Bangladesh is a country in South Asia, set on the vast delta where the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal. Lush, low-lying, and crisscrossed by water, it is one of the most densely populated countries on Earth, home to a proud Bengali culture of language, poetry, and music. Born from a hard-won struggle for independence, it has grown into a populous nation increasingly shaped by its textile industry and by the rising challenge of climate change.

The region of Bengal has an ancient and wealthy history, home to early kingdoms, a celebrated tradition of fine muslin cloth, and successive empires, including a prosperous Bengal under the Mughals. British colonial rule reshaped the region, and at the partition of India in 1947 eastern Bengal became the eastern wing of Pakistan, separated from the rest of the country by more than a thousand miles. Cultural and political grievances led, in 1971, to a war of independence and the birth of Bangladesh.

An inscription from Mahasthangarh, evidence of an early historic city in what is now Bangladesh. Credit: Amader kotha (CC BY-SA 4.0).
An inscription from Mahasthangarh, evidence of an early historic city in what is now Bangladesh. Credit: Amader kotha (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Bangladesh is overwhelmingly a land of rivers and flat, fertile delta, among the largest river deltas in the world, built up by silt carried down from the Himalayas. This makes the soil extraordinarily productive but the country dangerously prone to flooding and to the cyclones that sweep in from the Bay of Bengal. In the south lies the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest and a refuge of the Bengal tiger. Most of the country sits only a few metres above sea level.

Flag of Bangladesh.
Flag of Bangladesh.

The flag of Bangladesh is a deep green field bearing a red disc set slightly toward the hoist. The green represents the lush landscape of the country and, for many, the vitality of its people, while the red disc stands for the sun rising over Bengal and for the blood of those who died in the struggle for independence. The off-centre placement keeps the disc looking centred when the flag flies in the wind.

The great majority of Bangladeshis are Muslims, predominantly Sunni, and Islam is central to the country's culture and daily life, expressed in countless mosques and in the rhythm of the religious calendar. Bangladesh is also home to a significant Hindu minority, along with smaller Buddhist and Christian communities, a legacy of Bengal's long and mixed history. A strong sense of shared Bengali language and culture runs across these religious lines.

The Choto Sona Mosque, a fifteenth-century monument of the Bengal Sultanate. Credit: Rocky Masum This work was made by Masum-al-Hasan Rocky and released under the license(s) stated below. Please feel free to use it for any purpose as long as you credit Masum-al-Hasan Rocky as author and follow the terms of the chosen license. If you use this work outside of the Wikimedia projects, I would very much like to get a note from you. Thanks! (CC BY-SA 4.0).
The Choto Sona Mosque, a fifteenth-century monument of the Bengal Sultanate. Credit: Rocky Masum This work was made by Masum-al-Hasan Rocky and released under the license(s) stated below. Please feel free to use it for any purpose as long as you credit Masum-al-Hasan Rocky as author and follow the terms of the chosen license. If you use this work outside of the Wikimedia projects, I would very much like to get a note from you. Thanks! (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Bengali cuisine is centred on rice and fish, so much so that a common saying holds that rice and fish make a Bengali. Freshwater fish, above all the prized hilsa, are cooked in light, spiced gravies and mustard sauces. Lentils, vegetables, and an artful use of spices fill the everyday table, and Bengalis are famous for their love of sweets, milk-based confections that mark every celebration. Food is an expression of a refined and much-loved regional culture.

Agriculture remains central to Bangladesh, feeding a huge population from a small, intensely cultivated land. Rice is the dominant crop, grown in great quantity across the fertile delta, often in two or three harvests a year. Bangladesh is also the leading producer of jute, the strong natural fibre once known as the golden fibre of Bengal, along with tea grown in the northeast, vegetables, and freshwater fish from its countless ponds and rivers.

The Language Movement of the 1950s, in which Bengalis fought for the right to their own language, helped forge a national identity that culminated in the Liberation War of 1971. That brutal conflict, in which Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan, is the defining event of the nation. Since then the country has endured devastating cyclones and floods while achieving notable progress in development and building one of the world's largest garment-manufacturing industries.

A woman in fine Bengali muslin, the luxurious cloth for which Bengal was once renowned across the world. Credit: Francesco Renaldi (Public domain).
A woman in fine Bengali muslin, the luxurious cloth for which Bengal was once renowned across the world. Credit: Francesco Renaldi (Public domain).

Bangladesh has a population of around 171 million people packed into a small area, making it one of the most densely populated countries on Earth. The people are overwhelmingly ethnic Bengalis, bound by a shared language and culture of which they are fiercely proud. The capital, Dhaka, is one of the most crowded and fast-growing megacities in the world. The country's low-lying geography makes its huge population especially vulnerable to rising seas and a changing climate.