Bangladesh

Bangladesh, in full, is The People's Republic of Bangladesh. It is the republic of southern Asia, in the northeastern portion of the Indian subcontinent, bordered on the west, north, and east by India, on the southeast by Burma, and on the south by the Bay of Bengal. The area of the country is 55,598 square miles. The capital and largest city of Bangladesh is Dhaka.

Geographically, historically, and culturally, Bangladesh forms the larger and more populous part of Bengal, the remainder of which constitutes the neighboring Indian state of West Bengal. From 1947 to 1971 the region of Bangladesh was a province of Pakistan. On March 26, 1971 leaders of East Pakistan declared their independence as a nation of Bangladesh while fighting a war against the central Pakistani government. Bangladesh was soon recognized by most other nations. Bangladesh was admitted to the United Nations in 1974.

Most of Bangladesh lies within the broad delta formed by the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers and is exceedingly flat, low-lying, and has annual flooding. Much fertile soil is deposited by the floodwaters. The only significant area of hilly terrain, constituting less than one-tenth of the nation's territory, is the Chittagong. Rivers are an important feature of the landscape in Bangladesh.

The climate of Bangladesh is of the tropical monsoon variety. In all areas about 80 percent of the annual rainfall typically occurs in the monsoon period, which lasts from late May to mid-October. Annual precipitation ranges from about 55 inches along the country's

east central border, to more than 200 inches in the far northeast. Bangladesh is subject to cyclones, originating over the Bay of Bengal, in the periods of April to May and September to November. Bangladesh also has many floods during the monsoon season. Bangladesh has warm temperatures throughout the year, with relatively little variation from month to month. January tends to be the coolest