Bangladesh History

Dating back to 4000 years, the land now known as Bangladesh was once inhabited by a mixture of Dravidians, Tibeto-Burman, and Austro-Asiatic peoples. The first kingdom established in the country was called Gangaridai, which eventually merged with the Bihar under the Magadha dynasty. Bengal was later incorporated with the Gupta and Harsha in the 3rd to 6th centuries AD. Upon its collapse, however, a Bengali named Shasanka eventually became Bengal's first noted king. After a period of anarchy, the kingdom was shortly occupied by the Buddhist Pala and the Hindu Sena dynasties. During this time, Arab merchants and Sufi missionaries began spreading Islam throughout Bengal. Bengal was ruled by sultans and landlords for several more centuries, until the 15th century when the European traders set foot on the kingdom, and later sought the help of the British East India Company. Great Britain eventually seized control of the kingdom.

In the mid-20th century when India and its surrounding regions were divided into two regions, the economic and demographic weight of the eastern territory (of the Bengalis) became far too great. The Bangladesh Awami League, a political party made by the Bengalis) became the voice of the eastern region. It moved for autonomy in the 1960's, and their president Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was jailed in 1963, but after several uprisings, was released 6 years later. Eventually, Sheik Rahman's party won the parliament's majority in the 1970 elections, but was blocked from assuming position. He kept the Bengalis' spirits high up, encouraging them to fight until the last Pakistani soldier is driven out of Eastern Bengal. More civil uprisings occured until the President Akham arrested the political leader and launched the Operation Searchlight, which was made to curb the Bengali radicals. An estimated number of 3 million civilians were killed in this operation. Survivors fled to India, while some of the Awami League members gathered strength and form a government-in-exile in Calcutta. In December 1971, they eventually gained the support of the Indian Armed Forces. The Bangladesh Liberation War lasted for nine months, and the winning Bengalis took over 90,000 prisoners of war.

After its independence, Bangladesh became a parliamentary country with Mujib as prime minister and with the Awami League gaining majority. He and his family was later assassinated by mid-level military officers in August 15, 1975. The anarchy that swept the country after their leader's death was only curtailed when General Ziaur Rahman assumed power and established the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. He, too, was assassinated by military officers. The following years were defined by the tug-of-war games of the Rahman's widow, who led the Bangladesh National Party, and the Awami League's Sheikh Hasina, one of Mujib's surviving daughters. The latter eventually won a landsline victory and took oath as Bangladesh's prime minister in January 6, 2009.