Tourism In South & Southeast Asia
Kathleen Macawili
BANGLADESH
* GEOGRAPHY CHARACTERISTIC OF REGION & COUNTRY
* The physical geography of Bangladesh is varied and has an area characterized by two distinctive features: a broad deltaic plain subject to frequent flooding, and a small hilly region crossed by swiftly flowing rivers . The country has an area of 147,570 square kilometers and extends 820 kilometers north to south and 600 kilometers east to west.
* Bangladesh is bordered on the west, north, and east by a 4,095-kilometer land frontier with India and, in the southeast, by a short land and water frontier (193 km) with Burma (Myanmar). On the south is a highly irregular deltaic coastline of about 580 kilometers, fissured by many rivers and streams flowing into the Bay of Bengal. The territorial waters of Bangladesh extend 12 nautical miles (22 km), and the exclusive economic zone of the country is 200 nautical miles (370 km).
* HISTORY & GOVERNMENT
* Bangladesh has a long history spanning thousands of years. A land replete with history they finally achieved independence in the year 1971 after a protracted 9 month long Independence war. We begin in this section by providing a historical overview of Bangladesh.
* Pre-19th Century
* The area which is now Bangladesh has a rich historical and cultural past, the product of the repeated influx or flow of varied peoples, bringing with them the Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Mongol-Mughul, Arab, Persian, Turkic, and European cultures. About 1200 A.D., Muslim invaders under Sufi influence, supplanted Hindu and Buddhist dynasties, and converted most of the population of the eastern areas of Bengal to Islam. Since then, Islam has played a crucial role in the region his and politics. In the 16th century, Bengal was absorbed into the Mughul Empire.
* 19th Century
* In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Muslim and Hindu leaders began to press