What is now called Bangladesh is part of the historic region of Bengal , the northeast portion of the Indian subcontinent. Bangladesh consists primarily of East Bengal (West Bengal is part of India and its people are primarily Hindu) plus the Sylhet district of the Indian state of Assam .
The earliest reference to the region was to a kingdom called Vanga, or Banga. Buddhists ruled for centuries, but by the 10th century Bengal was primarily Hindu. In 1576, Bengal became part of the Mogul Empire, and the majority of East Bengalis converted to Islam. Bengal was ruled by British India from 1757 until Britain withdrew in 1947, and Pakistan
was founded out of the two predominantly Muslim regions of the Indian
subcontinent. For almost 25 years after independence from Britain , its history was part of Pakistan . West Pakistan and East Pakistan were united by religion (Islam), but their peoples were separated by culture, physical features, and 1,000 miles of Indian territory . Independent Bangladesh:
Tension between East and West Pakistan existed from the outset because of their vast geographic, economic, and cultural differences. East Pakistan 's Awami League, a political party founded by the Bengali nationalist Sheik Mujibur Rahman in 1949, sought independence from West Pakistan . Although 56% of the population resided in East Pakistan ,
the West held the lion's share of political and economic power. In
1970, East Pakistanis secured a majority of the seats in the national
assembly. President Yahya Khan postponed the opening of the national
assembly in an attempt to circumvent East Pakistan 's demand for greater autonomy. As a consequence, East Pakistan seceded and the independent state of Bangladesh , or Bengali nation, was proclaimed on March 26, 1971 . Civil war broke out, and with the help of Indian troops in the last few weeks of the war, East Pakistan defeated West Pakistan on December 16, 1971 . An estimated one million Bengalis were killed in the fighting or later slaughtered. Ten million more took refuge in India . In Feb. 1974, Pakistan agreed to recognize the independent state of Bangladesh .
Founding president Sheikh Mujibur was assassinated in 1975, as was the
next president, Zia ur-Rahman. On March 24, 1982, Gen. Hossain Mohammad
Ershad, army chief of staff, took control in a bloodless coup but was
forced to resign on Dec. 6, 1990, amid violent protests and numerous
allegations of corruption. A succession of prime ministers governed in
the 1990s, including Khaleda Zia, wife of the assassinated president
Zia ur-Rahman, and Sheikh Hasina Wazed, the daughter of Sheik Mujibur.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina completed her five-years term as Prime
Minister in July 2000 the first leader to do so since the country
gained independence from Pakistan in 1974. In Oct. 2001 elections, Khaleda Zia again won the Prime Ministership. Caretaker Government:
Violence
erupted in Oct. 2006, when Zia's term ended and President Ahmed took
over as the head of a caretaker administration. An alliance of parties,
headed by the Awami League, said it would boycott the Jan. 2007
elections, alleging corruption in the electoral commission. The
violence intensified in Jan. 2007, prompting President Ahmed to declare
a state of emergency and postpone the elections. Fakhruddin Ahmed
became the interim head of the government. He swiftly opened a broad
corruption investigation that resulted in the imprisonment of dozens of
prominent officials, the seizure of luxury vehicles, and the freezing
of bank accounts. In March, Tarique Rahman, the son of former Prime
Minister Khaleda Zia, was arrested in the investigation and charged
with extortion. Khaleda Zia herself was arrested and charged with
corruption in September. In addition, Sheikh Hasina was arrested and
charged with corruption and organizing the murder of four supporters of
a rival party. Mudslides set off by heavy monsoon rains killed at least
100 people in June 2007 in Chittagong ,
a port in the southern part of the country. In November, Cyclone Sidr,
with winds over 100 miles per hour, killed nearly 3,500 people in
southern Bangladesh . The United Nations reported that a million people were left homeless. Bangladesh
went ahead with its general election in December 2008. It was the first
general election since the army-backed caretaker government took power
in January 2007. The Awami League, headed by Sheikh Hasina, won in a
landslide, taking 262 of 299 seats in Parliament. The vote was
considered fair and largely free of scandal. Sheikh Hasina was sworn in
as prime minister in January 2009. Language Movement Day:
Language Movement Day is a unique part of the culture of Bangladesh .
Every year on February 21 this day is observed to pay tribute to the
martyrs who sacrificed their lives to establish Bengali as the official
language of then East Pakistan in 1952. The
mood of the day is sad and humble.The celebration of Language Movement
Day goes on the entire month of February. Ekushey Book Fair is a book
fair arranged to mark this occasion every year. The fair has also
become an integral part of the culture of Bangladesh . Authors and readers in Bangladesh
eagerly await the fair each year.To commemorate this movement, Shaheed
Minar, a solemn and symbolic sculpture, was erected in the place of the
massacre. Today the Shaheed Minar is the centre of cultural activities
in Dhaka . On the morning of February 21 each
year, people from all walks of life including the national leaders pay
tribute to the martyrs by leaving flowers at Shaheed Minar. A very
melodious and melancholy song, Amar Bhaier Rokte Rangano, written by
Abdul Gaffar Choudhury and composed by Altaf Mahmud, is played
repeatedly in electronic media and cultural gatherings throughout the
month, and especially on February 21. This song, too, has become a
symbolic mark of culture of Bangladesh .