Bangladesh, in full, People’s Republic of Bangladesh, republic of southern Asia, in the north-esheastern portion of the Indian subcontinent, bordered on the west, north, and east by India, on the south-east by Myanmar (Burma), and on the south by the Bay of Bengal. The area of the country is 143,998 sq km (55,598 sq mi). The capital and largest city of Bangladesh is Dhaka.
POPULATION
The vast majority of Bangladesh’s inhabitants are Bengalis, largely descended from Indo-Aryans who began to migrate into the country from the west thousands of years ago and who mixed with indigenous groups of various races in Bengal. Ethnic minorities include the Chakma and Mogh, Mongoloid peoples who live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts; the Santal, mainly descended from migrants from present-day India; and the Biharis, non-Bengali Muslims who migrated from India after the partition of India in 1947.
LANGUAGE
The national language, Bangla (or Bengali), of the Indo-Iranian family, is the first language of much of the population. It is written in its own script. Chittagonian, an Indo-Iranian language considered by some to be a dialect of Bangla although not inherently intelligible with it, is a mother tongue for 14 million. Slyhetti, another Indo-Iranian language close to Bangla, is a mother tongue for 5 million. Thirty-four other indigenous languages are spoken, mainly from the Sino-Tibetan and Indo-Iranian families, although some Austro-Asiatic and one of the Dravidian languages are spoken. Urdu is the language of several hundred thousand people, many of whom migrated from India in the late 1940s.
RALIGION
Islam, the state religion, is the faith of about 85 per cent of the population, almost all of whom adhere to the Sunni branch. Hindus make up most of the remainder, and the country has small communities of Buddhists, Christians, and animists.
POPULATION
The vast majority of Bangladesh’s inhabitants are Bengalis, largely descended from Indo-Aryans who began to migrate into the country from the west thousands of years ago and who mixed with indigenous groups of various races in Bengal. Ethnic minorities include the Chakma and Mogh, Mongoloid peoples who live in the Chittagong Hill Tracts; the Santal, mainly descended from migrants from present-day India; and the Biharis, non-Bengali Muslims who migrated from India after the partition of India in 1947.
LANGUAGE
The national language, Bangla (or Bengali), of the Indo-Iranian family, is the first language of much of the population. It is written in its own script. Chittagonian, an Indo-Iranian language considered by some to be a dialect of Bangla although not inherently intelligible with it, is a mother tongue for 14 million. Slyhetti, another Indo-Iranian language close to Bangla, is a mother tongue for 5 million. Thirty-four other indigenous languages are spoken, mainly from the Sino-Tibetan and Indo-Iranian families, although some Austro-Asiatic and one of the Dravidian languages are spoken. Urdu is the language of several hundred thousand people, many of whom migrated from India in the late 1940s.
RALIGION
Islam, the state religion, is the faith of about 85 per cent of the population, almost all of whom adhere to the Sunni branch. Hindus make up most of the remainder, and the country has small communities of Buddhists, Christians, and animists.
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