The Baul (Bengali: বাউল) are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Vaishnavism and Tantra from different parts of Bengal such as Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitute both a syncretic religious sect of troubadours and a musical tradition. Bauls are a very heterogeneous group, with many sects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims. They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments. Lalon Shah is regarded as the most celebrated Baul saint in history.
The area of Dhaka has been inhabited since the first millennium. An early modern city developed from the 17th century as a provincial capital and commercial centre of the Mughal Empire. Dhaka was the capital of a proto-industrialisedMughal Bengal for 75 years (1608–39 and 1660–1704). It was the hub of the muslin trade in Bengal and one of the most prosperous cities in the world. The Mughal city was named Jahangirnagar (The City of Jahangir) in honour of the erstwhile ruling emperor Jahangir. The city's wealthy Mughal elite included princes and the sons of Mughal emperors. The pre-colonial city's glory peaked in the 17th and 18th centuries when it was home to merchants from across Eurasia. The Port of Dhaka was a major trading post for both riverine and seaborne trade. The Mughals decorated the city with well-laid gardens, tombs, mosques, palaces, and forts. The city was once called the Venice of the East. (Full article...)
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Satellite image of the cyclone nearing peak intensity on November 29
The 1988 Bangladesh cyclone (designated as Tropical Cyclone 04B by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center) was one of the worst tropical cyclones in Bangladesh history. Striking in November 1988, the tropical system exacerbated the catastrophic damage from what was then considered the worst floods in Bangladesh's history. The tropical cyclone originated from a disturbance that developed within the Strait of Malacca on November 21. Tracking slowly westward, the initial tropical depression reached tropical storm status in the Andaman Sea. On November 26, the storm reached an intensity equivalent to that of a modern-day severe cyclonic storm and subsequently turned northward. Gradually intensifying as it had previously, the tropical cyclone reached peak intensity with winds of 125 mph (201 km/h) as it was making landfall near the Bangladesh–India border on November 29. Although the storm retained strong winds well inland, it was last monitored over central Bangladesh as a moderate cyclonic storm-equivalent on November 30.
The brunt of the tropical cyclone's damage was inflicted upon coastal areas of Bangladesh and West Bengal. A total of 6,240 people were killed as a result of the storm, with 5,708 in Bangladesh and 538 in West Bengal. Many of the deaths were a result of the destruction of homes or electrocution after strong winds toppled power poles across the region. Along the coast of Bangladesh, strong storm surge caused heavy infrastructure damage and contributed in wiping out an estimated 70% of all harvestable Bangladeshi crops, with an estimated 200,000 tonnes (220,000 tons) of crops being lost. Widespread power outages cut telecommunications across Bangladesh; in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital city, debris-laden streets paralyzed traffic while electrical outages caused water shortages. (Full article...)
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S2-AGU, the aircraft involved, seen in 2014
US-Bangla Airlines Flight 211 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal, that crashed on 12 March 2018 while landing, killing 51 of the 71 people aboard. The aircraft, a 76-seat Bombardier Q400 operated by US-Bangla Airlines, burst into flames after the crash. The 20 surviving passengers were seriously injured from the impact and the fire. It remains the deadliest aviation disaster involving a Bangladeshi airline, and the deadliest incident involving the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400.
A commission appointed by the government of Nepal investigated the accident and issued a report that concluded that the probable cause of the crash was pilot disorientation and a loss of situational awareness on the part of the flight crew. The report was criticized by the airline and by the Bangladeshi representative to the commission, who felt that the air traffic controllers at Tribhuvan International Airport had not done their job properly and could have prevented the accident. (Full article...)
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Banglapedia:theNational Encyclopedia of Bangladesh is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online, in both Bengali and English. The print version comprises fourteen 500-page volumes. The first edition was published in January 2003 in ten volumes by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh with a plan to update it every two years. The second edition was issued in 2012 in fourteen volumes.
Banglapedia was not designed as a general encyclopedia but as a specialized encyclopedia on Bangladesh-related topics. For the encyclopedia's purposes, Bangladesh is defined as the territory comprising ancient Eastern India, Bengal Sultanate, Bengal Subah,Bengal Presidency, East Bengal, East Pakistan, and the independent Bangladesh, in historical succession. (Full article...)
The Bangladesh Police (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ পুলিশ) is the national law enforcement agency of Bangladesh, operating under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It plays a crucial role in maintaining peace, and enforcement of law and order within Bangladesh. Though the police are primarily concerned with the maintenance of law and order and security of persons and property of individuals, they also play a big role in the criminal justice system. Bangladesh Police played an important role during the Bangladesh Liberation War. (Full article...)
Bangladesh has achieved significant advancements in political empowerment, ranking seventh globally with a commendable gender parity rate of 55.2%. Over the past 50 years, the country has witnessed a woman serving as head of state for an impressive duration of 29.3 years, which stands as the longest period in the world. Gender parity in school enrollment has seen significant improvement. Bangladesh has also put in place regulations to protect women's rights and privileges. As access to education for women increases, the momentum to boost women's participation in the labor force continues to grow. Bangladesh has experienced a substantial transformation, marked by the gradual expansion of opportunities for women over the past few decades. Multiple factors have converged to bring about transformative advancements in women's empowerment within the nation. (Full article...)
The Nawab of Dhaka (Bengali: "ঢাকার নবাব"), originally spelt in English Nawab of Dacca, was the title of the head of one of the largest Muslim zamindar in British Bengal and Assam, based in present-day Dhaka, Bangladesh. The title of nawab, similar to the British peerage, was conferred upon the head of the family by Queen Victoria as a recognition of the first Nawab's loyalty and contribution to the social welfare activities.
Although the Nawabs of Dhaka were not sovereigns, they played an essential role in the politics of South Asia—and the relations with external entities. The family was proprietary of the Dhaka Nawab estate, seated at Ahsan Manzil palace. "Nawab of Dhaka" was the title of the head of the family from 1843. Khwaja Alimullah was the first holder of the title, and Khwaja Abdul Ghani was the first Nawab of Dhaka when the title was made hereditary by Queen Victoria. (Full article...)
Military policy is formulated and executed by the Armed Forces Division (AFD) whereas the Ministry of Defence (MoD) does not exercise any operational or policy authority over the Armed Forces. Since independence, the AFD and MoD has been led by the Prime Minister. To coordinate military policy with foreign and intelligence policy, both the president and the prime minister are advised by a six-member advisory board which consists of the three military services' Chiefs of Staff, the Principal Staff Officer of the Armed Forces Division, and military secretaries to the president and the prime minister. The directors general of the NSI, the DGFI and the BGB also serve in an advisory capacity, when invited. (Full article...)
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Architecture of Bangladesh is intertwined with the architecture of the Bengal region and the broader Indian subcontinent. The architecture of Bangladesh has a long history and is rooted in Bangladesh's culture, religion and history. It has evolved over centuries and assimilated influences from social, religious and exotic communities. The architecture of Bangladesh bears a remarkable impact on the lifestyle, tradition and cultural life of Bangladeshi people. Bangladesh has many architectural relics and monuments dating back thousands of years. (Full article...)
The Bangladesh Bank robbery, also known colloquially as the Bangladesh Bank cyber heist, was a theft that took place in February 2016. Thirty-five fraudulent instructions were issued by security hackers via the SWIFT network to illegally transfer close to US$1 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York account belonging to Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh. Five of the thirty-five fraudulent instructions were successful in transferring US$101 million, with US$81 million traced to the Philippines and US$20 million to Sri Lanka. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York blocked the remaining thirty transactions, amounting to US$850 million, due to suspicions raised by a misspelled instruction. As of 2018, only around US$18 million of the US$81 million transferred to the Philippines has been recovered, and all the money transferred to Sri Lanka has since been recovered. Most of the money transferred to the Philippines went to four personal accounts, held by single individuals, and not to companies or corporations. (Full article...)
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The University of Dhaka (Bengali: ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়; also known as Dhaka University or DU) is a publicresearch university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was established in 1921 as University of Dacca and it is the oldest active university in Bangladesh.
The university was founded in 1921 under the Dacca University Act 1920 of the Indian Legislative Council. Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Salimullah, who pioneered the university in Dhaka, donated 600 acres of land from his estate for this purpose. It is modeled after British Universities. Currently it is the largest public research university in Bangladesh, with a student body of 46,150 and a faculty of 1,992. (Full article...)
In the late 7th century, Arab Muslims established commercial as well as religious connection within the region before the conquest, mainly through the coastal regions as traders and primarily via the ports of Chittagong. In the early 13th century, Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji conquered Western and part of Northern Bengal, and established the first Muslim kingdom in Bengal. Islamic missionaries in India achieved their greatest success, in terms of number of converts, in Bengal. Sufi's like Shah Jalal are thought to have spread Islam in the north-eastern Bengal and Assam during the beginning of the 12th century. The Islamic Bengal Sultanate, was founded by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah after its independence from the Tughlaq dynasty. Bengal reached in her golden age during Bengal Sultanate's ruling period. Subsequently, Bengal was conquered by Babur, the founder of one of the gunpowder empires, but was also briefly occupied by the Suri Empire. (Full article...)