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Jungle, Fields, Cities & States

The document summarizes the history and development of Bangladesh, beginning with the decline of the once biodiverse Bengal delta due to human activity. It describes early prehistoric settlements and the emergence of urban life centered around rice agriculture and trade by the 5th century BCE. Major urban centers like Wari-Bateshwar and Tamralipti developed as ports and administrative centers but later declined. The rise and fall of states, cities, and rulers' control over the population coincided with changes to river courses over millennia. Linguistic influences from various language families also shaped the languages spoken in Bangladesh today.

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Arafat Hossain
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133 views16 pages

Jungle, Fields, Cities & States

The document summarizes the history and development of Bangladesh, beginning with the decline of the once biodiverse Bengal delta due to human activity. It describes early prehistoric settlements and the emergence of urban life centered around rice agriculture and trade by the 5th century BCE. Major urban centers like Wari-Bateshwar and Tamralipti developed as ports and administrative centers but later declined. The rise and fall of states, cities, and rulers' control over the population coincided with changes to river courses over millennia. Linguistic influences from various language families also shaped the languages spoken in Bangladesh today.

Uploaded by

Arafat Hossain
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Jungle, Fields, Cities & States

Bengal delta was once a biodiverse rainforest


and wetland, but the decline began a few
centuries ago due to human activity. Many
species disappeared, including rhinoceros,
wild buffalo, and tigers. Prehistoric human
settlements are difficult to trace due to
environmental factors and lack of interest
from archaeologists in the region.
The shishu is a freshwater dolphin found in
Bangladesh that uses sound to navigate. Its
population has decreased due to human activity such
as habitat degradation, dams, and fishing nets.
Protection measures are being taken.
Prehistoric discoveries from higher terrain in Bangladesh and West
Bengal suggest early hunting and gathering. Agriculture, animal
husbandry, and fishing were the subsistence base, with rice as the staple
food. Sustained rice cultivation over millennia shaped the history of
Bangladesh, with thousands of cultivars adapted to agro-ecological
conditions.
Land use patterns developed, with homesteads,
orchards, and different crops grown on different
levels of land. The countryside is dotted with
man-made ponds, used for various purposes.
New crops arrived from other parts of the
world, and some became commercially
important.
The Emergence of Urban Life
The Emergence of Urban Life

The success of rice-based deltaic agriculture in Bangladesh led to sedentary lifestyles and
urban centers, with long-distance maritime trade and the emergence of the first sizable
states by the fifth century BCE.

Wari-Bateshwar, an important port city that traded with


Southeast Asia and the Roman world, has been excavated and
revealed a major administrative center with iron-smelting and
semi-precious-stone bead industries

The use of locally available clay was important in construction and


pottery, and the terracotta work of early artists provides insight into
everyday life in Bangladesh throughout history.
*By the third century BCE complex urban centres were well established
in the Bengal floodplains

Tamralipti (now Tamluk) is a


complex urban centre in the
southwest of the Bengal floodplains

Mainamati, located in the eastern region


of Bangladesh, is a complex of ancient
Buddhist
Mahasthan, which may have been a
provincial capital of the Maurya empire

The earliest written record in Bangladesh


.
is an inscription on a piece of stone that
was discovered at Mahasthan in the
district of Bogra.
.
The inhabitants of these early villages and
towns were not Bengalis as we know them
today, but rather spoke languages belonging
to different language families. Early
terracotta plaques from Chandraketugarh
depict deities, power holders, and everyday
life.
The languages spoken in Bangladesh today have roots in
a variety of language families, including Tibeto-Burman,
Austro-Asiatic, and Dravidian. Many common words
related to water, land, nature, agriculture, fishing, and
settlement derive from these earlier languages

The linguistic history of Bangladesh has made it a slow


process for archaeologists to understand the prehistoric
period in the region, and the rich literature in Sanskrit has
focused scholarly attention on regions that were best known
to writers in that language.
The Rise and Fall of States
The Rise and Fall of States

The Bengal delta's agriculture allowed for the development of socially stratified
and economically diverse societies as early as the 5th century BCE. Large towns
and urban centers developed along major rivers, and their fortunes were linked to
the rivers' courses.

Tamralipti, one of India's largest ports, declined


in the 8th century CE when the delta expanded
southwards and its port silted up

Lakhnauti-Gaur, a busy port in the north-western delta, was


established during an unknown time but went through many
cycles of development and decay. During its heyday, Gaur had a
population of 200,000.
Gaur was abandoned several times, depending on
the Ganges River's movements. However, the river's
movements eventually sealed its fate. Today, Gaur's
ruins stretch over an area that includes monumental
gates, fortifications, palaces, mosques, bridges,
causeways, canals, loading platforms, and
underground sewers, lying partly in Bangladesh and
partly across the border in India.
The history of state formation in the Bengal delta has been
marked by a continuous emergence and decline of local and
regional polities. The region's socio-economic and political
development rarely conformed to an all-South-Asia or even a
north-Indian model, and attempts to integrate it into larger
political entities were often unsuccessful .

The rulers' actual power over the agricultural population is difficult to


assess. The impressive monuments constructed by rulers such as the
Pala dynasty were actually signs of weakness, and the local
population, whose lives were attuned to impermanence, probably set
little store by them.
Paharpur Tour

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