Rangpur Division ( bn, রংপুর বিভাগ) is one of the Divisions in Bangladesh. It was formed on 25 January 2010,
as
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 mo ...
's 7th division. Before that, it was under
Rajshahi Division. The Rangpur division consists of eight districts. There are 58 Upazilas or subdistricts under these eight districts. Rangpur is the northernmost division of Bangladesh and has a population of 15,665,000 in the 2011 Census.
The major cities of this new division are
Rangpur,
Saidpur
Saidpur may refer to:
__NOTOC__ Bangladesh
* Saidpur, Bangladesh, a city in Bangladesh
** Saidpur Airport
* Saidpur Cantonment, a cantonment of the Bangladesh Army
* Saidpur Upazila, an Upazila of Nilphamari District
India
* Saidpur (Assembly con ...
and
Dinajpur
Dinajpur ( bn, দিনাজপুর ) is a city and the District headquarters of Dinajpur district situated in Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. It was founded in 1786. It is located 413 km north-west of Dhaka in Bangladesh. It is bound ...
. Rangpur has well-known educational institutions, such as
Carmichael College,
,
Rangpur Medical College,
Rangpur Cadet College
Rangpur Cadet College is a military college for boys in Rangpur, Bangladesh, having about 300 cadets, 50 in each grade from 7th to 12th.
History
A cadet college is an institution following the model of English public schools. In 1979, Rangpur C ...
,
Begum Rokeya University
Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur (BRUR), formerly Rangpur University, is a government-financed public university in Bangladesh. It is the only general categorised university in Rangpur Division and the second public university in the region. It ...
and
Bangladesh Army University of Science and Technology, Saidpur.
Mansingh, commander of
Emperor Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hu ...
, conquered part of Rangpur in 1575. Rangpur came completely under 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 ...
in 1686. Mughalbasa and Mughalhat of Kurigram district still bear marks of the
Mughal rule in the region. During the Mughal rule part of Rangpur was under the
sarkar of Ghoraghat, and part under the sarkar of Pinjarah. Rangapur
Ghoraghat
Ghoraghat ( bn, ঘোড়াঘাট) is an upazila of Dinajpur District in the Division of Rangpur, Bangladesh.
History
Ghoraghat was established in the time of Bakhtlar Khilji (see Blochmanu's Contr., J.A.S,1873, p. 215, Tabaqat-i-N ...
has been mentioned in the
Riyaz-us-Salatin
Riyaz-us-Salatin ( fa, ) is the first British-era historic book on the Muslim rule in Bengal that was published in Bengal in 1788. It was written by Ghulam Husain Salim Zaidpuri.
Content
The books starts with the arrival of Muhammad bin Bakhti ...
. During the early period of the company rule
Fakir-Sannyasi Rebellion
The Sannyasi rebellion or monk rebellion 1770-77 ( bn, সন্ন্যাসী/ সাধু বিদ্রোহ, The monks' rebellion) was a revolt by the ''sannyasis'' and sadhus ( Hindu ascetics, respectively) in Bengal, India in the lat ...
and peasant rebellion were held in Rangpur.
Administrative divisions
Rangpur Division was formed by taking 8 northern districts of
Rajshahi Division. Now it has 8 Districts, 58
Upazila
An ''upazila'' ( bn, উপজেলা, upôzela, lit=sub-district pronounced: ), formerly called ''thana'', is an administrative region in Bangladesh, functioning as a sub-unit of a district. It can be seen as an analogous to a county or a ...
s, 1
City Corporation, 21
Pourasava
Municipal Corporations or municipalities (also known as pourasabha) are the local governing bodies of the cities and towns in Bangladesh. There are 330 such municipal corporations in eight divisions of Bangladesh. A municipal corporation serving ...
s and 536
Union councils.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, the total population of Rangpur Division is 15,787,758 and population density is 980/km
2. 51.18% of total population is male, and 48.82% is female. Bengali's are the majority community. Notable native ethnic groups are
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 an ...
,
Munda,
Oraon,
Rajbanshi including
Kaibarta and
Koch
Koch may refer to:
People
* Koch (surname), people with this surname
* Koch dynasty, a dynasty in Assam and Bengal, north east India
* Koch family
* Koch people (or Koche), an ethnic group originally from the ancient Koch kingdom in north east I ...
. Most of the people of Rangpur Division 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 Abrah ...
.
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 ...
are a large minority whereas a small number of adherents of
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 popula ...
and other religions are also seen.
Communication
Rangpur has good road, rail and air communications with the capital as well as other parts of the country. The
N5 (National Highway 5) links the division with the capital. There are a total of 21 express trains which connect different districts of the division with the capital and other parts of the country. There are also three
Domestic airports, among them
Saidpur Airport is the major one.
Legacy
Rangpur has lent its name to the fruit
Rangpur (fruit) and
Tanqueray Rangpur Gin.
See also
*
Divisions of Bangladesh
References
{{Authority control
Divisions of Bangladesh
Northern Bengal