 Bangladesh - national flag
The flag was adopted in 1971. The green tablecloth symbolizes the country's
vegetation as well as youth and power and is also the color of Islam. The red
disc, the sun of independence, expresses the struggle for freedom.
- Countryaah:
What does the flag of Bangladesh look like? Follow this link, then you will
see the image in PNG format and flag meaning description about this country.
Bangladesh - history
Under British colonial rule, present - day Bangladesh was the eastern part of
the Bengali province, but with the partition of British India in 1947, the area
became part of Pakistan, called East Pakistan. For the past history of the area
see Bengal (history).
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AbbreviationFinder: Check three-letter abbreviation for each country in
the world, such as BGD which represents the official name of Bangladesh.
Under British rule, large sections of the predominantly Muslim population had
joined the political party, the Muslim League, which initially collaborated
with the Hindu-dominated National Congress in the independence movement against
the British. Towards the end of British rule, relations between the two
religious groups intensified and Muslims claimed a separate homeland. In
addition to religion, they had two parts of the new Pakistan, respectively. East
and West Pakistan, not much in common, and the people of East Pakistan opposed
West Pakistan dominance from the beginning. The first demonstrations against the
central government concerned the recognition of Bengalias the official
language. Economic policy also favored West Pakistan, provoking Bengalis'
demands for self-government. In 1949, they formed the Awami League as an
opposition party, and their opposition to the central government grew after the
army took power in 1958. As a result of a broad popular uprising, the army was
forced in 1970 to print the first national election in Pakistan's history; The
Awami League under Sheikh Mujibur Rahmans leadership went to the polls on a
demand for extensive autonomy, and the party obtained the absolute majority in
the National Assembly that was to give Pakistan a new constitution. This demand
could not be accepted by the central government and the state of military
emergency was tightened. Reactions were fierce in eastern Pakistan; there were
large demonstrations and the majority of the population agreed with Mujibur
Rahman's call not to cooperate with the central government. On the night between
March 25 and 26, 1971, the Pakistani army was deployed, after which the Awami
League declared Bangladesh an independent state. Mujibur Rahman was captured and
imprisoned in western Pakistan, while most Awami League leaders managed to
escape to India, where they formed a government in exile. The Bengals built a
liberation army and launched a guerrilla war against the Pakistani occupying
forces. During the Civil War, up to 10 million fled. Hindus to India, who
already had a bad relationship with Pakistan, and who therefore supported the
Bengals militarily. Together with the Bengali freedom fighters, the Indian
troops moved towards the capital Dhaka, where the Pakistani army surrendered on
16.12.1971. Thus, Bangladesh became effectively an independent state. Mujibur
Rahman was released, after which he and the government in exile came to Dhaka.
- Songaah:
See song and lyrics about Bangladesh
The Awami League ideology, based on Bengali cultural nationalism as well as
secularization as a counterweight to Islamic Pakistan, was built into
Bangladesh's constitution. As a governing party, however, the league was unable
to meet the expectations of the people, and with the deterioration of the
economic situation, opposition to the government increased. In August 1975,
Mujibur Rahman was deposed in a coup and killed.
In 1977, the presidency was taken over by General Ziaur Rahman, who had
played a central role during the liberation struggle. The new regime was less
hostile to the groups that had collaborated with the Pakistanis during the
liberation, and at the ideological level, it emphasized the territorial aspect
of nationalism in order to stand out from the large Indian state of West
Bengal. This happened through a constitutional amendment, whereby
secularization was simultaneously replaced by Islam. This ideology was the basis
of Bangladesh's National Party (GDP), which Ziaur Rahman formed in 1978. Rahman
was assassinated in 1981, after which General Ershad ruled the country until he
was ousted after extensive demonstrations in 1990.
In the 1991 election, GDP came to power under the leadership of Begum Khaleda
Zia. The strong antagonisms between the secular Awami League and Islamic GDP
continued through the 1990's. In 1996, the league came to power with the daughter
of state founder Mujibur Rahman, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, as prime minister. Her
reign was marked by a deterioration in relations with Pakistan, by continued
unrest and a partial collapse of law and order. In 1997, an agreement was
reached between the government and local groups on the troubled Chittagong Hill
Tractson increased self-management - the agreement was later followed up by
development projects with the participation of UN. In the 2001 election,
the BNP and its allies won big, and Begum Khaleda Zia formed a new government
despite allegations of electoral fraud. In 2006, the GDP government handed over
power to a Ministry of Commerce, headed from February 2007 by Fakhruddin Ahmad
(b. 1940). Holding parliamentary elections has been postponed
indefinitely. Since the 1990's and especially after the year 2000, radical
Islamic groups have carried out a number of terrorist attacks, including has
gone beyond the Awami League. The conflict between the two political blocs
continues to plague the country; not least due to a strong antagonism between
the two leaders. At the same time, extremist Islamic groups constitute a highly
destabilizing factor. The human rights situation has attracted international
criticism, and in particular, women's relationships have been in
focus. Corruption remains a widespread phenomenon, draining the country of 2-3%
of GDP. Despite political problems and the slowness of implementing reforms, the
country has now had an economic growth rate of over 5% for a number of
years. Bangladesh was hit by one of the worst floods in the country's history in
1998; in 2004, the capital Dhaka was particularly affected.
Bangladesh - literature
Bangladesh has a literary past in common with the other areas of the Indian
subcontinent, where Sanskrit was dominant as a literary language for centuries,
until the regional languages gradually managed to assert themselves with
independent literatures. Bengali manifests itself as a literary language from
approximately 1000 AD The material in the oldest Bengali poetry is usually taken from
Indian religion and mythology. The first significant Bengali poet is
the Candidas from the 1400's; the most famous in recent times is the Nobel
laureate Rabindranath Tagore, whose works have won general recognition both in
the poet's homeland and in the Western world.
It is difficult to separate Bangladesh from the Indian state of West
Bengal in terms of literary history as the literature in Bangladesh has deep
roots in West Bengal. One of the most important Muslim Bengali writers of the
1900's, Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899-1976), belonged to the literary milieu
of Calcutta. The high treasure is also Jasimuddin (1903-76), who in his poems
depicts the sorrows and joys of the villagers, often inspired by Bangladesh's
rich folk poetry. After 1947, when the East Bengals came under Pakistani
domination, writers and writers had to fight to preserve the right to use their
own language. Many of them lost their lives in this battle. The establishment of
Bangladesh as an independent state in 1971 with Bengali as the national language
has given rise to a lively literary activity.Dhaka has now become a rival to
Calcutta as the literary center of Bengal. Notable, contemporary authors
include Saiyad Waliullah (1922-71), Abu Ishak (b. 1926), Hasan Azizul Haq (b.
1938), Shamsur Rahman (b. 1929) and al Mahmud (b. 1936).
In 1994, the author Taslima Nasrin (b. 1962) became world famous. In writing
and speech, she was critical of aspects of Islam; she was sentenced to death by
fundamentalist groups and prosecuted for blasphemy, but was able to seek refuge
in Sweden under international attention.
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