The city known in English as Chittagong has undergone changes in both its official and popular names worldwide. The choice of names stems from the Chittagonian culture, language and colonisation. A reason for the city having a number of names is due to the diverse history of Chittagong. [1]
The Bengali word for Chittagong, Chottogram (চট্টগ্রাম), has the suffix "-gram" (গ্রাম) meaning village in Standard Bengali, and the word "chotto" could be from "chati" meaning lamp.Thus, many people continue to call the city, চাটিগ্রাম (Chatigram) or in the Chittagonian language, চাটিগাঁও (Chatigaon), গাঁও (Gaon) meaning village. Other names include চাটগাঁ (Chatga), চৈট্ট্যভূমি (Chaityabhumi) and চট্টলা (Chottola). [2] Names such as Chatagao are still used in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Chittagonian and other Bengali dialects today. The name Sitagang is also common in Eastern dialects with "gang" also meaning village.
Arab traders saw well-developed currency, banking and shipping in Chittagong during the 9th century. Early cosmopolitan Muslims established dominance over the port as an entrepot of maritime trade. [3] Geographically, the Ganges Delta is located in Bengal. The Arabic word Shaṭṭ (شط) meaning delta, could also be an etymology of Chittagong, the Ganges delta, Shaṭṭ Al-Ghānj (شط الغانج). [4] [5] [6] The Moroccan traveller, Ibn Battuta referred to the Port of Chittagong as Sadkāwān (سدكاوان). [7] [8] However, currently the Arabic word for Chittagong is Jātjām (جاتجام) which is derived from Chātgām (چاتگام), the Persian name of the city.
Chittagong was an important port city in the Kingdom of Mrauk U, after Arakan's independence from the Bengal Sultanate. The Burmese tradition of the city's etymology, is that an Arakanese king, invading in the 9th century, gave the city the name Tsit-ta-gung (စစ်တကောင်း; to make war is improper). [4]
The Portuguese referred to the port city as Porto Grande de Bengala, which meant "the Grand Harbor of Bengal". The term was often simplified as Porto Grande. [9] Other names include Xatigan [10] from the Dutch, Xetigam, and Chatigão from an early Bengali name.[ citation needed ]
The Mughal conquest of Chittagong re-established Bengali control and ushered an era of stability and trade. The city was renamed as Islamabad (City of Islam) and continues to be used in the old city. [11] [12]
According to historian Abdul Hak Chaudhuri, in ancient Tibetan texts, the city was known as Jvalan'dhdra, and in Arab geographical texts as Samandar. [13]
The city is known in Bangladesh as বাংলাদেশের প্রবেশদ্বার / Bangladesher Probeshdaar (Bangladesh's Gateway) as well as বাংলাদেশের বাণিজ্যিক রাজধানী / Bangladesher Banijjik Rajdhani (Bangladesh's Commercial Capital). [14]
Chittagong, officially Chattogram, is the second-largest city in Bangladesh. Home to the Port of Chittagong, it is the busiest port in Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. The city is also known as business capital of Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of an eponymous division and district. The city is located on the banks of the Karnaphuli River between the Chittagong Hill Tracts and the Bay of Bengal. The Greater Chittagong Area had a population of more than 8.2 million in 2022. In 2020, the city area had a population of more than 5.2 million. The city is home to many large local businesses and plays an important role in the Bangladeshi economy.
The Karnaphuli River is the largest and most important river in Chittagong and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. It is a 667-metre (2,188 ft) wide river in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh. Originating from the Saithah village of Mamit district in Mizoram, India, it flows 270 kilometres (170 mi) southwest through Chattogram Hill Tracts and Chattogram into the Bay of Bengal. It is the fastest flowing river in Bangladesh, after the Padma. It is said to "represent the drainage system of the whole south-western part of Mizoram." Principal tributaries include the Kawrpui River or Thega River, Tuichawng River and Phairuang River. A large hydroelectric power plant was built on the Karnaphuli in the Kaptai region in the 1960s. The mouth of the river hosts the Port of Chattogram, the largest and busiest seaport of Bangladesh.
Sandwip is an island located along the southeastern coast of Bangladesh in the Chittagong District. Along with the island of Urir Char, it is part of the Sandwip Upazila.
The history of Bengal is intertwined with the history of the broader Indian subcontinent and the surrounding regions of South Asia and Southeast Asia. It includes modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam's Karimganj district, located in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, at the apex of the Bay of Bengal and dominated by the fertile Ganges delta. The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai, a powerful kingdom whose war elephant forces led the withdrawal of Alexander the Great from India. Some historians have identified Gangaridai with other parts of India. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers act as a geographic marker of the region, but also connects the region to the broader Indian subcontinent. Bengal, at times, has played an important role in the history of the Indian subcontinent.
Chittagong District, officially Chattogram District, is a district located in south-eastern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Chittagong Division. The port city of Chittagong, which is the second largest city in Bangladesh, is located within this district.
Chittagonian or Chittagonian Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of the Chittagong Division in Bangladesh. Chittagonian and Standard Bengali are not inherently mutually intelligible, although it is considered by some as a nonstandard Bengali dialect. Chittagonian is also considered to be a separate language by some linguists. Though its speakers identify with Bengali culture and the Bengali language. It is mutually intelligible with Rohingya and to a lesser extent with Noakhailla. It is estimated (2006) that Chittagonian has 13 million speakers, principally in Bangladesh.
The Bengali dialects or Bengali varieties are the varieties of the Bengali language, an Eastern Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-European language family, widely spoken in the Bengal region of South Asia. The spoken dialects of Bengali are mutually intelligible with neighbouring dialects.
Rowangchhari is an upazila (sub-district) of Bandarban District in southeastern Bangladesh, part of the Chittagong Division.
The national language and official language of Bangladesh is Bangla according to the third article of the Constitution of Bangladesh. Almost 99% of Bangladeshis speak Bengali as their first language. Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987 made it mandatory to use Bengali in all government affairs except in the cases of foreign relations. According to a 2022 census, Bengali is predominantly spoken by 99% of the country's population and it also serves as the national language of the nation. The indigenous people of northern and southeastern Bangladesh speak a variety of native languages. According to the Ethnologue, there are 36 indigenous living languages, which include 17 Tibeto-Burman, 10 Indo-Aryan, 7 Austroasiatic and 2 Dravidian languages in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has 44 indigenous languages according to Professor Shameem Reza.
Saifuddin Hamza Shah was the fourth Sultan of the first Ilyas dynasty of Bengal reigning from 1410 to 1412.
The Bengal Sultanate (Middle Bengali: বাঙ্গালা সালতানাত, Classical Persian: سلطنت بنگاله was a late medieval sultanate based in the Bengal region in the eastern South Asia between the 14th and 16th century. It was the dominant power of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, with a network of mint towns spread across the region. The Bengal Sultanate had a circle of vassal states in the Indian subcontinent, including parts of Odisha in the southwest, Arakan in the southeast, and Tripura in the east.
The divisions of Bangladesh are further divided into districts or zilas. The headquarters of a district is called the district seat. There are 64 districts in Bangladesh. The districts are further subdivided into 495 subdistricts or upazilas.
The city of Chattogram (Chittagong) is traditionally centred around its seaport which has existed since the 4th century BCE. One of the world's oldest ports with a functional natural harbor for centuries, Chittagong appeared on ancient Greek and Roman maps, including on Ptolemy's world map. Chittagong port is the oldest and largest natural seaport and the busiest port of Bay of Bengal. It was located on the southern branch of the Silk Road. The city was home to the ancient independent Buddhist kingdoms of Bengal like Samatata and Harikela. It later fell under of the rule of the Gupta Empire, the Gauda Kingdom, the Pala Empire, the Chandra Dynasty, the Sena Dynasty and the Deva Dynasty of eastern Bengal. Arab Muslims traded with the port from as early as the 9th century. Historian Lama Taranath is of the view that the Buddhist king Gopichandra had his capital at Chittagong in the 10th century. According to Tibetan tradition, this century marked the birth of Tantric Buddhism in the region. The region has been explored by numerous historic travellers, most notably Ibn Battuta of Morocco who visited in the 14th century. During this time, the region was conquered and incorporated into the independent Sonargaon Sultanate by Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah in 1340 AD. Sultan Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah constructed a highway from Chittagong to Chandpur and ordered the construction of many lavish mosques and tombs. After the defeat of the Sultan of Bengal Ghiyasuddin Mahmud Shah in the hands of Sher Shah Suri in 1538, the Arakanese Kingdom of Mrauk U managed to regain Chittagong. From this time onward, until its conquest by the Mughal Empire, the region was under the control of the Portuguese and the Magh pirates for 128 years.
Chittagong, the second largest city and main port of Bangladesh, was home to a thriving trading post of the Portuguese Empire in the East in the 16th and 17th centuries. The Portuguese first arrived in Chittagong around 1528, and left in 1666 after the Mughal conquest. It was the first European colonial enclave in the historic region of Bengal.
Bengali Muslims are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ethnic group among Muslims after Arabs. Bengali Muslims make up the majority of Bangladesh's citizens, and are the largest minority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam.
Abū al-Khayr Muḥammad Ayyūb ʿAlī al-Māturīdī, or simply Ayub Ali, was a Bangladeshi Islamic scholar, author and educationist. He was awarded the Ekushey Padak in 1976 by the Government of Bangladesh.
The Anderkilla Shahi Jame Mosque is built on top of a high hill called Ander-Qila. It is said to have been the earliest Mughal building that has been established in the city of Chittagong.
Faqir Mosque is an oblong six-domed Islamic place of worship in Bangladesh's Chittagong District. The fifteenth-century mosque dates back to the Bengal Sultanate period.
Muazzampur Shahi Mosque is a medieval six-domed mosque located in the historic city of Sonargaon, Bangladesh.
Muḥammad Fayḍ Allāh ibn Hidāyat ʿAlī al-Islāmābādī, popularly known as Mufti Faizullah, was a Bangladeshi Deobandi Islamic scholar, mufti, poet, educator and a reformer. He was among early students to study at the Darul Uloom Hathazari. He was an alumnus of Darul Uloom Deoband and later served as the Chief Mufti of the Darul Uloom Hathazari. He established Mekhal Madrasa following in the style of Ashab-e Suffah. He authored over 100 books in Arabic, Persian and Urdu.
