East Pakistan, 1947-1971 History of India





Bangla Desh since 1971



In 1971, Bangladesh (East Pakistan) declared independence. The Pakistani forces reacted with repression to which some sources accredit between 1 and 3 million victims; 10 million temporarily fled to India. India sided with the Bangladesh freedom fighters, lead by the AWAMI LEAGUE; Pakistan was defeated. SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN, released from a West Pakistan prison, became the country's first prime minister.
Bangladesh or Bangla Desh translates to Free Bengal; the country is predominantly Muslim, yet uses DEVANAGARI script. Most of Bangladesh forms part of the wide Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta, and is regularly subject to inundations. It has one of the highest population density figures of the world, and it is among the world's poorest nations.
Pakistan formally recognized Bangladesh's independence in 1974. Bangla Desh adopted a democratic constitution; the country's economy, in the period of reconstruction (after the damage inflicted by the war) was hit by the OIL CRISIS of 1973. Bangla Desh's main export product, jute, meanwhile suffered, as the western world switched to the use of synthetic fibers. The consequence for Bangladesh was high inflation.
In a 1975 coup d'etat, military dictatorship was established. After another coup in 1982 and continued military dictatorship, democracy was reintroduced in 1990.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Statistics of Pakistan's Democide : Estimates, Calculations, and Sources, from Statistics of Democide by R.J. Rummel
DOCUMENTS Photos of Bangladesh, taken by Robin Upton
REFERENCE Article : Pakistan, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1972 pp.535-538 (on events of 1971) [G]
Article : Bangladesh, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1973 pp.108-110, 1974 pp.115-116, 1975 pp.99-100, 1976 pp.159-160, 1977 pp.162-163, 1978 pp.216-217, 1979 pp.215-216, 1980 pp.211-212, 1981 pp.210-211, 1982 pp.210-211, 1983 pp.206-207, 1984 pp.202-203, 1985 pp.507-508, 634, 1986 pp.630-631, 1987 pp.472-473, 599, 1988 pp.430-431, 551, 1989 pp.429, 551, 1990 pp.447-448, 567, 1991 pp.429-430, 551, 1992 pp.401-402, 551, 1993 pp.403-404, 560, 1994 pp.403-404, 560, 1995 pp.377-378, 560, 1996 pp.376, 560, 1997 pp.394-395, 558, 2002 pp.474-475, 697 [G]
Article : Bangladesh, in : The Statesman's Year-Book 1975-1976 pp.220-223, 1976-1977 pp.220-226, 1978-1979 pp.186-191, 1979-1980 pp.185-190, 1980-1981 pp.185-190, 1981-1982 pp.187-192, 1983-1984 pp.186-191, 1984-1985 pp.186-191, 1985-1986 pp.185-191, 1986-1987 pp.186-191, 1987-1988 pp.184-189, 1988-1989 pp.184-189, 1989-1990 pp.185-190, 1990-1991 pp.184-189, 1991-1992 pp.183-188, 1992-1993 pp.182-187, 1993-1994 pp.185-190, 1994-1995 pp.180-185, 1995-1996 pp.170-175, 1996-1997 pp.181-186, 1997-1998 pp.187-192, 1998-1999 pp.212-217, 2000 pp. 258-264, 2001 pp. 255-260, 2002 pp. 264-270, 2003 pp. 263-269, 2004 pp. 265-271, 2005 pp. 258-264, 2006 pp.255-261 [G]
Article : Bangladesh, in : The World in Figures 1st ed. 1976 pp.161-162, 2nd ed. 1978 pp.161-162, 4th ed. 1984 pp.161-162 [G]
Entry : Travel Warnings - Bangladesh, pp.416-418 in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2000, Supplement [G]
Entry : People's Republic of Bangladesh, Cabinet, pp.10-11; Background Notes, pp.272-281, in : Countries of the World and their Leaders Yearbook, 2003 [G]
Article : Bangladesh, in : Americana Annual 1973 pp.123-125, 1974 pp.117-118, 1976 pp.103-104, 112, 1988 p.131, 1989 p.131, 1990 p.128, 1992 pp.137-138, 1993 p.132, 1994 p.132, 1998 p.121, 2006 p.72 [G]
Article : Bangladesh, in : Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1976 pp.239-245 (Rounaq Jahan), 1980 pp.225-228 (John F. Copper) [G]
Entry : Bangladesh, pp.246-251 in : IMF, International Financial Statistics Yearbook 2001 [G]
Entry : Bangladesh, in : The Commonwealth Yearbook 1989 pp.125-131 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on June 14th 2002, last revised on April 28th 2007

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