 1969) was a Bengali linguist, philologist, educationist, and writer.
In 2004, he was ranked number 16 in BBC's poll of the Greatest Bengal ...
, Sir A F Rahman (the first Bengali vice-chancellor of the university); and historian R. C. Majumdar. The university was established in 1921 by the
Imperial Legislative Council
The Imperial Legislative Council (ILC) was the legislature of the British Raj from 1861 to 1947. It was established under the Charter Act of 1853 by providing for the addition of 6 additional members to the Governor General Council for legislativ ...
. It started with three faculties and 12 departments, covering the subjects of Sanskrit, Bengali, English,
liberal arts
Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term ''art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically the ...
, history, Arabic, Islamic Studies, Persian, Urdu, philosophy, economics, politics, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and law.
The East Bengal Cinematograph Company produced the first full-length
silent movies
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
in Dhaka during the 1920s, including ''
Sukumari
Sukumari Amma (6 October 1940 – 26 March 2013) was an Indian actress best known for her works in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning more than five decades, She has appeared in more than 2500 films predominantly in Malayalam, Tam ...
'' and '' The Last Kiss''. DEVCO, a subsidiary of the Occtavian Steel Company, began widescale
power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
distribution in 1930. The
Tejgaon Airport
Tejgaon Airport is a Bangladesh Air Force military base in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It served as the country's sole international airport prior to the construction of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
History
The British had built military air ...
was constructed during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Dhaka Medical College
Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (abbreviated DMCH) is a public medical college and hospital located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. It houses medical school as well as a tertiary care hospital on one campus.
The country's first eve ...
was established in 1946.
Metropolitan Dhaka
The development of the "real city" began after the
partition of India
The Partition of British India in 1947 was the Partition (politics), change of political borders and the division of other assets that accompanied the dissolution of the British Raj in South Asia and the creation of two independent dominions: ...
. After partition, Dhaka became known as the ''second capital'' of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
. This was formalized in 1962 when
Ayub Khan
Ayub Khan is a compound masculine name; Ayub is the Arabic version of the name of the Biblical figure Job, while Khan or Khaan is taken from the title used first by the Mongol rulers and then, in particular, their Islamic and Persian-influenced s ...
declared the city as the legislative capital under the 1962 constitution. New neighborhoods began to spring up in formerly baren and agrarian areas. These included Dhanmondi (rice granary), Katabon (thorn forest), Kathalbagan (jackfruit grove), Kalabagan (banana grove), and Gulshan (flower garden). Living standards rapidly improved from the pre-partition standards. The economy began to industrialize. On the outskirts of the city, the world's largest jute mill was built. The mill produced jute goods which were in high demand during the
Korean War
, date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. People began building duplex houses. In 1961,
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
and
Prince Philip
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...
witnessed the improved living standards of Dhaka's residents. The
Intercontinental hotel
Intercontinental is an adjective to describe something which relates to more than one continent.
Intercontinental may also refer to:
* Intercontinental ballistic missile, a long-range guided ballistic missile
* InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG ...
, designed by
William B. Tabler
William B. Tabler Sr. (October 28, 1914 – February 3, 2004) was an American architect who designed more than 400 hotels. He was best known for giving Hilton hotels the clean but sometimes stark face of corporate America, most notably in the 46-s ...
, was opened in 1966. Estonian-American architect
Louis I. Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...
was enlisted to design the Dhaka Assembly, which was originally intended to be the federal parliament of Pakistan and later became independent Bangladesh's parliament. The East Pakistan Helicopter Service connected the city to regional towns.
The
Dhaka Stock Exchange
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ( bn, ঢাকা স্টক এক্সচেঞ্জ ''Dhaka stôk ekschenj''), located in Nikunja, Dhaka, is one of the two stock exchanges of Bangladesh, the other being the Chittagong Stock Exchange. In ...
was opened on 28 April 1954. The first local airline
Orient Airways
Orient Airways Ltd. ( ur, ) was an airline established in 1946 with its base in Calcutta, Bengal, British India. The airline shifted operations to the newly independent state of Pakistan in 1947, and was rechristened as Pakistan International A ...
began flights between Dhaka and
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
on 6 June 1954. The Dhaka Improvement Trust was established in 1956 to coordinate the city's development. The first master plan for the city was drawn up in 1959. The
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, the Philipp ...
established a medical research centre (now called
ICDDR,B
ICDDR,B (formerly known as the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) is an international health research organisation located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dedicated to saving lives through research and treatment, ICDDR,B a ...
) in the city in 1960.
The early period of political turbulence was seen between 1947 and 1952, particularly the Bengali Language Movement. From the mid-1960s, the Awami League's 6 point autonomy demands began giving rise to pro-independence aspirations across
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 ...
. In 1969,
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman ( bn, শেখ মুজিবুর রহমান; 17 March 1920 – 15 August 1975), often shortened as Sheikh Mujib or Mujib and widely known as Bangabandhu (meaning ''Friend of Bengal''), was a Bengalis, Beng ...
was released from prison amid a mass upsurge which led to the resignation of Ayub Khan in 1970. The city had an influential press with prominent newspapers like the ''
Pakistan Observer
The ''Pakistan Observer'' is one of the oldest and widely read English-language daily newspapers of Pakistan. It is published in six cities – Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Quetta, Peshawar, and Muzaffarabad. The newspaper was founded in 1988 b ...
Forum
Forum or The Forum (plural forums or fora) may refer to:
Common uses
* Forum (legal), designated space for public expression in the United States
*Forum (Roman), open public space within a Roman city
**Roman Forum, most famous example
*Internet ...
'', and the '' Weekly Holiday''. During the political and constitutional crisis in 1971, the
military junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
led by
Yahya Khan
General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan , (Urdu: ; 4 February 1917 – 10 August 1980); commonly known as Yahya Khan, was a Pakistani military general who served as the third President of Pakistan and Chief Martial Law Administrator following his pr ...
refused to transfer power to the newly elected National Assembly, causing mass riots, civil disobedience and a movement for
self-determination
The right of a people to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law (commonly regarded as a ''jus cogens'' rule), binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter's norms. It stat ...
. On 7 March 1971,
Awami League In Urdu language, Awami is the adjectival form for '' Awam'', the Urdu language word for common people.
The adjective appears in the following proper names:
*Awami Colony, a neighbourhood of Landhi Town in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
*Awami Front, wa ...
leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman addressed a massive public gathering at the Ramna Race Course Maidan in Dhaka, in which he warned of an independence struggle. Subsequently, East Pakistan came under a non-co-operation movement against the
Pakistani state
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
. On Pakistan's Republic Day (23 March 1971), Bangladeshi flags were hoisted throughout Dhaka in a show of resistance.
On 25 March 1971, the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...
launched military operations under
Operation Searchlight
Operation Searchlight was the codename for a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the opera ...
against the population of East Pakistan. Dhaka bore the brunt of the army's atrocities, witnessing a
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
and a campaign of wide scale repression, with the arrest, torture and murder of the city's civilians, students,
intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...
, political activists and religious minorities. The army faced
mutinies
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among member ...
from the
East Pakistan Rifles
East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth.
Etymology
As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
and the Bengali police. Large parts of the city were burnt and destroyed, including Hindu neighborhoods. Much of the city's population was either displaced or forced to flee to the countryside. In the ensuing Bangladesh War of Independence, the Bangladesh Forces launched regular guerrilla attacks and ambush operations against Pakistani forces. Dhaka was struck with numerous air raids by the
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
in
December
December is the twelfth and final month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the last of seven months to have a length of 31 days.
December got its name from the Latin word ''decem'' (meaning ten) because it was or ...
. Dhaka witnessed the surrender of the west Pakistan forces in front of the Bangladesh-India Allied Forces on 16 December 1971 with the
surrender of Pakistan
The Pakistani Instrument of Surrender ( bn, পাকিস্তানের আত্মসমর্পণের দলিল, translit=Pākistānēr Atmasamarpaṇēr Dalil) was a written agreement between India, Pakistan, and the Provisional ...
.
After independence, Dhaka's population grew from several hundred thousand to several million in a span of five decades. Dhaka was declared the national capital by the
Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh
The Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh was the constituent assembly of Bangladesh. It was the country's provisional parliament between 1971 and 1973. In 1972, it drafted and adopted the Constitution of Bangladesh. The assembly was dominated by th ...
in 1972. The post-independence period witnessed rapid growth as Dhaka attracted migrant workers from across rural
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 ...
. 60% of population growth has been due to rural migration. The city endured
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
unrest in the early 1970s, followed by a few years of
martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
. The stock exchange and
free market
In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...
were restored in the late 1970s. In the 1980s, Dhaka saw the inauguration of the National Parliament House (which won the
Aga Khan Award for Architecture
The Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) is an architectural prize established by Aga Khan IV in 1977. It aims to identify and reward architectural concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of Muslim societies in the fields ...
), a new
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
and the
Bangladesh National Museum
The Bangladesh National Museum ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় জাদুঘর), is the national museum of Bangladesh. The museum is well organized and displays have been housed chronologically in several departments like dep ...
. Bangladesh pioneered the formation of the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is the regional intergovernmental organization and geopolitical union of states in South Asia. Its member states are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan ...
(SAARC) and hosted its first summit in Dhaka in 1985. A mass uprising in 1990 led to the return of
parliamentary democracy
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...
. Dhaka has hosted a trilateral summit between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in 1998; the summit of the
D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation
The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation, also known as Developing-8, is an organisation for development co-operation among the following countries: Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey. The objective ...
in 1999 and conferences of the
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
, SAARC, the OIC and
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
agencies during various years.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Dhaka experienced improved economic growth and the emergence of affluent business districts and satellite towns. Between 1990 and 2005, the city's population doubled from 6 million to 12 million. There has been increased foreign investment in the city, particularly in the financial and textile manufacturing sectors. Between 2008 and 2011, the
government of Bangladesh
The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Con ...
organized three years of celebrations to mark 400 years since Dhaka's founding as an early modern city. But frequent
hartal
Hartal () is a term in many Indian languages for a strike action that was first used during the Indian independence movement (also known as the nationalist movement) of the early 20th century. A hartal is a mass protest, often involving a total sh ...
s by political parties have greatly hampered the city's economy. The hartal rate has declined since 2014. In some years, the city experienced a widespread
flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...
during the monsoon.
Dhaka is one of the fastest growing megacities in the world. It is predicted to be one of the world's largest metropolises by 2025, along with
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
,
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
,
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
and
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Dhaka remains one of the poorest megacities. Most of its population are rural migrants, including
climate refugees
Climate migrants are a subset of environmental migrants who were forced to flee "due to sudden or gradual alterations in the natural environment related to at least one of three Effects of climate change, impacts of climate change: sea-level rise ...
. Blue-collar workers are often housed in
slums
A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...
. Congestion is one of the most prominent features of modern Dhaka. In 2014, it was reported that only 7% of the city was covered by roads. The first phase of the
Dhaka Metro
Dhaka Metro Rail ( bn, ঢাকা মেট্রোরেল), colloquially known as the Dhaka Metro ( bn, ঢাকা মেট্রো) is a mass rapid transit (MRT) system serving Dhaka, Bangladesh. Together with the city's planned sub ...
is planned for opening in December 2022, coinciding with Bangladesh's 51st victory day.
Geography
Topography
Dhaka is located in central Bangladesh at , on the eastern banks of the
Buriganga River
The Buriganga River ( bn, বুড়িগঙ্গা, ''Buŗigônga'', ) is a river in Bangladesh which flows past the southwest outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka. Its average depth is and its maximum depth is . It ranks among the most p ...
. The city lies on the lower reaches of the Ganges Delta and covers a total area of . Tropical vegetation and moist soils characterize the land, which is flat and close to sea level. This leaves Dhaka susceptible to flooding during the
monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
seasons owing to heavy rainfall and
cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...
s. Due to its location on the lowland plain of the Ganges Delta, the city is fringed by extensive mangroves and tidal flat ecosystems. Dhaka District is bounded by the districts of
Gazipur
Gazipur ( bn, গাজীপুর) is a city in central Bangladesh. It is located in the Gazipur District. It is a major industrial city north of Dhaka. It is a hub for the textile industry in Bangladesh. Its other name is Joydebpur.
Demogra ...
,
Tangail
Tangail ( bn, টাঙ্গাইল, ), is a major city within the Dhaka Division in central Bangladesh. It sits on the bank of the Louhajang River, north-west of Dhaka, the nation's capital. It is considered to be the main urban area of ...
,
Munshiganj
Munshiganj ( bn, মুন্সীগঞ্জ), also historically known as Bikrampur, is a district in central Bangladesh. It is a part of the Dhaka Division and borders Dhaka District.
Geography
Total land area is 235974 acres (954 km2), ...
Narayanganj
Narayanganj ( bn, নারায়ণগঞ্জ ''Naraeongônj'') is a city in central Bangladesh. It is in the Narayanganj District, about southeast of the capital city of Dhaka, and has a population of about 2 million. It is the 6th larges ...
,
Manikganj
Manikganj is a district situated in Dhaka Division, Bangladesh. Manikganj is one of the green and pollution free towns in Bangladesh. The recent urbanization and highway built joining Dhaka and Shingair Upazilla has given it an outstanding road ...
.
Cityscape
With the exception of
Old Dhaka
Old Dhaka ( bn, পুরান ঢাকা, Puran Dhaka) is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangirabad or Jahangirnagar ( bn, জাহাঙ্গীরনগ ...
, which is an old
bazaar
A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small Market stall, stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, suc ...
-style neighborhood, the layout of the city follows a grid pattern with organic development influenced by traditional South Asian as well as Middle Eastern and Western patterns. Growth of the city is largely unplanned and is focused on the northern regions and around the city centre, where many of the more affluent neighborhoods may be found. Most of the construction in the city consists of concrete
high-rise building
A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...
s. Middle-class and upper-class housing, along with commercial and industrial areas, occupy most of the city; slums may be found in the outskirts and in less-visible areas such as alleyways. The most significant area of slums is found near the
Buriganga River
The Buriganga River ( bn, বুড়িগঙ্গা, ''Buŗigônga'', ) is a river in Bangladesh which flows past the southwest outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka. Its average depth is and its maximum depth is . It ranks among the most p ...
covering
Kamrangirchar Thana
Kamrangirchar ( bn, কামরাঙ্গীরচর) is a Thana of Dhaka District in the Division of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Geography
Kamrangirchar is located at . Its total area is .
Demographics
This Kamrangirchar has an official population o ...
.
Dhaka does not have a well-defined
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
.
Old Dhaka
Old Dhaka ( bn, পুরান ঢাকা, Puran Dhaka) is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangirabad or Jahangirnagar ( bn, জাহাঙ্গীরনগ ...
is the historic commercial center, but most development has moved to the north. The area around
Motijheel
Motijheel ( bn, মতিঝিল) is a ''thana'' (administrative division) of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is at the heart of the city (the General Post Office is considered the zero point of Dhaka). Motijheel is the major business and commercial hub ...
is considered the "old" CBD, while to some extent Gulshan is considered the "new" CBD. Many Bangladeshi government institutions can be found in Tejgaon,
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar ( bn, শেরেবাংলা নগর; lit. ''City of the Tiger of Bengal'') is a neighborhood and a thana of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It is also known as the 'capitol within the capital' due to it being the ho ...
, and
Ramna
Ramna Thana ( bn, রমনা থানা) is a police jurisdiction in central Dhaka. It is a historic colonial neighborhood. Once the site of Mughal gardens, it developed into an institutional area during British rule in the late 19th centu ...
.
Dhaka is among the most congested cities in the world, and traffic was estimated to cost the local economy US$3.9 billion per year in 2013. The average speed of a car travelling in Dhaka is estimated to be around . Most residents travel by
rickshaw
A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...
and green-coloured
auto rickshaw
An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many terms in various countries including auto, auto rickshaw, baby taxi, mototaxi, pigeon, jonnybee, bajaj ...
s powered by
compressed natural gas
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...
, often referred to by locals as "CNGs". Much activity is centered around a few large roads, where road laws are rarely obeyed and street vendors and beggars are frequently encountered.
Climate
Under the
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
, Dhaka has a
tropical savanna climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
(
Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
''Aw''). The city has a distinct monsoonal season, with an annual average temperature of and monthly means varying between in January and in May. Approximately 87% of the average annual rainfall of occurs between May and October. According to the
air quality index
An air quality index (AQI) is used by government agencies to communicate to the public how polluted the air currently is or how polluted it is forecast to become. AQI information is obtained by averaging readings from an air quality sensor, whi ...
(AQI), the air of Dhaka is "unhealthy", and it posited third in the measurement of pollution. Increasing air and water pollution emanating from traffic congestion and industrial waste are serious problems affecting public health and the quality of life in the city. Water bodies and
wetland
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
s around Dhaka are facing destruction as these are being filled up to construct multi-storied buildings and other real estate developments. Coupled with pollution, such erosion of natural habitats threatens to destroy much of the regional biodiversity.
Due to the unregulated manufacturing of brick and other causes, Dhaka is one of the most polluted world cities with very high levels of
PM2.5
Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...
air pollution.
Parks and greenery
There are many parks within Dhaka City, including
Ramna Park
Ramna Park ( bn, রমনা উদ্যান, ''Rômna Uddan'') is a large park and recreation area situated at the heart of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. This forested park with pond near its center is one of the most beautiful are ...
,
Suhrawardy Udyan
Suhrawardy Udyan ( bn, সোহরাওয়ার্দী উদ্যান) formerly known as Ramna Race Course ground is a national memorial located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is named after Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy. Originally it serve ...
,
Shishu Park
Shishu Park ( bn, শিশু পার্ক), Alternatively known as Shahid Zia Shishu Park (Bengali: ), is the only public sector children's amusement park loacated in Shahbag, Dhaka, Bangladesh.National Botanical Garden,
Baldha Garden
Balda Garden is a botanical garden which spans of land located at Wari in the old part of the city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It has a collection of 672 species of plants.
The Balda Garden is now managed as a satellite unit of the Nat ...
,
Chandrima Uddan
Chandrima Uddan or Chandrima Udyan ( bn, চন্দ্রিমা উদ্যান; ''Chandrimā'' "moon" ''Udyān'' "park") is a park situated across the road of the national parliament house, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The park is notable for b ...
, Gulshan Park and
Dhaka Zoo
Bangladesh National Zoo, ( bn, বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় চিড়িয়াখানা) is a zoo located in the Mirpur section of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The zoo contains many native and non-native animals ...
. There are lakes within city, such as Crescent Lake,
Dhanmondi
Dhanmondi ( bn, ধানমন্ডি) is a residential area in Dhaka, Bangladesh, known for its central location, cultural vibrancy and being home to the country's founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The origins of Dhanmondi can be traced back to t ...
Lake,
Baridhara
Baridhara ( bn, বারিধারা) is an upscale residential area in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is located on the east of and north east of Gulshan across Gulshan-Baridhara Lake. It has special zones designated for diplomats, and many of the ...
-
Gulshan Lake
Gulshan Lake is a lake in Dhaka, Bangladesh, that borders Gulshan Thana, Shahjadpur, and Baridhara Diplomatic Zone.
History
In June 2015 Bangladesh High Court ordered the government to free portions of Gulshan lake that had been encroached upon. S ...
,
Banani lake
Banani Lake is a lake in Dhaka, Bangladesh, bordering Banani, Gulshan, Korail Adarsha Nagar, and Mohakhali.
History
Following the July 2016 Dhaka attack
On the night of 1 July 2016, at 21:20 local time, five militants took hostages and ope ...
,
Uttara Uttara, which means "north" in Sanskrit and many other South Asian languages, may refer to:
Places
*Uttara Export Processing Zone, Bangladesh
*Uttara, a suburb north of Dhaka, Bangladesh
*Uttara East Thana
*Uttara West Thana
*Uttaradit, a city in ...
People's Republic of Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million pe ...
, Dhaka is the home to numerous state and diplomatic institutions. The
Bangabhaban
The Bangabhaban ( bn, বঙ্গভবন ''Bôngobhôbôn'', lit. ''House of Bengal'') is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of Bangladesh, located on Bangabhaban Road, and short road connecting Dilkusha, Dhaka, ...
is the official residence and workplace of the
President of Bangladesh
The president of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের রাষ্ট্রপতি — ) officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশে ...
, who is the ceremonial head of state under the constitution. The National Parliament House is located in the modernist capital complex designed by
Louis Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...
in
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar ( bn, শেরেবাংলা নগর; lit. ''City of the Tiger of Bengal'') is a neighborhood and a thana of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It is also known as the 'capitol within the capital' due to it being the ho ...
. The
Gonobhaban
The Ganabhaban ( bn, গণভবন, lit. ''People's House'') is the official residence of the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, which is located on the north corner of the National Parliament House in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Dhaka. After independence ...
, the official residence of the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
, is situated on the north side of Parliament. The Prime Minister's Office is located in Tejgaon. Most ministries of the
Government of Bangladesh
The Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ সরকার — ) is the central executive government of Bangladesh. The government was constituted by the Con ...
are housed in the Bangladesh Secretariat. The
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
, the
Dhaka High Court
The High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh ( bn, হাইকোর্ট ডিভিশন) popularly known as the 'High Court' is one of the two divisions of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, the other division being the Appellate D ...
and the
Foreign Ministry In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
are located in the Ramna area. The
Defence Ministry
{{unsourced, date=February 2021
A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a g ...
Armed Forces Division
The Armed Forces Division (AFD) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ সশস্ত্র বাহিনী বিভাগ — ) is the principal national command authority for national defense of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. The command an ...
of the government of Bangladesh and
Bangladesh Armed Forces
The Bangladesh Armed Forces ( bn, বাংলাদেশ সশস্ত্র বাহিনী, Bangladesh Sashastra Bahinī) are the Armed forces, combined military forces of the Bangladesh, People's Republic of Bangladesh. It consists ...
headquarters are located in Dhaka Cantonment. Several important installations of the
Bangladesh Army
The Bangladesh Army is the land warfare branch and the largest component of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The primary mission of the Army is to provide necessary forces and capabilities to deliver the Bangladeshi government's security and def ...
are also situated in Dhaka and
Mirpur Cantonment
Mirpur Cantonment is a Bangladesh military cantonment located in Mirpur Thana, Dhaka. Mirpur DOHS is located beside the cantonment.
Institutions
* National Defence College
*Defence Services Command and Staff College
* Inter Service Selection Boar ...
s. The
Bangladesh Navy
The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...
's principal administrative and logistics base, BNS Haji Mohshin, is located in Dhaka. The
Bangladesh Air Force
The Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ বিমান বাহিনী, Bangladesh Biman Bahini) is the aerial warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The Air Force is primarily responsible for air defence of B ...
maintains the BAF Bangabandhu Air Base and BAF Khademul Bashar Air Base in Dhaka.
Dhaka hosts 54 resident embassies and high commissions and numerous international organizations. Most diplomatic missions are located in the Gulshan and
Baridhara
Baridhara ( bn, বারিধারা) is an upscale residential area in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is located on the east of and north east of Gulshan across Gulshan-Baridhara Lake. It has special zones designated for diplomats, and many of the ...
areas of the city. The
Agargaon
Agargaon is a borough in the Bangladeshi city of Dhaka.
Education
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Government Boys' High School is a public secondary school, established in 1969. In addition to its high school curriculum, the school started college level educ ...
area near Parliament is home to the country offices of the United Nations, the
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
, the
Asian Development Bank
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field office ...
and the
Islamic Development Bank
The Islamic Development Bank ( ar, البنك الإسلامي للتنمية, abbreviated as IsDB) is a multilateral development finance institution that is focused on Islamic finance for infrastructure development and located in Jeddah, Saudi A ...
.
Civic administration
History
The municipality of Dhaka was founded on 1 August 1864 and upgraded to "
Metropolitan
Metropolitan may refer to:
* Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories
* Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England
* Metropolitan county, a typ ...
" status in 1978. In 1983, the
Dhaka City Corporation
Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) was the former self-governing corporation that was entrusted with the task of administering the municipal affairs of Dhaka. The incorporated area was divided into several wards. Each ward has an elected ward commissio ...
was created as a self-governing entity to govern Dhaka.
Under a new act in 1993, an election was held in 1994 for the first elected Mayor of Dhaka. The Dhaka City Corporation ran the affairs of the city until November 2011.
Municipal government
In 2011, Dhaka City Corporation was split into two separate corporations –
Dhaka North City Corporation
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) or Dhaka Uttar City Corporation was created as an autonomous body that governs 54 northern wards of Dhaka to better manage local services, but has since added new areas. It is one of two municipal corporations ...
and
Dhaka South City Corporation
Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) is one of the two municipal corporations in Dhaka created when the former Dhaka City Corporation (first declared in 1864) was divided into two by the Local Government (City Corporation) Amendment Bill 2011 on ...
for ensuring better civic facilities. These two corporations are headed by two mayors, who are elected by direct vote of the citizen for a 5-year period. The area within city corporations was divided into several wards, each having an elected commissioner. In total, the city has 130 wards and 725 ''
mohalla
is an Arabic word variously translated as district, quarter, ward, or "neighborhood" in many parts of the Arab world, the Balkans, Western Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and nearby nations.
History
Historically, mahallas were autonomous social ins ...
s''.
*
RAJUK
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (abbreviated as RAJUK; literally the Capital Development Authority of the Government of Bangladesh) is a Bangladeshi public agency responsible for coordinating urban development in Dhaka, Bangladesh. RAJUK is compos ...
is responsible for coordinating
urban development
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
in the
Greater Dhaka
Greater Dhaka is the conurbation surrounding the Bangladeshi capital city of Dhaka, which has grown into one of the world's largest megacities, and shows a very rapid rate of expansion. Dhaka not only grows because it is the capital and largest ur ...
area.
* DMP is responsible for maintaining law and order within the metro area. It was established in 1976. DMP has 56 police stations as administrative units.
Administrative agencies
Unlike other megacities worldwide, Dhaka is serviced by over two dozen government organizations under different ministries. Lack of coordination among them and centralization of all powers by the Government of Bangladesh keeps the development and maintenance of the city in a chaotic situation.
Economy
As the most densely industrialized region of the country, the Greater Dhaka Area accounts for 35% of
Bangladesh's economy
The economy of Bangladesh is a major economy of South Asia and a developing market economy.
—
—
—Siddiqi, Dina M. “Miracle Worker or Womanmachine? Tracking (Trans)National Realities in Bangladeshi Factories.” Economic and Political ...
. The
Globalization and World Cities Research Network
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershi ...
ranks Dhaka as a beta− global city, in other words, one that is instrumental in linking their region into the world economy. Major industrial areas are Tejgaon, Shyampur and
Hazaribagh
Hazaribagh is a city and a municipal corporation in Hazaribagh district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is the divisional headquarters of North Chotanagpur division. It is considered as a health resort and is also popular for Hazaribagh ...
. The city has a growing middle class, driving the market for modern consumer and luxury goods. Shopping malls serve as vital elements in the city's economy.
The city has historically attracted numerous migrant workers.Hawkers, peddlers, small shops,
rickshaw
A rickshaw originally denoted a two- or three-wheeled passenger cart, now known as a pulled rickshaw, which is generally pulled by one person carrying one passenger. The first known use of the term was in 1879. Over time, cycle rickshaws (also ...
transport, roadside vendors and stalls employ a large segment of the population – rickshaw drivers alone number as many as 400,000. Half the workforce is employed in household and unorganised labour, while about 800,000 work in the textile industry. The unemployment rate in Dhaka was 23% in 2013.
Almost all large local conglomerates have their corporate offices located in Dhaka.
Microcredit
:''This article is specific to small loans, often provided in a pooled manner. For direct payments to individuals for specific projects, see Micropatronage. For financial services to the poor, see Microfinance. For small payments, see Micropayme ...
also began here and the offices of the Nobel Prize-winning
Grameen Bank
Grameen Bank ( bn, গ্রামীণ ব্যাংক) is a microfinance organisation and community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It makes small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requi ...
and BRAC (the largest non-governmental development organisation in the world) are based in Dhaka. Urban developments have sparked a widespread construction boom; new high-rise buildings and
skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ris ...
s have changed the city's landscape. Growth has been especially strong in the finance, banking, manufacturing, telecommunications and service sectors, while tourism, hotels and restaurants continue as important elements of the Dhaka economy.
Dhaka has rising traffic congestion and inadequate infrastructure; the national government has recently implemented a policy for rapid urbanization of surrounding areas and beyond by the introduction of a ten-year relief on
income tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
for new construction of facilities and buildings outside Dhaka.
CBDs
The Dhaka metropolitan area boasts of several
central business district
A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...
s (CBDs). In the southern part of the city, the riverfront of
Old Dhaka
Old Dhaka ( bn, পুরান ঢাকা, Puran Dhaka) is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangirabad or Jahangirnagar ( bn, জাহাঙ্গীরনগ ...
is home to many small businesses, factories and trading companies. Near Old Dhaka lies
Motijheel
Motijheel ( bn, মতিঝিল) is a ''thana'' (administrative division) of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is at the heart of the city (the General Post Office is considered the zero point of Dhaka). Motijheel is the major business and commercial hub ...
, which is the biggest CBD in Bangladesh. The Motijheel area developed since the 1960s. Motijheel is home to the
Bangladesh Bank
Bangladesh Bank ( bn, বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক) is the central bank of Bangladesh and is a member of the Asian Clearing Union. It is fully owned by the Government of Bangladesh.
The bank is active in developing green banki ...
, the nation's central bank; as well as the headquarters of the largest state-owned banks, including
Janata Bank
Janata Bank Ltd. ( bn, জনতা ব্যাংক লিমিটেড) is a state-owned commercial bank of Bangladesh established in 1972. Its headquarters is situated at Motijheel in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. It is the secon ...
,
Pubali Bank
Pubali Bank ( bn, পূবালী ব্যাংক) is the largest private commercial bank in Bangladesh. It has more branches than any other private bank in the country. Monzurur Rahman is the present chairman of the bank.
History
Pubali B ...
,
Sonali Bank
Sonali Bank Limited ( bn, সোনালী ব্যাংক লিমিটেড) is the principal state-owned leading public commercial bank in Bangladesh.
It is the largest bank in the country. Ziaul Hasan Siddiqui is the chairman of the ...
and
Rupali Bank
Rupali Bank ( bn, রূপালী ব্যাংক) is a state owned commercial bank in Bangladesh. Its headquarters is in 34 Dilkusha, Dhaka. Kazi Sanaul Haque is the chairman of the bank. Mohammad Jahangir is the managing director of the ...
. By the 1990s, the affluent residential neighborhoods of Gulshan, Banani and
Uttara Uttara, which means "north" in Sanskrit and many other South Asian languages, may refer to:
Places
*Uttara Export Processing Zone, Bangladesh
*Uttara, a suburb north of Dhaka, Bangladesh
*Uttara East Thana
*Uttara West Thana
*Uttaradit, a city in ...
in the northern part of the city became major business centers and now hosts many international companies operating in Bangladesh. The
Purbachal New Town Project
Purbachal New Town Project or formerly Purbachal Residential Model Town is the biggest planned township in Bangladesh. The project area consists of about 6,227 acres (25 square kilometer) land located in between the Shitalakhya and the Balu Riv ...
is planned as the city's future CBD.
The following is a list of the main CBDs in Dhaka.
*
Motijheel
Motijheel ( bn, মতিঝিল) is a ''thana'' (administrative division) of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is at the heart of the city (the General Post Office is considered the zero point of Dhaka). Motijheel is the major business and commercial hub ...
*
Kawran Bazar
Kawran Bazar ( bn, কাওরান বাজার) is a business district and is one of the biggest commodity marketplaces in Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh.
*
Paltan
Paltan is a thana (precinct) of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh.
It is often said to be the center of Dhaka, dividing "Old Dhaka" and "New Dhaka". Paltan was made a thana in 2005 by then Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. Paltan Thana was formed ...
*
Dhanmondi
Dhanmondi ( bn, ধানমন্ডি) is a residential area in Dhaka, Bangladesh, known for its central location, cultural vibrancy and being home to the country's founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The origins of Dhanmondi can be traced back to t ...
Uttara Uttara, which means "north" in Sanskrit and many other South Asian languages, may refer to:
Places
*Uttara Export Processing Zone, Bangladesh
*Uttara, a suburb north of Dhaka, Bangladesh
*Uttara East Thana
*Uttara West Thana
*Uttaradit, a city in ...
Bashundhara Residential Area
Bashundhara ( bn, বসুন্ধরা আবাসিক এলাকা) is an upscale residential area in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The area is developed by Bashundhara Group.
The project of Basundhara was started in the 1980s. In 2011 porti ...
*
Panthapath
Pantapath is an important east west road in Karwan Bazar area of Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh. It connects Tongi Diversion road, Mymenshing Road (now Old Airport Road) and Mirpur Road. It is home to one of South Asia's largest shopping ce ...
*
Maghbazar
Maghbazar or Mogbazar ( bn, মগবাজার) is the name of a neighborhood in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is located near the neighborhoods of Tejgaon, Ramna and Malibagh. It is under Ramna thana and administered by the Dhaka South City Corporati ...
*
Mohakhali Mohakhali is a neighborhood of Dhaka city, the capital of Bangladesh.
Events
Korail Slum
The Korea Railroad Corporation ( Korean: 한국철도공사, Hanja: ), branded as KORAIL (코레일, officially changed to in November 2019), is t ...
Old Dhaka
Old Dhaka ( bn, পুরান ঢাকা, Puran Dhaka) is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangirabad or Jahangirnagar ( bn, জাহাঙ্গীরনগ ...
*
Savar
Savar ( bn, সাভার) is a city in central Bangladesh, located in Dhaka District in the Dhaka Division, division of Dhaka. It is the closest city from Dhaka. It is also a part of Greater Dhaka conurbation which forms the Greater Dhaka, D ...
Trade associations
Major trade associations based in the city include:
*
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce & Industries
Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI; bn, বাংলাদেশ শিল্প ও বণিক সমিতি) is the apex trade organization of Bangladesh playing a pivotal role in consultative and advisory capa ...
(FBCCI)
*
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Dhaka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (DCCI), established in 1958, is a large organization for businesspeople in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
History
Dhaka Muslim Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1936) and the United Chamber of Commerce and Industry (1947 ...
Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association
The Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association or BKMEA is a national trade organization of Knitwear manufacturers in Bangladesh and is located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Member of Parliament Salim Osman is the president of the body ...
(BKMEA)
*
Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh
Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh (NOAB) () is an industry trade association of newspaper owners in Bangladesh. The former President of Newspaper Owners' Association of Bangladesh is AK Azad, publisher of the daily New Age and chairman ...
(NOAB)
*
Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh
Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh is a real estate trade body in Bangladesh. Shamsul Alamin is president of REHAB.
History
The association was founded in 1991 with eleven members which had grown to 1151 members by 2016. It holds a ...
(REHAB)
Stock market
The
Dhaka Stock Exchange
The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ( bn, ঢাকা স্টক এক্সচেঞ্জ ''Dhaka stôk ekschenj''), located in Nikunja, Dhaka, is one of the two stock exchanges of Bangladesh, the other being the Chittagong Stock Exchange. In ...
(DSE) had a
market capitalization
Market capitalization, sometimes referred to as market cap, is the total value of a publicly traded company's outstanding common shares owned by stockholders.
Market capitalization is equal to the market price per common share multiplied by t ...
of BDT 5,136,979.000 million in 2021. Some of the largest companies listed on the DSE include:
*
Grameenphone
Grameenphone, widely abbreviated as (d/b/a) GP, is the leading telecommunications service provider in Bangladesh, with 83.02 million subscribers (as of January 2022). It is a joint venture between Telenor and Grameen Telecom Corporation. Telen ...
*
BEXIMCO
Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited ( Bangla Transliteration: বাংলাদেশ এক্সপোর্ট ইমপোর্ট কোম্পানি লিমিটেড, romanised: ''Bānglādēsh ēkspōrṭ impōrṭ kōm ...
*
BSRM
The Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Ltd., commonly known as BSRM, is a Bangladeshi steel manufacturing company based in Chittagong. It is the largest construction steel manufacturer company in Bangladesh.
History
In 1952, five Indian business ...
*
Titas Gas
The Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company ( bn, তিতাস গ্যাস ''Titas Gas'') is the natural gas distributor in Bangladesh, with an 80% market share. As of 2020, they employed 2,100 staff and served 2.8 million domesti ...
*
Summit Group
Summit Group is one of the largest Bangladeshi conglomerate (company), conglomerates. The industries under this conglomerate include communication, trading, energy and power, shipping.
List of companies
* Summit Industrial & Mercantile Corporatio ...
*
The City Bank
The City Bank Limited is a Bangladeshi private commercial bank headquartered in Dhaka. The bank provides products and services in retail banking, corporate finance, SME Banking, women banking, digital banking, asset management, equity brokerage ...
*
BRAC Bank
BRAC Bank is a private commercial bank in Bangladesh, operated by the BRAC development organisation, focused on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). The bank has its head office in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It has 187 branches, 18 Premium Banking lounges ...
*
IDLC Finance Limited
IDLC Finance Limited, formerly known as Industrial Development Leasing Company of Bangladesh Limited (IDLC), is a multi-product Non Banking Financial Institution with headquarters in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It offers financial services in the form of ...
*
Square Pharmaceuticals
Square Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is a Bangladeshi Multinational corporation, multinational pharmaceutical company. It was founded in 1958 by Samson H. Chowdhury along with three of his friends PK Saha, Kazi Harunur Roshid and Radhabinod Rai as a priva ...
Orion Group
Orion Corporation ( fi, Orion Oyj), founded in 1917 and headquartered at Espoo, Finland, is a globally operating Finnish company which develops, manufactures and markets human and veterinary pharmaceuticals and active pharmaceutical ingredients ...
Demographics
The city, in combination with localities forming the wider metropolitan area, is home to over 22 million . The population is growing by an estimated 3.3% per year, one of the highest rates among Asian cities. The continuing growth reflects ongoing migration from rural areas to the Dhaka urban region, which accounted for 60% of the city's growth in the 1960s and 1970s. More recently, the city's population has also grown with the expansion of city boundaries, a process that added more than a million people to the city in the 1980s. According to the ''
Far Eastern Economic Review
The ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' (''FEER'') was an Asian business magazine published between 1946 and December 2009 in the English language. Based in Hong Kong, the news magazine published weekly until December 2004, when it converted to a m ...
'', Dhaka will be home to 25 million people by the end of 2025.
Ethnicity
The city population is composed of people from virtually every region of Bangladesh. The long-standing inhabitants of the old city are known as Dhakaite and have a distinctive dialect and culture. Dhaka is also home to a large number of Bihari refugees, who are descendants of migrant
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
from eastern India during 1947 and settled down in East Pakistan. The correct population of
Biharis
The Biharis () is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a vari ...
living in the city is ambiguous, but it is estimated that there are at least 300,000 Urdu-speakers in all of Bangladesh, mostly residing in old Dhaka and in refugee camps in Dhaka, although official figures estimate only 40,000. Between 15,000 and 20,000 of the
Rohingya
The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...
,
Santal
The Santal or Santhal are an Austroasiatic speaking
Munda ethnic group in South Asia. Santals are the largest tribe in the Jharkhand and West Bengal state of India in terms of population and are also found in the states of Odisha, Bihar and A ...
,
Khasi
Khasi may refer to:
* Khasi people, an ethnic group of Meghalaya, India
* Khasi language, a major Austroasiatic language spoken in Meghalaya, India
* Khāṣi language, an Indo-Aryan language of Jammu and Kashmir, India
See also
* Khasi Hills
* Gh ...
,
Garo
Garo may refer to:
People and languages
* Garo people, a tribal people in India
** Garo language, the language spoken by the Garo tribe
Places
* Kingdom of Garo, a former kingdom in southern Ethiopia
* Garo, Colorado
* Garo Hills, part of the Ga ...
Mandi
Mandi may refer to:
Places
* Mandı, Azerbaijan
India
* Mandi, Jammu and Kashmir, a town on the Mandi River in the Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir
* Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, a city in Himachal Pradesh
** Mandi State, former princely sta ...
tribal peoples reside in the city.
Language
Most residents of Dhaka speak
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
, the national language. Many distinctive Bengali dialects and regional languages such as
Dhakaiya Kutti
Dhakaiya Kutti ( bn, ঢাকাইয়া কুট্টি, Dhakaiya Kutti, Dhakaiya of the rice-huskers), also known as Old Dhakaiya ( bn, পুরান ঢাকাইয়া, Purān Dhākāiyā) or simply Dhakaiya, is a Bengali dialec ...
Sylheti
Sylheti may refer to:
* Sylhetis, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group in the Sylhet division and South Assam
* Sylheti language, a language of the Sylheti region
* Sylheti Nagri
Sylheti Nagri or Sylheti Nagari ( syl, , ISO: , ), known in cla ...
are also spoken by segments of the population. English is spoken by a large segment of the population, especially for business purposes. The city has both Bengali and English newspapers.
Dhakaiya Urdu
Dhakaiya Urdu sometimes referred to as Sobbasi Language, Khosbasi Language and the Language of Dhaka Nawab Family '' is a dialect of Urdu that is native to Old Dhaka and its immediate surrounding areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is spoken by t ...
, is spoken by members of several non-Bengali communities, including the
Biharis
The Biharis () is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a vari ...
.
Literacy
The literacy rate in Dhaka is also increasing quickly. It was estimated at 69.2% in 2001. The literacy rate had gone up to 74.6% by 2011 which is significantly higher than the national average of 72%.
Religion
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
is the dominant religion of the city, with 19.3 million of the city's population being Muslim, and a majority belonging to the
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
sect. There is also a small
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
sect, and an
Ahmadi
Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...
ya community.
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
is the second-largest religion numbering around 1.47 million adherents. Smaller segments represent 1% and practice
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
and
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
. In the city proper, over 8.5 million of the 8.9 million residents are Muslims, while 320,000 are Hindu and nearly 50,000 Christian.
Culture
Literature
Dhaka is a major center for
Bengali literature
Bengali literature ( bn, বাংলা সাহিত্য, Bangla Sahityô) denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle- Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time ...
. It has been the hub of
Bengali Muslim
Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...
literature for more than a century. Its heritage also includes historic
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
literary traditions. ''The Soldier in the Attic'' by
Akhteruzzaman Elias
Akhteruzzaman Elias (12 February 1943 – 4 January 1997) (Bengali: আখতারুজ্জামান ইলিয়াস) was a Bangladeshi novelist and short story writer. Despite writing only two novels, critics place Elias "in the pant ...
is considered to be one of the best depictions of life in
Old Dhaka
Old Dhaka ( bn, পুরান ঢাকা, Puran Dhaka) is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangirabad or Jahangirnagar ( bn, জাহাঙ্গীরনগ ...
and is set during Bengali uprisings in 1969. '' A Golden Age'' by Tahmima Anam is also set in Dhaka during the Bangladeshi war of independence and includes references to the
Dhaka Club
The Dhaka Club (formerly spelled as Dacca Club) is the oldest recreation organisation and the largest of elite clubs in Dhaka. Originally it was an all-white association in British India.
Description
Dhaka club has been described as "an oasis of ...
, the
Dhaka University
The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...
and the
Dhanmondi
Dhanmondi ( bn, ধানমন্ডি) is a residential area in Dhaka, Bangladesh, known for its central location, cultural vibrancy and being home to the country's founder, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The origins of Dhanmondi can be traced back to t ...
area. The ''Dark Diamond'' by Shazia Omar traverses through Dhaka's history, beginning with the rule of Shaista Khan in the Mughal period.
Festivals
Annual celebrations for
Language Martyrs' Day
(''Bhasha Andolôn Dibôs'')
, nickname = bn, শহীদ দিবস (''Shôhid Dibôs'')
, duration = 1 day
, frequency = Annual
, observedby = Bangladesh and Bengali speakers in India and elsewhere
, date = 21 Feb ...
(21 February),
Independence Day
An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...
(26 March), and
Victory Day
Victory Day is a commonly used name for public holidays in various countries, where it commemorates a nation's triumph over a hostile force in a war or the liberation of a country from hostile occupation. In many cases, multiple countries may ob ...
(16 December) are prominently celebrated across the city. Dhaka's people congregate at the Shaheed Minar and the
Jatiyo Smriti Soudho
The National Martyrs' Memorial ( bn, জাতীয় স্মৃতিসৌধ ''Jatiyo Sriti Soudho'') is the national monument of Bangladesh, set up in the memory of those who died in the Bangladesh War of Independence of 1971, which bro ...
to remember the national heroes of the liberation war. These occasions are observed with public ceremonies and rallies on public grounds. Many schools and colleges organise fairs, festivals and concerts in which citizens from all levels of society participate.
''
Pohela Baishakh
Pohela Boishakh ( bn, পহেলা বৈশাখ) is the first day of the Bengali calendar which is also the official calendar of Bangladesh. This festival is celebrated on 14 April in Bangladesh and 15 April in the Indian states of We ...
'', the Bengali New Year, falls annually on 14 April and is popularly celebrated across the city. Large crowds of people gather on the streets of Shahbag, Ramna Park and the campus of the University of Dhaka for celebrations. ''
Pahela Falgun
Pohela Falgun ( bn, পহেলা ফাল্গুন, ''Pôhela Falgun'' or পয়লা ফাল্গুন, ''Pôela Falgun''), also known as the first day of Spring of the Bengali month Falgun, is a festival celebrated in Bangladesh. ...
'', the first day of spring of the month Falgun in the
Bengali calendar
The Bengali Calendar or Bangla Calendar ( bn, বঙ্গাব্দ , , Baṅgābda), colloquially ( bn, বাংলা সন, Baṅgla Śon), is a solar calendar used in the Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent. A revised version of t ...
, is also celebrated in the city in a festive manner. This day is marked with colourful celebration and traditionally, women wear yellow saris to celebrate this day. This celebration is also known as ''Basanta Utsab'' (Spring Festival).
Nabanna
''Nobanno'' ( bn, নবান্ন, Nobānno; lit: New Feast) is a Bengali harvest celebration usually celebrated with food and dance and music in Bangladesh and in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley. It is a ...
is a harvest celebration, usually celebrated with food and dance and music on the 1st day of the month of Agrahayan of the Bengali year. Birthdays of Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul Islam are observed respectively as
Rabindra Jayanti
Rabindra Jayanti (রবীন্দ্র জয়ন্তী) is an annually celebrated cultural festival, prevalent among Tagorephiles (people who love Tagore and his works) around the world, in the remembrance of Rabindranath Tagore's birth ...
and
Nazrul Jayanti
Nazrul Jayanti ( bn, নজরুল জয়ন্তী) is the birthday of Kazi Nazrul Islam the national poet of Bangladesh on 24 May. The day is organized and celebrated by various schools, colleges & universities of Bengal
Bengal ( ...
. The
Ekushey Book Fair
The Ekushey Book Fair ( bn, একুশে বই মেলা, Ekuśe Bôi Mela), officially called Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela ( bn, অমর একুশে গ্রন্থ মেলা, lit='Immortal Book Fair of the Twenty-first f February ...
, which is arranged each year by
Bangla Academy
The Bangla Academy ( bn, বাংলা একাডেমি, ) is an autonomous institution funded by the Bangladesh government to foster the Bengali language, literature and culture, to develop and implement national language policy and to d ...
, takes place for the whole month of February. This event is dedicated to the martyrs who died on 21 February 1952 in a demonstration calling for the establishment of Bengali as one of the state languages of former
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 ...
. Shakrain Festival is an annual celebration observed with the flying of kites. It is usually observed in the old part of the city at the end of Poush, the ninth month of the Bengali calendar (14 or 15 January in the
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
).
The Islamic festivals of
Eid ul-Fitr
, nickname = Festival of Breaking the Fast, Lesser Eid, Sweet Eid, Sugar Feast
, observedby = Muslims
, type = Islamic
, longtype = Islamic
, significance = Commemoration to mark the end of fasting in Ramadan
, dat ...
,
Eid ul-Adha
Eid al-Adha () is the second and the larger of the two main holidays celebrated in Islam (the other being Eid al-Fitr). It honours the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) as an act of obedience to Allah's comm ...
Muharram
Muḥarram ( ar, ٱلْمُحَرَّم) (fully known as Muharram ul Haram) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. It is one of the four sacred months of the year when warfare is forbidden. It is held to be the second holiest month after R ...
; the Hindu festival of
Durga Puja
Durga Puja ( bn, দুর্গা পূজা), also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsava, is an annual Hindu festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to the Hindu goddess Durga and is also celebrated ...
; the Buddhist festival of
Buddha Purnima
Buddha's Birthday (also known as Buddha Jayanti, also known as his day of enlightenment – Buddha Purnima, Buddha Pournami) is a Buddhist festival that is celebrated in most of East Asia and South Asia commemorating the birth of the Prince ...
; and the Christian festival of Christmas witness widespread celebrations across the city. Despite the growing popularity of music groups and rock bands, traditional
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
remains widely popular. The works of the national poet
Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam ( bn, কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম, ; 24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengali poet, Bengali literature, writer, Bangladeshi music, musician, and is the national poet of Bangladesh. Nazrul is regarded as one ...
, national anthem writer
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
and mystic saint songwriter
Lalon
Lalon ( bn, লালন; 14 October 1772 – 17 October 1890), also known as Lalon Shah, Lalon Fakir, Shahji and titled Fakir, Shah, was a prominent Bengali spiritual leader, philosopher, mystic poet and social reformer. Regarded as an icon of ...
have a widespread following across Dhaka. The Baily Road area is known as ''Natak Para'' (Theatre Neighbourhood) which is the center of Dhaka's thriving theatre movement. For much of recent history, Dhaka was characterized by roadside markets and small shops that sold a wide variety of goods. Recent years have seen the widespread construction of shopping malls. Two of the largest shopping malls in the city and the wider South Asian region are the
Jamuna Future Park
Jamuna Future Park is a shopping mall in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was inaugurated on 6 September 2013. Construction began in 2002, by Jamuna Builders Ltd., a subsidiary of the Jamuna Group and the exterior was completed in 2008. It has a total floor ...
and
Bashundhara City
Bashundhara City, often marketed as Bashundhara City Shopping Complex or Bashundhara City Shopping Mall, ( bn, বসুন্ধরা সিটি) is a shopping mall in Dhaka. The mall is located in Panthapath, near Kawran Bazar, and was ope ...
.
Cultural institutions
*
Bengal Foundation
The Bengal Foundation ( bn, বেঙ্গল ফাউন্ডেশন) is a Bangladeshi non-profit and charitable organization headquartered in Dhanmondi, Dhaka. It is mostly known for organizing local and international events in the country.
...
*
Chhayanaut
The Chhayanaut Sangeet Vidyatan ( bn, ছায়ানট) is an institution devoted to Bengali culture, founded in Bangladesh in 1961. As in the case of many similar organizations, it was established during Pakistani rule in Bangladesh to prom ...
*
Institute of Fine Arts
The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philoso ...
*
Nazrul Institute
The Nazrul Institute is Bangladesh's national institute, established in February 1985. Its headquarters are located in Kabi Bhaban in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It fulfills a number of roles; promoting the literary work of the poet Kazi Nazr ...
*
Samdani Art Foundation
The Samdani Art Foundation is a private art foundation founded in 2011 in Dhaka, Bangladesh that aims to increase artistic engagement between the art and architecture of Bangladesh and the rest of the world.
It is best known for producing the bi- ...
*
Shilpakala Academy
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy ( bn, শিল্পকলা একাডেমি; National Academy of Fine and Performing Arts) is the principal state-sponsored national cultural center of Bangladesh.
History
It is the national academy of f ...
Annual and biennial cultural events
*
Bengal Classical Music Festival
The Bengal-ITC SRA Classical Music Festival is a major South Asian classical music festival held in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the ...
*
Chobi Mela International Photography Festival
Chobi Mela (Film Fair) is a biennial international festival of photography held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the first and also the largest festival of photography held in Asia.
Description
The outreach program consisted of mobile exhibitions
A ...
*
Dhaka Art Summit
Dhaka Art Summit is an art summit held in Dhaka, Bangladesh and is organised by Samdani Art Foundation, a non- profit art infrastructure development organisation founded by Nadia Samdani. and Rajeeb Samdani in 2011.
About
The summit displays ...
*
Dhaka Lit Fest
Dhaka Lit Fest (also known as Dhaka Literary Festival or DLF) is an annual literary festival held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Since 2012, it has been held every November in the grounds of Bangla Academy with sessions held over three days, primarily in E ...
Dhaka International Book Fair
The Dhaka International Book Fair ( bn, ঢাকা আন্তর্জাতিক বইমেলা), formerly the Dhaka Book Fair is a book fair held in Bangladesh's capital city Dhaka. It is one of the most prominent book fairs in Banglad ...
*
Dhaka International Trade Fair
Dhaka International Trade Fair (DITF) ( bn, ঢাকা আন্তর্জাতিক বাণিজ্য মেলা) is an international trade fair in Bangladesh. It is organized by the Export Promotion Bureau together with the Minist ...
*
Ekushey Book Fair
The Ekushey Book Fair ( bn, একুশে বই মেলা, Ekuśe Bôi Mela), officially called Amar Ekushey Grantha Mela ( bn, অমর একুশে গ্রন্থ মেলা, lit='Immortal Book Fair of the Twenty-first f February ...
Cuisine
Historically, Dhaka has been the culinary capital of Bengal in terms of
Mughlai cuisine
Mughlai cuisine consists of dishes developed in the medieval Indo-Persian cultural centres of the Mughal Empire. It represents a combination of cuisine of the Indian subcontinent with the cooking styles and recipes of Central Asian and Islami ...
. A distinct variant of Bengali-Mughlai cuisine evolved in the city. Chefs from Dhaka, the former Mughal provincial capital, served in the kitchens of the Nawabs of Bengal in Murshidabad. They invented the ''kachi biryani'', which is a variant of
biryani
Biryani () is a mixed rice dish originating among the Muslims of the Indian subcontinent. It is made with Indian spices, rice, and usually some type of meat (chicken, beef, goat, lamb, prawn, fish) or in some cases without any meat, and so ...
with mutton steaks and potatoes. One of the longest surviving outlets serving authentic ''kachi biryani'' is Fakhruddin's. ''Kachi biryani'' is highly popular in Bangladeshi cuisine, with food critic and former
MasterChef Australia
''MasterChef Australia'' is an Australian competitive cooking reality show based on the original British ''MasterChef''. It is produced by Endemol Shine Australia and screens on Network 10. Restaurateur and chef Gary Mehigan, chef George Cal ...
judge
Matt Preston
Matt Preston (born 21 July 1961) is an English-Australian food critic, writer and television presenter. He is best known for his role as a judge on Network Ten's ''MasterChef Australia'' between 2009 and 2019, and for his weekly national food ...
praising its use of potatoes. The Nawabi cuisine of Dhaka was notable for its ''patishapta'' dessert and the ''Kubali pulao''. The
korma
Korma or qorma (; ; ) is a dish originating in Indian subcontinent, consisting of meat or vegetables braised with yogurt ( dahi), water or stock, and spices to produce a thick sauce or gravy.
Etymology
The English name is an anglicisation of Hind ...
recipe of the Nawab family was included by
Madhur Jaffrey
Madhur Jaffrey CBE (née Bahadur; born 13 August 1933) is an Indian-British-American actress, food and travel writer, and television personality. She is recognized for bringing Indian cuisine to the western hemisphere with her debut cookbook, ...
in her cookbook "Madhur Jaffrey's Ultimate Curry Bible".
Bakarkhani
Bakarkhani or Baqarkhani, also known as bakar khani roti, is a thick, spiced flat-bread that is part of the Mughlai cuisine. Bakarkhani is prepared on certain Muslim religious festivals and is now popular as sweet bread.
Bakorkhani is almost ...
breads from Dhaka were served in the courts of Mughal rulers. Since 1939,
Haji biryani
Haji biryani (also known as Hajir biryani) is one of the oldest restaurants in the heart of Old Dhaka, Bangladesh, selling chevon biryani (dish made with highly seasoned rice and goat's meat). The restaurant also sells borhani (a salted mint drin ...
has been a leading biryani restaurant of the city. Dhaka also has a style of ''Murg Pulao'' (chicken biryani) which uses
turmeric
Turmeric () is a flowering plant, ''Curcuma longa'' (), of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae, the rhizomes of which are used in cooking. The plant is a perennial, rhizomatous, herbaceous plant native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asi ...
and ''
malai
Malai (Hindi: मलाई, Urdu: ) is a type of clotted cream, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent, especially, in regards to sweets from the Indian subcontinent. It is made by heating non ...
'' (cream of milk) together. Along with
South Asian cuisine
South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west.
Etymology
The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...
, a large variety of Western and
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine encompasses the numerous cuisines originating from China, as well as overseas cuisines created by the Chinese diaspora. Because of the Chinese diaspora and historical power of the country, Chinese cuisine has influenced many ot ...
is served at numerous restaurants and eateries. Upmarket areas include many Thai, Japanese and Korean restaurants.
During
Ramadan
, type = islam
, longtype = Religious
, image = Ramadan montage.jpg
, caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...
iftar
Iftar ( ar, translit=Iftar Ramadan, إفطار رمضان), also known as (from , , 'breakfast'), (), is the evening meal with which Muslims end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset. They break their fast at the time of the call to prayer (a ...
'' items. The ''
jilapi
''Jalebi'' (, , , Urdu: جلیبی, , , si, පැණි වළලු, ), is a popular sweet snack in south and west Asia, Africa, and Mauritius. It goes by many names, including ''jilapi'', ''zelepi'','' jilebi'', '' jilipi'', ''zulbia'', ...
'' of Dhaka are much thicker than counterparts in India and Pakistan. The
Shahi jilapi
Shahi jilapi ( bn, শাহী জিলাপি, Shahī Jilapi, Royal Jalebi) is a famous and traditional sweetmeat originating from Chowk Bazaar in Old Dhaka of Bangladesh, which is very popular throughout the country. Especially, in Ramada ...
(king's jilapi) is one of the thickest jilapi produced. The '' phuchka'' is a popular street food. Dhaka hosts an array of Bengali dessert chains which sell a wide variety of
sweets
Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called '' sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, i ...
.
Samosa
A samosa () or singara is a fried Indian pastry with a savory filling, including ingredients such as spiced potatoes, onions, and peas. It may take different forms, including triangular, cone, or half-moon shapes, depending on the region. Samo ...
s and ''shingaras'' are also widely eaten traditional snacks. In recent years, the number of Bangladeshi-owned burger outlets have increased across the city. Notable bakeries include the Prince of Wales bakery in Old Dhaka and the Cooper's chain.
Architecture
The architectural history of Dhaka can be subdivided into the Mughal, British and modern periods. As a result, Dhaka has landmarks of Mughal architecture,
Indo-Saracenic architecture
Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...
and
modernist architecture
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...
. The oldest brick structure in the city is the
Binat Bibi Mosque
Binot Bibi Mosque is the earliest surviving mosque in Dhaka built in 1454 by Bakht Binat, the daughter of Marhamat. It was built during the rule of the Sultan of Bengal, Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah (1435–1459). Binat Bibi Mosque is the earliest surv ...
, which was built in 1454 in the Narinda area of Dhaka during the reign of the Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah (r. 1435 – 1459) of the Bengal Sultanate. Old Dhaka is home to over 2000 buildings built between the 16th and 19th centuries, which form an integral part of Dhaka's cultural heritage. Modern Dhaka is often criticized as a concrete jungle. But there are hidden gems in the concrete jungle, including traces of Dhaka's Mughal and colonial past; as well as landmarks of modernist architecture.
In the old part of the city, the fading grandeur of the Mughal era is evident in the crumbling, neglected caravanserai like Bara Katra and Choto Katra. Some structures like the
Nimtali arch
The Nimtali arch (known in Bengali as Nimtali Deuri) is an arch in Dhaka, Bangladesh dating from the Mughal period. It was the gateway to the palace of the Naib Nazim of Dhaka, the deputy governor of Bengal Subah in the Mughal Empire. Today, the ...
have been restored. The old city features narrow alleyways with high-walled lanes and houses with indoor courtyards. The early 20th century government quarter in
Ramna
Ramna Thana ( bn, রমনা থানা) is a police jurisdiction in central Dhaka. It is a historic colonial neighborhood. Once the site of Mughal gardens, it developed into an institutional area during British rule in the late 19th centu ...
includes stately colonial buildings set amidst gardens and parks. Among colonial buildings, the Curzon Hall stands out for "synthesizing imperial grandiosity with sporadic Mughal motifs, the imposing building symbolizes how the colonial administration sought to include elements of 'local' architecture as a way to show its sensitivity to native culture, which they hoped would counter growing nationalist sentiments among the natives".
Amongst modernist buildings, the Grameenphone headquarters is described as "a paradigm setter for corporate Bangladesh". The Museum of Independence and its attached national monument were inspired by the "land-water mysticism of deltaic Bengal" and the "evocative expansiveness of a Roman forum or the geographical assemblage of an Egyptian ''mastaba'' sanctuary". Dhaka's Art Institute, designed by
Muzharul Islam
Muzharul Islam (25 December 1923 – 15 July 2012) was a Bangladeshi architect, urban planner, educator and activist. He is considered as the Grand Master of regional modernism in South Asia. Islam is the pioneer of modern architecture in Bang ...
, was the pioneering building of Bengali regional modernism. The vast expanse of the national parliament complex was designed by
Louis Kahn
Louis Isadore Kahn (born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky; – March 17, 1974) was an Estonian-born American architect based in Philadelphia. After working in various capacities for several firms in Philadelphia, he founded his own atelier in 1935. Whi ...
. It is celebrated as Dhaka's pre-eminent civic space. The national parliament complex comprises 200 acres (800,000 m2) in the heart of the city. The
Kamalapur railway station
Kamalapur Railway Station, officially known as Dhaka Railway Station, is the central railway station in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh. It is the largest station and the busiest infrastructure for transportation in the country that acts as a gatew ...
was designed by American architect
Robert Boughey
Robert Boughey (born 1940) is an American architect born in Pennsylvania, United States. He completed his Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York in 1959 and received Diploma in Tropical Studies from AA School of Archi ...
. In the last few decades, Bangladesh's new wave of cultural architecture has been influenced by Bengali aesthetics and the environment.
City Centre Bangladesh
City Centre Dhaka is a skyscraper located in Motijheel, Dhaka, and is the tallest building in Bangladesh. It is located at the heart of Motijheel, It rises up to a height of . It topped-out in 2012, and since is the tallest building in both Dhak ...
is currently the tallest building in the city.
Haturia House - Khanka E Aliya - Dhaka by NKS.jpg, Haturia House, a single floor house built in the Curzon Hall style
DG 26 -08 RUP LAL HOUSE FARAS GONJ 1680 DHAKA IMG 4433.jpg,
Ruplal House
Ruplal House (formerly known as Aratoon House) is a 19th-century mansion in Farashganj area in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was built on the northern bank of the Buriganga River, beside the Buckland Dam. The house was built in 1825 by an Armenian busine ...
and the
Buriganga River
The Buriganga River ( bn, বুড়িগঙ্গা, ''Buŗigônga'', ) is a river in Bangladesh which flows past the southwest outskirts of the capital city, Dhaka. Its average depth is and its maximum depth is . It ranks among the most p ...
Ahsan Manzil fort.jpg,
Ahsan Manzil
Ahsan Manzil is the erstwhile official residential palace and seat of the Nawab of Dhaka. The building is situated at Kumartoli along the banks of the Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Construction was started in 1859 and was completed in ...
was the residence of the Nawabs of Dhaka
Khan Mohammad Mirdhas Mosque Dome by Ragib Hasan.jpg,
Khan Mohammad Mridha Mosque
The Khan Mohammad Mirza Mosque is a historical mosque near Lalbagh Fort in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
History
The mosque was built in Atish Khan Mahalla by Khan Mohammad Mridha under the instruction of Qadi Ibadullah in 1706 CE. The mosque rises above it ...
Meghna Residence.jpg, A building designed by
Rafiq Azam
Muhammad Rafiq Azam (born 29 December 1963) is a Bangladeshi architect who is principal architect at Shatotto Architecture.
Career
Azam graduated from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 1989.
In 2016, Dhaka South City Co ...
Chistiya Palace - Dhanmondi Lake - Dhaka 2015-05-31 1917.JPG, Chistia Palace is a modernist castle and one of the most famous private residences in Dhaka
ABC Tower (17942357334).jpg, ABC Tower on Kemal Ataturk Avenue
বায়তুর রউফ মসজিদ.jpg,
Bait Ur Rouf Mosque
The Bait Ur Rouf Mosque ( bn, বায়তুর রউফ জামে মসজিদ, ar, الجامع بيت الرؤوف) is a distinctive urban mosque located in an economically-challenged area of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Designed by Banglades ...
designed by
Marina Tabassum
Marina Tabassum (born ) is a Bangladeshi architect. She is the principal architect of Marina Tabassum Architects. In 2016, she won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the design of Bait Ur Rouf Mosque, Bait-ur-Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, Bangladesh. ...
Gulshan Society Jame Masjid 02.jpg,
Gulshan Society Mosque
The Gulshan Society Mosque, also called Gulshan Society Jame Masjid (), is a Mosque in Banani Model Town, a neighbourhood in Dhaka. It was planned by Kashef Chowdhury and completed in 2017.
History
The Gulshan Society Mosque has seen a number ...
designed by
Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury
Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury is a Bangladeshi architect.
Early life and education
Chowdhury was born in Dhaka, the son of a civil engineer, growing up in Bangladesh and the Middle East before graduating in architecture from the Bangladesh University ...
Publishing and media
In 1849, the Kattra Press became the first printing press in the city. The name eludes to the '' katra'', the Bengali word for caravanserai. In 1856, ''
Dacca News
The ''Dacca News'' was the first English periodical in Bengal Presidency, eastern Bengal. It was a weekly English newspaper and was first published on 18 April 1856. The newspaper was published from Dhaka Press, whose owners were English, Armenian ...
'' became the first English language newspaper in the city. The Dacca News Press was the first commercial printing press in the city. Books published in Dhaka stirred discourse in the social and literary circles of Bengal. The Bengal Library Catalogue records the expansion of the publishing industry during the 1860s. Between 1877 and 1895, there were 45 printing presses in Dhaka. Between 1863 and 1900, more than a hundred Islamic
puthi
A Puthi ( bn, পুঁথি, Nagari: , Perso-Arab: پوتھی), is a book or writing of poetic fairy tales and religious stories of Bengal and present-day East India, which were read by a senior "educated" person while others would listen. This ...
were published in Dhaka. Bookshops sprang up in Chowkbazaar, Islampur, Mughaltuli and Patuatuli. Albert Library was a den for leftwing activists. After partition, the number of publishing houses in Dhaka rose from 27 in 1947 to 88 in 1966. Prominent bookshops included Wheeler's bookstall and Presidency Library. Banglabazaar has since become the hub of the book trade. Bookworm is a famous local book shop which has been located adjacent to the Prime Minister's Office for three decades, until being ordered to relocate in 2022.
Dhaka is the center of the national media in Bangladesh. It is home to the state-owned
Bangladesh Television
Bangladesh Television ( bn, বাংলাদেশ টেলিভিশন), commonly known by its acronym BTV ( bn, বিটিভি), is the state-owned television network of Bangladesh. The network was originally established as the East ...
and
Bangladesh Betar
Bangladesh Betar ( bn, বাংলাদেশ বেতার; ), or BB is the state-owned radio broadcaster of Bangladesh, initially established as the Dhaka station of All India Radio in 1939. It was later made part of Radio Pakistan. After t ...
. In recent years, the number of privately-owned television channels and radio stations have increased greatly. There are over two dozen Bengali language television channels in the private sector, including 24 hour news channels. Radio is also popular across the city. Dhaka is home to national newspapers, including Bengali newspapers like ''
Prothom Alo
''The Daily Prothom Alo'' ( bn, প্রথম আলো) is a daily newspaper in Bangladesh, published from Dhaka in the Bengali language. It is the largest circulated newspaper in Bangladesh. According to National Media Survey 2018, conducte ...
Inqilab
''Inqilab'' is a 2008 Indian documentary film directed by Gauhar Raza, about Indian freedom fighter, Bhagat Singh, co-produced by Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) and Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) in connection with birth c ...
'', ''
Janakantha
Daily Janakantha ( bn, দৈনিক জনকণ্ঠ ''Dainik Janakanṭha'' "Daily People's Voice") is a Bengali daily newspaper published from Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is owned by Janakantha Shilpa Paribar (GJSP). This newspaper was first publ ...
'', and ''
Jugantor
''Daily Jugantor'' ( bn, দৈনিক যুগান্তর) is a Bengali daily newspaper in Bangladesh. The newspaper is printed and published by Jamuna Printing and Publishing Ltd. established in 1999, and administrative operations are o ...
Dhaka Tribune
The ''Dhaka Tribune'' is a major Bangladeshi English-language daily newspaper based in Dhaka, the country's capital and largest city. It also operates an online Bengali version known as the ''Bangla Tribune''. The newspaper has a strong readershi ...
'', and ''
New Age
New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
''. Broadcast media based in Dhaka include
Gaan Bangla
Gaan Bangla ( bn, গান বাংলা; ), also known by the GB acronym, is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language music television channel owned by One More Zero Group. It was launched on 13 January 2013, and, at launch, was Bangladesh's second mu ...
,
Banglavision
Banglavision ( bn, বাংলাভিশন) is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language satellite and cable television channel owned by Shamol Bangla Media Limited, commencing official broadcasts on 31 March 2006. Its name is a portmanteau of " ban ...
,
DBC News
DBC News ( bn, ডিবিসি নিউজ; Dhaka Bangla Channel) is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language satellite and cable news television channel, owned and operated by Dhaka Bangla Media & Communication Ltd. The Chairman of the channel is Iqbal ...
,
Somoy TV
Somoy Television () is a Bangladeshi Bengali-language satellite and cable 24-hour Bengali television channel, headquartered at 89, Bir Uttam CR Dutta Road, Banglamotor, Dhaka. It has a broadcast NOC license from the government of the People's Rep ...
Dhaka has the largest number of schools, colleges and universities of any Bangladeshi city. The education system is divided into five levels: primary (from grades 1 to 5), junior (from grades 6 to 8), secondary (from grades 9 to 10), higher secondary (from grades 11 to 12) and tertiary. The five years of primary education concludes with a Primary School Completion (PSC) Examination, the three years of junior education concludes with
Junior School Certificate The Junior School Certificate (JSC) is a public examination taken by students in Bangladesh after successful completion of eight years of schooling. It is followed by the Secondary School Certificate (SSC).
Before the JSC was introduced, an exam wa ...
(JSC) Examination. Next, two years of secondary education concludes with a
Secondary School Certificate
The Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC), Matriculation examination, is a public examination in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan conducted by educational boards for the successful completion of the seco ...
(SSC) Examination. Students who pass this examination proceed to two years of higher secondary or intermediate training, which culminate in a
Higher Secondary School Certificate
The Higher Secondary School Certificate is a secondary qualification in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
Higher Secondary Education
The Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in Bangladesh recognises "Higher Secondary Education" und ...
(HSC) Examination. Education is mainly offered in Bengali. However, English is also widely taught and used. Many Muslim families send their children to attend part-time courses or even to pursue full-time religious education alongside other subjects, which is imparted in Bengali and Arabic in schools, colleges and
madrasas
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
Dhaka College
Dhaka College ( bn, ঢাকা কলেজ also known as DC) is the oldest secular educational institution of Bangladesh located in Dhaka. It offers higher secondary education ( HSC). It has Honours and Masters programs as well which are aff ...
is the oldest institution for higher education in the city and among the earliest established in British India, founded in 1841. Since independence, Dhaka has seen the establishment of numerous public and private colleges and universities that offer undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as a variety of doctoral programmes. The
University of Dhaka
The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...
is the oldest public university in the country which has more than 30,000 students and 1,800 faculty staff. It was established in 1921 being the first university in the region. The university has 23 research centers and 70 departments, faculties and institutes. Eminent seats of higher education include
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, commonly known by the acronym BUET, is a public technological research university in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in 1876 as the Dacca Survey School, it is the oldest institution for the study ...
(BUET),
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) is a graduate medical university in Bangladesh. It was established in 1965. The university offers postgraduate degrees only, not offering undergraduate medical or dental degrees.
History
Est ...
(BSMMU),
Jagannath University
Jagannath University (JnU) ( bn, জগন্নাথ বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় ''Jagannātha biśbabidyālaẏa'', University Acrostic : জবি or JnU) is a state-funded public university at 9–10, Chittaranjan Avenue in Sa ...
and
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University ( bn, শেরেবাংলা কৃষি বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, Sher-e-Bangla Krishi Bishwabidyaloy) or SAU ''(শেকৃবি)'' is the oldest agriculture educational institution ...
.
Dhaka Medical College
Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (abbreviated DMCH) is a public medical college and hospital located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. It houses medical school as well as a tertiary care hospital on one campus.
The country's first eve ...
and
Sir Salimullah Medical College
Sir Salimullah Medical College (SSMC) is a public medical college in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The medical college has been producing quality physicians, eminent researchers and health policy makers who are currently working in different medical secto ...
are two of the best medical colleges in the country. Founded in 1875, the Dhaka Medical School was the first medical school in British East Bengal, which became Sir Salimullah Medical College in 1962. Other government medical colleges are
Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College
Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College (ShSMC) is a public medical college and hospital located in Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh.
This medical college is the third public medical college in the government medical college rank after DMC & SSM ...
Asiatic Society of Bangladesh
The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh is a non political and non profit research organisation registered under both Society Act of 1864 and NGO Bureau, Government of Bangladesh. The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh was established as the Asiatic Society ...
Bangla Academy
The Bangla Academy ( bn, বাংলা একাডেমি, ) is an autonomous institution funded by the Bangladesh government to foster the Bengali language, literature and culture, to develop and implement national language policy and to d ...
*
Bangladesh Academy of Sciences
Bangladesh Academy of Sciences is an academic forum for Bangladeshi scientists and technologists. Established in 1973, it aims to fulfill the role of promoting research and development of sciences in Bangladesh.
History
After the partition of ...
*
Bangladesh Enterprise Institute
Bangladesh Enterprise Institute () is a private research institute and independent think tank. Salman F Rahman is the chairman of the board of governors and members include Ragib Ali. The institute is run by Farooq Sobhan and Ambassador M. Humayun ...
*
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies
The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) ( bn, বাংলাদেশ উন্নয়ন গবেষণা প্রতিষ্ঠান (বিআইডিএস)) is an autonomous multi-disciplinary public research organi ...
*
Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) is a think tank in Bangladesh working to develop national capabilities in addressing resource management, environment and development (RMED) issues by use of existing intellectual, technology and manpowe ...
*
Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs
The Bangladesh Institute of Law and International Affairs (BILIA) was established in Bangladesh as a government-funded think tank on various affairs of law and foreign policy. A future president of Bangladesh, Abdus Sattar ʻAbd al-Sattār (ALA- ...
Centre for Policy Dialogue
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), established in 1993 by Rehman Sobhan, its Founder chairman, with support from leading civil society institutions in Bangladesh, is mandated by its Deed of Trust to service the growing demand originating f ...
*
Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) is a Bangladesh-based intergovernmental organization involved in rural development and poverty alleviation. It was established on 6 July 1979 at the initiative of the countries ...
*
International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
ICDDR,B (formerly known as the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh) is an international health research organisation located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Dedicated to saving lives through research and treatment, ICDDR,B a ...
*
International Jute Study Group
The International Jute Study Group (IJSG) is an intergovernmental organization of states that functions as the international commodity board for jute, kenaf, and related fibres. The IJSG functions as a body of the United Nations Conference on Tra ...
Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization
The Bangladesh Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization, or SPARRSO, is a state agency concerned with astronomical research and the application of space technology in Bangladesh. SPARRSO works closely with JAXA, NASA and the ESA in environme ...
*
Yunus Centre
The Yunus Centre, in Dhaka, Bangladesh is a think tank for issues related to social business, working in the field of poverty alleviation and sustainability. It is 'aimed primarily at promoting and disseminating Professor Yunus’ philosophy, wit ...
Sports
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
and Association football, football are the two most popular sports in Dhaka and across the nation. Teams are fielded in intra-city and national competitions by many schools, colleges and private entities. The Dhaka Metropolis cricket team represents Dhaka City in the National Cricket League, the oldest domestic first-class cricket competition in Bangladesh. The Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League, Dhaka Premier League is the only domestic List A cricket tournament now in Bangladesh. It gained List A status in 2013–14 Bangladeshi cricket season, 2013–14 season. In domestic Twenty20 cricket, Dhaka has a Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) franchise known as Minister Dhaka.
Dhaka has the distinction of having hosted the first official Test cricket match of the Pakistan cricket team in 1954 against India. The Bangabandhu National Stadium was formerly the main venue for domestic and international cricket matches, but now exclusively hosts football matches. It hosted the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, while the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, exclusively used for cricket, hosted 6 matches of the tournament including two 2011 Cricket World Cup knockout stage#Quarter-finals, quarter-final matches. Dhaka has also hosted the South Asian Games three times, in 1985 South Asian Games, 1985, 1993 South Asian Games, 1993 and 2010 South Asian Games, 2010. Dhaka is the first city to host the games three times. The Bangabandhu National Stadium was the main venue for all three editions. Dhaka also hosted the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, along with Chittagong and Sylhet, in 2014 ICC World Twenty20, 2014.
The Dhaka Derby between Mohammedan Sporting Club (Dhaka), Mohammedan Sporting Club and Abahani Limited Dhaka, Abahani, two of the most famous football teams in the country, maintaining a fierce rivalry over the years, especially in the Bangladesh Football Premier League and previously in the historic Dhaka League, which is the second oldest league in South Asia, commencing in 1948. Along with the two Dhaka giants, Brothers Union and Muktijoddha Sangsad KC, Muktijoddha KC are also among the well renowned clubs residing in the capital. The Bangabandhu National Stadium, also known as the Dhaka Stadium, has been the main venue for the Bangladesh national football team and Bangladesh women's national football team, since 2005. Dhaka Stadium has also hosted the SAFF Championship on three occasions. The stadium was used as the main venue for the 2003 South Asian Football Federation Gold Cup, 2003 SAFF Championship, which was Bangladesh's first ever SAFF triumph.
The National Sports Council, responsible for promoting sports activities across the nation, is based in Dhaka. Dhaka also has stadiums largely used for domestic events such as the Bangladesh Army Stadium, the Bir Sherestha Shaheed Shipahi Mostafa Kamal Stadium, the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium, the Maulana Bhasani Hockey Stadium and the Outer Stadium Ground. The Dhaka University Ground and the BUET Sports Ground host many intercollegiate tournaments.
There are two golf courses in Dhaka, Army Golf Club and Kurmitola Golf Club.
Transport
Public transportation
Dhaka suffers some of the worst traffic congestion in the world. The city lacks an organized public transport system. Cycle rickshaws and auto rickshaw#Bangladesh, auto rickshaws are the main mode of transport within the metro area, with close to 400,000 rickshaws running each day: the highest number in any city in the world. However, only about 85,000 rickshaws are licensed by the city government. Relatively low-cost and non-polluting cycle rickshaws are superior to private cars, which are exclusively responsible for Dhaka's congestion. The government has overseen the replacement of two-stroke engine auto rickshaws with "green auto-rickshaws", which run on
compressed natural gas
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is a fuel gas mainly composed of methane (CH4), compressed to less than 1% of the volume it occupies at standard atmospheric pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers at a pressure of , usually in cy ...
.
Public buses are operated by the state-run Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) and by numerous private companies and operators. There are three inter-district bus terminals in Dhaka, which are located in the Mohakhali, Saidabad and Gabtoli areas of the city. It is now planned to move three inter-district bus terminals to outside of the city. Highway links to the Indian cities of Kolkata, Agartala, Guwahati and
Shillong
Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...
have been established by the BRTC and private bus companies which also run regular international bus services to those cities from Dhaka. Limited numbers of taxis are available. It is planned to raise the total number of taxis to 18,000 gradually. Ride-sharing services like Uber and Pathao as well as Scooter (motorcycle), scooters and privately owned cars are popular modes of transportation.
Road
Dhaka is connected to the other parts of the country through highway and railway links. Five of the eight major List of roads in Bangladesh#Roads and highways, national highways of Bangladesh start from the city: N1 (Bangladesh), N1, N2 (Bangladesh), N2, N3 (Bangladesh), N3, N5 (Bangladesh), N5 and N8 (Bangladesh), N8. Dhaka is also directly connected to the two longest routes of the Asian Highway Network: AH1 and AH2, as well as to the AH41 route. Highway links to the Indian cities of Kolkata, Agartala, Guwahati and
Shillong
Shillong () is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India, which means "The Abode of Clouds". It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in ...
have been established by the BRTC and private bus companies which also run regular international bus services to those cities from Dhaka. As of 2022, The elevated controlled-access highway, expressway is still under construction. The Dhaka Elevated Expressway would run from Shahjalal International Airport-Kuril-Banani-Mohakhali-Tejgaon-Saatrasta-Moghbazar Rail Crossing-Khilgaon-Kamalapur-Golapbagh to Dhaka-Chittagong Highway at Kutubkhali Point. Dhaka Elevated Expressway is set to open in 2022 partially. A second elevated expressway named Dhaka-Ashulia Elevated Expressway is expected to be opened in 2026. Dhaka was introduced t Japanese automobiles in the late 1990's This resulted in the car industry to bloom, but this also caused a rise in traffic to the streets of Dhaka.
Waterway
The Dhaka Sadarghat, Sadarghat River Port on the banks of the Buriganga River serves for the transport of goods and passengers upriver and to other ports in Bangladesh. Inter-city and inter-district motor vessels and passenger-ferry services are used by many people to travel riverine regions of the country from the city. Water taxi, Water bus services are available on Buriganga River and Hatirjheel and Gulshan lakes. Water buses of the Buriganga River ferry passengers on the Sadarghat to Gabtali route. Water taxis in Hatirjheel and Gulshan lakes provide connectivity via two routes, one route between Tejgaon and Gulshan and the other route between the Tejgaon and Rampura areas.
Rail
Kamalapur railway station
Kamalapur Railway Station, officially known as Dhaka Railway Station, is the central railway station in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh. It is the largest station and the busiest infrastructure for transportation in the country that acts as a gatew ...
, situated in the north-east side of Motijheel, is the largest and busiest among the railway stations in the city. It was designed by American architect
Robert Boughey
Robert Boughey (born 1940) is an American architect born in Pennsylvania, United States. He completed his Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York in 1959 and received Diploma in Tropical Studies from AA School of Archi ...
, and was completed in 1969. The state-owned Bangladesh Railway provides suburban and national services, with regular express train services connecting Dhaka with other major urban areas, such as Chittagong, Rajshahi, Khulna, Sylhet and Rangpur City, Rangpur. The Maitree Express provides connection from Dhaka to Kolkata, one of the largest cities in India.
In 2013, suburban services to Narayanganj and Gazipur City, Gazipur cities were upgraded using Diesel multiple unit#Diesel-electric, diesel electric multiple unit trains.
The Dhaka Metro Rail feasibility study has been completed. A , $2.8-billion Phase 1 metro route is being negotiated by the Government with Japan International Cooperation Agency. The first route, originally projected to start from Uttara (Town), Uttara, a northern suburb of Dhaka, to Sayedabad, in the south of the capital, was eventually extended north to Uttara and truncated south to Motijheel. Initiatives have been taken to extend MRT Line-6 from Motijheel to Kamalapur. Topographic Survey has already been completed. Social Survey in progress. The length of this part is 1.17 km. This will enable the passengers of Kamalapur railway station to travel by metro rail. The route consists of 16 elevated stations each long. Construction began on 26 June 2016.
Air
Shahjalal International Airport, located north of Dhaka city centre, is the largest and busiest international airport in the country. The airport has an area of . The airport has a capacity of handling 15 million passengers annually, and is predicted by the Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh to be sufficient to meet demand until 2026. In 2014, it handled 6.1 million passengers, and 248,000 tonnes of cargo. Average aircraft movement per day is around 190 flights. It is the hub of all List of airlines of Bangladesh, Bangladeshi airlines. Domestic service flies to Chittagong, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Cox's Bazar, Jessore (city), Jessore, Barisal, Saidpur, Bangladesh, Saidpur and international services fly to major cities in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. A third international terminal is under construction and it is expected to be operational in 2023. According to the project design, the third terminal will have 12 boarding bridges and 12 conveyor belts. The terminal will have 115 check-in counters, 59 immigration desks. Another large scale airport known as Bangabandhu international airport has been proposed to be built outside Dhaka.
Twin towns – sister cities
* Kolkata, India
*
New York City
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, United States
* Guangzhou,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
* Bucharest, Romania
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See also
* List of districts and suburbs of Dhaka
* List of places of worship in Dhaka city
* List of largest cities
* List of metropolitan areas in Asia
* List of most expensive cities for expatriate employees
* List of urban agglomerations in Asia
* Mia Shaheb Moidan
Dhaka History
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Dhaka,
Capitals in Asia
Populated places in Dhaka Division
South Asia
Cities in Bangladesh
Articles containing video clips
17th-century BC establishments
Capitals of Bengal
Populated places established in 1608