Etymology of Bangladesh

 Etymology

The etymology of Bangladesh (Bangla Desh) can be traced back to the early 20th century, when Bengali patriotic songs, such as Kazi Nazrul Islam's Namo Namo Namo Bangladesh Momo and Rabindranath Tagore's Aji Bangla Hriday, used the term. In the past the word Bangladesh was often written as two words, Bangla Desh.

From the 1950s, Bengali nationalists used the term at political rallies in East Pakistan. The term Bengali is a principal name for both the Bengali region and the Bengali language. The origins of the word Bengali are unclear, with theories pointing to a Bronze Age proto-Dravidian tribe, the Austric word "bonga" (sun god) and the Iron Age kingdom of Bengal.

The first known use of the term is the Nessari Plate of 805 AD. The term Bhangaldesh is found in 11th century South Indian records. The term gained official status during the Bengal Sultanate in the 14th century. Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah proclaimed himself the first "Shah of Bengal" in 1342. During the Islamic period, the term Bengali became the most common name for the region. The Portuguese referred to the region as Bengal in the 16th century.

The sixteenth-century historian Abul-Fazl Ibn Mubarak in his Ain-e-Akbari mentions that the suffix "al" was added from the fact that ancient kings of the land raised mounds of earth 10 feet high and 20 wide. The lowland at the foot of the hill was called "Al". It is also mentioned in Ghulam Hussain Selim's Riaz-us-Salatin. The Indo-Aryan suffix deśa comes from the Sanskrit word deśha, meaning "land" or "country". Hence, the name Bangladesh means "Land of Bangladesh" or "Country of Bangladesh".

History

Ancient Bengali

Stone Age tools found in Bangladesh indicate human habitation for more than 20,000 years, and remains of Copper Age settlements date back 4,000 years. Ancient Bengal was settled by Austroasiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Dravidian and Indo-Aryans in successive waves of migration. Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region.

By the 11th century people were living in systematically lined dwellings, burying their dead and making copper ornaments and black and red pottery. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transport, and the estuaries of the Bay of Bengal allowed maritime trade. The Early Iron Age saw the development of metal weapons, coinage, agriculture and irrigation.

 Major urban settlements developed in the late Iron Age, around the middle of the first millennium BC, when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture flourished. In 1879, Alexander Cunningham identified Mahasthangarh as the capital of the Pundra kingdom mentioned in the Rigveda. The oldest inscription in Bangladesh is found at Mahasthangarh and dates back to the 3rd century BC. It is written in Brahmi script.

The Pala Empire was an imperial power in the Late Classical period of the Indian subcontinent, originating in the Bengal region.

Greek and Roman records of the ancient Gangaridai kingdom, which (supposedly) resisted the invasion of Alexander the Great, are associated with the fortress city of Uari-Bateshvara. The site is also identified with the prosperous trading center of Suanagoura listed on Ptolemy's World Map. Roman geographers mentioned a major seaport in South-East Bengal, corresponding to present-day Chittagong region.

Among the ancient Buddhist and Hindu kingdoms that ruled Bangladesh were the Bengal, Samata and Pundra kingdoms, the Maurya and Gupta empires, the Burman dynasty, the Shashanka kingdom, the Kharga and Chandra dynasties, the Pala empire, the Sena dynasty, the Harikela kingdom, and the Deva dynasty. These kingdoms had currency, banking, shipping, architecture and industry, and the ancient universities of Vikrampur and Mainamati invited scholars and students from other parts of Asia. Xuanzang of China was a famous scholar who lived in Somapur Mahavihara (the largest monastery in ancient India) and traveled from Bengal to Tibet to preach Atisa Buddhism. The original form of Bengali language appeared in the eighth century.

Islamic Bengali

The early history of Islam in Bengal is divided into two phases. The first phase is the period of maritime trade with Arabia and Persia between the 8th and 12th centuries. The second phase covers the centuries of Muslim dynastic rule following the Islamic conquest of Bengal. The writings of al-Idrisi, Ibn Hawqal, al-Masudi, Ibn Khordadbeh and Sulayman record maritime communication between Arabia, Persia and Bengal. Muslim trade with Bengal flourished after the fall of the Sasanian Empire and the Arab takeover of the Persian trade route.

Most of this trade took place in the area east of the Meghna River with Southeast Bengal. There is speculation about the presence of Muslim communities in Bangladesh as early as 690 AD; It is based on the discovery of one of the oldest mosques in South Asia in northern Bangladesh. Bengal was probably used by early Muslims as a transit route to China. Abbasid coins have been discovered in the archaeological ruins of Paharpur and Mainamati. A collection of Sasanian, Umayyad and Abbasid coins is preserved in the Bangladesh National Museum.

The Muslim conquest of Bengal began with the Ghurid campaign of 1204 led by Muhammad bin Bakhtiar Khalji, who captured the Sen capital of Gaur and led the first Muslim army into Tibet. The gold coins of the Delhi Sultanate were inscribed with the victory of Bengal. Bengal was ruled by the Sultans of Delhi for a century under the Mamluk, Balban and Tughlaq dynasties. Three city-states emerged in Bengal in the 14th century, including Sonargaon under Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah, Satgaon under Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, and Lucknow under Alauddin Ali Shah.

These city-states were led by former governors who declared independence from Delhi. Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta visited East Bengal during the reign of Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah. Ibn Battuta also met the Sufi leader Shah Jalal in Sylhet. Sufis played an important role in spreading Islam in Bengal through peaceful conversion and military overthrow of pre-Islamic rulers. In 1352, Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah united the three city-states into a single, unified and independent Bengal Sultanate. The new Sultan of Bengal led the first Muslim army into Nepal and forced the Delhi Sultan to retreat during an attack.

Ilyas Shah's forces reached as far as Varanasi in the northwest, Kathmandu in the north, Kamrup in the east and Orissa in the south. Ilyas Shah raided many areas and returned to Bengal with treasure. During the reign of Sikandar Shah, Delhi recognized the independence of Bengal. The Bengal Sultanate established a network of mint cities that served as provincial capitals where the sultanate's coins were minted. Bengal became the eastern frontier of the Islamic world, extending from Muslim Spain in the west to Bengal in the east. Bengali crystallized as an official court language during the Bengali Sultanate with prominent writers such as Noor Qutb Alam, Usman Sirajuddin, Alaul Haq, Alaol, Shah Muhammad Sagir, Abdul Hakim, and Syed Sultan; and the emergence of interpreters for Muslim epics in Bengali literature.

Colonial period

Two decades after Vasco da Gama's landing in Calicut, in 1528 the Bengal Sultanate allowed Portuguese settlement in Chittagong. It became the first European colonial enclave in Bengal. After Arakan declared independence in 1531, the Bengali Sultanate lost control of Chittagong and the kingdom of Marauk U was established.

In the 16th century, Portuguese ships from Goa and Malacca started frequenting the port city. The cartage system was introduced and all ships in the area were required to purchase a naval trade license from the Portuguese settlement. The slave trade and piracy increased. The nearby island of Sandwip was conquered in 1602. In 1615, the Portuguese navy defeated a joint Dutch East India Company and Arakanese fleet off the coast of Chittagong.

After 1534 the Sultan of Bengal allowed the Portuguese to establish several settlements in Chittagong, Satgaon, Hooghly, Bandel and Dhaka. In 1535, the Portuguese allied with the Sultan of Bengal and held the Teliagari Pass, 280 kilometers (170 mi) from Patna, helping to ward off Mughal invasion. By then several goods arrived from Patna and the Portuguese sent traders, setting up a factory there in 1580.

The Mughals had already begun conquering the Sultanate of Ghiyasuddin Mahmud when the Portuguese promised military aid against Sher Shah.

Bengal was the richest region in the Indian subcontinent, and its proto-industrial economy showed signs of an industrial revolution.

The region has been described as a "nation's paradise",[104] and its residents have some of the highest living standards and real wages in the world. It alone accounts for 40% of Dutch imports outside continental Europe. Eastern Bengal was prominent in industries such as textile manufacturing and shipbuilding, and was a major exporter of silk and cotton textiles, steel, saltpeter, and agricultural and manufactured goods to the world. In 1666, the Mughal government of Bengal under the leadership of Viceroy Shaista Khan moved to reclaim Chittagong from the control of the Portuguese and the Arakanese. 1686 witnessed the Anglo-Mughal war.

Lord Clive's meeting with Mirzafar after the Battle of Palashi, which led to the overthrow of the last independent Nawab of Bengal.

After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, Bengal was the first region of the Indian subcontinent to be conquered by the British East India Company. The Company formed the Presidency of Fort William, which remained the administrative headquarters of the region until 1858. Additionally, company policies led to de-industrialization of Bengal's textile industry. Capital raised by the East India Company in Bengal was invested in Great Britain's emerging industrial revolution, in industries such as textile production. Economic mismanagement, along with drought and a smallpox epidemic, led directly to the Great Bengal Famine of 1770, which is estimated to have killed between 1 million and 10 million people. Several rebellions (including one led by Titumir) broke out in the early 19th century, as Company rule removed the Muslim ruling class from power. A conservative Islamic cleric, Haji Shariatullah, sought to overthrow the British by preaching Islamic revivalism. Several cities in Bangladesh participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and pledged allegiance to the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, who was later exiled to neighboring Burma.

Challenges to Company rule by the failed Indian Rebellion led to the creation of the British Indian Empire as a Crown Colony. The British established several schools, colleges and a university in Bangladesh. Syed Ahmed Khan and Ram Mohan Roy promoted modern and liberal education in the subcontinent, inspiring the Aligarh movement and the Bengali Renaissance.

In the late 19th century, novelists, social reformers and feminists emerged from Muslim Bengali society. Electricity and municipal water systems were introduced in the 1890s; Cinemas opened in many cities in the early 20th century. The plantation economy of East Bengal was important to the British Empire, especially its jute and tea. The British established tax-free river ports like Narayanganj port and major seaports like Chittagong port.