Bangladesh National Zoo, (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ জাতীয় চিড়িয়াখানা) is a zoo located in the Mirpur section of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. The zoo contains many native and non-native animals and wild life, and hosts about three million visitors each year. On 5 February 2015, the name changed from Dhaka Zoo to Bangladesh National Zoo.
Established in 1974, the 186-acre (75 ha) Bangladesh National Zoo is the largest zoo in Bangladesh, and is operated by the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock. The zoo attracts around 10,000 visitors every day with the number increasing during the weekends and holidays. The zoo is also known for its poor conditions for animals and the corruption of its officials. (Full article...)
Bangladesh Railway (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ রেলওয়ে) is the state-owned rail transport agency of Bangladesh. It operates and maintains all railways in the country, and is overseen by the Directorate General of Bangladesh Railway. The Bangladesh Railway is governed by the Ministry of Railways and the Bangladesh Railway Authority. Its reporting mark is "BR".
The Bangladesh Railway system has a total length of 3,600 kilometres (2,200 mi). In 2009, it had 34,168 employees. In the year 2014, Bangladesh Railway recorded a ridership of 65 million passengers on a total of 8,135 million passenger-kilometres, and transported 2.52 million tonnes of freight racking up 677 million tonne-kilometres. (Full article...)
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Bangladesh became a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 26 June 2000, and played its first Test match against India later that year. Before then, it had been an associate member of the ICC since 1977, competing in six ICC Trophies, the leading One Day International (ODI) competition for non-Test playing nations. The country has enjoyed some success in ODI's and Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) since its promotion, but has struggled to perform in the Test match arena. Recent years have seen the nation improve tremendously however, and it is beginning to establish itself as a powerful force in the cricketing world. (Full article...)
The Bangladeshi government has begun to implement a foreign policy that pursues regional economic integration in South Asia and aims to establish Bangladesh as a regional hub of transit trade in Asia. (Full article...)
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Bangladesh is an important tea-producing country. It is the 12th largest tea producer in the world. Its tea industry dates back to British rule, when the East India Company initiated the tea trade in the hills of the Sylhet region. In addition to that, tea cultivation was introduced to Greater Chittagong in 1840. Today, the country has 166 commercial tea estates, including many of the world's largest working plantations. The industry accounts for 3% of global tea production, and employs more than 4 million people.
The tea is grown in the northern and eastern districts, the highlands, temperate climate, humidity and heavy rainfall within these districts provide a favourable ground for the production of high quality tea. (Full article...)
In the late 7th century, Arab Muslims established commercial as well as religious connection within the region before the conquest, mainly through the coastal regions as traders and primarily via the ports of Chittagong. In the early 13th century, Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji conquered Western and part of Northern Bengal, and established the first Muslim kingdom in Bengal. Islamic missionaries in India achieved their greatest success, in terms of number of converts, in Bengal. Sufi's like Shah Jalal are thought to have spread Islam in the north-eastern Bengal and Assam during the beginning of the 12th century. The Islamic Bengal Sultanate, was founded by Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah after its independence from the Tughlaq dynasty. Bengal reached in her golden age during Bengal Sultanate's ruling period. Subsequently, Bengal was conquered by Babur, the founder of one of the gunpowder empires, but was also briefly occupied by the Suri Empire. (Full article...)
The Bangladesh Navy (Bengali: বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, romanized: Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for the defence of Bangladesh's 118,813 square kilometres (45,874 sq mi) of maritime territorial area, and the security of sea ports and exclusive economic zones of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Navy protects the country's economic and military interests at home and abroad. The Bangladesh Navy is also a front line disaster management force in Bangladesh, and participates in humanitarian missions abroad. It is a key regional player in counter terrorism efforts, and engages in global peacekeeping with the United Nations. (Full article...)
Bangladesh is one of the top 10 cricketing nations of the world and has regularly qualified for the Cricket World Cup since 1999, the Country achieved arguably its greatest heights in Cricket when it defeated three of the top-rated teams in 2015 Cricket World Cup to qualify for the quarterfinals. In 2015, they white-washed Pakistan and clinched the series by 3-0 and in another major achievement they won a series against India by 2-1 in the same year they beat South Africa 2–1 in an ODI series and cemented their spot in Champions Trophy 2017. (Full article...)
The Baul (Bengali: বাউল) are a group of mystic minstrels of mixed elements of Vaishnavism and Tantra from different parts of Bengal such as Bangladesh and the neighboring Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Barak Valley and Meghalaya. Bauls constitute both a syncretic religious sect of troubadours and a musical tradition. Bauls are a very heterogeneous group, with many sects, but their membership mainly consists of Vaishnava Hindus and Sufi Muslims. They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments. Lalon Shah is regarded as the most celebrated Baul saint in history.
Agriculture is the largest employment sector in Bangladesh, making up 14.2 percent of Bangladesh's GDP in 2017 and employing about 42.7 percent of the workforce. The performance of this sector has an overwhelming impact on major macroeconomic objectives like employment generation, poverty alleviation, human resources development, food security, and other economic and social forces. A plurality of Bangladeshis earn their living from agriculture. Due to a number of factors, Bangladesh's labour-intensive agriculture has achieved steady increases in food grain production despite the often unfavorable weather conditions. These include better flood control and irrigation, a generally more efficient use of fertilisers, as well as the establishment of better distribution and rural credit networks.
Although rice and jute are the primary crops, maize and vegetables are assuming greater importance. Due to the expansion of irrigation networks, some wheat producers have switched to cultivation of maize which is used mostly as poultry feed. Tea is grown in the northeast. Because of Bangladesh's fertile soil and normally ample water supply, rice can be grown and harvested three times a year in many areas. The country is among the top producers of rice (third), potatoes (seventh), tropical fruits (sixth), jute (second), and farmed fish (fifth). With 35.8 million metric tons produced in 2000, rice is Bangladesh's principal crop. In comparison to rice, wheat output in 1999 was 1.9 million tonnes (1,900,000 long tons; 2,100,000 short tons). (Full article...)
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Satellite image of the cyclone near landfall on May 2
The 1994 Bangladesh cyclone was a powerful tropical cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. The cyclone closely followed the path, strength, and time of year of a deadly cyclone in 1991 that killed more than 138,000 people. The 1994 cyclone formed on April 29 as a depression, which organized and intensified significantly over the subsequent few days. On May 2, the cyclone attained winds of 215 km/h (135 mph), according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). That day, the storm made landfall in southeastern Bangladesh, and rapidly weakened over land, before dissipating on May 3.
Ahead of the storm's landfall, about 450,000 people evacuated to storm shelters built since the 1991 storm. Upon moving ashore, the cyclone dropped 190 mm (7.5 in) of precipitation and produced winds of 278 km/h (173 mph) in Teknaf Upazila. Total storm damage was estimated at $125 million (1994 USD). The cyclone damaged or destroyed more than 78,000 houses, leaving about 500,000 people homeless. Along its path, the storm killed at least 350 people, including at least 126 fishermen from Thailand who were lost and presumed killed. In southeastern Bangladesh, the cyclone wrecked Rohingya refugee camps, killing 85 people. The Bangladeshi government managed the country's response to the disaster, providing food, clothing, and medical care. (Full article...)