Bangladesh, formally People’s Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most heavily populated nation worldwide, with a populace surpassing 163 million individuals in a location of either 148,460 square kilometres (57,320 sq mi) or 147,570 square kilometres (56,980 sq mi), making it one of the most densely inhabited countries on the planet. Bangladesh shares land borders with India to the west, north, and eastern, as well as Myanmar to the southeast; to the south it has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal.

It is narrowly divided from Nepal as well as Bhutan by the Siliguri Corridor; as well as from China by 100 kilometres of the Indian state of Sikkim in the north. Dhaka, the resources and biggest city, is the nation’s economic, political, and cultural hub. Chittagong, the biggest port, is the second-largest city. The official language is Bengali, one of the most eastern branches of the Indo-European language family.

Bangladesh forms the sovereign part of the historical and also ethnolinguistic region of Bengal, which was divided throughout the Dividing of British India in 1947. The nation has a Bengali Muslim majority. Old Bengal was a crucial social center in the Indian subcontinent as the home of the states of Vanga, Pundra, Gangaridai, Gauda, Samatata, and Harikela. The Mauryan, Gupta, Pala, Sena, Chandra as well as Deva dynasties were the last pre-Islamic rulers of Bengal. The Muslim occupation of Bengal began in 1204 when Bakhtiar Khalji overran north Bengal as well as attacked Tibet.

Becoming part of the Delhi Sultanate, three city-states arised in the 14th century with much of eastern Bengal being ruled from Sonargaon. Sufi missionary leaders like Sultan Balkhi, Shah Jalal and also Shah Makhdum Rupos assisted in spreading out Muslim policy. The area was linked right into an independent, unitary Bengal Sultanate. Under Mughal regulation, eastern Bengal remained to flourish as the melting pot of Muslims in the eastern subcontinent and also drew in investors from all over the world. Mughal Bengal became progressively assertive and independent under the Nawabs of Bengal in the 18th century.

In 1757, the dishonesty of Mir Jafar led to the defeat of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah to the British East India Firm as well as eventual British dominance throughout South Asia. The Bengal Presidency turned into the biggest management unit in British India. The creation of Eastern Bengal as well as Assam in 1905 established a precedent for the appearance of Bangladesh. In 1940, the very first Head of state of Bengal sustained the Lahore Resolution with the hope of developing a state in eastern South Asia.

Prior to the dividing of Bengal, the Head Of State of Bengal recommended a Bengali sovereign state. A referendum and also the news of the Radcliffe Line established the contemporary territorial border of Bangladesh.