Bangladesh – from the Bengal delta to independence in 1971
The fertile delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra has supported rice-growing communities and trading towns since ancient times. Bengal was part of several great Indian empires, and under the Pala dynasty it became a centre of Buddhist learning. From the thirteenth century Muslim rulers established themselves, and the Bengal Sultanate and later Mughal Bengal became known for their prosperity, their textiles and their blend of Islamic and Bengali culture.
After the Battle of Plassey in 1757 the British East India Company gained control of Bengal, which later came under direct British rule. Colonial exploitation and devastating famines left deep scars, while Bengali literature and reform movements flourished. When British India was partitioned in 1947, eastern Bengal became East Pakistan, separated from West Pakistan by more than a thousand miles of Indian territory.
Tensions soon grew. The Language Movement of 1952, defending Bengali as a state language, is still remembered every year on 21 February. Political and economic marginalisation led to the Liberation War of 1971, during which the Pakistani army and allied forces committed mass atrocities against civilians and millions fled to India. With Indian support, Bangladesh achieved independence in December 1971, with Sheikh Mujibur Rahman as its founding leader. The young state went through famine, coups and periods of military rule before returning to parliamentary government in the early 1990s.
Today Bangladesh is shaped by its rivers and monsoon, a dynamic textile industry, and a strong pride in the Bengali language and culture.
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