Bangladesh Country Overview

Geography

• Located in Southern Asia on the Bay of Bengal
• Bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma
• Comprises flat plains and deltas of large rivers flowing from the Himalayas

Government

• Parliamentary democracy system of government
• President is the chief of state
• Prime minister is the head of government

Economy

• Traditional economic system
• Allocation of resources based on inheritance and primitive methods
• Member of Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA)
• Member of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

Asia: The Continent

• Asia is the world's largest and most diverse continent, occupying the eastern four-fifths of the Eurasian landmass.
• It is more a geographic term than a homogeneous continent, with enormous diversity among the regions it encompasses.

Geographic Features

• Asia has both the highest and the lowest points on the surface of Earth.
• It has the longest coastline of any continent.
• Asia is subject to the world's widest climatic extremes, resulting in varied forms of vegetation and animal life.

Origin of the Name

• The name Asia is ancient, derived from the Assyrian word "asu," meaning "east."
• Another possible explanation is that it was originally a local name given to the plains of Ephesus.

Boundaries

• Asia is bounded by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the east, the Indian Ocean to the south, and the Red Sea to the southwest.
• It is separated from North America to the northeast by the Bering Strait and from Australia to the southeast by the seas and straits connecting the Indian and Pacific oceans.
• The Isthmus of Suez unites Asia with Africa, and the Suez Canal forms the border between them.

Land Boundary with Europe

• The land boundary between Asia and Europe is a historical and cultural construct, defined variously by geographers.
• A convenient geographic boundary is a line that runs south from the Arctic Ocean along the Ural Mountains and then turns southwest along the Emba River to the northern shore of the Caspian Sea.

Area and Islands

• The total area of Asia, including Asian Russia, is approximately 17,226,200 square miles (44,614,000 square km), roughly one-third of the land surface of Earth.
• Islands, including Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, and Sri Lanka, constitute 1,240,000 square miles (3,210,000 square km), about 7 percent of the total.

This quiz covers the basic geography, government, and economy of Bangladesh, a country located in Southern Asia. Learn about its borders, terrain, government system, and traditional economy.