BANGLADESH AT A GLANCE

 Geography and Climate
Bangladesh is located on the Bay of Bengal of the Indian Ocean and is surrounded on three sides by India and shares a small border with Myanmar. The country is 133,910 square kilometers, making it slightly smaller than the US state of Iowa and slightly larger than the European country of Bulgaria. Three large rivers, the Padma, the Jamuna, and the Meghna flow through country and are responsible for the fertile deltaic plains that cover most of the country.
In addition to these huge rivers bringing melt water from the Himalayas, monsoon rains bring more water, making the region one of the wettest in the world. The rains come primarily during the monsoon season from June to October. This is followed by a mild, dry winter from October to March. The heat and humidity return for the summer months of March to June.

  History
Throughout its early history, the region now known as Bangladesh was under the sway of various Buddhist and Hindu rulers. Beginning in the 12th century, Muslims from Central Asia and Persia began to take control of the area and their power and culture reached a zenith under the Mughals in the 17th century.
It was in this same century that Europeans started to arrive in what is now Bangladesh, and eventually the British took control of the entire Sub-Continent. British involvement in the future Bangladesh was limited with the colonists preferring to govern through a small Hindu aristocracy. The subjugation of the region reached a peak in 1943 when successive crop failures combined with British grain purchases for the war effort to create a famine that killed 5 million people.
When the British left the Sub-Continent in 1947 the future Bangladesh, being predominantly Muslim, was joined with present-day Pakistan in a single nation known as East Pakistan. Eventually, though, the geographic, cultural, and linguistic differences were too much to keep these two regions united. In 1971, Bangladeshi rebels, with the help of the Indian Army, defeated the Pakistani Army and officially established the nation of Bangladesh.
Years of foreign exploitation left the fledgling country with little to build on as it set out to create a government and improve the condition of its people. Numerous military coups and the eventual establishment of a fractious democracy have hindered the creation of a strong country. Today, the same pride and determination that brought the country independence will be needed to overcome the many hardships faced by a large part of the population.

 Demographics
There are about 126 million people in this small country, making it the most densely populated major state in the world with roughly 950 people/ km2. The population growth rate has slowed significantly in recent years but the population will still double in 60 years if the rate remains constant. Nearly the entire population is ethnically Bengali with small tribal groups accounting for just 2% of the population. In terms of religions, the country is predominantly Muslim (~83%), although there is a significant Hindu population (~16%) and small groups of Buddhists and Christians. The population is still overwhelmingly rural with about 80% of Bangladeshis residing in the countryside.