Bangladesh is officially People’s Republic of Bangladesh. It came from the root word Bengali or Bengal which means “nation”. Bangladesh borders on the Bay of Bengal in the south; on the Indian states of West Bengal in the west and north, Assam and Meghalaya in the northeast, and Tripura and Mizoram in the east, and on Myanmar in the southeast. The country is a low-lying riverine land traversed by the many branches and tributaries of the Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers. It is for this reason that the country is most prone to typical monsoons and frequent floods and cyclones that inflict heavy damage in the delta region. Dhaka is Bangladesh’s capital and the largest cities but the nation’s other major cities are Chittagong and Khulna.
The independent dominions of India and Pakistan were created in 1947 were British India was Partitioned. It was then that region of Bengal was divided along religious lines. The predominantly Muslim eastern half was designated East-Pakistan- and made part of the newly independent Pakistan- while predominantly Hindu western part became the Indian state of West Bengal. From 1947-1971, Pakistan’s history was marked by political instability and economic difficulties. Dominion status was rejected in 1956 in favor of an “Islamic republic within the commonwealth” Attempts at civilian political rule failed, and because of this the government imposed martial law between 1958 and 1962, and again between 1969 and 1972.
The crisis in the east Pakistan produced new strains in Pakistan’s troubled relations with India. In 1965, the two nations had fought war mainly in the west, but the refugee pressure in India in 1971 produced new disputes in the east. Indian sympathies lay with east Pakistan, and in November, India intervened on the side of the Bangladeshis. On Dec. 16, 1971, Pakistani forces surrendered, and Bangladesh was born. The new country became a parliamentary democracy under a 1972 constitution.