Bangladesh (?Land of the Bengals?), whose populationis predominantly Muslim, is a riverine country. It has an area of 55,598square miles (143,998 square kilometers) and is one of the most denselypopulated countries in the world. It is bounded by the Indian states ofWest Bengal to the west and north, Assam to the north, Meghalayato the north and northeast, and Tripura and Mizoram to the east,by Myanmar (Burma) to the southeast, and by the Bay of Bengal to the south.
As the eastern portion of the historic region of Bengal,the area formed, along with what is now the Indian state of West Bengal,the province of Bengal in British India. From the partition of 1947 until1971 it was, as East Pakistan, one of five provinces of Pakistan, separatedfrom the other four by 1,100 miles (1,800 kilometers) of Indian territory.In 1971 Bangladesh became independent.
- Encyclopedia Britannica
