Rajapur () is an

upazila 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 ...

(sub-district) of southern

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 ...

Jhalokati District Jhalokathi District officially Jhalakathi District, () is a district in southern Bangladesh. It is located in the Barisal Division and covers an area of 758.06 km2. It is bounded by Barisal district to the north, Barguna district to the east ...

, which is a part of Barisal Division.

Geography

Rajapur is located at . It has 28,131 households and a total area of 164.59 km².

History

Rajapur Upazila is home to many archeological sites such as forts and mosques. The Indrapasha Qila was thought to have been constructed during the reign of

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

in the late seventeenth century. It was built to suppress the Maghs and Portuguese pirates around the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

. In 1664,

Shaista Khan Mirza Abu Talib (b. 22 November 1600 – d. 1694), better known as Shaista Khan, was a general and the Subahdar of Mughal Bengal. He was maternal uncle to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, and acted as a key figure during his reign. Shaista Khan ini ...

was appointed as the Mughal governor of Bengal to defeat the pirates. Khan constructed many forts with his accomplice, Muhammad Azam, including the Indrapasha Fort. The fort no longer stands, existing only as a soil mound. In the same period, Keshwar Singh, who is thought to have been a Mughal general, constructed the triple mosques of Angaria Khan Bari. A triple mosque was also constructed in the Niz Galua Mia Bari which also remains as one of the archeological tourist attractions of Rajapur. During the Muslim rule, southern

Chandradwip Chandradwip was a historic principality and later a zamindari located in southern Bengal, largely corresponding to the present-day Barisal Division in Bangladesh. The principality first rose to prominence under the rule of Raja Danujamardana Deva ...

(including Rajapur) was governed by two ''

sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar (, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royal family, royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other Aristocracy (class), aristocrats. It ha ...

s'', one of whom was Reza Khan. The area was named Rezapur, which later became corrupted to Rajapur. In 1716, Mahmud Jan Akhand (Mamuji) established the Galua Paka Mosque in Durgapur village. Rajapur was also home to a ''

zamindar A zamindar in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semi-autonomous feudal lord of a ''zamindari'' (feudal estate). The term itself came into use during the Mughal Empire, when Persian was the official language; ''zamindar'' is the ...

'' family in Saturia descended from

Khan Jahan Ali Khan Jahan Ali or Ulugh Khān (), was a Muslim saint and the Khan-i-Azam of Khalifatabad (now in Bangladesh). It is believed that he built the great Mosque City of Bagerhat, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Background and early life He is also ...

's disciple Shaykh Ahmad Sajenda. Sajenda's descendant Sheikh Shahabuddin (1626–1745) assisted the widow of Pran Narayan, the ''zamindar'' of Rayerkathi, in restoring their ''zamindari'' privileges by visiting the court of the

Nawabs of Bengal The Nawab of Bengal (, ) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa which constitute the mod ...

Murshidabad Murshidabad (), is a town in the Indian States and territories of India, state of West Bengal. This town is the headquarters of Lalbag subdivision of Murshidabad district. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly river, Bhagirathi Riv ...

. Pran Narayan's heir Mahendra Narayan successively became the next ''zamindar'' of Rayerkathi, and as a reward, his mother gifted Sheikh Shahabuddin with a

taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

in Saturia. Sheikh Shahabuddin founded the historic Shuktagarh Mosque, and is buried in a

mazar (mausoleum) A ''mazār'' (), also transliterated as mazaar, also known as ''marqad'' () or in the Maghreb as ''ḍarīḥ'' (), is a mausoleum or shrine in some places of the world, typically that of a saint or notable religious leader. Medieval Arabic ...

in close proximity to it. The Khanom Manzil in

Barisal Barisal ( or ; , ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal District and Barisal Divi ...

city was established by Mehrunnisa Khanom, who was the female ''zamindar'' of Sultanabad Pargana in present-day Rajapur along with Syed Abdullah Chowdhury. In 1919, Maulana Mahtabuddin Khan established the Imdadul Uloom Ashrafia Madrasa in Galua which had a big impact on educationally serving the people of Rajapur. A police outpost was founded in Rajapur by the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

in the following year, which was established as a

thana Thana means " station" or "place" in South Asian countries. The word ''thana'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''sthana'' or "sthanak", meaning "place" or "stand", which was anglicized as ''thana'' by the British. * Thanas of Bangladesh, forme ...

(police station) in 1937. In 1940, the Rajapur Fazil Madrasa was established. During the

Bangladesh War of Independence The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

of 1971, a brawl took place between the

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

fighters against the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

on 21 October at the Rajapur thana (police station compound). In the aftermath, 8 Pakistan Army soldiers and 3 fighters were killed. The fighters raided the thana on 27 November, gaining control and thus capturing Rajapur. Dilwar Husayn of Gopalpur village was appointed as a sub-sector commander for

Dinajpur Dinajpur ( ) is a city and the district headquarters of Dinajpur district situated in Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. It was founded in 1786. It is located 413 km north-west of Dhaka. It is bounded on the north by Suihari, Katapara, Bangi ...

under

Sector 6 Sector 6 () is an administrative unit of Bucharest. Quarters * Crângași * Drumul Taberei * Ghencea * Giulești * Militari * Regie Politics The sector's mayor is , from the National Liberal Party, having been elected for a four-year ...

and later awarded

Bir Protik Bir Protik (, ) is the fourth highest gallantry award in Bangladesh. Recipients This award was declared on 15 December 1973. A total of 426 people have received the award so far, all for their actions during the Bangladesh Liberation War, liber ...

. Alamtaj Begum Sabi was a notable female fighter of Rajapur. The status of Rajapur Thana was upgraded to

(sub-district) in 1983 as part of

President of Bangladesh President of Bangladesh (POB), officially the President of the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is the head of state of Bangladesh and commander-in-chief of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The role of the president has changed three times since ...

Hussain Muhammad Ershad Hussain Muhammad Ershad (1 February 1930 – 14 July 2019) was a Bangladeshi military officer, dictator and politician who served as President of Bangladesh, the president of Bangladesh from 1982 to 1990. He seized power as a result of a 1982 ...

's decentralisation programme.

Demographics

According to the

2011 Census of Bangladesh In 2011, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics conducted a national census in Bangladesh, which provided a provisional estimate of the total population of the country as 142,319,000. The previous decennial census was the 2001 census. Data were r ...

, Rajapur Upazila had 33,903 households and a population of 148,494. 34,870 (23.48%) were under 10 years of age. Rajapur has a literacy rate (age 7 and over) of 63.9%, compared to the national average of 51.8%, and a sex ratio of 1090 females per 1000 males. 16,133 (10.86%) lived in urban areas. According to the

1991 Bangladesh census In 1991, the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, conducted a national census in Bangladesh. They recorded data from all of the districts and upazilas and main cities in Bangladesh including statistical data on population size, households, sex and a ...

, Rajapur had a population of 143,659. Males constituted 49.93% of the population, and females 50.07%. The population aged 18 or over was 72,392. Rajapur had an average literacy rate of 52.7% (7+ years), compared to the national average of 32.4%.

Administration

Rajapur Upazila is divided into six

union parishad Union council (), also known as union parishad, rural council, rural union and simply union, is the smallest rural administrative and local government unit in Bangladesh, with zila parishads (district councils) being the largest rural authori ...

s: Baraia, Galua, Mathbari, Rajapur, Saturia, and Suktagarh. The union parishads are subdivided into 72 mauzas and 75 villages.

Notable people

A. K. Fazlul Huq Abul Kasem Fazlul Huq (26 October 1873 – 27 April 1962), popularly known as Sher-e-Bangla, was a Bengalis, Bengali lawyer and politician who served as the first and longest Prime Minister of Bengal, prime minister of Bengal during the Britis ...

, first and longest-serving Prime Minister of Bengal * Abdul Auwal Khan, educationist *

Sultan Hossain Khan Sultan Hossain Khan (died 2015) was a Bangladeshi judge and the Chief Election Commissioner of Bangladesh, chief election commissioner of Bangladesh. He was the chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Commission (Bangladesh), Anti-Corruption Commission ...

, former chairperson of the Anti-Corruption Commission and

Bangladesh Press Council Bangladesh Press Council () is an quasi-judicial institution that protects freedom of speech and regulates the press in Bangladesh and is located in Segunbagicha, Dhaka, Bangladesh. History The act to establish the institution was passed in 1974 ...

Shahjahan Omar Shahjahan Omar (born 24 December 1947) is a Bangladeshi politician and a former state minister for law. He is a retired major of the Bangladesh Army and was awarded Bir Uttom. He is a 4 term Jatiya Sangsad member representing the Jhalokati-1 con ...

, retired army major and former minister *

Harun ar-Rashid Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ar-Rāshīd (), or simply Hārūn ibn al-Mahdī (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Hārūn al-Rāshīd (), was the fifth Abbasid caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, reigning from September 786 until ...

, agricultural researcher

References