A History of Bangladesh: Notes

  • Willem van Schendel's book, 'A History of Bangladesh,' introduces Bangladesh as a land with a rich past, often overshadowed by Western media portrayals of poverty and natural disasters. Bangladesh only became an independent state in 1971.
  • Schendel explores Bangladesh's history, starting with the geological formation of the delta, which profoundly shaped its society. The book then covers colonial rule, the partition of Bengal, the war with Pakistan, and the establishment of Bangladesh.
  • Willem van Schendel is a Professor of Modern Asian History at the University of Amsterdam and heads the Asia Department at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam.
  • The book's contents include:
    • Plates, Maps, and Figures
    • Acknowledgements
    • Timeline
    • Introduction
    • Five parts:
    • The Long View: Examines the geological and geographical factors shaping Bangladesh, viewing the Bengal delta as a distinct region since early times.
    • Colonial Encounters: Details the impact of foreign rule over past centuries.
    • Becoming East Pakistan: Covers the period from 1947-1971, when the Bengal delta was part of Pakistan.
    • War and the Birth of Bangladesh: Focuses on the events leading to Bangladesh's independence.
    • Independent Bangladesh: Discusses the country's development after 1971.
    • Conclusion, Bangladesh district maps, Key political figures since 1947, Glossary of Bengali terms, Notes, Bibliography, and Index.
  • Chapter 1: A Land of Water and Silt
    • Bangladesh owes its existence to the Himalayas. The annual melting snow carries soil particles to the sea, creating the delta.
    • The Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers are vital, joined by the Meghna and other rivers, depositing fertile silt.
    • Over a billion metric tons of silt are delivered to the Indian Ocean annually, forming the Bengal Fan.
    • Bangladesh acts as a funnel, discharging approximately 650,000,000,000m3650,000,000,000 m^3 of water between May and October.
    • Three major water sources: rivers, rain, and seawater, cause floods.
    • Bangladesh's low elevation (less than 3 meters above sea level) makes it prone to tidal bores and cyclones, often mitigated by the Sundarbans mangrove forest.
    • Floods, covering about 20% of the country annually, replenish fertile soils but also cause damage, especially when severe (affecting over 70% of the country).
    • Harmful effects of flooding depend on water force and duration, with storm surges being highly destructive.
    • A 1991 cyclone in Chittagong caused nearly 140,000 deaths, while a 1970 cyclone resulted in at least 325,000 fatalities.
    • Unlike destructive cyclone floods, rain or river floods can spread across a larger area and benefit crops if they last for only a few days.
    • The population density exceeds 1,000 people per km2, increasing the significance of interactions at the water's edge.
    • The topography includes some hills in the eastern fringes (Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet) formed by colliding tectonic plates.
    • Frequent earthquakes occur due to geological instability.
    • The natural environment influences human life; settlement patterns are flexible due to the ever- changing boundaries between land and water.
    • Settlement consists of scattered homesteads on elevated plots.
    • Villages lack central organization and are characterized by shifting alliances of family and hamlet leaders.
    • The natural environment acts as a social and economic resource, influencing rural politics.
    • Predictions suggest shorter intervals between severe floods and impacts from rising sea levels due to climate change. However, Bangladesh’s abundance of fresh water could become a crucial resource, if managed well.
  • Chapter 2: Jungle, Fields, Cities, and States
    • The Bengal lost much of its biodiversity, like rainforest, due to human activity.
    • Human presence in the region is dated back at least 60,000 years, but evidence is limited by environmental factors and a lack of archaeological research.
    • Prehistoric remains are primarily found in the surrounding higher terrain with fossilwood tools found in Lalmai, Sitakund, and Chaklapunji.
    • Cultivation of plants and domestication of animals occurred before 1,500 BCE. Settled agricultural communities appeared in West Bengal with stone and bone tools, pottery with geometric designs, and iron implements were discovered.
    • A crucial shift occurred when agriculture evolved from shifting cultivation to irrigated rice cultivation on permanent fields.
    • Production of rice became the inhabitants’ main occupation and rice was their staple food, shaping the history of Bangladesh.
    • Over millennia, rice cultivators selected and adapted varieties to suit local agro-ecological conditions, developing thousands of cultivars.
    • A land-use pattern developed reserving high land for homesteads and orchards, with lower grounds for rice seedlings and vegetables; cropping patterns changed with new crops and commercial importance.
    • Rice-based delta agriculture led to urban centres by the 5th century BCE. Excavations at Narsingdi reveal a trading port city with fortified citadels, silver coins, and semi-precious bead industries traded with southeast Asia and the Roman world.
    • Walls were made of clay or bricks and important artists used the art of pottery and terracotta.
    • By the third century BCE urban centres in the Bengal floodplains were well established, with the discovery of an inscription written to fill up storehouses.
    • Early plaques made clear that these villagers and townspeople were not Bengalis in the modern sense but the inhabitants spoke Tibeto-Burman, Austro-Asiatic, and Dravidian languages. Language of the Indo-European family to which Bengali belongs began to spread from about the fourth century.
    • By the 7th century Sylhet was described as ‘outside the pale of human habitation’ where there was no distinction between natural and artificial. Sanskritic learning may not have begun to spread widely in Bengal till towards the end of the eleventh century.
    • The regions around Bengal were referred to Rarh, Pundra, Varendri, Gaur, Vanga, Samatata and Harikela.
    • Knowledge from Sanskrit writers focused scholarly was clearly not one of their best interest and the area now covered by Bangladesh tended to be neglected.
    • During the 5th century Bengal was a frontier zone, clashing with Sanskritic and non-Sanskritic worldviews.
    • Complex urban centres were well established in the Bengal floodplains, for example Tamralipti in the south-west, Mahasthan in the north and Mainamati in the east.
    • As the delta expanded the biggest cities saw their fortune reversed due to soil.