Bangladesh is a country in South Asia. It is bordered by India on
three sides and Myanmar to the southeast; the Bay of Bengal forms the
southern coastline. Together with the Indian state of West Bengal,
it
comprises the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. The borders of
Bangladesh were set by the Partition of India in 1947, when it became
the eastern wing of Pakistan (East Pakistan), separated from the
western wing by 1,600 km (1,000 miles). Despite their common
religion,
the ethnic and linguistic gulf between the two wings was compounded
by
an apathetic government based in West Pakistan. This resulted in the
independence of Bangladesh in 1971 after a bloody war, supported by
India. The years following independence have been marked by
political
turmoil, with thirteen different heads of government, and at least
four military coups. The population of Bangladesh ranks eighth in
the
world, but its area of approximately 144,000 sq km is ranked
ninety-third. It is also one of the most densely populated countries
in the world. Geographically dominated by the fertile
Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, the country has annual monsoon floods, and
cyclones are frequent.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1789:
French Revolution: Parisians stormed the Bastille.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/storming_of_the_Bastille)
1798:
The Sedition Act became United States law, making it a federal crime
to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the
U.S. government.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts)
1933:
Gleichschaltung: All political parties in Germany were outlawed,
except the National Socialist German Workers Party.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleichschaltung)
1958:
King Faisal II, the last king of Iraq, was overthrown by Abdul Karim
Qassim.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Karim_Qassim)
1965:
Mariner 4 flew past Mars, collecting the first close-up pictures of
another planet.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_4)
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Wikiquote of the day:
"Regardless of whether I believe or not, whether I am a Christian or
not, I would play my part in the collective building of the
cathedral." -- Ingmar Bergman
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ingmar_Bergman)