Journey through the people, cities and ideas that shaped Bangladesh, from early communities to the republic of today.
Follow ancient Bengal, regional kingdoms, the sultanate and Mughal rule, colonial Bengal, East Pakistan, the liberation war and the republic.
Explore 13 historical periods, the rulers and heads of government, and 78 chapters of territorial change.
Monarchs, regional authorities, colonial administrations, presidents and heads of government. Contextual entries represent periods without a single documented ruler.
A Journey Through the Ages
Bangladesh: explore ancient Bengal, regional kingdoms, the sultanate and Mughal rule, colonial Bengal, East Pakistan, the liberation war and the republic through the supplied timeline, ruler profiles and territorial map.
1,000,000 BCE – 301 BCE
The Ganges-Brahmaputra delta hosted early Vanga and Pundra communities, and Greek writers described a Gangaridai power whose war elephants are said to have discouraged Alexander. The Nanda empire absorbed Pundra around 345-340 BCE, though dates for the earliest states remain uncertain.
300 BCE – 589
Pundravardhana, centred on Mahasthangarh, yielded a third-century BCE Brahmi inscription from Mauryan Bengal, and Samatata later paid tribute to Samudragupta as a frontier kingdom. The Gupta empire, estimated at 75 million people in the fifth century, left much of eastern Bengal to local rulers.
590 – 1203
Shashanka's Gauda, centred on Karnasuvarna, briefly united Bengal, and the Pala dynasty rose around 750 to peak under Dharmapala and Devapala. The Chandras ruled the southeast, and the Senas displaced the Palas after 1165 before Bakhtiyar Khalji captured Nadia around 1203-04.
1204 – 1537
After Bakhtiyar Khalji took Lakhnauti, Delhi's governors ruled until Ilyas Shah unified Bengal in 1352, and an independence settlement followed in 1359. Capitals shifted among Pandua, Sonargaon and Gaur, where about 200,000 people lived around 1500, and Hussain Shah extended control into Chittagong and Assam.
1538 – 1756
Sher Shah's conquest, the Karrani sultans and the 1576 Battle of Raj Mahal preceded Mughal rule, while Isa Khan's Baro-Bhuiyans resisted from the eastern delta until Dhaka became the provincial capital in 1610. The Bengal Subah held about 15.8 million people in 1700, and Chittagong was retaken from Arakan in 1666.
1757 – 1857
The 1757 Battle of Plassey began East India Company dominance, the Company took the diwani in 1765, and the famine of 1770 reportedly removed up to a third of the population. The Permanent Settlement of 1793 fixed land revenue with zamindars, and Bengal's population was estimated at 30 million around 1770.
1858 – 1946
Bengal was partitioned in 1905 into Eastern Bengal and Assam with Dacca as capital, reunited in 1911-12, and the 1943 famine killed about 2.1 million by the consensus cited by Cormac Ó Gráda. Census totals for present-day Bangladesh rose from 28.9 million in 1901 to 42.0 million in 1941.
1947 – 1970
The Radcliffe Line of 1947 and the Sylhet referendum placed eastern Bengal in Pakistan, and the provincial structure became East Pakistan in 1955-56 (sources differ on the year). Bengalis made up about 55 percent of Pakistan's people, and the 1970 Bhola cyclone killed an estimated 300,000 to 500,000.
1971 – 1971
Independence was proclaimed on 26 March 1971 after Operation Searchlight, the Provisional Government took its oath at Mujibnagar on 17 April, and about 10 million people fled to India. Pakistani forces surrendered in Dhaka on 16 December; casualty estimates range from about 300,000 to 3 million depending on the source.
1972 – 1981
The 1974 census counted 71.5 million people, and the Land Boundary Agreement signed on 16 May 1974 by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Indira Gandhi began a long process of border settlement. The Chittagong Hill Tracts insurgency began in 1977, and the 1981 census recorded 87.1 million.
1982 – 2006
The 1991 census counted 106.3 million people, and the Chittagong Hill Tracts, divided into three districts in 1984, saw the Shanti Bahini insurgency end with the Peace Accord of 2 December 1997. Census totals rose to 124.4 million in 2001, while Islam's share reached 89.7 percent.
2007 – 2023
The 2011 census recorded about 142-144 million people and the digital 2022 census counted 165,158,616. Maritime and land boundaries were settled by the ITLOS ruling with Myanmar in 2012, the 2014 arbitration with India and the 2015 enclave exchange, while the Rohingya influx after 2017 passed one million.
2024 – present
Sheikh Hasina resigned on 5 August 2024 amid mass protests, and Muhammad Yunus's interim government served from 8 August 2024 to 17 February 2026. A 12 February 2026 election held without the banned Awami League gave the BNP 209 of 300 seats, while assessments differed; these items need refreshing.
From Vanga and Pundra to the Sultanate, the Mughal Subah, British Bengal, East Pakistan and the People’s Republic, 1 million years ago – 2026
From the early janapadas of Vanga, Pundra and Samatata and the Maurya and Gupta frontier to Gauda, the Pala and Sena dynasties, the Bengal Sultanate, the Mughal Subah and the Baro-Bhuiyans, the Nawabs and Company rule, the British Raj and the partitions of 1905 and 1947, East Pakistan, the 1971 Liberation War and the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. Watch Bengal change year by year, with the empires around it; dashed shapes mark approximate zones and dotted shapes flagged overlays such as the Chittagong Hill Tracts.
17th ruler · Prime Minister under BaKSAL
Mujib IV ministry; killed in prison on 3 November 1975 (from memory).
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River systems, settlement and exchange shaped the region’s agricultural and urban histories. Ancient and medieval polities connected Bengal with wider South Asian and maritime worlds.
Bengali literary, religious and artistic traditions developed through changing regional and imperial relationships. The language movement became central to modern political identity.
Partition, East Pakistan and the liberation war transformed political and social life. Independence, reconstruction, constitutional change and economic development shaped the republic.
Events and ruler profiles retain references supplied with the dataset. Structural and display checks do not establish historical accuracy. The source report preserves uncertain chronologies, disputed dates and material requiring verification.
The supplied map retains its credits and caveats. Regional authority, imperial influence, external claims and modern borders describe different forms of control. Approximate outlines are not surveyed historical frontiers.
Early population figures are uncertain reconstructions rather than census counts. Original notes remain available. No public images were fetched; this site uses a gradient and the existing generic ruler placeholder.
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