People’s Republic of Bangladesh is the eighth most populated country of the world with an emerging economy located in South Asia. Most of the territories are being dominated by the low-lying Ganges Delta. Commonly known as Bangladesh, has thousands of years old civilization, when the region was inhabited by the ancient Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic peoples. This region was also known to the then progressive Greeks and Romans and they called it as Gangaridal (Nation of Ganges). The Bengali people rapidly started to accept Islam in the seventh century when Arab merchants and preachers stepped in the region. Bengal was once considered as the richest region of the Indian subcontinent till the16th century.

People of Bangladesh – Image by IRRI Images

In the eighteenth century when British East India Company was founded in the Indian Sub-continent, the region also passed through the European cultural influences, particularly of the British. In 1947, when partition of India took place, the eastern part of Bengal having Muslim majority became the part of Pakistan and it was named East Pakistan. In 1971, a resistance movement against Pakistan was started and the country gained independencefrom Pakistan on 16 December 1971. The purpose of describing all this in a very short prolegomenon is to make you understand that Bangladesh has a rich, diverse and gloriouscultural heritage having so many historic influences.

Woman setting up a fish net, Bangladesh. Photo by WorldFish, 2006

Bangladesh is a land of rivers and streams along the famous Bay of Bengal and theBangladeshis speak the official language “Bangla”, known as Bengali.  This language is the identical symbol of Bangladeshi heritage and the main social divide prevailing in the country is between Muslims and Hindus.