Dhanmondi ( bn, ধানমন্ডি) is a residential area in

Dhaka, Bangladesh 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 i ...

, known for its central location, cultural vibrancy and being home to the country's founder,

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 Bengali politi ...

. The origins of Dhanmondi can be traced back to the late 1950s, when the Government of

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the 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 and Myanmar, wit ...

developed it as a centrally planned and residential area to house the city's top bureaucrats.

Etymology

Dhanmondi, today's residential area, was cultivated during the British period. But at that time there were some settlements in Dhanmondi. It was not named Dhanmandi because paddy was produced in that area. The area used to house rice and other grain seed markets.

Bazaar A bazaar () or souk (; also transliterated as souq) is a marketplace consisting of multiple small stalls or shops, especially in the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa and India. However, temporary open markets elsewhere, such as in t ...

is called Mandi in Persian and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

History

Dhanmondi's origins can be traced back to the 1952, beginning as a residential area for the city, and over the decades evolving into a miniature city, with hospitals to malls, schools, banks, offices and universities. After the liberation war, its neighbourhoods primarily consisted of two-story houses. About 8 years before the establishment of DIT in 1956, the Dhanmondi residential area was planned. There was a canal next to Dhanmondi which may have dried up by the 19th century, reducing the importance of Dhanmondi as a market. Dhanmondi subsequently became forested and remained that way until the mid twentieth century. Later, at the end of the Pakistan period, Dhanmondi became one of several residential areas for the elite. Commercial establishments have since developed in some areas of Dhanmondi. The founding father of Bangladesh,

, lived here. He was assassinated along with most of his family at his residence in Dhanmondi road no. 32 in 1975. His residence has since become a memorial museum. Many other notable people also live here.

Geography

Dhanmondi is located in the heart of

Dhaka District Dhaka District ( bn, ঢাকা জেলা, Dhaka jela) is a district in central Bangladesh, and is the densest district in the nation. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and rests on the eastern banks o ...

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 ...

. It has 33,451 houses and a total

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an op ...

of .

Features

The most important roads in Dhanmondi are Road no. 27, Satmasjid Road and Mirpur Road.

Dhanmondi lake

The lakeside walkway at Dhanmondi Lake is overlooked by the Rabindra Sharabar, an open-air

amphitheater An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

near the Road 8 bridge, where dramas, concerts, and various cultural programs are held from time to time by both amateur and professional artistes, especially during major festivals and holidays. Snack stalls along the lakeside, particularly on Road 2 (opposite the entrance to Bangladesh Rifles), Road 5 (on an island accessible only by foot bridges from two sides), Road 8 (near the amphitheater) and Road 32 (opposite the residence of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman), offer a variety of snacks and beverages, aimed at city dwellers during the day. These places are gathered by a lot of people, mostly around late afternoon. During festivals such as Pohela Baishakh,

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. Many ...

and

Eid Eid as a name may refer to: Islamic holidays An Eid is a Muslim religious festival: * ''Eid Milad un Nabi'', alternate name for Mawlid (, "Birth of the Prophet"), the date of observance of the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad * Eid al-F ...

, moving around Dhanmondi can be difficult due to crowding.

Banks

Almost every bank operating in the country has an outlet in Dhanmondi. Foreign banks such as

Citi Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services corporation headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of banking giant Citicorp and financial conglomer ...

HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tr ...

and

Standard Chartered Standard Chartered plc is a multinational bank with operations in consumer, corporate and institutional banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in the UK, and around 9 ...

also have branches there, with HSBC and Standard Chartered having multiple ATM booths within the area.

Restaurants

Dhanmondi is known for its wide range of restaurants and cafes that mostly cluster around Satmasjid Road. Several local and international

fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredie ...

chains in the country have outlets in this area. Dhanmondi is home to many renowned food chains, especially fast food. International chains include KFC,

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut is an American multinational restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas by Dan and Frank Carney. They serve their signature pan pizza and other dishes including pasta, breadsticks and desse ...

, Burger King,

Domino's Pizza Domino's Pizza, Inc., trading as Domino's, is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain founded in 1960 and led by CEO Russell Weiner. The corporation is Delaware domiciled and headquartered at the Domino's Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor ...

Chatime Chatime () is a Taiwanese global franchise teahouse chain based in Zhubei. Chatime is the largest teahouse franchise in the world. Its expansion and growth model is through franchising. It operates 2500+ outlets in 38 countries. In 2006, it op ...

, Second Cup,

Gloria Jean's Coffees Gloria Jean's Gourmet Coffee Pty Ltd is an American-Australian retail coffeehouse brand headquartered in Castle Hill, Sydney. The chain is owned by the multinational fast casual restaurant conglomerate Retail Food Group and has more than 1,400 ...

, Coffee World, A&W,

Pizza Inn Pizza Inn is a Dallas-based restaurant chain and international food franchise, specializing in American-style pan pizza, pasta, and side dishes. The company is based in the Dallas suburb of The Colony, Texas. At its peak, Pizza Inn had over 50 ...

, Secret Recipe, Mövenpick,

Baskin-Robbins Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake speciality shops owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in ...

New Zealand Natural New Zealand Natural Premium Ice Cream is a global franchise network based in Auckland, New Zealand. It operates as an international franchisor of ice cream, frozen yoghurt, smoothie and juice parlours and mini-parlours, which can be found in sho ...

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf (sometimes shortened to simply "Coffee Bean" or "The Coffee Bean", often abbreviated as CBTL) is an American coffee shop chain founded in 1963. Since 2019, it is a trade name of Ireland-based Super Magnificent Coffee C ...

, CP, Herfy,

Tony Roma's Romacorp Inc., which does business as Tony Roma's, is an American casual dining chain restaurant specializing in baby back ribs. The first location was established by the founder, Tony Roma, in 1972 in North Miami, Florida. Clint Murchison J ...

and ChicKing.

Real estate

Real estate in Dhanmondi has seen prices rise over the last 20 years. There are new houses that are getting built every year. Companies like BTI, Shanta, Rangs, Concord and others are coming up with new ventures every year. The prices of these apartments are on average Tk 15000 per sqft. Although sometimes it can be higher or lower depending on the area. Houses are going for rent at quite an expensive rate. This is mainly because Dhanmondi is surrounded by good schools, hospitals and offices.

Education

Over the last fifteen years, a large number of schools, colleges and private universities have been developed around the area. Government Laboratory High School, BCSIR School, Birshreshtha Noor Mohammad Public School, Birshreshtha Munshi Abdur Rouf Public School, Viqarunnisa Noon School, YWCA Higher Secondary School etc are some of the renowned schools in this area. Many well-known English medium schools in the country, such as

Scholastica Scholastica (c. 480 – 10 February 543) is a saint of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Anglican Communion. She was born in Italy. According to a ninth century tradition, she was the twin sister of Benedict of Nursia. ...

(Junior Section), South Breeze, Sunbeams, Oxford International School Main Campus and Junior Dhanmondi Campus,Contact Details
" Oxford International School. Retrieved 20 September 2015. "Main Campus (Attached Centre of Cambridge International Examination for CIPP, CLSP, Check Point, O Level and A Level examinations) House # 34, Road # 27 (old), New 16, Dhanmondi R/A, Dhaka-1209, "

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...

, Maple Leaf International school, Marie Curie School, Dhanmondi Tutorial,

Sunnydale Sunnydale is the fictional setting for the U.S. television drama ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' (1997–2003). Series creator Joss Whedon conceived the town as a representation of a generic California city, as well as a narrative parody of the al ...

, European Standard School (ESS), Scholars School and College are located here. Colleges like

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 ...

Hamdard Public College Hamdard Public College ( bn, হামদর্দ পাবলিক কলেজ, label=), also known as HPC, is a private higher secondary educational institution located at Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was established in 2010. History ...

, Ideal College and

Dhaka City College Dhaka City College ( bn, ঢাকা সিটি কলেজ) also known as DCC, is one of the oldest private college in the country of Bangladesh. It is located at Qudrat-i-Khuda road, Dhanmondi, Dhaka. It offers Honors and Masters degr ...

are located here. Among the universities, University Of Development Alternative (UODA),

International Islamic University Chittagong The International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC) ( bn, আন্তর্জাতিক ইসলামী বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় চট্টগ্রাম) is a private university in Bangladesh. It was founded in 199 ...

, the

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh ( bn, লিবারেল আর্টস বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় বাংলাদেশ) (ULAB) is a private liberal arts-based University in Dhanmondi, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Founded in ...

United International University United International University (UIU) is a private university in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh approved the establishment of United International University in 2003. Financial support came from the United Group, a Bangladeshi b ...

Daffodil International University Daffodil International University ( bn, ড্যাফোডিল আন্তর্জাতিক বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়) (DIU) is a private research university located in Daffodil Smart City, Ashulia, Dhaka, Bangladesh. ...

, Eastern University, People's University of Bangladesh,

World University of Bangladesh World University of Bangladesh ( bn, ওয়ার্ল্ড ইউনিভার্সিটি অব বাংলাদেশ) often abbreviated as (WUB) is a private university in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Abdul Mannan Chowdhury is the vice-cha ...

Stamford University Stamford University may refer to: Asia *Stamford University (Bangladesh) *Stamford International University (Thailand) Stamford International University Thailand (STIU) ( th, มหาวิทยาลัยนานาชาติแสต ...

University of Asia Pacific University of Asia Pacific ( bn, ইউনিভার্সিটি অব এশিয়া প্যাসিফিক) often abbreviated as UAP is a private university located at Dhaka, Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the P ...

are the most well known.

Gallery

Image:Nandos-dhan.jpg, A

Nando's Nando's (; ) is a South African multinational fast casual chain that specialises in flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries. Their logo (also seen as a sort of ...

outlet on Road 27 Image:Tekiya shimanto night.jpg, A TEKIYA Japanese Cuisine outlet at Shimanto(Rifles) Square on Road no 2 Image:Dhanmandi lake at Dhaka.jpg, Dhanmondi Lake. Image:Cobranded-pccw.jpg, A co-branded Coffee World

Pizza Corner Pizza Corner was an international franchise of pizzeria chains that offered a wide range of pizzas, pastas and side dishes from chicken wings to salads. Pizza Corner operated as both standalone restaurants or combined with other Global Franch ...

outlet on Road 4A Image:Phdhandhk.jpg, Pizza Hut on Road 15 (opposite of Abahani field).

References

{{commons category, Dhanmondi Thanas of Dhaka Planned cities in Bangladesh