DEV 101.Lecture M 1-C 3.Exploring Our Roots(II).Geographical Features and Origin of Bangladesh

7/22/2019 DEV 101.Lecture M 1-C 3.Exploring Our Roots(II).Geographical Features and Origin of Bangladesh

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Lecture : M 1- C 3

Exploring Our Roots (ii):

Geographical Features andOrigin of Bangladesh


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Geographical Features and

Origin of Bangladesh

Geographical Features



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Geographical Features and Origin of Bangladesh



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Geographical Features Rivers Total rivers including tributaries and

distributaries are about 700

They are under three mighty river systems: Ganges - Padma River System BrahmaputraJamuna River System

Surma - Meghna River System Rivers of the southeastern hilly region are

considered as the Chittagong RegionRiver System


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Official Name: People's Republic ofBangladesh

Area:147570 sq. km. Boundary:West: West BengalNorth: West Bengal , Assam, Meghalaya

East: Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, MyanmarSouth: Bay of BengalLand Border:4246 km.(94 per cent with India &

6 percent with Myanmar)


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Bangladesh in the Northern Hemisphere bisectedby Tropic of Cancer.

- twice as big as Sri Lanka.

- Equal to the Netherlands, Belgium,Denmark andSwitzerland.

Coastline of 1400 km is an asset andopening to the oceans of the world.

A trading nation since ancient times.


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Climate

- Tropical climate

- Rains esp. Monsoon Rains

- Annual Rainfall 1,194 mm to 3,454 mm

- High temperature congenial for growing crops.

The Himalayas in the North

- prevents from cold winds (of Mongolia,Tibet)

- Blocks moist winds from the Indian Ocean.


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Climate

- drier in the West and wetter in the south

- BD is fortunate to have enough rains despitebeing in the Northern Desert Belt.


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Earthquake

- Rocks under surface moving north-east which

causes earthquake

- Earthquake of 1772 changed the course of

Brahmaputra.


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Bangladesh is a humid low-lying alluvialregion

It is composed mainly of the great combineddelta of the Ganges - Brahmaputra - Meghnarivers

It is one of the largest deltas in the world


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Uplands constitute 12.5 per cent of area

The monotony of flatness has been relieved inlandby two elevated tracts :

-- The Madhupur and the Barind Tracts between the

Ganges and Brahmaputra Jamuna -- Covered withgrasslands, less fertile, less density of population

-- Rows of hills on the northeast and southeast


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Geophormic Characteristics :

Total time span of earth is about 4.6 billion years

Between 66 - 37 million years most of Bangladeshwas under sea

Between 05 - 02 million years global cooling climateand present Bengal Delta started taking shape


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Between 0.1 million - 10,000 years modern man orHomo-sapiens appeared

Himalayas were glaciated and the melt water wasflowing over Bengal plain through deeply incisedriver valleys towards the Bay of Bengal

Most of Bangladesh took its present shape duringthis period

So it took more than 2 million years to take thepresent shape of Bangladesh


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So it took more than 2 million years totake the present shape of Bangladesh


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Bangladesh

Bangla

Bengal

Bengala

Bangala

Vanga

Vangal

Names of same geographical location as ofpresent Bangladesh


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Emerged as a Country in 1971

Remained in the ideas of poets, writers and

other conscious persons etc.


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How did we get the Name ?

Earliest References to Bengal?


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Scanty references in the oldliteratures


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Vedas, Mahabharata and Ramayana

Arthashastraof Kautilya

Written in 3rd century BC

Refers to the fine cotton fabric of Vanga

(south-eastern Bengal)


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References available inarchaeological evidences


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Maurya Inscriptions found at Mahasthangarh

3rd century B C

Refers to the ancient Pundranagar

Earliest urban settlement in Bangladesh

Existed as an urban administrative and culturalcentre throughout the ancient period, up to the 12thcentury AD


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Mahasthangarh, Bogra


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Mahastangarh, Coins


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Mahastangarh, Coins


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Mahastangarh


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Mahastangarh


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References available in foreignsources


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Greek and Latin Sources (3rd century BC -1st century AD)

Gangaridae (Greek)

Gangaridai' (Latin)

located in parts of southern andsoutheastern Bengal, adjacent to themouths of the Ganges (Bhagirathi and

Padma)


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Ptolemy

Greek Astronomer, Mathematician and

Geographer

His book was Indica

Refers to a rich port named Tamralipti now

in present Tamluk of West Bengal


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So from the earliest period up to 4thcentury AD Bengal was known to be

inhabited by different groups of people

The names of these groups of peoplecame to be associated with the areathey inhabited


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These areas are known as

Janapadas or principalities

There were about 8janapadas


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Origin of Bangladesh Janapadasor Principalities

Pundravardhana : MahasthangarhBogra

Varendra : Rajshahi - North Bengal

Vanga : Mymensingh - Dhaka - Faridpur -

Barisal up to the Brahmaputra riverreferred to in Puranas, Mahabharata & byKalidasa

Vangal : Probably southern part of Vanga

near the sea


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Origin of Bangladesh Samatata : Lalmai - Comilla including

Tripura & Noakhali

Harikel : ChittagongSylet up to Comilla

Gaur : South of Murshidabad - Maldahaprobably it included Birbhum & Burdwan too

Sumha - Radh : West Bengal


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AncientJanapadasof Bengal


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Muslim Conquest


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Muslims conquered Bengal in 1204

AD

Bakhtiyar Khilji conquered

Lakhnauti from Laksman Sena

Only a part of Bengal


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During the Sultani period historian Ziauddin

Barani in his book Tarikh-i-Firuzshahiused the

word Bangala

But he referred to a part of it only


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Bengal then was divided intothree main territories :

1. Lakhnauti (North North-west Bengal)

2. Satgaon (West Bengal)

3. Vanga (East & South-east Bengal)


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Historian Shams-i-Siraj Afif in hisbook Tarikh-i-Firuzshahifirst wrote ofthe whole of Bengal

He called Sultan Shamsuddin IliyasShah (1342-58) Shah-i-Bangalah &Shah-i-Bangaliyan


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Mughals captured Bengal in 1576

They made Bengal a Province under Delhi

They named it Subah Bangala or the BengalProvince

Abul Fazl referred to it in his famous bookAin-

i-Akbari


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Origin of Bangladesh Portuguese traveler Caesar Frederick

(1563-81) came to India during theMughal period

He wrote of Bengala

Some other European travelers who

came to India called the place Bengelaor sometimes Bangala

Famous traveler Marco Polo also

referred to Bengal


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The English conquered Bengal in1757 in the Battle of Plassey

They made Bengal a Province ofthem

Present Bangladesh became a partof this Bengal Province


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Besides Bangladesh this alsoincluded whole of present West

Bengal, some parts of Bihar,Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya

It covered about 80,000 squaremiles area


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It slopes down 10 meters inaverage towards the Bay of Bengal

About 50,000 square miles of this

whole area is under the influenceof GagesBrahmaputra - Meghnarivers


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This area belongs to the TertiaryAge of about 100,000 years


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This area forms the present

Bangladesh


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This whole area continued to be

known the Bengal province during

the British rule up to 1947


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In 1947 after the independence ofIndia and Pakistan Bangladesh

became a part of Pakistan

Initially it was known as East

Bengal and later it became EastPakistan


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But the Bengalis soon startedhaving a feeling of exploitation &

deprivation

This continued up to 1971


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Finally after a nine months war

East Pakistan became independent

and Bangladesh is born


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This is our country

BANGLADESH


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Thank You

DEV 101.Lecture M 1-C 3.Exploring Our Roots(II).Geographical Features and Origin of Bangladesh

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Transcript of DEV 101.Lecture M 1-C 3.Exploring Our Roots(II).Geographical Features and Origin of Bangladesh