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Questions and Answers
Which country shares land borders with Bangladesh?
Which country shares land borders with Bangladesh?
- Nepal
- Bhutan
- Myanmar (correct)
- Sri Lanka
Which event marked the beginning of British colonial rule in South Asia?
Which event marked the beginning of British colonial rule in South Asia?
- The creation of the British Indian Empire
- The Indian Mutiny
- The establishment of the Bengal Sultanate
- The Battle of Plassey (correct)
What was the main cause of the Great Bengal famine of 1770?
What was the main cause of the Great Bengal famine of 1770?
- Smallpox epidemic
- Economic mismanagement
- All of the above (correct)
- Drought
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Study Notes
- Bangladesh is a country in South Asia with a population of around 169 million people.
- It shares land borders with India and Myanmar, and has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal.
- The official language is Bengali.
- Bangladesh was part of the historic and ethnolinguistic region of Bengal before being divided during the Partition of India in 1947.
- It has a Bengali Muslim majority and was unified into an independent, unitary Bengal Sultanate under Muslim rule.
- Bangladesh became East Pakistan in 1947 and gained independence in 1971 after a successful armed revolution aided by India.
- It is a unitary parliamentary constitutional republic based on the Westminster system.
- Bangladesh is the second-largest economy in South Asia and maintains the third-largest military in the region.
- It is a major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations and hosts one of the largest refugee populations in the world due to the Rohingya genocide.
- Bangladesh faces challenges such as corruption and the effects of climate change, but has been a leader within the Climate Vulnerable Forum.
- Bengal prospered under the Pala dynasty until 1161 AD
- Bengali language emerged in the eighth century
- Seafarers in the Bay of Bengal traded with Southeast Asia and exported Buddhist and Hindu cultures
- Islam arrived in Bengal in two phases: maritime trade and Muslim dynastic rule after the Islamic conquest
- Bengal was ruled by the Sultans of the Delhi Sultanate for a century
- Bengal Sultanate established a network of mint towns and became a commercialized and monetized economy
- Gaur became the fifth-most populous city in the world with a population of 200,000
- Mughal Empire controlled Bengal by the 17th century and established Dhaka as a fort city and commercial metropolis
- The Nawabs of Bengal became the region's de facto rulers during the 18th century
- Battle of Plassey in 1757 marked the beginning of British colonial rule in South Asia
- Bengal permitted the Portuguese settlement in Chittagong in 1528, becoming the first European colonial enclave in Bengal.
- The British East India Company conquered Bengal after the Battle of Plassey in 1757.
- The resulting treaty made the Mughal emperor a puppet of the British and gave the company the right to collect taxes in Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa.
- The Permanent Settlement established the feudal zamindari system, and Company policies led to the deindustrialisation of Bengal's textile industry.
- Economic mismanagement, drought, and a smallpox epidemic led to the Great Bengal famine of 1770.
- Several rebellions broke out during the early 19th century as Company rule had displaced the Muslim ruling class from power.
- The British Indian Empire was created after the failed Indian Mutiny.
- The All India Muslim League was formed in Dhaka during the 1906 All India Muhammadan Educational Conference.
- On 3 June 1947, the Mountbatten Plan outlined the partition of British India.
- East Bengal became the most populous province of the 1947 Pakistani federation.
- East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan in 1955 and became part of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.
- East Pakistan faced economic discrimination from the central government, despite generating a significant portion of Pakistan's export revenue.
- Ethnic and linguistic discrimination was common in Pakistan's civil and military services, in which Bengalis were under-represented.
- In 1970, calls for the independence of East Bengal became louder; the Bengali-nationalist Awami League won 167 of 169 East Pakistani seats in the National Assembly.
- Military operations under the code name of Operation Searchlight began on March 26, 1971, and the Pakistan Army launched a widespread campaign of killings, torture, rape, arson, and destruction across East Pakistan.
- The Mukti Bahini emerged as the Bengali resistance force during the Bangladesh Liberation War, which lasted for nine months.
- India intervened in the war on December 3, 1971, and the capital Dhaka was liberated from Pakistani occupation in mid-December.
- The war ended with the surrender of the Pakistan Eastern Command to the Bangladesh-India Allied Forces on December 16, 1971.
- The official death toll of the war was recorded at 3 million, including victims of atrocities and those who died from starvation.
- Bangladesh was recognized as a new state by 86 countries by August 1972.
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