Lecture : M 1 C 1

Introduction

Bangladesh : Information Brief




Location

Bangladesh is a part of the Asia continent and
a part of the South Asia region

She is South Asias youngest member

She got her independence on 16 December
1971 after a nine month long liberation war


Bangladesh is located between 2034'
to 2638' north latitude and 8801' to
9241' east longitude


Maximum extension is about 440 km in
East - West direction and 760 km in
North North West South South East
direction


Area and Boundaries

Total area of Bangladesh is 147,570 sq
km

Total length of the land border is about
4,246 km

93.9% of it is shared with India and the
rest 6% with Myanmar


Rivers

Total rivers including tributaries and distributaries are
about 700

They are under three mighty river systems:

Ganges - Padma River System

Brahmaputra Jamuna River System

Surma - Meghna River System

Rivers of the southeastern hilly region are considered
as the Chittagong Region River System








Climate

Sub-tropical Monsoon

Average maximum and minimum winter
temperatures are 29C and 11C respectively

Average maximum and minimum summer
temperatures are 34C and 21C respectively


Annual Rainfall 1,194 mm to 3,454 mm

Highest humidity

80% to 100% (August-September)

lowest 36% (February-March)


Population (2001)

Total population 123.1 million

Population density 834 persons per sq
km

Annual growth rate (1991-2001) 1.47%

Male - female ratio 106 : 100


Religion

Muslims 88%

Hindus 11%

Buddhists, Christians and Animists 1%


Literacy

7 years and above : 48.7 % (1997-
98)


Flora

6000 species of which there are
about 5000 flowering plants


Fauna

Vertebrates: about 1600 species

Fish: 266 inland species and 442 marine species

Amphibians: 22 species

Reptiles 126 species (109 inland and 17 marine)

Birds: 628 species (388 resident and 240 migratory)

Mammals: 113 species (110 inland and 3 marine)


Forest

Total 21403 sq km

Hill forest land 13,617 sq km

Inland forest land 1,220 sq km

Littoral forest 6,566 sq km


Physiography

Bangladesh is a humid low-lying alluvial region

It is composed mainly of the great combined
delta of the Ganges - Brahmaputra - Meghna
rivers

It is one of the largest deltas in the world



The monotony of flatness has been
relieved inland by two elevated tracts

The Madhupur and the Barind Tracts

Rows of hills on the northeast and
southeast


Some 75% of the land is plain land less than
3m above mean sea level (MSL) and vulnerable
to floods and cyclones

Slopes down gradually from north to south
Dinajpur 37.50m above MSL
Bogra 20m, Mymensingh 18m, Naraynganj 8m

Maximum elevation is 1,280m above MSL at
Saichal Range in Rangamati district

Tajingdong is the highest peak ( about 1230
meter) and called as Bijoy


Geophormic Characteristics

Total time span of earth is about
4.6 billion years




66 - 37 million years : Most of Bangladesh was
under sea

37 - 24 million years : Chittagong Hill Tracts
started to form and Surma basin began to
subside

24 - 05 million years : Monsoon season started
and reservoirs of natural gas deposits formed

05 - 02 million years : Global cooling climate
and present Bengal Delta started taking shape



02 - 0.1 million years :

Known as Pleistocene Period

Global Ice Age

No evidence of glacier deposits in Bangladesh

Barind and Madhupur tracts formed



0.1 million - 10,000 years

Known as Holocene Period or the Recent Period

Appearance of modern man or Homosapiens

Himalayas were glaciated and the melt water was
flowing over Bengal plain through deeply incised river
valleys towards the Bay of Bengal

So Bengal plain was acting like an outwash plain

As a result river systems built out the backbone of the
present Bengal Delta




So it took more than 2 million
years to take the present shape of
Bangladesh