Rajapur Upazila: History
Rajapur Upazila is home to many archeological sites such as forts and mosques. The Indrapasha Qila was thought to have been constructed during the reign of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the late seventeenth century. It was built to suppress the Maghs and Portuguese pirates around the Bay of Bengal. In 1664, Shaista Khan was appointed as the Mughal governor of Bengal to defeat the pirates. Khan constructed many forts with his accomplice, Muhammad Azam, including the Indrapasha Fort. The fort no longer stands, existing only as a soil mound. In the same period, Keshwar Singh, who is thought to have been a Mughal general, constructed the triple mosques of Angaria Khan Bari. A triple mosque was also constructed in the Niz Galua Mia Bari which also remains as one of the archeological tourist attractions of Rajapur.
During the Muslim rule, southern Chandradwip (including Rajapur) was governed by two sardars, one of whom was Reza Khan. The area was named Rezapur, which later became corrupted to Rajapur. In 1716, Mahmud Jan Akhand (Mamuji) established the Galua Paka Mosque in Durgapur village. Rajapur was also home to a zamindar family in Saturia descended from Khan Jahan Ali's disciple Shaykh Ahmad Sajenda. Sajenda's descendant Sheikh Shahabuddin (1626–1745) assisted the widow of Pran Narayan, the zamindar of Rayerkathi, in restoring their zamindari privileges by visiting the court of the Nawabs of Bengal in Murshidabad. Pran Narayan's heir Mahendra Narayan successively became the next zamindar of Rayerkathi, and as a reward, his mother gifted Sheikh Shahabuddin with a taluk in Saturia. Sheikh Shahabuddin founded the historic Shuktagarh Mosque, and is buried in a mazar (mausoleum) in close proximity to it. The Khanom Manzil in Barisal city was established by Mehrunnisa Khanom, who was the female zamindar of Sultanabad Pargana in present-day Rajapur along with Syed Abdullah Chowdhury. In 1919, Maulana Mahtabuddin Khan established the Imdadul Uloom Ashrafia Madrasa in Galua which had a big impact on educationally serving the people of Rajapur. A police outpost was founded in Rajapur by the British Raj in the following year, which was established as a thana (police station) in 1937.
In 1940, the Rajapur Fazil Madrasa was established. During the Bangladesh War of Independence of 1971, a brawl took place between the Bengali fighters against the Pakistan Army on 21 October at the Rajapur thana (police station compound). In the aftermath, 8 Pakistan Army soldiers and 3 fighters were killed. The fighters raided the thana on 27 November, gaining control and thus capturing Rajapur. Dilwar Husayn of Gopalpur village was appointed as a sub-sector commander for Dinajpur under Sector 6 and later awarded Bir Protik. Alamtaj Begum Sabi was a notable female fighter of Rajapur. The status of Rajapur Thana was upgraded to upazila (sub-district) in 1983 as part of President of Bangladesh Hussain Muhammad Ershad's decentralisation programme.