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Bursa (from the Greek "Prusa") became the first major capital city of the early Ottoman Empire following its capture from the Byzantines in 1326. As a result, the city witnessed a considerable amount of urban growth such as the building of hospitals, caravanserais and madrasas throughout the 14th century, with the first official Ottoman mint established in the city. After conquering Edirne (Adrianople) in East Thrace, the Ottomans turned it into the new capital city in 1360s, but Bursa retained its spiritual and commercial importance in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman sultan Bayezid I built the Bayezid Külliyesi (Bayezid I theological complex) in Bursa between 1390 and 1395 and the Ulu Cami (Grand Mosque) between 1396 and 1400. After Bayezid was defeated in the Battle of Ankara by the forces of Timur in 1402, the latter's grandson, Muhammad Sultan Mirza, had the city pillaged and burned. Despite this, Bursa remained as the most important administrative and commercial centre in the empire until Mehmed II conquered Constantinople in 1453. The population of Bursa was 45,000 in 1487.
During the Ottoman period, Bursa continued to be the source of most royal silk products. Aside from the local silk production, the city imported raw silk from Iran, and occasionally from China, and was the main production centre for the kaftans, pillows, embroidery and other silk products for the Ottoman palaces until the 17th century. Devshirme system was also implemented in Bursa and its surroundings where it was negotiated between the authorities and locals. For example, during the 1603-4 levy, the villagers of a Christian village called Eğerciler, in Bursa, declared that they were responsible for providing sheep to the capital, and the children of the village were very much needed as shepherds. They asserted that even though they were not obliged to give any children to the army, the officers took some anyway, and that they should be returned. The villagers’ claim that it was in tremendous need of future shepherds was taken seriously by the state, and a decree commanded the return of the children. Bursa was also notable for its numerous hammams (bath) built during the reign of Suleiman such as the Yeni Kaplıca. From 1867 until 1922, Bursa was the capital of Hüdavendigâr vilayet. As it was a significant cultural and trade hub, traders, most of whom were Armenians, became very wealthy. The most influential study of Bursa's silk trade and economic history is the work of Ottomanist Halil İnalcık.
In July 1915, thousands of Greek Orthodox Christians sought refuge in Bursa after having been forced out of their coastal villages by orders of the Young Turk government. This worsened the situation of the native Greeks of Bursa, who had managed to survive through the attacks and boycotts of 1914. A short time later, deportation orders came for Bursa's Armenians. Protestant Armenians were initially spared from deportation, but villagers that tried to resist were massacred. Most of the deportees would perish in what became known as the Armenian genocide. Subsequently, large numbers of Kurds and Circassians, as well as Syrians from the south, were settled in the homes and towns of the deported Christians, radically altering the demographic composition of the town and region. According to Mustafa Zahit Oner, in the last days of the Greco-Turkish War in 1922, the Greek Army attempted to burn the center of Bursa however they were stopped by the allied commanders and were only able to burn the train station together with Turkish civilians in it. The Cretan artilleryman Vasilios Moustakis describes the event with the following words: "The Infantry had come through and set fire to the station. We saw an English general on horseback, who ordered the fire to be put out because if Bursa were burned, it would be harming Greece".
Following the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Bursa became one of the industrial centres of the country. The economic development of the city was followed by population growth, and Bursa became the 4th most populous city in Turkey. The city has traditionally been a pole of attraction, and was a major centre for refugees from various ethnic backgrounds who immigrated to Anatolia from the Balkans during the loss of the Ottoman territories in Europe between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The most recent arrival of Balkan Turks took place between the 1940s and 1990s, when the People's Republic of Bulgaria expelled approximately 150,000 Bulgarian Turks to Turkey. About one-third of these 150,000 Bulgarian Turkish refugees eventually settled in Bursa (especially in the Hürriyet neighbourhood). With the construction of new industrial zones in the period between 1980 and 2000, many people from the eastern provinces of Turkey came and settled in Bursa. Geography. The area covered by Bursa corresponds to 1.41% of Turkey's land area, which makes the city 27th in the country in terms of land area. Bursa stands on the northwestern slopes of Mount Uludağ (known as the Mysian Olympus in classical antiquity), on the banks of the Nilüfer River, in the southern Marmara Region. It is the capital city of Bursa Province, which borders the Sea of Marmara and Yalova to the north; Kocaeli and Sakarya to the northeast; Bilecik to the east; and Kütahya and Balıkesir to the south.
Climate. Bursa has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: "Csa") under the Köppen classification, and a dry-hot summer subtropical climate (Csa) under the Trewartha classification. The city has hot, dry summers that last from June until September. Winters are cool and damp, also containing the most rainfall. There can be snow on the ground which will last for a week or two. Air pollution is a chronic problem in Bursa. Economy. Bursa is the largest production centre of the Turkish automotive industry. Factories of motor vehicle producers like Fiat, Renault and Karsan, as well as automotive parts producers like Bosch, Mako, Valeo, Johnson Controls, Delphi have been active in the city for decades. The textile and food industries are equally strong, with Coca-Cola, Pepsi Cola and other beverage brands, as well as fresh and canned food industries being present in the city's organized industrial zones. Apart from its large automotive industry, Bursa also produces a substantial amount of dairy products (by Sütaş), processed food (by ), and beverages (by ).
Traditionally, Bursa was famous for being the largest centre of silk trade in the Byzantine and later the Ottoman empires, during the period of the lucrative Silk Road. The city is still a major centre for textiles in Turkey and is home to the Bursa International Textiles and Trade Centre (, or ). Bursa was also known for its fertile soil and agricultural activities, which have decreased in the recent decades due to the heavy industrialization of the city. Bursa is a major centre for tourism. One of the most popular skiing resorts in Turkey is located on Mount Uludağ, just next to the city proper. Bursa's thermal baths have been used for therapeutical purposes since Roman times. Apart from the baths that are operated by hotels, Uludağ University has a physical therapy centre which also makes use of thermal water. Transportation. Bursa has a metro (Bursaray), trams and a bus system for inner-city public transport, while taxi cabs are also available. Bursa's Yenişehir Airport is away from the city centre. The citizens of Bursa also prefer Istanbul's airports such as Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport for flights to foreign countries, due to Istanbul's proximity to Bursa. There are numerous daily bus and ferry services between the two cities.
The long Bursa Uludağ Gondola () connects Bursa with the ski resort areas high on the mountain Uludağ. The only railway station in Bursa is the Harmancık station on the Balıkesir-Kütahya railway, which was opened in 1930. The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Bursa, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 62 min. 12% of public transit riders ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 18 min, while 31% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip on public transit is , while 17% travel for over in a single direction. Education. Bursa has two public universities and one private university. Uludağ University, founded in 1975, is the oldest institution of higher education in the city. Founded first as the Bursa University then renamed Uludağ University in 1982, the university has a student body of 47,000, one of the largest in Turkey. Bursa Technical University is the second public university of Bursa and was established in 2010, beginning education in the 2011–2012 academic year.
The first private university in Bursa was the Bursa Orhangazi University, which started education in the 2012–2013 academic year. However, Orhangazi University was shut down by the Turkish government after the failed coup attempt of July 2016. Istanbul Commerce University has opened graduate programs in Bursa in 2013. The vocational high schools, Bursa Sports High School, and Bursa Agriculture Vocational High School, are located in Osmangazi district. Sports. The city has one professional football club, Bursaspor, which formerly competed in the Süper Lig (Super League), the top-tier of Turkish football, until finishing 16th at the end of the 2018–19 Süper Lig season and being relegated to the TFF First League. A few years earlier, Bursaspor had managed to become the Turkish champions at the end of the 2009–10 Süper Lig season, thereby becoming the second Anatolian club to ever win the Süper Lig championship title after Trabzonspor. Henceforth, Bursaspor was often considered to be one of the five biggest football clubs in Turkey, along with Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş and Trabzonspor. The club's relegation to the TFF First League at the end of the 2018–19 season was a major shock for its fans and became a first in the history of Turkish football. Never had a club which had won the Süper Lig championship title been relegated.
Bursaspor plays its home games at the Timsah Arena (meaning "Crocodile Arena", crocodile being the mascot of the team), which has a seating capacity of 45,000. The city has three professional basketball teams in the Turkish Basketball League, Bursaspor and Tofaş S.K., which is among the most successful teams. The club plays its games at the Tofaş Nilüfer Sports Hall. Also, Final Spor plays in the second division. Politics. The current mayor of the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mustafa Bozbey is elected from the main opposition party (CHP) in March 2024. Alinur Aktaş from the Justice and Development Party (AKP) was in office between 2019 and 2024, the AKP coalition won 49.6% of the vote against the CHP coalition which got 47% of the vote. Culture and Tourism. Ulu Cami (Grand Mosque). Ulu Cami is the largest mosque in Bursa and a landmark of early Ottoman architecture, which incorporated many elements from Seljuk architecture. Ordered by Sultan Bayezid I, the mosque was designed and built by architect Ali Neccar in 1396–1400. It is a large and rectangular building, with a total of twenty domes that are arranged in four rows of five, and are supported by 12 columns. Supposedly the twenty domes were built instead of the twenty separate mosques which Sultan Bayezid I had promised for winning the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. The mosque has two minarets.
Inside the mosque, there are 192 monumental wall inscriptions written by the famous calligraphers of that period. There is also a fountain (şadırvan) where worshipers can perform ritual ablutions before prayer; the dome over the şadırvan is capped by a skylight which creates a soft, serene light below; thus playing an important role in the illumination of the large building. The horizontally spacious and dimly lit interior is designed to feel peaceful and contemplative. The subdivisions of space formed by multiple domes and pillars create a sense of privacy and even intimacy. This atmosphere contrasts with the later Ottoman mosques (see for example the works of Suleiman the Magnificent's chief architect, Mimar Sinan.) The mosques that were built after the conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul) by the Ottoman Turks in 1453, and influenced by the design of the 6th century Byzantine basilica of Hagia Sophia, had increasingly elevated and large central domes, which create a vertical emphasis that is intended to be more overwhelming; to convey the divine power of Allah, the majesty of the Ottoman Sultan, and the governmental authority of the Ottoman State.
Jewish community. Bursa, initially home to a small Romaniote Jewish community, underwent a demographic shift with the arrival of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the late 15th century. The Sephardic majority quickly absorbed the Romaniotes, leading to a cultural and numerical dominance. Judaeo-Spanish became the daily language, and the community paid its poll tax through the representative, the "kahya". Throughout the Ottoman period, most Jews resided in Kuruçeşme, Bursa's Jewish quarter, home to three synagogues. Etz Chaim (Eṣ Ḥayyim), the oldest, predated Ottoman conquest, while the Gerush and Mayor synagogues were established by Sephardic newcomers. Despite the 1851 fire destroying Etz Chaim, the other two remain, along with the Berut synagogue. Bursa also had a Jewish cemetery until recently. Though never a major center, Bursa's Jewish population fluctuated. Dubious data suggests 683 families in 1571/72, dropping to 141 by 1696/97. By 1883, there were 2,179 Jews, with an influx of 400 from Akkerman in 1887. Pre-World War I, the population reached 3,500, but emigration reduced it to 140 by the early 21st century.
Engaged in the local economy, Bursa's Jews were shop owners and involved in guilds. In the 16th and 17th centuries, they excelled in textile manufacturing, silk trade, goldsmithing, and finance. Despite economic struggles in the 18th and 19th centuries, a 1886 report highlighted poverty. Bursa faced blood libels in 1592 and 1865. Despite its size, the community produced renowned halakhic scholars across centuries. Modern schooling arrived in 1886 with Alliance Israélite Universelle, but it closed in 1923 during the secularization program. Jewish children then attended Turkish schools for a modern education. Twin towns – sister cities. Bursa is twinned with:
The Bahamas The Bahamas ( ), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and 88% of its population. The archipelagic country consists of more than 3,000 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and northwest of the island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the U.S. state of Florida and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes the Bahamas' territory as encompassing of ocean space. The Bahama islands were inhabited by the Arawak and Lucayans, a branch of the Arawakan-speaking Taíno, for many centuries. Christopher Columbus was the first European to see the islands, making his first landfall in the "New World" in 1492 when he landed on the island of San Salvador. Later, the Spanish shipped the native Lucayans to Hispaniola and enslaved them there, after which the Bahama islands were mostly deserted from 1513 until 1648, as nearly all native Bahamians had been forcibly removed for enslavement or had died of diseases which Europeans had brought with them from Europe. In 1649, English colonists from Bermuda, known as the Eleutheran Adventurers, settled on the island of Eleuthera.
The Bahamas became a British crown colony in 1718, when the British clamped down on piracy. After the American Revolutionary War, the Crown resettled thousands of American Loyalists to the Bahamas; they took enslaved people with them and established plantations on land grants. Enslaved Africans and their descendants constituted the majority of the population from this period on. The slave trade was abolished by the British in 1807. Although slavery in the Bahamas was not abolished until 1834, the Bahamas became a haven of manumission for African slaves, from outside the British West Indies, in 1818. Africans liberated from illegal slave ships were resettled on the islands by the Royal Navy, while some North American slaves and Seminoles escaped to the Bahamas from Florida. Bahamians were even known to recognise the freedom of enslaved people carried by the ships of other nations which reached the Bahamas. Today Black Bahamians make up 90% of the population of 400,516. The country became an independent Commonwealth realm separate from the United Kingdom in 1973, led by its first prime minister, Sir Lynden O. Pindling. It maintains Charles III as its monarch; the appointed representative of the Crown is the governor-general of the Bahamas. The Bahamas has the fourteenth-largest gross domestic product per capita in the Americas. Its economy is based on tourism and offshore finance. Though the Bahamas is in the Lucayan Archipelago, and not on the Caribbean Sea, it is still considered part of the wider Caribbean region. The Bahamas is a full member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) but is not part of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
Naming and etymology. The name "Bahamas" is derived from the Lucayan name ' ('large upper middle island'), used by the Indigenous Taíno people for the island of Grand Bahama. Tourist guides often state that the name comes from the Spanish ' ('shallow sea'). Wolfgang Ahrens of York University argues that this is a folk etymology. Alternatively, "Bahama" may have been derived from "", a local name of unclear meaning. First attested on the 1523 Turin Map, "Bahama" originally referred to Grand Bahama alone but was used inclusively in English by 1670. Toponymist Isaac Taylor argues that the name was derived from "Bimani" (Bimini), which Spaniards in Haiti identified with Palombe, a legendary place where John Mandeville's "Travels" said there was a fountain of youth. The Bahamas is one of only two countries whose official names start with the article "the"—the other being The Gambia. The usage likely arose because the name also refers to the islands, a geographical feature that would take a definite article. History.
Pre-Hispanic era. The first inhabitants of the Bahamas were the Taíno people, who moved into the uninhabited southern islands from Hispaniola and Cuba around the 800s–1000s AD, having migrated there from mainland South America; they came to be known as the Lucayan people. An estimated 30,000 Lucayans inhabited the Bahamas at the time of Christopher Columbus' arrival in 1492. Arrival of the Spanish. Columbus' first landfall in what was to Europeans a "New World" was on an island he named San Salvador (known to the Lucayans as "Guanahani"). While there is a general consensus that this island lay within the Bahamas, precisely which island Columbus landed on is a matter of scholarly debate. Some researchers believe the site to be present-day San Salvador Island (formerly known as Watling's Island), situated in the southeastern Bahamas, whilst an alternative theory holds that Columbus landed to the southeast on Samana Cay, according to calculations made in 1986 by "National Geographic" writer and editor Joseph Judge, based on Columbus' log. On the landfall island, Columbus made first contact with the Lucayans and exchanged goods with them, claiming the islands for the Crown of Castile, before proceeding to explore the larger isles of the Greater Antilles.
The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas theoretically divided the new territories between the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Portugal, placing the Bahamas in the Spanish sphere; however they did little to press their claim on the ground. The Spanish did however exploit the native Lucayan peoples, many of whom were enslaved and sent to Hispaniola for use as forced labour. The slaves suffered harsh conditions and most died from contracting diseases to which they had no immunity; half of the Taíno died from smallpox alone. As a result of these depredations the population of the Bahamas was severely diminished. Arrival of the English. The English had expressed an interest in the Bahamas as early as 1629. However, it was not until 1648 that the first English settlers arrived on the islands. Known as the Eleutherian Adventurers and led by William Sayle, they migrated from Bermuda seeking greater religious freedom. These English Puritans established the first permanent European settlement on an island which they named Eleuthera, Greek for "free". They later settled New Providence, naming it Sayle's Island. Life proved harder than envisaged however, and many – including Sayle – chose to return to Bermuda. To survive, the remaining settlers salvaged goods from wrecks.
In 1670, King Charles II granted the islands to the Lords Proprietors of the Carolinas in North America. They rented the islands from the king with rights of trading, tax, appointing governors, and administering the country from their base on New Providence. Piracy and attacks from hostile foreign powers were a constant threat. In 1684, Spanish corsair Juan de Alcon raided the capital Charles Town (later renamed Nassau), and in 1703, a joint Franco-Spanish expedition briefly occupied Nassau during the War of the Spanish Succession. 18th century. During proprietary rule, the Bahamas became a haven for pirates, including Blackbeard ("circa" 1680–1718). To put an end to the "Pirates' republic" and restore orderly government, Britain made the Bahamas a crown colony in 1718, which they dubbed "the Bahama islands" under the governorship of Woodes Rogers. After a difficult struggle, he succeeded in suppressing piracy. In 1720, the Spanish attacked Nassau during the War of the Quadruple Alliance. In 1729, a local assembly was established giving a degree of self-governance for British settlers. The reforms had been planned by the previous Governor George Phenney and authorised in July 1728.
During the American War of Independence in the late 18th century, the islands became a target for US naval forces. Under the command of Commodore Esek Hopkins, US Marines, the US Navy occupied Nassau in 1776, before being evacuated a few days later. In 1782 a Spanish fleet appeared off the coast of Nassau, and the city surrendered without a fight. Later, in April 1783, on a visit made by Prince William of the United Kingdom (later to become King William IV) to Luis de Unzaga at his residence in the Captaincy General of Havana, they made prisoner exchange agreements and also dealt with the preliminaries of the Treaty of Paris (1783), in which the recently conquered Bahamas would be exchanged for East Florida, which would still have to conquer the city of St. Augustine, Florida in 1784 by order of Luis de Unzaga; after that, also in 1784, the Bahamas would be declared a British colony. After US independence, the British resettled some 7,300 Loyalists with their African slaves in the Bahamas, including 2,000 from New York and at least 1,033 Europeans, 2,214 African descendants, and a few Native American Creeks from East Florida. Most of the refugees resettled from New York had fled from other colonies, including West Florida, which the Spanish captured during the war. The government granted land to the planters to help compensate for losses on the continent. These Loyalists, who included Deveaux and also Lord Dunmore, established plantations on several islands and became a political force in the capital. European Americans were outnumbered by the African-American slaves they brought with them, and ethnic Europeans remained a minority in the territory. 19th century.
The Slave Trade Act 1807 abolished slave trading to British possessions, including the Bahamas. The United Kingdom pressured other slave-trading countries to also abolish slave-trading, and gave the Royal Navy the right to intercept ships carrying slaves on the high seas. Thousands of Africans liberated from slave ships by the Royal Navy were resettled in the Bahamas. In the 1820s during the period of the Seminole Wars in Florida, hundreds of North American slaves and African Seminoles escaped from Cape Florida to the Bahamas. They settled mostly on northwest Andros Island, where they developed the village of Red Bays. From eyewitness accounts, 300 escaped in a mass flight in 1823, aided by Bahamians in 27 sloops, with others using canoes for the journey. This was commemorated in 2004 by a large sign at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park. Some of their descendants in Red Bays continue African Seminole traditions in basket making and grave marking. In 1818, the Home Office in London had ruled that "any slave brought to the Bahamas from outside the British West Indies would be manumitted." This led to a total of nearly 300 enslaved people owned by US nationals being freed from 1830 to 1835. The American slave ships "Comet" and "Encomium" used in the United States domestic coastwise slave trade, were wrecked off Abaco Island in December 1830 and February 1834, respectively. When wreckers took the masters, passengers and slaves into Nassau, customs officers seized the slaves and British colonial officials freed them, over the protests of the Americans. There were 165 slaves on the "Comet" and 48 on the "Encomium". The United Kingdom finally paid an indemnity to the United States in those two cases in 1855, under the Treaty of Claims of 1853, which settled several compensation cases between the two countries.
Slavery was abolished in the British Empire on 1 August 1834. After that British colonial officials freed 78 North American slaves from the "Enterprise", which went into Bermuda in 1835; and 38 from the "Hermosa", which wrecked off Abaco Island in 1840. The most notable case was that of the "Creole" in 1841: as a result of a slave revolt on board, the leaders ordered the US brig to Nassau. It was carrying 135 slaves from Virginia destined for sale in New Orleans. The Bahamian officials freed the 128 slaves who chose to stay in the islands. The "Creole" case has been described as the "most successful slave revolt in U.S. history". These incidents, in which a total of 447 enslaved people belonging to US nationals were freed from 1830 to 1842, increased tension between the United States and the United Kingdom. They had been co-operating in patrols to suppress the international slave trade. However, worried about the stability of its large domestic slave trade and its value, the United States argued that the United Kingdom should not treat its domestic ships that came to its colonial ports under duress as part of the international trade. The United States worried that the success of the "Creole" slaves in gaining freedom would encourage more slave revolts on merchant ships.
During the American Civil War of the 1860s, the islands briefly prospered as a focus for blockade runners aiding the Confederate States. Early 20th century. The early decades of the 20th century were ones of hardship for many Bahamians, characterised by a stagnant economy and widespread poverty. Many eked out a living via subsistence agriculture or fishing. In August 1940, the Duke of Windsor (formerly King Edward VIII) was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. He arrived in the colony with his wife. Although disheartened at the condition of Government House, they "tried to make the best of a bad situation". He did not enjoy the position, and referred to the islands as "a third-class British colony". He opened the small local parliament on 29 October 1940. The couple visited the "Out Islands" that November, on Axel Wenner-Gren's yacht, which caused controversy; the British Foreign Office strenuously objected because they had been advised by United States intelligence that Wenner-Gren was a close friend of the Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring of Nazi Germany.
The Duke was praised at the time for his efforts to combat poverty on the islands. A 1991 biography by Philip Ziegler, however, described him as contemptuous of the Bahamians and other non-European peoples of the Empire. He was praised for his resolution of civil unrest over low wages in Nassau in June 1942, when there was a "full-scale riot". Ziegler said that the Duke blamed the trouble on "mischief makers – communists" and "men of Central European Jewish descent, who had secured jobs as a pretext for obtaining a deferment of draft". The Duke resigned from the post on 16 March 1945. Post-Second World War. Modern political development began after the Second World War. The first political parties were formed in the 1950s, split broadly along ethnic lines, with the United Bahamian Party (UBP) representing the English-descended Bahamians (known informally as the "Bay Street Boys") and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) representing the Black-Bahamian majority. In 1958, the first marine protected area in the Bahamas, the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park was established.
A new constitution granting the Bahamas internal autonomy went into effect on 7 January 1964, with Chief Minister Sir Roland Symonette of the UBP becoming the first premier. In 1967, Lynden Pindling of the PLP became the first black Premier of the Bahamian colony; in 1968, the title of the position was changed to Prime Minister. In 1968, Pindling announced that the Bahamas would seek full independence. A new constitution giving the Bahamas increased control over its own affairs was adopted in 1968. In 1971, the UBP merged with a disaffected faction of the PLP to form a new party, the Free National Movement (FNM), a centre-right party which aimed to counter the growing power of Pindling's PLP. The United Kingdom Government gave the Bahamas its independence by an Order in Council dated 20 June 1973. The Order came into force on 10 July 1973, on which date Prince Charles delivered the official documents to Prime Minister Lynden Pindling. This date is now celebrated as the country's Independence Day. It joined the Commonwealth of Nations on the same day. Sir Milo Butler was appointed the first governor-general of the Bahamas (the official representative of Queen Elizabeth II) shortly after independence.
Post-independence. Shortly after independence, the Bahamas joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on 22 August 1973, and later the United Nations on 18 September 1973. Politically, the first two decades were dominated by Pindling's PLP, who went on to win a string of electoral victories. Allegations of corruption, links with drug cartels and financial malfeasance within the Bahamian government failed to dent Pindling's popularity. Meanwhile, the economy underwent a dramatic growth period fuelled by the twin pillars of tourism and offshore finance, significantly raising the standard of living on the islands. The Bahamas' booming economy led to it becoming a beacon for immigrants, most notably from Haiti. In 1992, Pindling was unseated by Hubert Ingraham of the FNM. Ingraham went on to win the 1997 Bahamian general election, before being defeated in 2002, when the PLP returned to power under Perry Christie. Ingraham returned to power from 2007 to 2012, followed by Christie again from 2012 to 2017. With economic growth faltering, Bahamians re-elected the FNM in 2017, with Hubert Minnis becoming the fourth prime minister.
In September 2019, Hurricane Dorian struck the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama at Category 5 intensity, devastating the northwestern Bahamas. The storm inflicted at least US$7 billion in damages and killed more than 50 people, with 1,300 people missing after two weeks. The COVID-19 pandemic reached the Bahamas on 15 March 2020. In September 2021, the ruling Free National Movement lost to the opposition Progressive Liberal Party in a snap election, as the economy struggled to recover from its deepest crash since at least 1971. On 17 September 2021, the chairman of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Phillip "Brave" Davis was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Bahamas to succeed Hubert Minnis. Geography. The landmass that makes up what is the modern-day Bahamas, lies at the northern part of the Greater Antilles region and was believed to have been formed 200 million years ago when they began to separate from the supercontinent Pangaea. The Pleistocene Ice Age around 3 million years ago, had a profound impact on the archipelago's formation.
The Bahamas consists of a chain of islands spread out over some in the Atlantic Ocean, located to the east of Florida in the United States, north of Cuba and Hispaniola and west of the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands (with which it forms the Lucayan archipelago). It lies between latitudes 20° and 28°N, and longitudes 72° and 80°W and straddles the Tropic of Cancer. There are some 700 islands and 2,400 cays in total (of which 30 are inhabited) with a total land area of . Nassau, capital city of the Bahamas, lies on the island of New Providence; the other main inhabited islands are Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Cat Island, Rum Cay, Long Island, San Salvador Island, Ragged Island, Acklins, Crooked Island, Exuma, Berry Islands, Mayaguana, the Bimini islands, Great Abaco and Great Inagua. The largest island is Andros. All the islands are low and flat, with ridges that usually rise no more than . The highest point in the country is Mount Alvernia (formerly Como Hill) on Cat Island at . The country contains three terrestrial ecoregions: Bahamian dry forests, Bahamian pine mosaic, and Bahamian mangroves. It had a 2019 Forest Landscape Integrity Index mean score of 7.35/10, ranking it 44th globally out of 172 countries. In the Bahamas forest cover is around 51% of the total land area, equivalent to 509,860 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, which was unchanged from 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 509,860 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 0 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 0% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 80% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership, 20% private ownership and 0% with ownership listed as other or unknown.
Climate. According to the Köppen climate classification, the climate of the Bahamas is mostly tropical savannah climate or "Aw", with a hot and wet season and a warm and dry season. The low latitude, warm tropical Gulf Stream, and low elevation give the Bahamas a warm and winterless climate. As with most tropical climates, seasonal rainfall follows the sun, and summer is the wettest season. There is only a difference between the warmest month and coolest month in most of the Bahama islands. Every few decades low temperatures can fall below for a few hours when a severe cold outbreak comes down from the North American mainland, however there has never been a frost or freeze recorded in the Bahamian Islands. Only once in recorded history has snow been seen in the air anywhere in the Bahamas. This occurred in Freeport on 19 January 1977, when snow mixed with rain was seen in the air for a short time. The Bahamas are often sunny and dry for long periods, and average more than 3,000 hours or 340 days of sunlight annually. Much of the natural vegetation is tropical scrub and cactus and succulents are common in landscapes.
Tropical storms and hurricanes occasionally impact the Bahamas. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew passed over the northern portions of the islands, and Hurricane Floyd passed near the eastern portions of the islands in 1999. Hurricane Dorian of 2019 passed over the archipelago at destructive Category 5 strength with sustained winds of and wind gusts up to , becoming the strongest tropical cyclone on record to impact the northwestern islands of Grand Bahama and Great Abaco. Climate change is causing temperature increases in the Bahamas. The average temperature has increased by approximately 0.5 °C since 1960, and the rate of warming is more rapid in warmer seasons. Global temperature rise of 2 °C above preindustrial levels can increase the likelihood of extreme hurricane rainfall by four to five times in the Bahamas. The Bahamas is expected to be highly affected by sea level rise because at least 80% of the total land is below 10 meters elevation. Climate change could also affect the seasonality of outbreaks and transmission of disease in the Bahamas.
Although the country's greenhouse gas emissions are comparatively small (2.94 million tonnes of green house gases emitted in 2023), the Bahamas is reliant on imported fossil fuels for energy generation. The government plans to increase solar energy capacity to 30% of the country's total energy production by 2033. The Bahamas has pledged to reduce its emissions by 30% by 2030, if international support is received. Geology. It was generally believed that the Bahamas were formed approximately 200 million years ago, when Pangaea started to break apart. In current times, it endures as an archipelago containing over 700 islands and cays, fringed around different coral reefs. The limestone that comprises the Banks has been accumulating since at least the Cretaceous period, and perhaps as early as the Jurassic; today the total thickness under the Great Bahama Bank is over 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles). As the limestone was deposited in shallow water, the only way to explain this massive column is to estimate that the entire platform has subsided under its own weight at a rate of roughly 3.6 centimetres (2 inches) per 1,000 years.
The Bahamas is part of the Lucayan Archipelago, which continues into the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Mouchoir Bank, the Silver Bank, and the Navidad Bank. The Bahamas Platform, which includes the Bahamas, Southern Florida, Northern Cuba, the Turks and Caicos, and the Blake Plateau, formed about 150 Ma, not long after the formation of the North Atlantic. The thick limestones, which predominate in the Bahamas, date back to the Cretaceous. These limestones would have been deposited in shallow seas, assumed to be a stretched and thinned portion of the North American continental crust. Sediments were forming at about the same rate as the crust below was sinking due to the added weight. Thus, the entire area consisted of a large marine plain with some islands. Then, at about 80 Ma, the area became flooded by the Gulf Stream. This resulted in the drowning of the Blake Plateau, the separation of the Bahamas from Cuba and Florida, the separation of the southeastern Bahamas into separate banks, the creation of the Cay Sal Bank, plus the Little and Great Bahama Banks. Sedimentation from the "carbonate factory" of each bank, or atoll, continues today at the rate of about per kyr. Coral reefs form the "retaining walls" of these atolls, within which oolites and pellets form.
Coral growth was greater through the Tertiary, until the start of the ice ages, and hence those deposits are more abundant below a depth of . In fact, an ancient extinct reef exists half a kilometre seaward of the present one, below sea level. Oolites form when oceanic water penetrate the shallow banks, increasing the temperature about and the salinity by 0.5 per cent. Cemented ooids are referred to as grapestone. Additionally, giant stromatolites are found off the Exuma Cays. Sea level changes resulted in a drop in sea level, causing wind blown oolite to form sand dunes with distinct cross-bedding. Overlapping dunes form oolitic ridges, which become rapidly lithified through the action of rainwater, called eolianite. Most islands have ridges ranging from , though Cat Island has a ridge in height. The land between ridges is conducive to the formation of lakes and swamps. Solution weathering of the limestone results in a "Bahamian Karst" topography. This includes potholes, blue holes such as Dean's Blue Hole, sinkholes, beachrock such as the Bimini Road ("pavements of Atlantis"), limestone crust, caves due to the lack of rivers, and sea caves. Several blue holes are aligned along the South Andros Fault line. Tidal flats and tidal creeks are common, but the more impressive drainage patterns are formed by troughs and canyons such as Great Bahama Canyon with the evidence of turbidity currents and turbidite deposition.
The stratigraphy of the islands consists of the Middle Pleistocene Owl's Hole Formation, overlain by the Late Pleistocene Grotto Beach Formation, and then the Holocene Rice Bay Formation. However, these units are not necessarily stacked on top of each other but can be located laterally. The oldest formation, Owl's Hole, is capped by a terra rosa paleosoil, as is the Grotto Beach, unless eroded. The Grotto Beach Formation is the most widespread. Government and politics. The Bahamas is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, with King of the Bahamas Charles III as head of state represented locally by a governor-general. Political and legal traditions closely follow those of England and the Westminster system. The Bahamas is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and shares its head of state with some other Commonwealth realms. The prime minister is the head of government and is the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Assembly. Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet, selected by the prime minister and drawn from his supporters in the House of Assembly. The current governor-general is Cynthia A. Pratt, and the current prime minister is The Hon. Philip Davis MP.
Legislative power is vested in a bicameral parliament, which consists of a 38-member House of Assembly (the lower house), with members elected from single-member districts, and a 16-member Senate, with members appointed by the governor-general, including nine on the advice of the prime minister, four on the advice of the leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, and three on the advice of the prime minister after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition. As under the Westminster system, the prime minister may dissolve Parliament and call a general election at any time within a five-year term. Constitutional safeguards include freedom of speech, press, worship, movement and association. The Judiciary of the Bahamas is independent of the executive and the legislature. Jurisprudence is based on English law. Political culture. The Bahamas has a two-party system dominated by the centre-left Progressive Liberal Party and the centre-right Free National Movement. A handful of other political parties have been unable to win election to parliament; these have included the Bahamas Democratic Movement, the Coalition for Democratic Reform, Bahamian Nationalist Party and the Democratic National Alliance. There has been a growing republican movement in the Bahamas, particularly since the death of Elizabeth II, with a majority now supporting an elected head of state according to an opinion poll.
Foreign relations. The Bahamas has strong bilateral relationships with the United States and the United Kingdom, represented by an ambassador in Washington and High Commissioner in London. The Bahamas also associates closely with other nations of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). The embassy of the United States in Nassau donated $3.6 million to the minister for disaster preparedness, management, and reconstruction for modular shelters, medical evacuation boats, and construction materials. The donation was made two weeks after the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Dorian. Armed forces. The Bahamian military is the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF), the navy of the Bahamas which includes a land unit called Commando Squadron (Regiment) and an Air Wing (Air Force). Under the Defence Act, the RBDF has been mandated, in the name of the king, to defend the Bahamas, protect its territorial integrity, patrol its waters, provide assistance and relief in times of disaster, maintain order in conjunction with the law enforcement agencies of the Bahamas, and carry out any such duties as determined by the National Security Council. The Defence Force is also a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)'s Regional Security Task Force.
The RBDF came into existence on 31 March 1980. Its duties include defending the Bahamas, stopping drug smuggling, illegal immigration and poaching, and providing assistance to mariners. The Defence Force has a fleet of 26 coastal and inshore patrol craft along with 3 aircraft and over 1,100 personnel including 65 officers and 74 women. Administrative divisions. The districts of the Bahamas provide a system of local government everywhere except New Providence (which holds 70 per cent of the national population), whose affairs are handled directly by the central government. In 1996, the Bahamian Parliament passed the "Local Government Act" to facilitate the establishment of family island administrators, local government districts, local district councillors and local town committees for the various island communities. The overall goal of this act is to allow the various elected leaders to govern and oversee the affairs of their respective districts without the interference of the central government. In total, there are 32 districts, with elections being held every five years. There are 110 councillors and 281 town committee members elected to represent the various districts.
Each councillor or town committee member is responsible for the proper use of public funds for the maintenance and development of their constituency. The districts other than New Providence are: Economy. In terms of GDP per capita, the Bahamas is one of the wealthiest countries in the Americas. Its currency (the Bahamian dollar) is kept at a 1-to-1 peg with the US dollar. The Bahamas relies heavily on tourism to generate most of its economic activity. Tourism as an industry accounts for about 70% of the Bahamian GDP and provides jobs for about half of the country's workforce. The Bahamas attracted 5.8 million visitors in 2012, more than 70% of whom were cruise visitors. After tourism, the next most important economic sector is banking and offshore international financial services, accounting for some 15% of GDP. It was revealed in the Panama Papers that the Bahamas is the jurisdiction with the most offshore entities or companies in the world. The Bahamas is considered a major international financial centre. According to some estimates, it is the fourth-largest tax haven globally based on assets under management. It is believed to hold approximately $13.7 trillion in private household wealth and an additional $12 trillion in corporate wealth sheltered within offshore shell companies. This combined figure represents roughly a quarter of the world's annual wealth creation. As recently as 2019, the offshore financial services sector contributed an estimated 20% to the Bahamian economy.
The economy has a very competitive tax regime (classified by some as a tax haven). The government derives its revenue from import tariffs, VAT, licence fees, property and stamp taxes, but there is no income tax, corporate tax, capital gains tax, or wealth tax. Payroll taxes fund social insurance benefits and amount to 3.9% paid by the employee and 5.9% paid by the employer. In 2010, overall tax revenue as a percentage of GDP was 17.2%. Agriculture and manufacturing form the third largest sector of the Bahamian economy, representing 5–7% of total GDP. An estimated 80% of the Bahamian food supply is imported. Major crops include onions, okra, tomatoes, oranges, grapefruit, cucumbers, sugar cane, lemons, limes, and sweet potatoes. Access to biocapacity in the Bahamas is much higher than the world average. In 2016, the Bahamas had 9.2 global hectares of biocapacity per person within its territory, much more than the world average of 1.6 global hectares per person. In 2016 the Bahamas used 3.7 global hectares of biocapacity per person – their ecological footprint of consumption. This means they use less biocapacity than the Bahamas contains. As a result, the Bahamas is running a biocapacity reserve.
Transport. The Bahamas contains about of paved roads. Inter-island transport is conducted primarily via ship and air. The country has 61 airports, the chief of which are Lynden Pindling International Airport on New Providence, Grand Bahama International Airport on Grand Bahama Island, and Leonard M. Thompson International Airport (formerly Marsh Harbour Airport) on Abaco Island. Demographics. The Bahamas had a population of at the 2018 Census, of which 25.9% were 14 or under, 67.2% 15 to 64 and 6.9% over 65. It has a population growth rate of 0.925% (2010), with a birth rate of 17.81/1,000 population, death rate of 9.35/1,000, and net migration rate of −2.13 migrant(s)/1,000 population. The infant mortality rate is 23.21 deaths/1,000 live births. Residents have a life expectancy at birth of 69.87 years: 73.49 years for females, 66.32 years for males. The total fertility rate is 2.0 children born/woman (2010). The latest official estimate (as at 2022) is 400,516. The most populous islands are New Providence, where Nassau, the capital and largest city, is located; and Grand Bahama, home to the second largest city of Freeport.
Racial and ethnic groups. According to the 99% response rate obtained from the race question on the 2010 Census questionnaire, 90.6% of the population identified themselves as being Black, 4.7% White and 2.1% of a Mixed (African and European). Three centuries prior, in 1722 when the first official census of the Bahamas was taken, 74% of the population was native European and 26% native African. Since the colonial era of plantations, Africans or Afro-Bahamians have been the largest ethnic group in the Bahamas, whose primary ancestry was based in West Africa. The first Africans to arrive to the Bahamas were freed slaves from Bermuda; they arrived with the Eleutheran Adventurers looking for new lives. The Haitian community in the Bahamas is also largely of African descent and numbers about 80,000. Due to an extremely high immigration of Haitians to the Bahamas, the Bahamian government started deporting illegal Haitian immigrants to their homeland in late 2014. The white Bahamian population are mainly the descendants of the English Puritans and American Loyalists escaping the American Revolution who arrived in 1649 and 1783, respectively. Many Southern Loyalists went to the Abaco Islands, half of whose population was of European descent as of 1985. The term "white" is usually used to identify Bahamians with Anglo ancestry, as well as some light-skinned Afro-Bahamians. Sometimes Bahamians use the term "Conchy Joe" to describe people of Anglo descent. Generally, however, Bahamians self-identify as white or black along the lines similar to the distinction made in the US.
A small portion of the Euro-Bahamian population are Greek Bahamians, descended from Greek labourers who came to help develop the sponging industry in the 1900s. They make up less than 2% of the nation's population, but have still preserved their distinct Greek Bahamian culture. Other ethnic groups in the Bahamas include Asians and people of Spanish and Portuguese origin. Religion. The islands' population is predominantly Christian. Protestant denominations collectively account for more than 70% of the population, with Baptists representing 35% of the population, Anglicans 15%, Pentecostals 8%, Church of God 5%, Seventh-day Adventists 5% and Methodists 4%. There is also a significant Roman Catholic community accounting for about 14%. Jews in the Bahamas have a history dating back to the Columbus expeditions, where Luis De Torres, an interpreter and member of Columbus' party, is believed to have been secretly Jewish. Today, there is a small community with about 200 members, according to census data, although higher estimates place this figure at 300.
Muslims also have a minority presence. While some slaves and free Africans in the colonial era were Muslim, the religion was absent until around the 1970s, when it experienced a revival. Today, there are about 300 Muslims. There are also smaller communities of Baháʼís, Hindus, Rastafari and practitioners of traditional African religions, such as Obeah. Languages. The official language of the Bahamas is English. Many people speak an English-based creole language called "Bahamian dialect" (known simply as "dialect") or "Bahamianese". Laurente Gibbs, a Bahamian writer and actor, was the first to coin the latter name in a poem and has since promoted its usage. Both are used as autoglossonyms. Haitian Creole, a French-based creole language is spoken by Haitians and their descendants, who make up of about 25% of the total population. It is known simply as "Creole" to differentiate it from Bahamian English. Education. According to 2011 estimates, 95% of the Bahamian adult population are literate. The University of the Bahamas (UB) is the national higher education/tertiary system. Offering baccalaureate, masters and associate degrees, UB has three campuses, and teaching and research centres throughout the Bahamas. The University of the Bahamas was chartered on 10 November 2016.
Culture. The culture of the islands is a mixture of African (Afro-Bahamians being the largest ethnicity), British and American due to historical family ties, migration to the Bahamas of people freed from enslavement in the United States, and as the dominant country in the region and source of most tourists. A form of African-based folk magic is practised by some Bahamians, mainly in the Family Islands (out-islands) of the Bahamas. The practice of obeah is illegal in the Bahamas and punishable in law. In the outer islands also called Family Islands, handicrafts include basketry made from palm fronds. This material, commonly called "straw", is plaited into hats and bags that are popular tourist items. Junkanoo is a traditional Afro-Bahamian street parade of 'rushing', music, dance and art held in Nassau (and a few other settlements) every Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Junkanoo is also used to celebrate other holidays and events such as Emancipation Day. Regattas are important social events in many family island settlements. They usually feature one or more days of sailing by old-fashioned work boats, as well as an onshore festival.
Many dishes are associated with Bahamian cuisine, which reflects Caribbean, African and European influences. Some settlements have festivals associated with the traditional crop or food of that area, such as the "Pineapple Fest" in Gregory Town, Eleuthera or the "Crab Fest" on Andros. Other significant traditions include story telling. Bahamians have created a rich literature of poetry, short stories, plays and short fictional works. Common themes in these works are (1) an awareness of change, (2) a striving for sophistication, (3) a search for identity, (4) nostalgia for the old ways and (5) an appreciation of beauty. Some major writers are Susan Wallace, Marion Bethel, Percival Miller, Robert Johnson, Raymond Brown, O.M. Smith, William Johnson, Eddie Minnis and Winston Saunders. The best-known folklore and legends in the Bahamas include the lusca and chickcharney creatures of Andros, Pretty Molly on Exuma Bahamas and the Lost City of Atlantis on Bimini Bahamas. Symbols. The Bahamian flag was adopted in 1973. Its colours symbolise the strength of the Bahamian people; its design reflects aspects of the natural environment (sun and sea) and economic and social development. The flag is a black equilateral triangle against the mast, superimposed on a horizontal background made up of three equal stripes of aquamarine, gold and aquamarine.
The coat of arms of the Bahamas contains a shield with the national symbols as its focal point. The shield is supported by a marlin and a flamingo, which are the national animals of the Bahamas. The flamingo is located on the land, and the marlin on the sea, indicating the geography of the islands. On top of the shield is a conch shell, which represents the marine life of the island chain. The conch shell rests on a helmet. Below this is the actual shield, the main symbol of which is a ship representing the "Santa María" of Christopher Columbus, shown sailing beneath the sun. Along the bottom, below the shield appears a banner upon which is the national motto: Forward, Upward, Onward Together. The national flower of the Bahamas is the yellow elder, as it is endemic to the Bahama islands and it blooms throughout the year. Selection of the yellow elder over many other flowers was made through the combined popular vote of members of all four of New Providence's garden clubs of the 1970s—the Nassau Garden Club, the Carver Garden Club, the International Garden Club and the YWCA Garden Club. They reasoned that other flowers grown there—such as the bougainvillea, hibiscus and poinciana—had already been chosen as the national flowers of other countries. The yellow elder, on the other hand, was unclaimed by other countries (although it is now also the national flower of the United States Virgin Islands) and also the yellow elder is native to the family islands.
Sport. Sport is a significant part of Bahamian culture. The national sport is cricket, which has been played in the Bahamas from 1846 and is the oldest sport played in the country today. The Bahamas Cricket Association was formed in 1936, and from the 1940s to the 1970s, cricket was played amongst many Bahamians. Bahamas is not a part of the West Indies Cricket Board, so players are not eligible to play for the West Indies cricket team. The late 1970s saw the game begin to decline in the country as teachers, who had previously come from the United Kingdom with a passion for cricket, were replaced by teachers who had been trained in the United States. The Bahamian physical education teachers had no knowledge of the game and instead taught track and field, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball and association football where primary and high schools compete against each other. Today cricket is still enjoyed by a few locals and immigrants in the country, usually from Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Barbados. Cricket is played on Saturdays and Sundays at Windsor Park and Haynes Oval in Nassau, Bahamas. Whiles the main and only cricket grounds on Grand Bahama is the Lucaya Cricket Oval.
The only other sporting event that began before cricket was horse racing, which started in 1796. The most popular spectator sports are those imported from the United States, such as basketball, American football, and baseball, rather than from the British Isles, due to the country's close proximity to the United States, unlike their other Caribbean counterparts, where cricket, soccer, and netball have proven to be more popular. Over the years American football has become much more popular than soccer. Leagues for teens and adults have been developed by the Bahamas American Football Federation. However soccer, as it is commonly known in the country, is still a very popular sport amongst high school pupils. Leagues are governed by the Bahamas Football Association. In 2013 the Bahamian government has been working closely with Tottenham Hotspur of London to promote the sport in the country as well as promoting the Bahamas in the European market. In 2013, 'Spurs' became the first Premier League club to play an exhibition match in the Bahamas, facing the Jamaica men's national team. Joe Lewis, the owner of the club, is based in the Bahamas.
Other popular sports are swimming, tennis and boxing, where Bahamians have enjoyed some degree of success at the international level. Other sports such as golf, rugby league, rugby union, beach soccer, and netball are considered growing sports. Athletics, commonly known as 'track and field' in the country, is the most successful sport by far amongst Bahamians. Bahamians have a strong tradition in the sprints and jumps. Track and field is probably the most popular spectator sport in the country next to basketball due to their success over the years. Triathlons are gaining popularity in Nassau and the Family Islands. The Bahamas first participated at the Olympic Games in 1952, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except when they participated in the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics. The nation has never participated in any Winter Olympic Games. Bahamian athletes have won a total of sixteen medals, all in athletics and sailing. The Bahamas has won more Olympic medals than any other country with a population under one million. The Bahamas were hosts of the first men's senior FIFA tournament to be staged in the Caribbean, the 2017 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. The Bahamas also hosted the first three editions of the IAAF World Relays. The nation also hosted the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, along with annual events Bahamas Bowl and Battle 4 Atlantis. Further reading. General history Economic history Social history
Baker Island Baker Island, once known as New Nantucket in the early 19th century, is a small, uninhabited atoll located just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean, approximately southwest of Honolulu. Positioned almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia, its closest neighbor is Howland Island, situated to the north-northwest. Both Baker and Howland Islands have been claimed as territories of the United States since 1857, though the United Kingdom regarded them as part of the British Empire between 1897 and 1936 but did not actually annex them. They were not being used when a U.S. Colonization attempt was started in 1935, and the next year formal reassertion of U.S. sovereignty was issued. During WWII the Japanese Empire attacked the island, and it was evacuated and a small military base was established. The island was an important navigation beacon in the remote Pacific waters during and after WWII. In the 1970s it was made into a nature preserve and has remained so into the 21st century. Covering an area of , with of coastline, Baker Island experiences an equatorial climate, characterized by average temperatures around , minimal rainfall, persistent winds, and strong sunlight. The terrain is flat and sandy, surrounded by a narrow fringing reef. Unlike many atolls, Baker Island lacks a central lagoon, with its highest point being above sea level.
Today, Baker Island is part of the Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge, an unincorporated and unorganized territory of the U.S. The island is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is visited annually for conservation purposes. Statistically, Baker Island is grouped with the United States Minor Outlying Islands and, along with Howland Island, is among the last places on Earth to experience the New Year, operating in the . It is one of the most remote U.S. possessions in the equatorial Pacific. Howland and Baker are the last places on Earth to enter the new year, as they are just east of the International Date Line. Description. A cemetery and remnants from previous settlements are located near the middle of Baker Island's west coast, where the boat landing area is situated. There are no ports or harbors on the island, and offshore anchorage is prohibited. The narrow, fringing reef surrounding Baker Island presents a significant maritime hazard, making access to the shore difficult. To aid in navigation, a day beacon is positioned near the site of the former village.
Baker Island's abandoned World War II runway, which measures in length, is now completely overgrown with vegetation and is unserviceable. The United States asserts an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) extending and a territorial sea of around the Island. During a colonization attempt from 1935 to 1942, Baker Island was likely operating on Hawaii time, which was then 10.5 hours behind UTC. Today, the island remains uninhabited, and its time zone is unspecified, though it falls within a nautical time zone 12 hours behind UTC (UTC−12:00). History. Baker Island was first discovered in 1818 by Captain Elisha Folger of the Nantucket whaling ship "Equator", who named the island "New Nantucket". In August 1825, it was sighted again by Captain Obed Starbuck aboard the "Loper", another Nantucket whaler. The island later took its name from Captain Michael Baker, who visited it in 1834. Some accounts suggest that Baker visited the island earlier, in 1832, and returned on August 14, 1839, aboard the whaler "Gideon Howland", where he reportedly buried an American seaman. Captain Baker formerly claimed the island in 1855 and subsequently sold his interest to a group that later established the American Guano Company.
The United States officially took possession of Baker Island in 1857 under the Guano Islands Act of 1856. The island's guano deposits were mined by the American Guano Company from 1859 until 1878. Workers from various parts of the Pacific, including Hawaii, were brought in for the mining operations. The Hawaiian laborers referred to Baker Island as "", named after the ilima flower. The scale of guano extraction can be illustrated by ship movements in late 1868, where several ships, including the British vessel "Montebello" and the American ship "Eldorado", transported tons of guano to Liverpool, England. In February 1869, the British ship "Shaftsbury," captained by John Davies, was wrecked on Baker's Island reef after a sudden wind shift and squall caused the ship to drag its moorings. Later that year, the American ship "Robin Hood" was destroyed by fire while loading guano. During the American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project, settlers set up temporary camps on Baker Island. On December 7, 1886, the American Guano Company sold its rights to the British firm John T. Arundel and Company. The company then used Baker Island as its headquarters for guano operations in the Pacific from 1886 to 1891. Believing that the U.S. had abandoned its claim, Arundel applied to the British Colonial Office in 1897 for a license to work the island. While the United Kingdom considered Baker Island a British territory, they never formally annexed it. The U.S. reasserted its claim in the early 1920s, and after diplomatic discussions, they initiated the American Equatorial Islands Colonization Project in 1935. In May 1936, Executive Order 7358 was issued to reaffirm U.S. sovereignty.
As part of the colonization effort, American settlers arrived on Baker Island aboard the USCGC "Itasca", which also brought colonists to neighboring Howland Island, on April 3, 1935, establishing a settlement named Meyerton to mine the guano deposits. The settlers built a lighthouse and dwellings and attempted to cultivate plants. However, most of these efforts were unsuccessful due to the island's harsh conditions, including its dry climate and the impact of seabirds. Meyerton's population was recorded as three American civilians in the 1940 U.S. Census. The settlement was eventually evacuated in 1942 following Japanese attacks during World War II, and the U.S. military forces subsequently occupied the island. The town was named for Captain H. A. Meyer, United States Army, who assisted in establishing living quarters and rainwater cisterns for the colonists. It was located on the west side of the island, at an elevation of above sea level. Airfield. On August 11, 1943, a U.S. Army defense force arrived on Baker Island as part of the broader Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign during World War II. By September 1943, the Army had constructed a airfield on the island. This airfield served as a crucial staging base for the Seventh Air Force, allowing B-24 Liberator bombers to launch attacks on Japanese positions, including Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Additionally, the 45th Fighter Squadron operated P-40 fighters from Baker Island's airfield from September 1 to November 27, 1943. However, the strategic importance of the airfield diminished quickly, and by January 1, 1944, it was abandoned as military operations shifted further west.
LORAN Station Baker. The LORAN (Long Range Navigation) radio station on Baker operated from September 1944 until July 1946. This station, designated as Unit 91 with the radio call sign NRN-1, was a critical navigation aid for U.S. military operations in the Pacific during and immediately after World War II. LORAN stations like the one on Baker Island were part of a network used to assist ships and aircraft in determining their positions accurately, particularly in the vast and often featureless expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Flora and fauna. Baker Island is devoid of natural fresh water sources and receives minimal rainfall, making it an arid and inhospitable environment. The island, over 3700 feet wide, is remote and uninhabited despite its historical significance. It is designated as a wildlife refuge and is characterized by sparse vegetation, including four types of grass, prostrate vines, and low-growing shrubs. The treeless landscape provides a crucial habitat for various seabirds, waders, and marine wildlife.
Baker Island has been recognized as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International due to its support for large breeding colonies of seabirds, such as lesser frigatebirds, masked boobies and sooty terns. The island is home to over one million seabirds, including significant populations of albatrosses. Migratory waders, including ruddy turnstones, bar-tailed godwits, sanderlings, and Pacific golden plovers, visit the island seasonally. Additionally, endangered species like green turtles and hawksbill turtles, as well as gray reef sharks, spinner dolphins, monk seals, and hermit crabs, can be found along the surrounding reef. National Wildlife Refuge. On June 27, 1974, Secretary of the Interior Rogers Morton established the Baker Island National Wildlife Refuge. In 2009, the refuge was expanded to include submerged lands extending from the island's shoreline. The refuge now encompasses of land and of surrounding marine waters. Baker Island, along with six other islands, is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Pacific Remote Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex. In January 2009, this entity was redesignated as the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument by President George W. Bush. This was renamed Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument in 2025.
Environmental challenges facing the refuge include remnants of abandoned military debris from World War II and the threat of illegal fishing in offshore waters. Additionally, invasive species introduced by human activity, such as cockroaches and coconut palms, have displaced native wildlife. Feral cats, which were first introduced to the island in 1937, were eradicated by 1965. Public access to Baker Island is highly restricted and requires a special use permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Permits are typically granted only to scientists and educators. Although limited tour packages are available from early June to mid-August, unauthorized visits and activities such as swimming, fishing, and lighting fires are strictly prohibited. The atoll is only visited during daylight hours, and scuba diving is restricted to scientists affiliated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Agency representatives visit the island approximately once every two years, often coordinating transportation with a NOAA vessel.
Human debris and remnants. Debris from past human activity, particularly from the U.S. military's occupation of Baker Island during World War II, is scattered across the island and in the surrounding offshore waters. The most prominent remnant is the airstrip, which is now completely overgrown with vegetation and is unusable. On the western coast of the island, a day beacon remains from the wartime era, although it has not been maintained since World War II. This beacon is now primarily used by albatross birds and hermit crabs for breeding, and it also serves as a landmark for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during their infrequent visits to the atoll. In the northeast section of the island, which appears to have been the main camp area during the military occupation, the remains of several buildings and heavy equipment are still visible. Five wooden antenna poles, each approximately tall, continue to stand. Additionally, debris from several crashed aircraft, along with large equipment such as bulldozers, can be found both on the island and underwater. Numerous bulldozer excavations containing remnants of metal, fuel, and water drums are scattered throughout the north-central portion and along the island's northern edge. The U.S. Navy reported the loss of 11 landing craft in the surf during the wartime operations, contributing to the debris found in the waters surrounding the island.
Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world and among the most densely populated with a population of over 171 million within an area of . Bangladesh shares land borders with India to the north, west, and east, and Myanmar to the southeast. It has a coastline along the Bay of Bengal to its south and is separated from Bhutan and Nepal by the Siliguri Corridor, and from China by the Indian state of Sikkim to its north. Dhaka, the capital and largest city, is the nation's political, financial, and cultural centre. Chittagong is the second-largest city and the busiest port of the country. The territory of modern Bangladesh was a stronghold of many Buddhist and Hindu dynasties in ancient history. Following the Muslim conquest in 1204, the region saw Sultanate and Mughal rule. During the Mughal period, particularly under the Bengal Subah, the region emerged as one of the most prosperous and commercially active parts of the empire, known for its thriving textile industry and agricultural productivity.
During the Mughal period, particularly under the Bengal Subah, the region emerged as one of the most prosperous and commercially active parts of the empire, known for its thriving textile industry and agricultural productivity. The Battle of Plassey in 1757 marked the beginning of British colonial rule for the following two centuries. In the aftermath of the Partition of British India in 1947, East Bengal became the eastern and most populous wing of the newly formed Dominion of Pakistan and was later renamed to East Pakistan. Following over two decades of political repression and systematic racism from the West Pakistan-based government, East Pakistan experienced a civil war in 1971; ultimately leading to a war for independence. Following over two decades of political repression and systematic racism from the West Pakistan-based government, East Pakistan experienced a civil war in 1971; ultimately leading to a war for independence. Hasina was overthrown in a student–led mass uprising in August 2024, and an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed.
Bangladesh is a unitary parliamentary republic based on the Westminster system. It is a middle power with the second-largest economy in South Asia. Bangladesh is home to the third-largest Muslim population in the world and the fifth-most spoken native language. It maintains the third-largest military in South Asia and is the largest contributor to the peacekeeping operations of the United Nations. It consists of eight divisions, 64 districts, and 495 sub-districts, and is home to the largest mangrove forest in the world. However, Bangladesh has one of the largest refugee populations in the world and continues to face challenges such as endemic corruption, lack of human rights, political instability, overpopulation, and adverse effects of climate change. It has twice chaired the Climate Vulnerable Forum and is a member of BIMSTEC, SAARC, OIC and the Commonwealth of Nations. Etymology. The etymology of "Bangladesh" ("Bengali country") can be traced to the early 20th century, when Bengali patriotic songs, such as "Aaji Bangladesher Hridoy" by Rabindranath Tagore and "Namo Namo Namo Bangladesh Momo" by Kazi Nazrul Islam, used the term in 1905 and 1932 respectively. Starting in the 1950s, Bengali nationalists used the term in political rallies in East Pakistan.
The term "Bangla" is a major name for both the Bengal region and the Bengali language. The origins of the term "Bangla" are unclear, with theories pointing to a Bronze Age proto-Dravidian tribe, and the Iron Age Vanga Kingdom. The earliest known usage of the term is the Nesari plate in 805 AD. The term "Vangala Desa" is found in 11th-century South Indian records. The term gained official status during the Sultanate of Bengal in the 14th century. Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah proclaimed himself as the first "Shah of Bangala" in 1342. The word "Bangāl" became the most common name for the region during the Islamic period. 16th-century historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak mentions in his "Ain-i-Akbari" that the addition of the suffix "al" came from the fact that the ancient rajahs of the land raised mounds of earth in lowlands at the foot of the hills which were called "al". This is also mentioned in Ghulam Husain Salim's Riyaz-us-Salatin. The Indo-Aryan suffix "Desh" is derived from the Sanskrit word "deśha", which means "land" or "country". Hence, the name "Bangladesh" means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal".
History. Early history. The first great indigenous empire to cover the territory was the Mauryan Empire (ca. 320-180 B.C.). Following its decline, the kingdom of Samatata arose, which was a tributary state of the Gupta Empire (A.D. ca. 319-ca. 540). Harsha (A.D. 606–47) drew Samatata into its loosely administered political structure. Buddhist Pala Dynasty ruled the region from A.D. 750 to 1150. It was overthrown by the Hindu Sena dynasty, which ruled the territory until the Muslim conquests led by Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji of the Ghurid dynasty in 1204. Islamization and economic prosperity. Bengal was then incorporated into the Delhi Sultanate (A.D. 1206–1526). In 1341, the independent Bengal Sultanate was established by Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah. Amidst geographic expansion and economic prosperity, it was regarded by European and Chinese visitors as the "richest country to trade with". The Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in 1576. By the 18th century, the Bengal Subah emerged as the wealthiest province of the empire, and was described as the "Paradise of Countries" and the "breadbasket of India". Its citizens enjoyed some of the best standards of living in the world, as the region was a major global exporter and producer of cotton textiles (muslin in particular), silk and shipbuilding. Following the decline of the Mughal Empire in the early 1700s, the region became a semi-independent state under the Nawabs of Bengal, founded by Murshid Quli Khan in 1717.
British colonial rule. In 1757, the state led by Siraj-ud-Daulah was defeated by the British East India Company in the Battle of Plassey—which was key in establishing colonial British rule over Bengal and the wider Indian subcontinent. Bengal played a crucial role in the Industrial Revolution at the expense of an extraordinary capital flight and deindustrialization following British colonial loot and the collapse of the Bengali textile industry. The catastrophic Great Bengal famine of 1770 caused over ten million deaths, killing one-third of the total population of the Bengal Presidency, and remains one of the deadliest man-made famines in history. As a part of Pakistan. In the aftermath of direct British rule for nearly two centuries, the borders of modern Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal between India and Pakistan by the Radcliffe Line during the partition of India on 15 August 1947, when the region became East Bengal as the eastern and most populous wing of the newly formed Dominion of Pakistan—alongside West Pakistan. The western and eastern wings of the newly formed Pakistan were geographically separated by a distance of over 1,000 miles, which became the root cause of deep economic inequality. Khawaja Nazimuddin was East Bengal's first chief minister with Frederick Chalmers Bourne its governor. The All Pakistan Awami Muslim League was formed in 1949. In 1950, the East Bengal Legislative Assembly enacted land reform, abolishing the Permanent Settlement and the zamindari system. The Awami Muslim League was renamed as a more "secular" Awami League in 1953. The first constituent assembly was dissolved in 1954. The United Front coalition swept aside the Muslim League in a landslide victory in the 1954 East Bengali legislative election. The following year, East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan as part of the One Unit programme, and the province became a vital part of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.
Amidst rising cultural and societal differences—the brutal government crackdown on the 1952 Bengali language movement to establish Bengali as the official language of Pakistan spurred Bengali nationalism and pro-democracy movements. Pakistan adopted a new constitution in 1956. The Pakistan Armed Forces imposed martial law in 1958, following a coup d'état, with Ayub Khan establishing a dictatorship for over a decade. A new constitution was introduced in 1962, replacing the parliamentary system with a presidential and gubernatorial system (based on electoral college selection) known as "Basic Democracy". In 1962, Dhaka became the seat of the National Assembly of Pakistan, a move seen as appeasing increased Bengali nationalism. In 1966, Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announced a six-point movement for a federal parliamentary democracy. Ethnic, linguistic, and cultural discrimination was common in Pakistan's civil and military services, in which Bengalis were under-represented; leading to East Pakistan forging a distinct political identity. Authorities banned Bengali literature and music in the state media. The Pakistani government practised extensive economic discrimination against East Pakistan, including the refusal for foreign aid allocation. Despite generating 70% of Pakistan's export revenue with jute and tea, East Pakistan received much less government spending. Notable economists from East Pakistan, including Rehman Sobhan and Nurul Islam demanded a separate foreign exchange account for the eastern wing, also pointing to the existence of two different economies within Pakistan itself, dubbed the Two-Economies Theory. The populist leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested for treason in the Agartala Conspiracy Case and was released during the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan which resulted in Ayub Khan's resignation. General Yahya Khan assumed power, reintroducing martial law.
A cyclone devastated the coast of East Pakistan in 1970, killing an estimated 500,000 people, and the central government was criticised for its poor response. After the December 1970 elections, the Bengali-nationalist Awami League won 167 of 169 East Pakistani seats in the National Assembly. The League claimed the right to form a government and develop a new constitution but was strongly opposed by the Pakistani military and the Pakistan Peoples Party (led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto). The 7 March Speech of Mujib led to a non-cooperation movement. The autocratic Pakistani government then initiated Operation Searchlight on 25 March 1971 in response. Mujib signed the Proclamation of Independence on 26 March 1971, leading to the nine-month-long bloody liberation war, which led to a genocide, and the culmination of Bangladesh as a sovereign nation following Pakistani surrender on 16 December 1971. Independent Bangladesh. The Constitution of Bangladesh was enacted on November 4, 1972. Following independence, the Mujib-led government engaged in large-scale corruption and mismanagement, leading to nationwide lawlessness and economic devastation. Efforts to establish one party socialism and a large famine in 1974 led to Mujib's assassination in 1975, whose popularity had experienced a significant decline among the general populace. Presidency was then transferred to Ziaur Rahman, who re-established public order, industrialized agriculture, founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and initiated the creation of SAARC. Following Zia's assassination in 1981, the ensuing decade was a military dictatorship under Hussain Muhammad Ershad which saw infrastructural development, devolution reforms, privatization of nationalised industries and the declaration of Islam as the state religion in 1988.
After the restoration of parliamentary democracy in 1991, power alternated between Khaleda Zia of the BNP and Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League, an era dubbed the "Battle of the Begums"—which defined Bangladesh's politics and history for next 34 years. The return of the Awami League to power following a landslide victory in the 2008 general election under Sheikh Hasina's leadership saw unprecedented economic progress alongside democratic backsliding, increasing authoritarianism, endemic corruption, and widespread human right abuses. Hasina won her second, third and fourth consecutive terms in the 2014, 2018 and the 2024 general elections—all of which were sham and neither free or fair. Following a student-led mass uprising against the authoritarian government, Hasina was forced to resign and flee to India on 5 August 2024. An interim government was formed on 8 August 2024, with Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as the Chief Adviser. Since the 1980s, driven by free market policies and economic liberalization measures, Bangladesh has achieved significant economic growth—emerging as one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, driven by its large textile industry, which is the second-largest in the world. It has emerged as the second-largest economy in South Asia, surpassing the nominal GDP per capita of neighboring India. Bangladesh has achieved remarkable feats in reducing its poverty rate, which has gone down from 80% in 1971, to 44.2% in 1991, all the way down to 18.7% in 2022. Its Human Development Index growth during the 21st century was surpassed only by China. As part of the green transition, Bangladesh's industrial sector emerged as a leader in building green factories, with the country having the largest number of certified green factories in the world. It has also given shelter to over a million Rohingya refugees fleeing the Rohingya genocide since 2017, which has strained its resources and highlighted its humanitarian commitments.
Geography. Bangladesh is in South Asia on the Bay of Bengal. It is surrounded almost entirely by neighbouring India, and shares a small border with Myanmar to its southeast, though it lies very close to Nepal, Bhutan, and China. The country is divided into three regions. Most of the country is dominated by the fertile Ganges Delta, the largest river delta in the world. The northwest and central parts of the country are formed by the Madhupur and the Barind plateaus. The northeast and southeast are home to evergreen hill ranges. The Ganges delta is formed by the confluence of the Ganges (local name Padma or "Pôdda"), Brahmaputra (Jamuna or "Jomuna"), and Meghna rivers and their tributaries. The Ganges unites with the Jamuna (main channel of the Brahmaputra) and later joins the Meghna, finally flowing into the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh is called the "Land of Rivers", as it is home to over 57 trans-boundary rivers, the most of any nation-state. Water issues are politically complicated since Bangladesh is downstream of India.
Bangladesh is predominantly rich fertile flat land. Most of it is less than above sea level, and it is estimated that about 10% of its land would be flooded if the sea level were to rise by . 12% of the country is covered by hill systems. The country's haor wetlands are of significance to global environmental science. The highest point in Bangladesh is the Saka Haphong, located near the border with Myanmar, with an elevation of . Previously, either Keokradong or Tazing Dong were considered the highest. In Bangladesh forest cover is around 14% of the total land area, equivalent to 1,883,400 hectares (ha) of forest in 2020, down from 1,920,330 hectares (ha) in 1990. In 2020, naturally regenerating forest covered 1,725,330 hectares (ha) and planted forest covered 158,070 hectares (ha). Of the naturally regenerating forest 0% was reported to be primary forest (consisting of native tree species with no clearly visible indications of human activity) and around 33% of the forest area was found within protected areas. For the year 2015, 100% of the forest area was reported to be under public ownership.
Climate. Straddling the Tropic of Cancer, Bangladesh's climate is tropical, with a mild winter from October to March and a hot, humid summer from March to June. The country has never recorded an air temperature below , with a record low of in the northwest city of Dinajpur on 3 February 1905. A warm and humid monsoon season lasts from June to October and supplies most of the country's rainfall. Natural calamities, such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and tidal bores occur almost every year, combined with the effects of deforestation, soil degradation and erosion. The cyclones of 1970 and 1991 were particularly devastating, the latter killing approximately 140,000 people. In September 1998, Bangladesh saw the most severe flooding in modern history, after which two-thirds of the country went underwater, along with a death toll of 1,000. As a result of various international and national level initiatives in disaster risk reduction, the human toll and economic damage from floods and cyclones have come down over the years. The 2007 South Asian floods ravaged areas across the country, leaving five million people displaced, with a death toll around 500.
Climate change. Bangladesh is recognised to be one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Over the course of a century, 508 cyclones have affected the Bay of Bengal region, 17 percent of which are believed to have made landfall in Bangladesh. Natural hazards that come from increased rainfall, rising sea levels, and tropical cyclones are expected to increase as the climate changes, each seriously affecting agriculture, water and food security, human health, and shelter. It is estimated that by 2050, a three-foot rise in sea levels will inundate some 20 percent of the land and displace more than 30 million people. To address the sea level rise threat in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Delta Plan 2100 has been launched. Biodiversity. Bangladesh is located in the Indomalayan realm, and lies within four terrestrial ecoregions: Lower Gangetic Plains moist deciduous forests, Mizoram–Manipur–Kachin rain forests, Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests, and Sundarbans mangroves. Its ecology includes a long sea coastline, numerous rivers and tributaries, lakes, wetlands, evergreen forests, semi evergreen forests, hill forests, moist deciduous forests, freshwater swamp forests and flat land with tall grass. The Bangladesh Plain is famous for its fertile alluvial soil which supports extensive cultivation. The country is dominated by lush vegetation, with villages often buried in groves of mango, jackfruit, bamboo, betel nut, coconut, and date palm. The country has up to 6000 species of plant life, including 5000 flowering plants. Water bodies and wetland systems provide a habitat for many aquatic plants. Water lilies and lotuses grow vividly during the monsoon season. The country has 50 wildlife sanctuaries.
Bangladesh is home to most of the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, covering an area of in the southwest littoral region. It is divided into three protected sanctuaries: the South, East, and West zones. The forest is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The northeastern Sylhet region is home to haor wetlands, a unique ecosystem. It also includes tropical and subtropical coniferous forests, a freshwater swamp forest, and mixed deciduous forests. The southeastern Chittagong region covers evergreen and semi-evergreen hilly jungles. Central Bangladesh includes the plainland Sal forest running along with the districts of Gazipur, Tangail, and Mymensingh. St. Martin's Island is the only coral reef in the country. Bangladesh has an abundance of wildlife in its forests, marshes, woodlands, and hills. The vast majority of animals dwell within a habitat of . The Bengal tiger, clouded leopard, saltwater crocodile, black panther and fishing cat are among the chief predators in the Sundarbans. Northern and eastern Bangladesh is home to the Asian elephant, hoolock gibbon, Asian black bear and oriental pied hornbill. The chital deer are widely seen in southwestern woodlands. Other animals include the black giant squirrel, capped langur, Bengal fox, sambar deer, jungle cat, king cobra, wild boar, mongooses, pangolins, pythons and water monitors. Bangladesh has one of the largest populations of Irrawaddy and Ganges dolphins. The country has numerous species of amphibians (53), reptiles (139), marine reptiles (19) and marine mammals (5). It also has 628 species of birds.
Several animals became extinct in Bangladesh during the last century, including the one-horned and two-horned rhinoceros and common peafowl. The human population is concentrated in urban areas, limiting deforestation to a certain extent. Rapid urban growth has threatened natural habitats. The country has widespread environmental issues; pollution of the Dhaleshwari River by the textile industry and shrimp cultivation in Chakaria Sundarbans have both been described by academics as ecocides. Although many areas are protected under law, some Bangladeshi wildlife is threatened by this growth. The Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act was enacted in 1995. The government has designated several regions as Ecologically Critical Areas, including wetlands, forests, and rivers. The Sundarbans tiger project and the Bangladesh Bear Project are among the key initiatives to strengthen conservation. It ratified the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 3 May 1994. , the country was set to revise its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
Government and politics. Bangladesh, by constitution, is a unitary state and a "de jure" representative democracy with a Westminster-style parliamentary system that has universal suffrage. The government can be divided into three pillars: the executive, the legislative and the judiciary—all function to ensure accountability, transparency and checks and balances of the government. Since its independence, the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) have remained two of the most powerful political parties in Bangladesh. Administrative divisions. Bangladesh is divided into eight administrative divisions, each named after their respective divisional headquarters: Barisal (officially "Barishal"), Chittagong (officially "Chattogram"), Dhaka, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet. Divisions are subdivided into districts ("zila"). There are 64 districts in Bangladesh, each further subdivided into "upazila" (subdistricts) or "thana". The area within each police station, except for those in metropolitan areas, is divided into several "unions", with each union consisting of multiple villages. In the metropolitan areas, police stations are divided into wards, further divided into "mahallas".
There are no elected officials at the divisional or district levels, and the administration is composed only of government officials. Direct elections are held in each union (or ward) for a chairperson and several members. In 1997, a parliamentary act was passed to reserve three seats (out of 12) in every union for female candidates. Foreign relations. Bangladesh is considered a middle power in global politics. It plays an important role in the geopolitical affairs of the Indo-Pacific, due to its strategic location between South and Southeast Asia. Bangladesh joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1972 and the United Nations in 1974. It relies on multilateral diplomacy on issues like climate change, nuclear non-proliferation, trade policy and non-traditional security issues. Bangladesh pioneered the creation of SAARC, which has been the preeminent forum for regional diplomacy among the countries of the Indian subcontinent. It joined the OIC in 1974, and is a founding member of the Developing-8. In recent years, Bangladesh has focused on promoting regional trade and transport links with support from the World Bank. Dhaka hosts the headquarters of BIMSTEC, an organisation that brings together countries dependent on the Bay of Bengal.
Relations with neighbouring Myanmar have been severely strained since 2016–2017, after over 700,000 Rohingya refugees illegally entered Bangladesh. The parliament, government, and civil society of Bangladesh have been at the forefront of international criticism against Myanmar for military operations against the Rohingya, and have demanded their right of return to Arakan. Bangladesh shares an important bilateral and economic relationship with its largest neighbour India, which is often strained by water politics of the Ganges and the Teesta, and the border killings of Bangladeshi civilians. Post-independent Bangladesh has continued to have a problematic relationship with Pakistan, mainly due to its denial of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide. It maintains a warm relationship with China, which is its largest trading partner, and the largest arms supplier. Japan is Bangladesh's largest economic aid provider, and the two maintain a strategic and economic partnership. Political relations with Middle Eastern countries are robust. Bangladesh receives 59% of its remittances from the Middle East, despite poor working conditions affecting over four million Bangladeshi workers. Bangladesh plays a major role in global climate diplomacy as a leader of the Climate Vulnerable Forum.
Military. The Bangladesh Armed Forces have inherited the institutional framework of the British military and the British Indian Army. In 2024, the active personnel strength of the Bangladesh Armed Forces was around 230,000, including the Air Force (21,000) and the Navy (27,000). In addition to traditional defence roles, the military has supported civil authorities in disaster relief and provided internal security during periods of political unrest. For many years, Bangladesh has been the world's largest contributor to UN peacekeeping forces. The military budget of Bangladesh accounts for 1.3% of GDP, amounting to US$4.3 billion in 2021. The Bangladesh Navy, one of the largest in the Bay of Bengal, includes a fleet of frigates, submarines, corvettes, and other vessels. The Bangladesh Air Force has a small fleet of multi-role combat aircraft. Most of Bangladesh's military equipment comes from China. In recent years, Bangladesh and India have increased joint military exercises, high-level visits of military leaders, counter-terrorism cooperation and intelligence sharing. Bangladesh is vital to ensuring stability and security in northeast India.
Bangladesh's strategic importance in the eastern subcontinent hinges on its proximity to China, its frontier with Burma, the separation of mainland and northeast India, and its maritime territory in the Bay of Bengal. In 2002, Bangladesh and China signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement. The United States has pursued negotiations with Bangladesh on a Status of Forces Agreement, an Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement and a General Security of Military Information Agreement. In 2019, Bangladesh ratified the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Civil society. Since the colonial period, Bangladesh has had a prominent civil society. There are various special interest groups, including non-governmental organisations, human rights organisations, professional associations, chambers of commerce, employers' associations, and trade unions. The National Human Rights Commission of Bangladesh was set up in 2007. Notable human rights organisations and initiatives include the Centre for Law and Mediation, Odhikar, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, the Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council and the War Crimes Fact Finding Committee. The world's largest international NGO BRAC is based in Bangladesh. There have been concerns regarding the shrinking space for independent civil society in recent years.
Human rights. Torture is banned by the Constitution of Bangladesh, but is rampantly used by Bangladesh's security forces. Bangladesh joined the Convention against Torture in 1998 and it enacted its first anti-torture law, the Torture and Custodial Death (Prevention) Act, in 2013. The first conviction under this law was announced in 2020. Amnesty International Prisoners of Conscience from Bangladesh have included Saber Hossain Chowdhury and Shahidul Alam. The widely criticized Digital Security Act was repealed and replaced by the Cyber Security Act in 2023. The repeal was welcomed by the International Press Institute. On International Human Rights Day in December 2021, the United States Department of the Treasury announced sanctions on commanders of the Rapid Action Battalion for extrajudicial killings, torture, and other human rights abuses. Freedom House has criticised the government for human rights abuses, the crackdown on the opposition, mass media, and civil society through politicized enforcement. Bangladesh is ranked "partly free" in Freedom House's "Freedom in the World" report, but its press freedom has deteriorated from "free" to "not free" in recent years due to increasing pressure from the government. According to the British Economist Intelligence Unit, the country has a hybrid regime: the third of four rankings in its Democracy Index. Bangladesh was ranked 96th among 163 countries in the 2022 Global Peace Index. According to National Human Rights Commission, 70% of alleged human-rights violations are committed by law-enforcement agencies.
LGBT rights are frowned upon among social conservatives. Homosexuality is affected by Section 377 of the Penal Code of Bangladesh, which was originally enacted by the British colonial government. The government only recognises the transgender and intersex community known as the Hijra. According to the 2023 Global Slavery Index, an estimated 1.2 million people were enslaved in Bangladesh , which is among the highest in the world. Corruption. Like many developing countries, institutional corruption is an issue of concern for Bangladesh. Bangladesh was ranked 146th among 180 countries on Transparency International's 2018 Corruption Perceptions Index. Land administration was the sector with the most bribery in 2015, followed by education, police and water supply. The Anti Corruption Commission was formed in 2004, and it was active during the 2006–08 Bangladeshi political crisis, indicting many leading politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen for graft. Economy. Bangladesh's lower-middle income mixed-market economy is among the fastest growing economies in the world. A rapidly developing country, it has the world's 36th-largest economy by nominal terms, and the 24th-largest by PPP. Bangladesh has a labor force of 71.4 million, which is the world's seventh-largest; with an unemployment rate of 5.1% . Its foreign exchange reserves, although depleting, remain the second-highest in South Asia, after India. Bangladesh's large diaspora contributed roughly $27 billion in remittances in 2024. The Bangladeshi taka is the national currency.
, the large service sector accounts for about 51.5% of total GDP, followed by the industrial sector (34.6%), while the agriculture sector is by far the smallest, making up only 11% of total GDP; despite being the largest employment sector, providing roughly half of the total workforce. Over 84% of the export earnings come from the textile industry. Bangladesh is the second-leading garments exporter in the world, and plays a crucial role in the global fast fashion industry, exporting to various Western fashion brands. It is also a major producer of jute, rice, fish, tea, and flowers. Other major industries include shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, steel, electronics and leather goods. China is the largest trading partner of Bangladesh, accounting for 15% of the total trade, followed by India; which accounts for 8% of the total trade. The private sector accounts for 80% of GDP compared to the dwindling role of state-owned companies. Bangladesh's economy is dominated by family-owned conglomerates and small and medium-sized businesses. Some of the largest publicly traded companies in Bangladesh include BEXIMCO, BRAC Bank, BSRM, GPH Ispat, Grameenphone, Summit Group, and Square Pharmaceuticals. The Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges are the country's twin capital markets. Its telecommunications industry is one of the world's fastest growing, with 188.78 million cellphone subscribers at the end of November 2024. Political instability, high inflation, endemic corruption, insufficient power supplies, and slow implementation of reforms are major challenges to economic growth.
Energy. Bangladesh, a country experiencing daily blackouts several times a day in 2009, achieved 100% electrification by 2022. It is gradually transitioning to a green economy and has the largest off-grid solar power programme in the world, benefiting 20 million people. An electric car called the "Palki" is being developed for production in the country. Biogas is being used to produce organic fertilizer. The under-construction Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, under-construction with assistance from the Russian company Rosatom, will be the first operational nuclear power plant in the country. Its first unit, out of the two total units, is expected to go into operation in 2025. Bangladesh continues to have huge untapped reserves of natural gas, particularly in its maritime territory. A lack of exploration and decreasing proven reserves have forced Bangladesh to import LNG from abroad. Gas shortages were further exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Bangladesh stopped buying spot price LNG temporarily in July 2022, despite constant load-shedding, due to a steep price hike in the global market. It restarted buying spot price LNG once again in February 2023 as prices eased.
While government-owned companies in Bangladesh generate nearly half of Bangladesh's electricity, privately owned companies like the Summit Group and Orion Group are playing an increasingly important role in both generating electricity, and supplying machinery, reactors, and equipment. Bangladesh increased electricity production from 5 gigawatts in 2009 to 25.5 gigawatts in 2022. It plans to produce 50 gigawatts by 2041. U.S. companies like Chevron and General Electric supply around 55% of Bangladesh's domestic natural gas production and are among the largest investors in power projects. 80% of Bangladesh's installed gas-fired power generation capacity comes from turbines manufactured in the United States. Tourism. The tourism industry is expanding, contributing some 3.02% of total GDP. Bangladesh's international tourism receipts in 2019 amounted to $391 million. The country has three UNESCO World Heritage Sites (the Mosque City, the Buddhist Vihara and the Sundarbans) and seven tentative-list sites. The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) reported in 2019 that the travel and tourism industry in Bangladesh directly generated 1,180,500 jobs in 2018 or 1.9% of the country's total employment. According to the same report, Bangladesh experiences around 125,000 international tourist arrivals per year. Domestic spending generated 97.7 percent of direct travel and tourism gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012.
Demographics. Bangladesh had a recorded population of 169.8 million in the 2022 census, which rose to 171.4 million . It is the eighth-most-populous country in the world, the fifth-most populous country in Asia, and the most densely populated large country in the world, with a headline population density of 1,265 people/km2 . Bangladesh's total fertility rate (TFR), once among the highest in the world, has experienced a dramatic decline, from 5.5 in 1985 to 3.7 in 1995, down to 1.9 in 2022, which is below the sub-replacement fertility of 2.1. Most of the population live in rural areas, with only 40% of the population living in urban areas . Bangladesh has a median age of roughly 28 years, with 26% of the total population aged 14 or younger, and merely 6% aged 65 and above . Bangladesh is an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society, as Bengalis form 99% of the population. The Adivasi population includes the Chakmas, Marmas, Santhals, Mros, Tanchangyas, Bawms, Tripuris, Khasis, Khumis, Kukis, Garos, and Bisnupriya Manipuris. The Chittagong Hill Tracts region experienced unrest and an insurgency from 1975 to 1997 in an autonomy movement by its indigenous people. Although a peace accord was signed in 1997, the region remains militarised. Urdu-speaking stranded Pakistanis were given citizenship by the Supreme Court in 2008. Bangladesh also hosts over 700,000 Rohingya refugees since 2017, giving it one of the largest refugee populations in the world.
Urban centres. Bangladesh's capital Dhaka and the largest city and is overseen by two city corporations that manage between them the northern and southern parts of the city. There are 12 city corporations which hold mayoral elections: Dhaka South, Dhaka North, Chittagong, Comilla, Khulna, Mymensingh, Sylhet, Rajshahi, Barisal, Rangpur, Gazipur and Narayanganj. There are, however, eight divisions in total. They are: Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Khulna, Mymensingh and Barishal. Mayors are elected for five-year terms. Altogether there are 506 urban centres in Bangladesh which 43 cities have a population of more than 100,000. Language. The official and predominant language of Bangladesh is Bengali, which is spoken by more than 99% of the population as their native language. Bengali is described as a dialect continuum where there are various dialects spoken throughout the country. There is a diglossia in which much of the population can understand or speak in Standard Colloquial Bengali, and in their regional dialect or language. These include Chittagonian which is spoken in the southeastern region of Chittagong, Noakhali spoken in the southern district of Noakhali and Sylheti spoken in the northeastern region of Sylhet.
English plays an important role in Bangladesh's judicial and educational affairs, due to the country's history as part of the British Empire. It is widely spoken and commonly understood, and is taught as a compulsory subject in all schools, colleges and universities, while the English-medium educational system is widely attended. Tribal languages, although increasingly endangered, include the Chakma language, another native Eastern Indo-Aryan language, spoken by the Chakma people. Others are Garo, Meitei, Kokborok and Rakhine. Among the Austroasiatic languages, the most spoken is the Santali language, native to the Santal people. The stranded Pakistanis and some sections of the Old Dhakaites often use Urdu as their native tongue. Still, the usage of the latter remains highly reproached. Religion. Islam is the state religion of Bangladesh. However, the constitution also upholds secularism and ensures equal rights for all religions. Every citizen has the freedom to practice any religion. Islam the largest religion across the country, being followed by about 91.1% of the population. The vast majority of Bangladeshi citizens are Bengali Muslims, adhering to Sunni Islam. The country is the third-most populous Muslim-majority state in the world and has the fourth-largest overall Muslim population.
Bengali Hindus form the country's second-largest religious minority and the third-largest Hindu community in the world. According to the 2022 census Hindus form 7.95% of the total population. In the 2011 census, Hindus formed 8.54% of the population. Buddhism is the third-most followed religion, adhered to by merely 0.6% of the population. Bangladeshi Buddhists are concentrated among the tribal ethnic groups in the Chittagong Hill Tracts and by the Bengali Buddhist minority across coastal Chittagong, who mostly follow the Theravada school. Christianity is the fourth-largest religion at 0.3%, followed mainly by a small Bengali Christian minority. 0.1% of the population practices other religions such as Animism or is irreligious. Education. The constitution states that all children shall receive free and compulsory education. Education in Bangladesh is overseen by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Primary and Mass Education is responsible for implementing policy for primary education and state-funded schools at a local level. Primary and secondary education is compulsory, and is financed by the state and free of charge in public schools. Bangladesh has a literacy rate of 76% as of 2021: 79% for males and 71.9% for females. Its educational system is three-tiered and heavily subsidised, with the government operating many schools at the primary, secondary and higher secondary levels and subsidising many private schools. However, government expenditure in education remains among the lowest in the world, at only 1.8% of the total GDP.
The education system is divided into five levels: primary (first to fifth grade), junior secondary (sixth to eighth grade), secondary (ninth and tenth grade), higher secondary (11th and 12th grade), and tertiary which is university level. Primary level students have to pass the Primary Education Completion (PEC) exam to proceed to junior secondary. The junior secondary students then give the Junior School Certificate (JSC) exam to get enrolled in ninth grade, while tenth-grade students have to pass the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) exam to proceed to eleventh grade. Lastly, students have to pass the Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) exam at grade twelve to apply for higher education or universities. Universities are three general types: public (government-owned and funded by the University Grants Commission), private (privately owned universities) and international (operated and funded by international organisations). The country has 55 public, 115 private and 2 international universities. National University is the third-largest university in the world by enrolment. The University of Dhaka, established in 1921, is the oldest public university. BUET is the premiere university for engineering education. The University of Chittagong, established in 1966, has the largest campus. BUP is the largest public university affiliated with the armed forces. Dhaka College, established in 1841, is among the oldest educational institutes in the Indian subcontinent. Medical education is provided by 39 government, 6 armed force and 68 private medical colleges. All medical colleges are affiliated with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Health. Bangladesh, by the constitution, guarantees healthcare services as a fundamental right to all of its citizens. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the largest institutional healthcare provider in Bangladesh, and contains two divisions: Health Service Division and Medical Education And Family Welfare Division. However, healthcare facilities in Bangladesh are considered less than adequate, although they have improved as the economy has grown and poverty levels have decreased significantly. Bangladesh faces a severe health workforce crisis, as formally trained providers make up a small percentage of the total health workforce. Significant deficiencies in the treatment practices of village doctors persist, with widespread harmful and inappropriate drug prescribing. Bangladesh's poor healthcare system suffers from severe underfunding from the government. , some 2.36% of total GDP was attributed to healthcare, and domestic general government spending on healthcare was 16.88% of the total budget, while out-of-pocket expenditures made up the vast majority of the total budget, totalling roughly 73%. Domestic private health expenditure was about 75.48% of the total healthcare expenditure. There were only 5.3 doctors per 10,000 people, and about six physicians and six nurses per 1,000 people, while the number of hospital beds is 9 per 1,000. The specialist surgical workforce was only 3 per 100,000 people, and there were about 5 community health workers per 1,000 people.
Roughly 60% of the population had access to drinking water in 2022. In 2002, it was estimated that half of the drinking water was polluted with arsenic, exceeding levels of 10 micrograms per litre. Bangladesh is crippled with one of the worst air qualities in the world, mostly concentrated in the densely populated urban areas, especially the capital Dhaka and its metropolitan area. The World Bank estimated that roughly 80,000-90,000 deaths occurred in Bangladesh due to the drastic effects of air pollution in 2019. It was second-leading cause of death and disability, costing the country roughly 4-4.4% percent of its total GDP. , the overall life expectancy in Bangladesh at birth was 74 years (72 years for males and 76 years for females). It has a comparably high infant mortality rate (24 per 1,000 live births) and child mortality rate (29 per 1,000 live births). , maternal mortality remains high, clocking at 123 per 100,000 live births. Bangladesh is a key source market for medical tourism for various countries, mainly India, due to its citizens dissatisfaction and distrust over their own healthcare system.
The main causes of death are coronary artery disease, stroke, and chronic respiratory disease; comprising 62% and 60% of all adult male and female deaths, respectively. Malnutrition is a major and persistent problem in Bangladesh, mainly affecting the rural regions, more than half of the population suffers from it. Severe acute malnutrition affects 450,000 children, while nearly 2 million children have moderate acute malnutrition. For children under the age of five, 52% are affected by anaemia, 41% are stunted, 16% are wasted, and 36% are underweight. A quarter of women are underweight and around 15% have short stature, while over half also suffer from anaemia. Bangladesh was ranked 84th out of the 127 countries listed in the 2024 Global Hunger Index. Culture. Holidays and festivals. Traditional festivals include Pahela Baishakh (Bengali New Year), which is the major festival of Bengali culture; with widespread festivities. Pohela Falgun coincides with Valentine's Day, and is celebrated with a display of music, dance and other cultural activities. Other festivals include Nabonno and Poush Parbon, which celebrate new harvests of crops. Shakrain is an annual celebration, observed by flying kites, occurring at the end of Poush, the ninth month of the Bengali calendar. The festival coincides with Makar Sankranti celebrated in India and Nepal.
Among religious festivals, the two biggest festivals of the Muslim majority are Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan—and Eid al-Adha, which is the festival of sacrifice. Both Eids are celebrated with the longest streak of national holidays. Other Muslim festivals include Mawlid (Eid-e-Milad Un Nabi), Ashura on the tenth day of Muharram, Chaand Raat, and Shab-e-Barat. The most celebrated Hindu festival is Durga Puja. Other major Hindu festivals include Krishna Janmashtami and Ratha Yatra. The biggest festival of the Buddhists across the country is Buddha Purnima, which marks the birth of Gautama Buddha. Among Christians, Christmas is the most widely celebrated. Patriotic national festivals include the Language Movement Day, which is celebrated on 21 February in remembrance of the martyrs of the 1952 Bengali language movement. It was declared as International Mother Language Day by UNESCO in 1999. Independence Day is celebrated on 26 March to commemorate the proclamation of independence from Pakistan. Victory Day is celebrated on 16 December to celebrate the victory in the Bangladesh Liberation War. Public gatherings are observed at the Shaheed Minar and National Martyrs' Memorial during the three latter festivals to pay homage to the fallen martyrs.
Literature. Bengali literature forms an important part of Bengali culture. The Charyapada poems dating back to the 10th to 12th centuries are the oldest extant examples of the Bengali language. During the Bengal Sultanate, medieval Bengali writers were influenced by Arabic and Persian literature. Milestones of the medieval age include the Mangal-Kāvyas. The Vaishnava Padavali movement was led by writers such as Vidyapati, Chandidas, Govindadas and Balarama Dasa. "Shreekrishna Kirtana" written by Chandidas marked a particular height of poetic achievement since the Charyapadas. Other important works include Krittibas Ojha's translation of the "Ramayana", Kashiram Das' translation of the "Mahabharata", and Maladhar Basu's translation of the "Bhagavata". Writers such as Bipradas Pipilai, Vijay Gupta, Shah Muhammad Sagir, Zainuddin and Abdul Hakim were important figures. Alaol, considered a bard, is a prolific poet of medieval period. The Bengal Renaissance from the late 18th century to the early 20th century had a profound effect on modern Bengali literature. Michael Madhusudan Dutt invented the blank verse in Bengali literature. Mir Mosharraf Hossain was the first prominent Bengali Muslim writer. Lalon, a fakir practising Sufism and sādhanā influenced the bauls. Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay wrote about the characteristics of the Bengali society.
Rabindranath Tagore was the first Asian and non-European laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Kazi Nazrul Islam was a revolutionary poet who espoused political rebellion against colonialism and fascism. Jibanananda Das was the most recognized Bengali poet after Tagore and Nazrul. Begum Rokeya is regarded as the pioneer feminist writer of Bangladesh. Syed Mujtaba Ali is noted for his cosmopolitan views. Jasimuddin was a renowned pastoral poet, popularly called "Palli Kabi" (folk poet). Farrukh Ahmad is considered the poet of the "Islamic Renaissance". Syed Waliullah was a notable novelist. Shamsur Rahman and Al Mahmud are considered two of the greatest Bangladeshi poets to have emerged in the late 20th century. Ahmed Sofa is regarded as the most important intellectual in the post-independence era. Sufia Kamal was a major feminist writer. Humayun Ahmed was the most popular author in post-Independence Bangladesh. Shahidul Zahir was widely acclaimed for his usage of magical realism. Other major writers include Akhteruzzaman Elias, Shawkat Osman and Syed Shamsul Haq. Selina Hossain is a prolific female author in the modern era. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal is a pioneer science fiction writer. Anisul Hoque is a popular contemporary literary figure. The annual Ekushey Book Fair and Dhaka Lit Fest, organised by the Bangla Academy, are among the largest literary festivals in South Asia.
Architecture. The architecture of Bangladesh is intertwined with that of the Bengal region and the broader Indian subcontinent. It is influenced by the country's culture, religion and history. Hindu and Buddhist architectural remnants have been found in Mahasthangarh, which dates back to the 3rd century BCE. Nandipada and Swastika symbols have been found on stone querns in the Wari-Bateshwar ruins, which indicate the presence of Hinduism in the area during the Iron Age—from 400 to 100 BCE. The Somapura Mahavihara built under the rule of the Buddhist Pala Empire in the 8th century is an outstanding example of the pre-Islamic era. Other Buddhist vihāras include Shalban Bihar in Mainamati and Bikrampur Vihara in Bikrampur. Recent excavations have also uncovered new evidence of pre-Islamic smaller temples which served the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain populations of the area. Indo-Islamic architecture can be seen from the 13th century, especially in the unique mosque architecture of the Bengal Sultanate, an example being the Sixty Dome Mosque among others in the Mosque City of Bagerhat—which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Mughal Bengal saw the spread of Mughal architecture in the region. Examples in Dhaka include the Bara Katra and Choto Katra in Old Dhaka, the Sat Gambuj Mosque in Mohammadpur and the Musa Khan Mosque in Curzon Hall. Notable Mughal-era forts include the Lalbagh Fort in Old Dhaka, the Idrakpur Fort in Munshiganj—and the Hajiganj Fort and the Sonakanda Fort in Narayanganj, respectively. The Kantajew Temple and Dhakeshwari Temple are excellent examples of late medieval Hindu temple architecture. Bengali vernacular architecture is noted for pioneering the bungalow. Panam Nagar in Sonargaon exhibits architectural influence from the Sultanate, Mughal, British and hybrid colonial traditions. Indo-Saracenic architecture flourished during the British Raj, examples include the Curzon Hall of the University of Dhaka, the Chittagong Court Building, Rangpur Town Hall and Rajshahi College. The zamindar gentry built many palaces in the latter style, including the Ahsan Manzil, the Baliati Zamnidar Bari, the Tajhat Palace, the Rose Garden Palace, the Dighapatia Palace, the Puthia Rajbari, Natore Rajbari and the Mohera Zamindar Bari. Muzharul Islam is considered to be a pioneer of modernist movement in Bangladesh and South Asia. Louis Kahn is a notable foreign architect who designed the National Parliament Building in Sher-e-Bangla Nagar.
Visual arts, crafts and clothing. The recorded history of art in Bangladesh can be traced to the 3rd century BCE, when terracotta sculptures were made in the region. In classical antiquity, notable sculptural Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist art developed in the Pala Empire and the Sena dynasty. The Bengal Sultanate saw Islamic art evolve since the 14th century. During the Mughal rule, Jamdani, a unique design on fine muslin; was woven on Persian motifs in Dhaka. It was classified by UNESCO as an Intangible cultural heritage in 2013. Bangladesh also produces the Rajshahi silk, a fine silk renowned for its softness and ability to create sophisticated designs. Ivory, brass and pottery has deep roots in Bangladeshi culture. The Nakshi Kantha, a centuries-old embroidery tradition for quilts in Bengal, is made throughout Bangladesh. The modern art movement in Bangladesh took shape in post-independence East Bengal, especially with the pioneering works of Zainul Abedin. Other leading painters include SM Sultan, Mohammad Kibria, Safiuddin Ahmed, Shahabuddin Ahmed, Kanak Chanpa Chakma, Qayyum Chowdhury, Rashid Choudhury, Quamrul Hassan, Rafiqun Nabi and Syed Jahangir.
Novera Ahmed is the pioneer of modernist sculpture in Bangladesh. Other eminent sculptors include Nitun Kundu, Syed Abdullah Khalid, Hamiduzzaman Khan, Shamim Sikder, Ferdousi Priyabhashini and Abdur Razzaque. The annual Mangal Shobhajatra (Bengali New Year parade) organized by the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Dhaka on Pohela Boishakh was enlisted as an Intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2016. Photography as a form of art has seen exponential growth in the 21st century. Chobi Mela, held biennially, is considered the largest photography festival in Asia. Lungi is the most common informal clothing for men, while kurta ("panjabi") and pajama are worn by men on festivals and holidays. Domestically tailored suits, neckties and pants are customarily worn by men at formal events, and the traditional sherwani and churidar are worn along with the turban in weddings. Women commonly wear the shalwar kameez accompanied by orna; while sari is worn on more formal events. Some women follow Islamic clothing.
Performing arts. Theatre in Bangladesh includes various forms with a history dating back to the 4th century CE. It includes narrative forms, song and dance forms, supra-personae forms, performances with scroll paintings, puppet theatre and processional forms. The Jatra is the most popular form of Bengali folk theatre. Apart from the various forms of Indian classical dances, including the "Kathakali", "Bharatanatyam", Odissi and Manipuri dances–native dance traditions have formed across the country. Music of Bangladesh can be classed into classical, light-classical, devotional, and popular. Classical music in Bangladesh is represented by the common forms of devotional music across the Indian subcontinent; such as the Hindustani classical music genre dhrupad and khayal. Other major forms include qawwali and kirtan. Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrul Sangeet retain their popularity. Native folk music features the baul mystical tradition, which was popularised by Lalon in the 18th century, and is listed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Other native lyric-based forms of folk music include bhatiali, bhawaiya, dhamail, kavigan, jarigan, sari gan, marfati, and gombhira.
Folk music is accompanied by instruments such as the ektara, dotara, dhol, bansuri (a type of flute), mandira, khanjani, sarinda, khamak, dugdugi, juri, jhunjhuni and majira (a type of cymbal). Bangladesh has a rich tradition of Indian classical music, which uses instruments like the sitar, tabla, sarod, and santoor. Musical organisations and schools such as the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy and Chhayanaut have played significant roles in preserving the traditions of Bengali folk music. Sabina Yasmin and Runa Laila are considered two of the greatest female playback singers in the country. Andrew Kishore, another leading playback singer, is considered the "King of Playback". Azam Khan, nicknamed the "Pop Samrat" and the "Rock Guru", is a founding figure of Bangladeshi rock. Musicians such as Ayub Bachchu and James have also gained nationwide popularity. Shayan Chowdhury Arnob has been an influential figure in indie rock. Popular pop singers in the 21st century include Habib Wahid and Tahsan Rahman Khan. Influential heavy metal include Artcell and Warfaze.
Media and cinema. The history of press in Bangladesh dates back to 1860, when the first printing press was established in Dhaka. The media in Bangladesh is diverse, competitive, commercial and profitable. Prominent news agencies in Bangladesh include Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) and Bdnews24.com. Television is the most popular form of media consumption. Bangladesh Television (BTV) is the sole state-owned television network with nationwide coverage. Private television networks include ATN Bangla, Channel I, NTV, RTV, Ekushey TV, Ekattor TV, Jamuna TV and Somoy TV. Print media is the second-most widely consumed, and newspapers are privately owned and outspoken, including The Daily Star, Dhaka Tribune, The Financial Express, Bangladesh Pratidin, Kaler Kantho, Prothom Alo, The Daily Ittefaq and Jugantor. Bangladesh Betar is the lone state-run radio service. Radio Foorti, Radio Today, Radio Aamar and ABC Radio were popular privately owned radio stations; popularity of radio has declined significantly. Popular foreign media include BBC News (BBC Bangla), CNN, VOA and Al Jazeera. Indian television drama in particular has established a "cultural hegemony" over Bangladeshi satellite television. Freedom of the press remains a major concern due to government attempts at censorship and the harassment of journalists. Bangladesh ranked 165th out of the 180 countries listed in the 2024 World Press Freedom Index, among the lowest rankings in the world.