Chittagong edit
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Chittagong edit
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| Chittagong | |
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| Nickname(s): Chottala | |
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country |  Bangladesh |
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| Administrative District | Chittagong District |
| Government | |
| - Mayor | A.B.M. Mohiuddin Chowdhury |
| Area | |
| - City | 168.07 km² (64.9 sq mi) |
| Population (2007 est.)1 | |
| - City | 2,532,421 |
| - Density | 15,068/km² (39,025.9/sq mi) |
| - Metro | 3,720,437 |
| Time zone | BST (UTC+6) |
| Website: http://www.chittagong-website.com/ | |
Chittagong (Bengali: চট্টগ্রাম, Chôţţogram) is Bangladesh's main seaport and its second-largest city. The capital of the eponymous district and division, it is situated in the southeastern portion of the country, and was built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, which ends nearby, in the Bay of Bengal. The city, under the jurisdiction of the city corporation, has a population of about 2.5 million and is constantly growing. The Chittagong Statistical Metropolitan Area has an estimated population of 3.7 million, as of 2007.1 Much of the city is surrounded by hilly terrains2. The Chittagong Hill Tracts range is situated nearby.
Being the country's primary port, Chittagong is the main route for almost all of Bangladesh's import and export, generating a major portion of the country's annual revenue and being its commercial center2 Its harbor contains extensively developed port facilities and is particularly suitable for ocean steamers. Two large environmental centers ("ecoparks"), catering to ecology and forestry-related research, have recently been built in neighboring Sitakunda and Bashkhali.3
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Chittagong has been a seaport since ancient times. Arabs traded with the port from the 9th century AD. The Chittagong region was under the kingdom of Arakan during the sixth and seventh centuries. Before Muslim rule, Chittagong had been either under the control of the Arakans or under the kings of Burma. Sultan Fakruddin Mubarak Shah of Sonargaon conquered Chittagong in 1340. The explorer Ibn Battuta passed through Chittagong during his travels. After the defeat of Sultan Ghyath ud-Din Mahmud Shah at the hands of Sher Shah Suri in 1538, the Arakanese again captured Chittagong. From this time onward until its conquest by the Mughals this region was under the control of the Portuguese and the Magh pirates. The Mughal Commander Umeed Khan expelled the Portuguese from the area in 1666 and established Mughal rule there. The Mughals renamed Chittagong as Islamabad. The city was occupied by Burmese troops shortly in First Anglo-Burmese War in 1824.
During the period 1920-40, Chittagong becmae the main hub of revolutionary activities against the British Raj. The geographical position of Chittagong, on the south east corenr of a vast and sacattered empire made it ideal for such clandestine activities. The main mastermind of these these activties was Surya Sen. known to common people simply as 'Masterda'. After some minor attacks on the Raj, the revolutionaries took control of the city On 18th April 1930. The revolutionaries looted the Chittagong armory under the leadership of Masterda. The Indian republic was proclaimed with Surya Sen as the first president. The revolutionaries however failed to isolate the city, and reinforcemnet came quickly to the British. After 3 days, the control of the city was back to the British. The revoluionaries were scattered, yet, their operations continued on. Even after the arrest and execution of Masterda (on Jan 1934), the activities continued. A number of women were also involved. The leaders of the women revolutionaries were Pritilata Waddedar, Bina Das, Lila Ray, Kalpana Dutta etc. Finally, during the early 40's, as the battle in the Far East became very intense, Chittagong became a vital part for the defence of British India. The regular presence of British army and navy in the city made it difficult for the revolutionaries to carry on their activities. After more than two decades, Chittagong lost its revolutionary character. 4 In 1971, The Declaration of Independence of Bangladesh was announced from Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra located at Kalurghat, Chittagong.
Chittagong is located at on the banks of the Karnaphuli River. The City Corporation has a total area of 168.07 square kilometers (65 sq mi).5 The city is known for its vast hilly terrain that stretches throughout the entire district and eventually into India. Chittagong does not contain any natural lakes, but it does have artificial lakes.
Chittagong is a Divisional Headquarters for the Chittagong Division. The Divisional Commissioner is the Highest Ranking Government Official and is the chief coordinator of all 11 Districts. He is assisted with 3 Additional Divisional Commissioners. The Chittagong District has a District Commissioner. The city areas are divided into several wards and mahallas, under the jurisdiction of the Chittagong City Corporation.
The people of the city are diverse and multi-ethnic, and the native Bengali and Tibeto-Burman populations have had significant influence from Arab, Afghan, and Mughal traders and settlers, all of whom had travelled in the city after arriving on its shores many hundreds of years ago. There are many Tibeto-Burman tribes that have been influenced by Bengali culture also living there, such as the Chakma people. The descendants of Portuguese settlers, known as the Firingi, also continue to live in Chittagong, as Catholic Christians, in the old Portuguese enclave of Paterghatta. Chittagong is home to many of the historic Christians of Bangladesh. In 1927, the city was made the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Chittagong.
Chittagong is also home to several of the most renowned universities of Bangladesh, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), the International Islamic University Chittagong, the Chittagong University, established in 1966, the Chittagong College being notable examples. It also contains many madrasas (Islamic educational centres) within its borders. Hazrat Fate Ali Ra.was a famous saint of Islam, born in Chittagong. Chittagong is the home town of Dr. Mohammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank, the pioneer of Microcredit, who won Nobel Prize in Peace in 2006
Though the people of Chittagong show interest in many different sports, the biggest contribution of the city has come in the field of cricket.Specially, during the 80's, when cricket in Bangladesh was very much in the development stages, Chittagong produced national cricketers like, Minhajul Abedin, Nurul Abedin, Akram Khan, Zahid Razzak and many others. In fact at one stage half of the national team came from the port city. Both Minhajul Abedin & Akram Khan went onto lead the national side with great distinction. The Star Club of Chittagong, played a big part in the development of cricket in the region. In recent years, two of the nephews of Akram Khan, Nafees Iqbal & Tamim Iqbal have continued the family and city tradition by wearing the Tiger's colors. Aftab Ahmed is another extremmely popular cricketer from the region. The M.A. Aziz stadium, situated just beside the Circuit House, regularly hosts international matches.
The sea-borne exports consist chiefly of ready made garments, knitwear, frozen food, jute and jute goods, leather and leather products, tea, and chemical products. There is also a large trade by country boats, bringing chiefly cotton, rice, spices, sugar and tobacco. Ship breaking was introduced to the area in 1969. This industry is concentrated at Fauzdarhat, a 16 kilometers (10 mi) long beach 20 kilometers (12 mi) north-west of Chittagong. Poor environmental standards produce unsafe labour conditions for ship-breaking workers and release dangerous or poisonous substances, such as asbestos and PCBs, into the environment.6 Chittagong is home to a large number of industries from small to heavy. It has automobile industries, oil refinery, pharmaceutical plants, chemical plants, export processing zones, steel mills etc. The privately owned Korean export processing zone is also located in Chittagong.
The city of Chittagong had been long neglected by the Bangladeshi government, until the turn of the century when exports grew by 21.13% to an all time high of $8.02 billion.7. Chittagong is the site of Bangladesh's busiest port which handles 80% of all Bangladeshi imports and exports. The strategic location of the port has allowed for interest by investors to help improve the city. Major business houses such as M.M Ispahani, A.K Khan and Co. , Habib Group, PHP Group, KDS Group , S. Alam Group, Mostafa Group and T.K Group are all residents of Chittagong.
Agrabad is often known as Chittagong's chief commercial region. Several companies such as HSBC and Standard Chartered have offices stationed in the city. Numerous investments have allowed for a construction boom similar to Dhaka. Over the years, scores of hotels, shopping centers, and other modern buildings have sprung up to change the face of the city. Ongoing developments include various multi-story shopping malls and a Chittagong World Trade Centre8.
According to CityMayors Statistics[1] Chittagong registered a GDP of $16 billion in 2005 with an annual growth rate of 6.3%. It is estimated that in 2020 the GDP of Chittagong will be $39 billion.9.
Chittagong is home to only two of the nation's most prominent public universities, and is the site of Bangladesh's one of the largest universities, the University of Chittagong, established in 1966. The university is located in a remote place from the city (22 km north) of Chittagong. Therefore, it has free shuttle trains service from 7:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. for students. There are bus services for the faculties and other staffs. With a modest beginning of 4 departments in 1966, the University of Chittagong has grown to 8 individual faculties, 35 departments, 3 institutes and 3 research centres. It has 3 affiliated Medical colleges under the Faculty of Medicine and 1 Veterinary Medicine College under the faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The veterinary medical college has recently been upgraded into a separate University. As such the number of faculties at present is 7. Current student enrolment is more than 15,000.
Another public university is Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, established in 1968. CUET, with only about 2100 students and 8 academic departments, strongly emphasis in theoretical, applied, and interdisciplinary scientific and technological education. In addition to these, the university undertakes research works sponsored by local industries and national/international organizations, such as United Nations Organizations, Commonwealth Foundation, University Grants Commission, etc. As a center of excellence, CUET is not only continuing as the focal point for the development and dissemination of engineering and technological know-how within the country, but also it is involved to solve complicated practical problems of national importance faced by the planners, engineers and technologists of the country. The University is situated by the side of the Chittagong-Kaptai road some 25 kilometers off from the center of Chittagong City.
Recently Chittagong Govt Veterinary College(CGVC) has been upgraded to Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University(CVASU) which is consisting of one faculty with 300 students providing theoretical, out campus work based learning and excellent scientific and technological education. It is the first university in Bangladesh of this type.
Chittagong has also many privet university.Which are also contrebuted in chittagong education.Independent university Bangladesh(IUB), International Islamic University Chittagong(IIUC), Primear University, University of science and Tecnolozy(USTC) are the top privet university of Chittagong..
Chittagong has public, denominational, and independent schools. Public schools, including pre-schools, primary and secondary schools, and special schools are administered by the Ministry of Education and Board of Education.
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Transport in Chittagong is similar to that of Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. There are various bus systems, taxis, and as well as smaller 'baby' or 'CNG' taxis, which are basically tricycle-structured motor vehicles. There are also traditional manual rickshaws, which are very common.
Chittagong has a station on the narrow gauge eastern section of the Bangladesh Railway. The headquarters of this railway are located here. There are main two railway stations in Station road Chittagong. Trains are available traveling to the Bangladeshi cities of Dhaka, Shylhet, Comilla, and Bhairav.
Shah Amanat International Airport serves as Chittagong's international airport. It is the second busiest airport in Bangladesh. It has international service to destinations such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Jeddah, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Ras Al Khaimah, Kolkata, Yangon, Muscat, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. It was formerly known as MA Hannan International Airport, but was renamed on April 2, 2005 by the Government of Bangladesh. Major airlines that serve the airport include Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Best Air, Thai Airways International, GMG Airlines, Air Arabia, RAK Airways, United Airways, Oman Air and Royal Bengal Air.
Many Chittagong natives speak Chittagonian (চাটগাঁইয়া Chaţgaiã), an Indo-European language of the Eastern Indic group. Many speakers consider their language to be a dialect of standard Bengali, the official language of Bangladesh. However, the two languages are not mutually intelligible, meaning that those who only know how to speak Standard Bengali will not understand Chittagonian speakers, and vice versa - normally the metric for languagehood among linguists. There is, however, a dialect continuum between Chittagonian and neighboring dialects of Bengali, meaning that speakers of each neighboring dialect can largely understand each other, while speakers of more distant dialects cannot. Chittagonian has approximately 14 million speakers.According to the status of Top 100 Languages by Population by Ethnologue, Chittagong ranked in 67th Language of the world.10
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Media related to Chittagong at Wikimedia CommonsThis article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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