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| People's Republic of Bangladesh গণপ্রজাতন্ত্রী বাংলাদেশ | |
|---|---|
| Capital and largest city | Dhaka |
| Official languages | Bengali |
| Area | |
• Total | 148,460 km² |
| Population | |
• 2018 estimate | 161,376,708 |
Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. Despite its name, it is not a socialist state.
History
British East India Company
Bangladesh was colonized by the British Empire and was part of the British Raj. Under Mughal rule, peasants had paid 10–15% of their harvest as tribute, which could be used as a safety net in the event of a famine. In 1765, the British East India Company began collecting tribute instead of the emperor and increased it to half of the annual harvest. In 1770, ten million people, roughly a third of the population of Bengal, died in a famine. Unlike the Indian rulers, the British did not waive their taxes during famines and instead raised the land tax to 60%. There was another famine in 1783.[1]
British Raj
Under the British Raj, Bengal experienced famines in 1866, 1873, 1892, 1897, and 1943. During the 1943 famine, in which three million starved to death, British leader Winston Churchill blamed the Bengalis and said that "the famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits."[1]
East Pakistan
In August 1947, British India was separated into two independent states: the majority Hindu state of India and the majority Muslim state of Pakistan. Pakistan contained West Pakistan (modern-day Pakistan) and East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh. From 1958 to 1971, Pakistan was ruled by military dictators from West Pakistan. On 26 March 1971, the Pakistani Army took control of the major cities in East Pakistan, starting the Bangladesh Liberation War. The army committed genocide against the Bengalis, killing between 200,000 and three million people and causing ten million to flee to India. On 17 April, a provisional government was formed in western Bangladesh by Bengali nationalist and 100,000 guerrillas were trained. Pakistan surrendered on 16 December and Bangladesh became independent.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rakhi Chakraborty (2014-08-15). "The Bengal Famine: How the British engineered the worst genocide in human history for profit" Yourstory. Archived from the original on 2022-01-02. Retrieved 2022-05-15.
- ↑ "Bangladesh Liberation War".