Bangladesh Scouts

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, 7 – 14 December 2007

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Country name Conventional long form:

Conventional short form:

Government Type:

Capital:

Legal system:

Suffrage 18 years of age:

Legislative branch:

People's Republic of Bangladesh

Bangladesh

Parliamentary democracy

Dhaka

Based on English common law

Universal

Unicameral National Parliament or Jatiya Sangsad; 300 seats elected by popular vote from single territorial constituencies (the constitutional amendment reserving 45 seats for women over and above the 300 regular parliament seats); members serve five-year terms

Geography: Bangladesh

Location:

Boundary:

Area Total:

Land:

Water:

Land boundaries Total:

Border countries:

Coastline:

Climate Tropical:

Latitude: 20 degree 34' to 26 degree 38' north. Longitude: 88 degree 01' to 92 degree 41' east. Bounded by India from the north, east and west, Myanmar (Burma) from the south-east and the Bay of Bengal from the south.

144,000 sq km

133,910 sq km

10,090 sq km

4,246 km

Myanmar 193 km, India 4,053 km

580 km

Mild winter (October to March); hot, humid summer (March to June); humid, warm rainy monsoon (June to October) Terrain Mostly flat alluvial plain; hilly in southeast

People: Bangladesh

Population:

Age structure 0-14 years:

65 years and over:

Population growth rate:

Nationality noun:

Adjective:

Ethnic groups:

Religions:

Languages:

Literacy Definition:

Total population:

male:

female:

144,000,000 (2005 est.)

33.1% (male 24,590,000/female 23,162,000)

15-64 years: 63.5% (male 46,764,000/female 44,868,000)

3.4% (male 2,650,000/female 2,282,000) est.

1.9% est.

Bangladeshi(s)

Bangladeshi

Bengali 98%, tribal groups, non-Bengali Muslims

Muslim 88.3%, Hindu 10.5%, others 1.2%

Bangla (official, also known as Bengali) is the state language. English is also widely spoken and understood. Arabic is read and spoken for religious purposes.

age 15 and over can read and write

43.1%

53.9%

31.8%

Economy: Bangladesh

GDP (purchasing power parity):

GDP - real growth rate:

GDP-per capita purchasing power parity:

Population below poverty line:

Agricultural products:

Industries:

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:

Television channel:

Internet country code:

$301.4 billion (2005 est.)

5.4% (2005 est.)

$2,100 est.

45% est.

Rice, jute, tea, wheat, sugarcane, potatoes, tobacco, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruit; beef, milk, poultry

Cotton textiles, jute, garments, tea processing, paper newsprint, cement, chemical fertilizer, light engineering, and sugar.

$3.45 billion (2005 est.)

.bd

Transportation: Bangladesh

Railways total:

broad gauge:

Narrow gauge:

Highways total:

Paved:

Unpaved:

Sea Ports:

Airports:

2,706 km

884 km 1.676-m gauge

1,822 km 1.000-m gauge (est.)

239,226 km

22,726 km

216,500 km (est.)

Chittagong and Mongla

16 (3 international)

History of Bangladesh

There has long been advanced civilization in what is now Bangladesh, once the eastern part of a greater region called Bengal. There is recent evidence of civilizations dating back to 500 BC, and there are even claims of social structures from around 1000 BC. One of the earliest historical references to be found to date is the mention of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100BC. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) and believed to be referring to an area in Bangladesh. However, more concrete proof of a political entity in Bengal starts with Shashanka in 7th century A.D. This was followed by (though not immediately) the Pala dynasty and the Sen dynasty. The Pala dynasty was Buddhist while both Shashanka and the Sens were Hindus. Bengal became Islamic starting in the 13th century and developed into a wealthy centre of trade and industry under the Mughal Empire during the 16th century. European traders had arrived in the late 15th century and eventually the British East India Company controlled the region by the late 18th century, from which the British extended their rule over all of India. When Indian independence was achieved in 1947, political motivations caused it to be divided into the Islamic state of Pakistan and a secular India. The Partition of India saw Bengal divided between the two new countries: a Muslim-dominated eastern part called East Bengal corresponding to what is now Bangladesh, and a western part, the Indian state of West Bengal. The abolition of the Jamidari system (which divided the society into lords, owners of property, and commoners, users of property) in East Bengal (1950) was a major landmark in Bangladesh's movement to a "people's state". The Language Movement of February 1952 established the rights of the Bengali community to speak in their own language, an event commemorated now as the International Mother Language Day. In 1955, the government of Pakistan changed the name of the province from East Bengal to East Pakistan. East Pakistan was dominated and neglected by West Pakistan, which comprised the rest of Pakistan (West Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, and the Northwest Frontier Province).

Under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, also known as Bôngobondhu (Friend of Bengal), Bangladesh started its struggle for independence. The official onset followed one of the bloodiest genocides of recent times carried out by the Pakistan army on Bengali civilians on 25 March 1971.

After nine months of arms struggle against Pakistani Army the country got liberation on 16^th December 1971.