Chittagong Division, officially known as Chattogram Division, is geographically the largest of the eight administrative divisions of

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

. It covers the south-easternmost areas of the country, with a total area of and a population at the 2011 census of 28,423,019. The administrative division includes mainland Chittagong District, neighbouring districts and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Chittagong Division is home to

Cox's Bazar Cox's Bazar (; bn, কক্সবাজার, Kôksbajar; ) is a city, fishing port, tourism centre, and district headquarters in Southeastern Bangladesh. It is located south of the city of Chittagong. Cox's Bazar is also known by the n ...

, the longest natural sea beach in the world; as well as St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh's sole

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

History

The Chittagong Division was established in 1829 to serve as an administrative headquarters for five of Bengal's easternmost districts, with the Chittagong District serving as its headquarters. During the

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wit ...

period, the division's Tippera district was renamed to Comilla District in 1960. In 1984, fifteen districts were created by separating and reducing the original five districts of Chittagong, Comilla,

Hill Tracts The Chittagong Hill Tracts ( bn, পার্বত্য চট্টগ্রাম, Parbotto Chottogram), often shortened to simply the Hill Tracts and abbreviated to CHT, are group of districts within the Chittagong Division in southeast ...

, Noakhali and Sylhet: *The Chittagong District was divided into two districts; Chittagong and Cox's Bazar District *The Cumilla District was split into three districts; Cumilla, Brahmanbaria and Chandpur *The Hill Tracts District was split into three districts;

Bandarban Bandarban ( bn, বান্দরবান, Chakma: 𑄝𑄚𑄴𑄘𑄧𑄢𑄴𑄝𑄚𑄴) is a district in South-Eastern Bangladesh, and a part of the Chittagong Division. It is one of the three hill districts of Bangladesh and a part of ...

, Khagrachhari and Rangamati *The

Noakhali District Noakhali ( bn, নোয়াখালী, , New canal), historically known as Bhulua ( bn, ভুলুয়া), is a district in southeastern Bangladesh, located in the Chittagong Division. It was established as district in 1821, and officia ...

was divided into three districts; Noakhali,

Lakshmipur Lakshmipur ( bn, লক্ষ্মীপুর , Lokkhipur) is a city and headquarter of Lakshmipur District in the Chittagong Division Chittagong Division, officially known as Chattogram Division, is geographically the largest of the ei ...

and Feni *The

Sylhet District Sylhet ( bn, সিলেট), located in north-east Bangladesh, is the divisional capital and one of the four districts in the Sylhet Division. History Sylhet district was established on 3 January 1782, and until 1878 it was part of Bengal Pr ...

was split into four districts; Sylhet, Habiganj, Moulvibazar and Sunamganj. Sylhet, Habiganj, Moulvibazar and Sunamganj district ceded from the Chittagong Division to join a newly-established Sylhet Division in 1995.

Administration

Chattogram Division is presently subdivided into eleven districts (zilas) and thence into 99 sub-districts ( upazilas). The first six districts listed below comprise the north-western portion (37.6%) of the division, while the remaining five comprise the south-eastern portion (62.4%), the two portions being separated by the lower (or Bangladeshi) stretch of the Feni River; the upland districts of Khagrachhari, Rangamati and

together comprise that area previously known as the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Demographics

At the time of the 2011 census, the division had a population of 28,423,019. 87.58% were

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

, 7.05%

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

and 3.05%

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

Sources

Census figures for 1991, 2001 and 2011 are from Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Population Census Wing. The 2011 Census figures are based on preliminary results.

References

External links