The People's Republic of Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is surrounded by India on all sides except for a small border with Myanmar to the far southeast and the Bay of Bengal, part of the Indian Ocean, to the south. The area of the country is 147,570 sq km (56,977 sq mi). The capital and largest city of Bangladesh is Dhaka.

Bangladesh Map

Bangladesh is a product of the partitioning of British India starting with the 1947 partition which made it the eastern wing of Pakistan. This pairing based on common religion (Islam) proved geographically awkward, as a distance of some 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) separated the two regions. Subject to political and linguistic domination as well as economic neglect, Bengalis gained their independence in 1971 in a civil war. Bangladesh was soon recognized by most other nations, although Pakistan withheld diplomatic recognition until 1974 and China did not recognize the nation until 1976. Bangladesh was admitted to the United Nations in 1974.

The colors of the Bangladeshi flag are red and green. The red sun in the middle represents pride and the bloodshed the people of Bangladesh suffered during the war of independence. The body of green represents the lush fields that fill the country.

Flag

National Anthem:

The anthem was composed by the great Rabindranath Tagore, winner of the Nobel prize for literature in 1913 for his literature.

Amar Shonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal)

Anthem

My Bengal of gold,
I love you.
Forever your skies, your air set my heart in tune
As if it were a flute.
In spring, O mother mine,
the fragrance from your mango groves
Makes me wild with joy
Ah, what a thrill!
In autumn, O mother mine,
In the full blossomed paddy fields
I have seen spread all over sweet smiles.
Ah, what a beauty, what shades, what an affection
And what a tenderness!
What a quilt have you spread at the feet of Banyan trees
And along the banks of rivers!
O mother mine, words from your lips
Are like nectar to my ears.
Ah, what a thrill!
If sadness, O mother mine,
casts a gloom on your face,
eyes are filled with tears!

Quick Facts about Bangladesh:

Land area: 51,703 sq mi (133,911 sq km); Total area: 55,598 sq mi (144,000 sq km)

Population (2007 est.): 150,448,339; Life expectancy: 64; Density per sq mi: 2,910

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Dhaka, 12,560,000 (metro.area), 5,378,023 (city proper)

Other large cities: Chittagong, 2,592,400; Khulna, 1,211,500

Monetary unit: Taka

Principal languages: Bangla (official), English

Ethnicity/race: Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims (1998)

Religions: Islam 83%, Hindu 16%, other 1% (1998)

Literacy rate: 43% (2003 est.)

GDP (2005 est.): $301.4 billion; per capita $2,100.

Unemployment: 2.5%

Agriculture: rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry.

Industries: cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, sugar.

Natural resources: natural gas, arable land, timber, coal.

Exports: $9.372 billion (2005 est.): garments, jute and jute goods, leather, frozen fish and seafood (2001).