Bangladesh Tourism and Travel Guide

Bangladesh (/bɑːŋlɑːdɛʃ/; i/ˌbæŋɡləˈdæʃ/; বাংলাদেশ, pronounced: [ˈbaŋlad̪eʃ] ( listen), lit. 'The land of Bengal'), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh (গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ Gônôprôjatôntri Bangladesh), is a country in South Asia, bordered by India and Myanmar, at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. It is separated from Nepal and Bhutan by the narrow Siliguri Corridor. It is the world's 8th-most populous country and the 93rd-largest country by area, making it one of the most densely populated nations on Earth. The majority of the population are Bengali Muslims, followed by Bengali Hindus and diverse Buddhist and Christian communities. The official language is Bengali, which is shared with the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura. Bangladesh is rich in biodiversity, being dominated by the fertile Bengal delta and is home to the world’s largest mangrove forest, a mountainous east and a 600 km coastline that has one of the world's longest beaches.Forming part the historical Bengal region, the earliest cities and written records in the territory date back to the Vedic period. The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai. The mighty Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers connected Bengal to India and China, making the region a central entrepot of the historic Silk Road. During the Pala and Sena periods, the people of the land developed their own language, script, literature, music, art and architecture. Islam was established in the second millennium CE under the Delhi Sultanate, the Bengal Sultanate and the Mughal Empire. Annexed by the British East India Company in 1765, the region was a part of British-ruled India until the creation of Pakistan in 1947. The rise of Bengali nationalism in East Pakistan resulted in the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary republic with a diverse cultural heritage. It is a Next Eleven emerging economy. It is the world’s largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations; and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the World Trade Organization, the OIC, NAM, the D8, SAARC, BIMSTEC and BCIM. Despite steady progress in human development, the country continues to face challenges of poverty, corruption, political instability, terrorism and global warming.