Bangladesh Flag

The national flag of Bangladesh (Bengali: বাংলাদেশের জাতীয় পতাকা pronounced: [baŋlad̪eʃer dʒat̪ie̯o pɔt̪aka]) was adopted officially on 17 January 1972. It consists of a red disc on top of a green field, offset slightly toward the hoist so that it appears centred when the flag is flying. The red disc represents the sun rising over Bengal, and also the blood of those who died for the independence of Bangladesh. The green field stands for the lushness of the land of Bangladesh. The flag is based on a similar flag used during the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971, which had a yellow map of the country inside the red disc. In 1972 this map was deleted from the flag. One reason given was the difficulty for rendering the map correctly on both sides of the flag.

British India was partitioned by joint leaders of the Congress, All India-Muslim League and Britain in the summer of 1947, creating the commonwealth realms of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and a Republic of India. Bangladesh came into existence in 1971 when Bengali-speaking East Pakistan seceded from its union with Punjabi dominated West Pakistan after a 9 month bloody war. Although Bangladesh emerged as an independent country only in 1971, its history stretches back thousands of years and it has long been known as a crossroads of history and culture. Here you will find the world's longest beach, countless mosques, the largest mangrove forest in the world, interesting tribal villages and a wealth of elusive wild life. Although relatively impoverished compared to its burgeoning South Asian neighbour India, Bangladeshis are very friendly and hospitable people, putting personal hospitality before personal finances.

Ready-made garments, textiles, pharmaceuticals, agricultural goods, ship building and fishing are some of the largest industries. The gap between rich and poor is increasingly obvious and the middle-class is fast-shrinking, as in the rest of Asia, especially in cities such as Dhaka and Chittagong as you move around between the working class old city and affluent neighborhoods like Gulshan and Baridhara.

Bangladesh has a sub tropical monsoon climate. There are six seasons in a year: Winter (Dec-Jan), Spring (Feb-Mar), Summer (Apr-May), Monsoon (June-July), Autumn (Aug-Sep), and Late Autumn (Oct-Nov). The average temperature across the country usually ranges between 9C - 29C in winter months and between 21C - 34C during summer months. Annual rainfall varies from 160cm to 200cm in the West, 200cm to 400cm in the Southeast and 250cm to 400cm in the Northeast. Cyclones above category three/four are uncommon (especially in the deep winter January through March)-- but while rare, can still bring widespread disruption as expected to infrastructure and power outages, especially in the coastal areas. The weather pattern is akin to the Gulf Coast in the United States (Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana).

The country is primarily a low-lying plain of about 144,000 km2, situated on deltas of large rivers flowing from the Himalayas: the Ganges unites with the Jamuna (main channel of the Brahmaputra) and later joins the Meghna to eventually empty into the Bay of Bengal. The country is primarily flat fertile farmland and, with the exception of Chittagong Hill Tracts, rarely exceeds 10 meters above sea level, making it dangerously susceptible to changes in sea level.