Faridpur Division (), is a proposed

administrative division Administrative divisions (also administrative units, administrative regions, subnational entities, or constituent states, as well as many similar generic terms) are geographical areas into which a particular independent sovereign state is divi ...

within

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

for the southern parts of the existing

Dhaka Division Dhaka Division () is an Divisions of Bangladesh, administrative division of Bangladesh. Dhaka serves as the capital city of Dhaka Division, the Dhaka District and Bangladesh. The division remains as a population magnet, and covers an area of 20, ...

, comprising Faridpur, Gopalganj,

Madaripur Madaripur is a town in Dhaka division in south-central Bangladesh. It is the headquarters of Madaripur District. It is named for Shah Madar, a Sufi saint who spread Islam in the region. Demographics According to the 2022 Bangladesh census ...

, Rajbari, and Shariatpur districts of

. The headquarters of the division is proposed to be in Faridpur. This division was proposed to named after its affiliated river

Padma The Padma () is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the eastern and main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River, near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is situated on the bank ...

but in 2024, the Public Administration Reform Commission decided to create this division as ''Faridpur Division''.

History

The proposed Faridpur division was once under

Gangaridai Gangaridai (, ) is a term used by the ancient Greco-Roman writers (1st century BCE–2nd century AD) to describe people or a geographical region of the ancient Indian subcontinent. Some of these writers state that Alexander the Great withdrew f ...

and

Vanga Kingdom Vaṅga was an ancient kingdom and geopolitical division within the Ganges delta in the Indian subcontinent. The kingdom is one of the namesakes of the Bengal region. It was located in eastern and southern Bengal. Vanga features prominently in ...

of ancient

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

with its capital at Kotalipara in present day Gopalganj district of

. Later, it was ruled by local

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

rajas ''Rajas'' (Sanskrit: रजस्) is one of the three '' guṇas'' (tendencies, qualities, attributes), a philosophical and psychological concept developed by the Samkhya school of Hindu philosophy.James G. Lochtefeld, Rajas, in The Illustrated ...

and

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

sultans Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

until the

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

conquest of Bengal in the 16th century, after which many nobles and merchants from North India settled in the area. In 1582 in the reign of

Emperor Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expand ...

, the province of Bengal was formed into 33 sarkars or financial sub-divisions, and Faridpur area appears to have been included within the sarkar of Muhammad Abud and was known as Fatehabad. In 1765, the British took over the financial administration of Faridpur, together with the rest of Bengal. The greater portion of Faridpur was then comprised within

Dhaka District Dhaka District () is a Districts of Bangladesh, district in central Bangladesh, and is the densest district in the nation. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, rests on the eastern banks of the Buriganga River ...

. In 1811, Faridpur was separated from Dacca collectorate. The district was initially known as ''Fatehabad''. Under British rule in 1860, the district was named as Faridpur after 12th-century Sufi saint, Shah Sheikh Fariduddin. In 1984, with the decentralization program of the Bangladesh government, Faridpur district was reorganized into five separate districts: Rajbari, Gopalgonj,

, Shariatpur and Faridpur. On 6 May 2017,

Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives The Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives () is a ministry of the government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It is responsible for the housing and building, regional and rural policy, municipalities of Banglades ...

Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain announced that the new division would be renamed as Padma Division after the

Padma River The Padma () is a major river in Bangladesh. It is the eastern and main distributary of the Ganges, flowing generally southeast for to its confluence with the Meghna River, near the Bay of Bengal. The city of Rajshahi is situated on the banks ...

, which flows northeast of the proposed division. The name "Padma" was controversial and many were opposed to the name, who demanded it be changed to "Faridpur". The proposal was postponed on 27 November 2022. On 17 December 2024, the Public Administration Reform Commission recommended the creation of the Comilla and Faridpur divisions.

Administrative districts

The division was proposed to be subdivided into five districts (zilas) and thence into 30 sub-districts (

upazilas An ''upazila'' ( pronounced: ), formerly called ''thana'', is an administrative division in Bangladesh, functioning as a sub-unit of a district. It can be seen as an analogous to a county or a borough of Western countries. Rural upazilas are ...

Demographics

The division would have a population of 7,235,343. 6,386,595 (88.27%) are

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

, 829,732 (11.47%)

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

References

{{Authority control Divisions of Bangladesh Dhaka Division Proposed divisions of Bangladesh

History

Administrative districts

Demographics

See also

References