Driving Directions Bangladesh
BANGLADESH, the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, was formerly the Eastern Province of Pakistan and is the world’s eighth-most populated country. It is an extremely low-lying country in southeast Asia, surrounded in the west, north, and east by India. It has a border with Myanmar (Burma) in the extreme southeast, and it has a stretch of coastline along the Bay of Bengal in the south. Only about 20 percent of its people inhabit the cities and urban areas, with the vast majority living in rural villages.
Driving Directions
Most of Bangladesh consists of the wide alluvial delta of the Ganges and Brahmaputra river systems and their numerous tributaries. This is the world’s most extensive estuarine delta. The only appreciable higher L ground is a series of forested ridges in the southeast border region with Myanmar, called the Chittagong Hill Tracts District. The country’s highest peak, Mowdok Mual (1,003 meters or 3,292 feet), is situated here, straddling the border with Myanmar. Other small hills occasionally arise in the eastern and northern border regions, standing slightly above the surrounding plains. Most of Bangladesh’s natural forest cover has been removed, with only about 15 percent remaining in the Chittagong Hills Tracts District and on the low hills in the north and northeast.
Bangladesh has a tropical, hot, moist climate with monsoon rainfall from April to October. Most rainfall occurs during the monsoon, and amounts vary according to location, but the average rainfall exceeds 2,564 millimeters or 100 inches per annum. Temperatures are cooler between November and March but generally remain mild at all times. The country is subject to devastating floods, and most villages are built on mud platforms to keep them above water. Cyclones, which arise out in the Bay of Bengal, occur most frequently during spring and autumn and have caused severe devastation and loss of life. Also, tornadoes may occur in the monsoon season, and these two are sometimes responsible for death and destruction.
However, the flooding rivers deposit considerable quantities of fertile alluvial silt across their floodplains, supporting the cash crops upon which the country’s economy depends. The combination of rainfall, sun, and silt from the rivers makes the land productive, and it is often possible to grow three crops a year. Tea and jute are important cash crops. Bangladesh produces about 70 percent of the world’s jute, and the production of jute- related products is a principal industry. There are few mineral resources, although natural gas, coal, and peat are found.
Google maps™ Bangladesh
The Bangladesh coastline lies at the apex (top) of the Bay of Bengal, an inlet of the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka and India border the bay on the west, Bangladesh forms its north shore, and Myanmar and Thailand surround it on the east. The bay covers an area that is about 2,090 kilometers (1,300 miles) long and 1,610 kilometers (1,000 miles) wide. The ocean often threatens catastrophe for Bangladesh in the form of cyclones and tidal bores.
Most of Bangladesh is situated on river deltas. The Chittagong coastal region to the southeast has a narrow attachment to the bulk of the country. Small hill regions in the northeast and southeast are the only variations of the land’s flat alluvial plains (flatlands containing deposits of clay, silt, sand, or gravel deposited by running water a stream or river). Since 90 percent of Bangladesh is only about 10 meters (33 feet) above sea level, there is concern that permanent flooding will occur if the Indian Ocean rises as predicted due to global warming.
Did you know about Bangladesh?
Atidal bore is a unique wave that sweeps up a shallow river or estuary (the place where a river joins a larger body of water) on the incoming tide but against the river’s current. Conditions are right for tidal bores to occur only in a few places globally – and one of these is Bangladesh.
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