Gazipur ( bn, গাজীপুর) is a district in central
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 ...
, part of the
Dhaka Division
Dhaka Division ( bn, ঢাকা বিভাগ, ''Ḑhaka Bibhag'') is an administrative division within Bangladesh. Dhaka serves as the capital city of the Dhaka Division, the Dhaka District and Bangladesh. The division remains a populati ...
. It has an area of 1741.53 km
2.
It is the home district of
Tajuddin Ahmad
Tajuddin Ahmad ( bn, তাজউদ্দীন আহমদ; ; 23 July 1925 – 3 November 1975) was a Bangladeshi politician and statesman. He led the Provisional Government of Bangladesh as its prime minister during the Bangladesh Liberat ...
, the first
Prime Minister of Bangladesh
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের প্রধানমন্ত্রী, translit=Bangladesher Prodhanmontri), officially Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজা ...
and has been a prominent centre of battles and movements throughout history. Gazipur is home to the
Bishwa Ijtema
The Bishwa Ijtema ( bn, বিশ্ব ইজতেমা , meaning Global Congregation) is an annual gathering of Muslims in Tongi, by the banks of the River Turag, in the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is one of the largest peaceful ...
, the second-largest annual Muslim gathering in the world with over 5 million attendees.
There are many facilities available in this district as it contains numerous universities, colleges, the
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park is a safari park in Gazipur, Bangladesh. This safari park is spread over 3810 acres (1542 ha) of Sal Forest which makes it one of the largest safari parks in the world and the largest in Asia. It was inau ...
,
Bhawal National Park as well as the country's only
business park
A business park or office park is a designated area of land in which many office buildings are grouped together. These types of developments are often located in suburban areas where land and building costs are more affordable, and are typicall ...
- the
Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City
Bangabandhu Hi-Tech City (BHTC) is a business park in Kaliakair, Gazipur District, Bangladesh. Originally called Kaliakoir Hi-Tech Park, after the municipality in which it is located, it was renamed in June 2016 to honor ''Bangabandhu'' (Father o ...
.
History
The ancient city of Dholsamudra in present-day Gazipur served as one of the capitals of the Buddhist
Pala Empire
The Pāla Empire (r. 750-1161 CE) was an imperial power during the post-classical period in the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of Bengal. It is named after its ruling dynasty, whose rulers bore names ending with the suffi ...
. In the sixth century, forts were built in
Toke and Ekdala which continued to be used as late as the
Mughal Period
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 ...
. The area became known as a strategic region with the establishment of more forts such as that of Karnapur, the digging of the Twin Ponds in 1045. Chinashkhania was the capital of the Chandalas and Shishu Pal had his capital in modern-day
Sreepur, which the ruins of can still be seen today. Another fort was built in Dardaria in 1200.
[
During the reign of the ]Sultan of Bengal
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 domina ...
Alauddin Husain Shah
Ala-ud-din Husain Shah ( bn, আলাউদ্দিন হোসেন শাহ (1494–1519)Majumdar, R.C. (ed.) (2006). ''The Delhi Sultanate'', Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, pp.215-20 was an independent late medieval Sultan of Bengal, who ...
(1494-1519), an Islamic scholar known as Shaykh Muhammad ibn Yazdan Bakhsh Bengali visited Ekdala where he transcribed Sahih al-Bukhari
Sahih al-Bukhari ( ar, صحيح البخاري, translit=Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī), group=note is a ''hadith'' collection and a book of '' sunnah'' compiled by the Persian scholar Muḥammad ibn Ismā‘īl al-Bukhārī (810–870) around 846. Al ...
and gifted it to the Sultan in nearby 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 on ...
. The manuscript is currently kept at the Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library
Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Library, in Patna, Bihar, is one of the national libraries of India. It was opened to the public on the 29th of October in 1891 by HMJ Sir Khan Bahadur Khuda Bakhsh. Its collection started with 4,000 of Bakhsh's own manus ...
in Bankipore, Patna
Patna (
), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...
, 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 ...
.
The anti-Mughal leader of the Baro-Bhuiyan
The Baro-Bhuyans (or ''Baro-Bhuyan Raj''; also ''Baro-Bhuians'' and Baro-Bhuiyans) refers to the confederacies of soldier-landowners in Assam and Bengal in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. The confederacies consisted of loose ...
s, 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 ...
, died of natural causes in September 1599. He was buried in the village of Bakhtarpur. During the governorship of Subahdar Mir Jumla II
Mir Jumla II (1591 – 30 March 1663) was a prominent subahdar of Bengal under the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb.
Early life
Mir Jumla was born as Mir Mohammad Sayyid Ardistani in Iran in 1591 to a poor oil merchant of Isfahan named Mirza Hazaru ...
, a bridge was constructed in Tongi
Tongi ( bn, টঙ্গী) is a major township in Gazipur District, Gazipur, Bangladesh, with a population of 350,000. It hosts the Biswa Ijtema and features a Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industry Corporation, BSCIC industrial area, which prod ...
.
The British colonials built 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 ...
factories in Raniganj and Barmi. The first armed resistance of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War
The Bangladesh Liberation War ( bn, মুক্তিযুদ্ধ, , also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, or simply the Liberation War in Bangladesh) was a revolution and War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Benga ...
took place in Gazipur on 19 March 1971.
Demographics
According to the 2011 Bangladesh census
In 2011, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, conducted a national census in Bangladesh, which provided a provisional estimate of the total population of the country as 142,319,000. The previous decennial census was the 2001 census. Data were reco ...
, Gazipur District had a population of 3,403,912, of which 1,775,310 were males and 1,628,602 were females. Rural population was 2,366,338 (69.52%) while urban population was 1,037,574 (30.48%). Gazipur had a literacy rate of 62.60% for the population 7 years and above: 65.96% for males and 58.12% for females.
At the time of the 2011 census, the district has a population of 3,403,912. 94.02% are 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 ...
, 5.19% Hindus
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and 0.70% Christians. Unlike most of Bangladesh, religious minorities are more concentrated in rural areas than urban areas.
Administration
Gazipur District was established in 1984. It has one city corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally own ...
, the Gazipur City Corporation
Gazipur City Corporation ( bn, গাজীপুর সিটি কর্পোরেশন - in short: GCC) established in 2013, is one of the city corporations of Bangladesh. Gazipur City Corporation's total area is 329.23 square kilometers w ...
, and is divided into the following upazilas:
* Gazipur Sadar Upazila
Gazipur Sadar ( bn, গাজীপুর সদর) is an upazila (sub-district) of the Gazipur District in central Bangladesh, part of the Dhaka Division.
Gazipur Sadar is one of the five upazilas in the Gazipur district. It is bordered by the u ...
* Kaliakair Upazila
Kaliakair ( bn, কালিয়াকৈর) is an upazila (sub-district) of the Gazipur District in central Bangladesh, part of the Dhaka Division.
Geography
Kaliakair is located at . It has 45565 households and total area 314.14 km2. It ...
* Kapasia Upazila
Kapasia ( bn, কাপাসিয়া) is an upazila (sub-district) of Gazipur District in central Bangladesh, part of the Dhaka Division. It is located at , and is best known as the home upazila of Tajuddin Ahmad, the first Prime Minister of B ...
* Sreepur Upazila Sreepur is a city in Bangladesh. Sreepur also may refer to: Bangladesh
* Sreepur Upazila, Gazipur
* Sreepur Upazila, Magura
Sreepur ( bn, শ্রীপুর (মাগুরা)) is an upazila of Magura District in the Division of Khulna, Bangla ...
* Kaliganj Upazila
Gazipur (town) has 9 Wards and 31 Mahallas. The area of the town is 49.32 km2. The town's population is 123,531; male 52.52%, female 47.48%; density is 2,505 per km2.
* Mayor Of Gazipur City Corporation: Jahangir Alam
* Administrator of Zila Parishod: Akhteruzzaman
* Deputy Commissioner: Nurul Islam
Transport
* Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
-Tongi
Tongi ( bn, টঙ্গী) is a major township in Gazipur District, Gazipur, Bangladesh, with a population of 350,000. It hosts the Biswa Ijtema and features a Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industry Corporation, BSCIC industrial area, which prod ...
diversion road connects 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.
Demogr ...
with Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; bn, ঢাকা, Ḍhākā, ), formerly known as Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh, as well as the world's largest Bengali-speaking city. It is the eighth largest and sixth most densely populated city ...
.
* Dhaka-Savar-Tangail road connects Gazipur With Savar and Manikgonj.
* There are seven railway stations in the Gazipur district.
Education
There are six universities in Gazipur: Islamic University of Technology
Islamic University of Technology ( bn, ইসলামিক ইউনিভার্সিটি অব টেকনোলজি), commonly known as IUT, is an international university located in Gazipur, Bangladesh. IUT offers undergraduate ...
, (formerly the Institute of Postgraduate Studies on Agriculture), , Bangladesh Open University
The Bangladesh Open University ( bn, বাংলাদেশ উন্মুক্ত বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়) or BOU is a public university with its main campus in Board Bazar, Gazipur District, Dhaka Division. It is the Lis ...
, German University Bangladesh,Bangladesh National University
The National University of Bangladesh ( bn, জাতীয় বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, বাংলাদেশ ) is a public university of Bangladesh that was established by an Act of Parliament as an affiliating University ...
, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Digital University.
Establishments such as Gazipur Cantonment College, Islamic University of Technology
Islamic University of Technology ( bn, ইসলামিক ইউনিভার্সিটি অব টেকনোলজি), commonly known as IUT, is an international university located in Gazipur, Bangladesh. IUT offers undergraduate ...
, Bangladesh Rice Research Institute
Bangladesh Rice Research Institute () is an agricultural research institute in Bangladesh, located in Gazipur
Gazipur ( bn, গাজীপুর) is a city in central Bangladesh. It is located in the Gazipur District. It is a major industri ...
(BRRI), Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) and others are located here.
There are two masters level colleges in the district: Bhawal Badre Alam Government College
Bhawal Badre Alam Government College, is a government educational institution located in Gazipur district of Bangladesh, popularly known as Bhawal College. It is located along Dhaka-Tangail highway near Gazipur intersection. It was established in ...
and Tongi Government College
The National University of Bangladesh ( bn, জাতীয় বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়, বাংলাদেশ ) is a public university of Bangladesh that was established by an Act of Parliament as an affiliating University ...
.
There are 19 degree colleges in the district. Honors level colleges include: Kaliakair Degree College, Jatir Pita Bangabandhu Degree College, Kaligonj Sramik College, Kapasia Degree College
Kapasia ( bn, কাপাসিয়া) is an upazila (sub-district) of Gazipur District in central Bangladesh, part of the Dhaka Division. It is located at , and is best known as the home upazila of Tajuddin Ahmad, the first Prime Minister of B ...
(founded in 1965), and Kazi Azim Uddin College.
Notable higher secondary schools include Gazipur Cantonment College, Gazipur Government Women's College, Safiuddin Sarker Academy and College
Safiuddin Sarker Academy and College ( bn, সফিউদ্দিন সরকার একাডেমি এন্ড কলেজ), also known as SSAC, is an educational institution with two shifts, located at Tongi, Gazipur Sadar Upazila, G ...
, Gazipur Metropolitan College
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 ...
, M. E. H. Arif College
M. E. H. Arif College ( bn, এম.ই.এইচ আরিফ কলেজ) is a higher secondary school located at Konabari, Gazipur Sadar Upazila, Gazipur District, Bangladesh. It offers 7 years (Play-Class Five) primary education (Under Great M ...
, and Tongi Pilot School & Girls' College.
The madrasa education system includes 26 fazil and 3 kamil madrasas.
Tourist attractions
Gazipur is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Bangladesh. There are several tourist attractions in this area. Most notable are:
* Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park
Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Safari Park is a safari park in Gazipur, Bangladesh. This safari park is spread over 3810 acres (1542 ha) of Sal Forest which makes it one of the largest safari parks in the world and the largest in Asia. It was inau ...
* Bhawal National Park
* Nuhash Polli
* Bhadun
Establishments
* ওয়েলফশন মানবকল্যাণ সংঘ (EN- Welftion Human Welfare Association)
Notable people
* Tajuddin Ahmad
Tajuddin Ahmad ( bn, তাজউদ্দীন আহমদ; ; 23 July 1925 – 3 November 1975) was a Bangladeshi politician and statesman. He led the Provisional Government of Bangladesh as its prime minister during the Bangladesh Liberat ...
, first Prime Minister of Bangladesh
The Prime Minister of Bangladesh ( bn, বাংলাদেশের প্রধানমন্ত্রী, translit=Bangladesher Prodhanmontri), officially Prime Minister of the People's Republic of Bangladesh ( bn, গণপ্রজা ...
* Afsaruddin Ahmad
Afsaruddin Ahmad Khan (1940 – 17 November 2021) was a Bangladesh Awami League politician. He served as a Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Gazipur-4 constituency during 1996–2001 and the state minister for housing and public works duri ...
, lawyer
* M. Zahid Hasan, quantum physician
* Ahsanullah Master
Ahsanullah Master (9 November 1950 – 7 May 2004) was a Bangladesh Awami League politician and a Jatiya Sangsad member from the Gazipur-2 constituency. He was a notable trade union leader who was assassinated in May 2004. He was awarded Indepe ...
, trade union leader
* Hannan Shah
Abu Sayed Matiul Hannan Shah (known as Hannan Shah; 11 October 1941 – 27 September 2016) was a Bangladeshi politician and army officer from Gazipur District. He served as the jute minister and a Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Gazipur-4 ...
, army officer
* Mohammad Sanaullah, physician
* Mohammad Shahidullah, politician
* Abu Jafar Shamsuddin, author
* Mohammad Obaid Ullah, politician
* Zahid Ahsan Russel, politician
* Simeen Hussain Rimi
Simeen Hussain Rimi (born 19 August 1961) is a Bangladesh Awami League politician and the incumbent Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Gazipur-4 constituency. She was elected in the 10th Parliamentary Elections held on 5 January 2014 and in ...
, politician
* Meghnad Saha
Meghnad Saha (6 October 1893 – 16 February 1956) was an Indian astrophysicist who developed the Saha ionization equation, used to describe chemical and physical conditions in stars. His work allowed astronomers to accurately relate the spe ...
, astrophysicist and developer of the Saha ionization equation
In physics, the Saha ionization equation is an expression that relates the ionization state of a gas in thermal equilibrium to the temperature and pressure. The equation is a result of combining ideas of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics ...
* Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj
Tanjim Ahmad Sohel Taj ( bn, তানজিম আহমদ সোহেল তাজ, ; born 5 January 1970), better known as just Sohel Taj, is a fitness and health activist, body-builder and retired Bangladesh Awami League politician and fo ...
, former minister, politician and television host
* Zahir Uddin Ahmed
Vice Admiral Zahir Uddin Ahmed, (ND), NBP, BCGM, ndc, psc (born 1957) was Chief of Naval Staff of the Bangladesh Navy. He was preceded by Vice Admiral Sarwar Jahan Nizam ndu, psc, BN and succeeded by Vice Admiral M Farid Habib, ndc, psc, BN
...
, former Chief of Naval Staff, Bangladesh Navy
See also
* Districts of Bangladesh
Notes
References
{{Authority control
Districts of Bangladesh
Districts and regions of Greater Dhaka