Bangladesh
Who ruled Dhaka?
Dhaka dates from about 1450 CE. On our historical maps, the ground it stands on has been drawn inside 18 different states, empires and peoples. Read the history of Bangladesh.
The history of Dhaka
Dhaka stands on the north bank of the Buriganga, a channel of the vast river system where the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna meet before entering the Bay of Bengal. Rivers made it a trading town, and politics made it a capital: Dhaka rose to importance as the seat of Mughal Bengal in the 17th century, and three centuries later it became the capital of an independent Bangladesh.
From river town to Mughal capital
The delta was ruled for centuries by Bengali dynasties such as the Buddhist Pala Empire and the Hindu Senas, and settlements existed around the site long before it was a city of note. After the Turkic conquest of Bengal in the early 13th century the area passed under governors linked to the Delhi Sultanate and then to the independent Bengal Sultanate. By the late 16th century eastern Bengal was held by a group of local chiefs, the Baro-Bhuiyans, who resisted Mughal expansion.
The Mughal general Islam Khan Chishti subdued them and in 1610 made Dhaka the provincial capital of Bengal, naming it Jahangirnagar in honour of the emperor Jahangir. Under the Mughal Empire the city grew rich on river trade and on its fine muslin cloth, famous across Asia and Europe. Governors built the Bara Katra caravanserai and began the Lalbagh Fort in 1678. Dhaka's political role then faded when the capital of Bengal moved to Murshidabad in the early 18th century.
Colonial decline and two partitions
After the Battle of Plassey in 1757 the British East India Company took control of Bengal, and Calcutta became the centre of power. Dhaka shrank as machine-made British textiles destroyed the muslin industry. It revived in the 19th century as an administrative and educational town, and in 1905 the first partition of Bengal made it capital of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam. The partition was reversed in 1911, but the University of Dhaka, opened in 1921, made the city the intellectual centre of Muslim Bengal.
The partition of India in 1947 made Dhaka the capital of East Bengal, later East Pakistan, separated from the rest of Pakistan by about 1,600 kilometres of India. Tension grew over language and power. On 21 February 1952 police fired on students demonstrating for Bengali to be recognised as a state language, a date now marked worldwide as International Mother Language Day. After the Awami League won the 1970 election and was denied office, the Pakistani army launched a crackdown in Dhaka on the night of 25 March 1971. Nine months of war followed, ending when Pakistani forces surrendered in the city on 16 December 1971.
Capital of Bangladesh
As capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka grew at extraordinary speed, drawing migrants from the countryside to its garment factories, which became the backbone of the export economy. The 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza factory building nearby, which killed more than 1,100 workers, drew global attention to working conditions. In August 2024 student-led protests in the city brought down the government of Sheikh Hasina. Greater Dhaka now holds more than 20 million people, making it one of the most densely populated urban areas on earth.
In pictures
1 images · scroll →Timeline
23 periods- 123,000 BCE – 10,000 BCEHomo erectusMap of 123,000 BCE →
- 10,000 BCE – 2000 BCENo state drawn here on the mapMap of 10,000 BCE →
- 2000 BCE – 1500 BCEAustro-Asiatic rice culturesMap of 2000 BCE →
- 1500 BCE – 500 BCEBurmeseMap of 1500 BCE →
- 500 BCE – 400 BCENo state drawn here on the mapMap of 500 BCE →
- 400 BCE – 300 BCEMagadhaMap of 400 BCE →
- 300 BCE – 100 BCEMauryan EmpireMap of 300 BCE →
- 100 BCE – 1 BCEShunga EmpireMap of 100 BCE →
- 1 BCE – 200 CEHindu kingdomsMap of 1 BCE →
- 200 CE – 300 CEMagadhaMap of 200 CE →
- 300 CE – 600 CEGupta EmpireMap of 300 CE →
- 600 CE – 700 CEShaskankaMap of 600 CE →
- 700 CE – 1200 CEPalasMap of 700 CE →
- 1200 CE – 1279 CESultanate of DelhiMap of 1200 CE →
- 1279 CE – 1492 CENo state drawn here on the mapMap of 1279 CE →
- 1492 CE – 1530 CEBengalMap of 1492 CE →
- 1530 CE – 1650 CEIslamic and Hindu statesMap of 1530 CE →
- 1650 CE – 1783 CEMughal EmpireMap of 1650 CE →
- 1783 CE – 1815 CEBengalunder British East India CompanyMap of 1783 CE →
- 1815 CE – 1878 CEBritish East India CompanyMap of 1815 CE →
- 1878 CE – 1960 CEBritish Rajunder United KingdomMap of 1878 CE →
- 1960 CE – 1985 CEPakistanMap of 1960 CE →
- 1985 CE – todayBangladeshMap of 1985 CE →
Quick answers
- Who rules Dhaka today?
- On the latest map, Dhaka is in Bangladesh.
- Who ruled Dhaka the longest?
- On our maps, the Palas, for about 500 years (700 CE to 1200 CE).
- How many times has Dhaka changed hands?
- Our maps show it passing to a new ruler 12 times since 1 CE.
- Who ruled Dhaka in 1 CE, 1000, 1500 and 1900?
- In 1 CE: Hindu kingdoms. In 1000: Palas. In 1500: Bengal. In 1900: British Raj.
Dates are the years of our map snapshots, which are decades or centuries apart, so a change shown between two years happened at some point in that gap. The borders come from the historical-basemaps project and are approximate, especially for the ancient world and for peoples without fixed frontiers.
Dhaka on this site
- Dhaka in the guided tours
- The End of Empires: Decolonization, Asia on the Move: From the First Settlers to Today and The British Empire