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Highlights Map of DhakaAfter having read this write-up on Dhaka you might want to embark on a guided tour of Dhaka or see some beautiful pictures from Dhaka. If you want to know more about this, check out Where is Bangladesh.
Dhaka, formerly Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is located in the geographic center of the country in the great deltaic region of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. Dhaka is served by the port of Narayanganj, located 16 km (10 mi) to the southeast. The city is within the monsoon climate zone, with an annual average temperature of 25 deg C (77 deg F) and monthly means varying between 18 deg C (64 deg F) in January and 29 deg C (84 deg F) in August. Nearly 80% of the annual average rainfall of 1,854 mm (73 in) occurs between May and September. Dhaka is located in one of the world's leading rice- and jute-growing regions. Its industries include textiles (jute, muslin, cotton) and food processing, especially rice milling. A variety of other consumer goods are also manufactured here. The Muslim influence is reflected in the more than 700 mosques and historic buildings found throughout the city. Dhaka is divided into an old city and the new city, and many residential and industrial communities. Dhaka was founded during the 10th century. It served as the Mogul capital of Bengal from 1608 to 1704 and was a trading center for British, French, and Dutch interests before coming under British rule in 1765. In 1905 it was again named the capital of Bengal, and in 1956 it became the capital of East Pakistan. The city suffered heavy damage during the Bangladesh war of independence (1971). The romanized spelling of the Bengali name was changed from Dacca to Dhaka in 1982. Dhaka City Corporation website.
Virtual Bangladesh: © All rights reserved
· CBSNews.com· |· CBS Evening News· |· CBS This Morning· |· 48 Hours· |· 60 Minutes· |· Sunday Morning· |· Face the Nation· |· Up to the Minute· o Log Ino |o Register CBS News.com World · Video· U.S.· World· Politics· Entertainment· HealthWatch· MoneyWatch· Tech· Sports· Opinion· Photos· More · Blogs: Political Hotsheet Crimesider Investigates HealthPop Celebrity Circuit Tech Talk More · Shows: 60 Overtime Hotsheet Live · Radio Mobile Scroll Left Scroll Right · Celebrity Circuit Jay-Z raps about daughter Blue Ivy 1 of 9 · CNET covers the hottest tech show of the year 2 of 9 · CBS This Morning Start your day with "CBS This Morning" 3 of 9 · U.S. Alleged extremist terror plot foiled in Tampa 4 of 9 · HealthPop Mom gives daughter, 7, liposuction gift voucher 5 of 9 · 60 Minutes Stem Cell Fraud: A 60 Minutes investigation 6 of 9 · Gallery Will and Kate at "War Horse" royal premiere 7 of 9 · World Leopard kills man in India, scalps another 8 of 9 · SciTech Despite what we say, it's always about sex 9 of 9 World Watch September 8, 2010 10:07 AM · Print· Text Dhaka, Bangladesh: Fastest Growing City in the WorldBy Global Post Topics In The News ,Global Post · 7 Comments Have Your Say · Email StorySend to a Friend· Share ThisTell Your Friends· Tweet ThisTweet This· MoreShare It. · Del.icio.us· Facebook· Stumbleupon· Newsvine· Yahoo bookmarks· Mixx· Digg· Reddit· Google Bookmarks· Twitter· LinkedInPlay CBS News VideoGlobalPost's Erik German and Solana Pine look at the coming dystopia that is urbanization. In the five-part, the authors look at Dhaka, Bangladesh, which by 2025 the U.N. predicts will be home to more than 20 million people--more populous than Mexico City, Beijing or Shanghai. For more, read and watch Part Two: The dreams of Dhaka's garment girls, Part Three: Disasters drive mass migration to Dhaka, Part Four: Looking on the bright side of Earth's growing slums and Part Five: Who can solve a problem like Dhaka? DHAKA, Bangladesh -- The future is here, and it smells like burning trash.As the evening call to prayer echoes across Dhaka's teeming slums, a bluish haze rises in the murky air. Cooking happens mostly on open fires in the shantytowns of the Bangladeshi capital, the flames kindled with paper, scavenged lumber and bits of plastic junk.On a recent evening in a broken labyrinth of shacks called the Korail slum, a wiry young mother in a red sari stooped to light the clay hearth outside her family's one-room home. Mina, 24, touched her match to a castoff vinyl folder, three-hole-punched for documents she'll never read."I don't like to live in Dhaka," she said, fanning the smoking plastic, then laying splintered bamboo on top. "But we have a dream to buy a piece of land, some land back in our village."Mina, who uses only one name, followed her husband here in 2009 -- joining the nearly half-million migrants who pour into Dhaka each year. It's not clear how soon, if ever, they'll leave. Mina's husband saves only a few dollars each month from his job selling fish. Mina, meanwhile, cares for their two children and, like millions of other women here, fires up the family's nightly meal.
Raw sewage drains from slum neighborhood directly onto the trash-strewn banks of the Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh.(Credit: Global Post) The smoke from these fires signals not a return to a prior age but, rather, the dawn of something new. Depending on how one measures, the planet now boasts 20 or so megacities -- urban agglomerations where the United Nations estimates [2] the population has reached 10 million or more. The world's rapid urbanization is a reality fraught with both peril and hope. The peril is obvious. Overcrowding, pollution, poverty, impossible demands for energy and water all result in an overwhelming sense these megacities will simply collapse. But the hope, while less obvious, needs more attention. The potential efficiencies of urban living, the access to health care and jobs, along with plummeting urban birth rates have all convinced some environmental theorists the migration to cities may in fact save the planet. But only, these experts hasten to add, if this shift is well managed.Among these megacities, The World Bank says Dhaka, with its current population of 15 million people, bears the distinction of being the fastest-growing in the world [3]. Between 1990 and 2005, the city doubled in size -- from 6 to 12 million. By 2025, the U.N. predicts Dhaka will be home to more than 20 million people -- larger than Mexico City, Beijing or Shanghai.Mass migration, booming populations and globalized trade are swelling cities worldwide, but these forces are perhaps more powerfully concentrated in Dhaka than anywhere on earth -- offering a unique window on an urban Arif planet soon to come."You are seeing the early future of the world, which is not a very pleasant thought," said Atiq Rahman, a Dhaka climate and migration researcher who heads the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies. Explosive growth in cities like Dhaka, he said, has created "a cluster of demographic chaos." For more info, visit Where is Bangladesh.
Highlights Map of DhakaAfter having read this write-up on Dhaka you might want to embark on a guided tour of Dhaka or see some beautiful pictures from Dhaka. If you want to know more about this, check out Where is Bangladesh.
Dhaka, formerly Dacca, is the capital and largest city of Bangladesh. It is located in the geographic center of the country in the great deltaic region of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. Dhaka is served by the port of Narayanganj, located 16 km (10 mi) to the southeast. The city is within the monsoon climate zone, with an annual average temperature of 25 deg C (77 deg F) and monthly means varying between 18 deg C (64 deg F) in January and 29 deg C (84 deg F) in August. Nearly 80% of the annual average rainfall of 1,854 mm (73 in) occurs between May and September. Dhaka is located in one of the world's leading rice- and jute-growing regions. Its industries include textiles (jute, muslin, cotton) and food processing, especially rice milling. A variety of other consumer goods are also manufactured here. The Muslim influence is reflected in the more than 700 mosques and historic buildings found throughout the city. Dhaka is divided into an old city and the new city, and many residential and industrial communities. Dhaka was founded during the 10th century. It served as the Mogul capital of Bengal from 1608 to 1704 and was a trading center for British, French, and Dutch interests before coming under British rule in 1765. In 1905 it was again named the capital of Bengal, and in 1956 it became the capital of East Pakistan. The city suffered heavy damage during the Bangladesh war of independence (1971). The romanized spelling of the Bengali name was changed from Dacca to Dhaka in 1982. Dhaka City Corporation website.
Virtual Bangladesh: © All rights reserved
· CBSNews.com· |· CBS Evening News· |· CBS This Morning· |· 48 Hours· |· 60 Minutes· |· Sunday Morning· |· Face the Nation· |· Up to the Minute· o Log Ino |o Register CBS News.com World · Video· U.S.· World· Politics· Entertainment· HealthWatch· MoneyWatch· Tech· Sports· Opinion· Photos· More · Blogs: Political Hotsheet Crimesider Investigates HealthPop Celebrity Circuit Tech Talk More · Shows: 60 Overtime Hotsheet Live · Radio Mobile Scroll Left Scroll Right · Celebrity Circuit Jay-Z raps about daughter Blue Ivy 1 of 9 · CNET covers the hottest tech show of the year 2 of 9 · CBS This Morning Start your day with "CBS This Morning" 3 of 9 · U.S. Alleged extremist terror plot foiled in Tampa 4 of 9 · HealthPop Mom gives daughter, 7, liposuction gift voucher 5 of 9 · 60 Minutes Stem Cell Fraud: A 60 Minutes investigation 6 of 9 · Gallery Will and Kate at "War Horse" royal premiere 7 of 9 · World Leopard kills man in India, scalps another 8 of 9 · SciTech Despite what we say, it's always about sex 9 of 9 World Watch September 8, 2010 10:07 AM · Print· Text Dhaka, Bangladesh: Fastest Growing City in the WorldBy Global Post Topics In The News ,Global Post · 7 Comments Have Your Say · Email StorySend to a Friend· Share ThisTell Your Friends· Tweet ThisTweet This· MoreShare It. · Del.icio.us· Facebook· Stumbleupon· Newsvine· Yahoo bookmarks· Mixx· Digg· Reddit· Google Bookmarks· Twitter· LinkedInPlay CBS News VideoGlobalPost's Erik German and Solana Pine look at the coming dystopia that is urbanization. In the five-part, the authors look at Dhaka, Bangladesh, which by 2025 the U.N. predicts will be home to more than 20 million people--more populous than Mexico City, Beijing or Shanghai. For more, read and watch Part Two: The dreams of Dhaka's garment girls, Part Three: Disasters drive mass migration to Dhaka, Part Four: Looking on the bright side of Earth's growing slums and Part Five: Who can solve a problem like Dhaka? DHAKA, Bangladesh -- The future is here, and it smells like burning trash.As the evening call to prayer echoes across Dhaka's teeming slums, a bluish haze rises in the murky air. Cooking happens mostly on open fires in the shantytowns of the Bangladeshi capital, the flames kindled with paper, scavenged lumber and bits of plastic junk.On a recent evening in a broken labyrinth of shacks called the Korail slum, a wiry young mother in a red sari stooped to light the clay hearth outside her family's one-room home. Mina, 24, touched her match to a castoff vinyl folder, three-hole-punched for documents she'll never read."I don't like to live in Dhaka," she said, fanning the smoking plastic, then laying splintered bamboo on top. "But we have a dream to buy a piece of land, some land back in our village."Mina, who uses only one name, followed her husband here in 2009 -- joining the nearly half-million migrants who pour into Dhaka each year. It's not clear how soon, if ever, they'll leave. Mina's husband saves only a few dollars each month from his job selling fish. Mina, meanwhile, cares for their two children and, like millions of other women here, fires up the family's nightly meal.
Raw sewage drains from slum neighborhood directly onto the trash-strewn banks of the Buriganga River in Dhaka, Bangladesh.(Credit: Global Post) The smoke from these fires signals not a return to a prior age but, rather, the dawn of something new. Depending on how one measures, the planet now boasts 20 or so megacities -- urban agglomerations where the United Nations estimates [2] the population has reached 10 million or more. The world's rapid urbanization is a reality fraught with both peril and hope. The peril is obvious. Overcrowding, pollution, poverty, impossible demands for energy and water all result in an overwhelming sense these megacities will simply collapse. But the hope, while less obvious, needs more attention. The potential efficiencies of urban living, the access to health care and jobs, along with plummeting urban birth rates have all convinced some environmental theorists the migration to cities may in fact save the planet. But only, these experts hasten to add, if this shift is well managed.Among these megacities, The World Bank says Dhaka, with its current population of 15 million people, bears the distinction of being the fastest-growing in the world [3]. Between 1990 and 2005, the city doubled in size -- from 6 to 12 million. By 2025, the U.N. predicts Dhaka will be home to more than 20 million people -- larger than Mexico City, Beijing or Shanghai.Mass migration, booming populations and globalized trade are swelling cities worldwide, but these forces are perhaps more powerfully concentrated in Dhaka than anywhere on earth -- offering a unique window on an urban Arif planet soon to come."You are seeing the early future of the world, which is not a very pleasant thought," said Atiq Rahman, a Dhaka climate and migration researcher who heads the Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies. Explosive growth in cities like Dhaka, he said, has created "a cluster of demographic chaos." For more info, visit Where is Bangladesh.
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