Barisal, the district with the highest literacy rate and the highest poverty rate of the country is mostly known as the Venice of Bengal. Barisal is called the Granary of Bengal as well. Barisal, the district which was formerly known as Bakerganj district is the main hub of the Barisal division which was formerly known as chandrwadip. Barisal has an area of 2784.52 Square Kilometer and possess a population of 24,87,012 (23,43,10). Barisal was found and first encountered in 1797 as Bakerganj district which was later placed into the Barisal division on 1st January,1993.
Barisal geographically is positioned at 220 42 ‘0’ ‘north latitude and 900 22’ 0 ” east longitude and geographically surrounded by Chandpur, Madaripur and Shariatpur districts from the north; Jhalokati, Barguna, and Patuakhali districts are in the south of Barisqal; Laxmipur district and Meghna river on the east and Pirojpur, Jhalokati, and Gopalganj districts are on the west.
This independent kingdom called Chandradwip was established by King Danuj Mardan during the Muslim reign in South-East Bengal. Until the fourteenth century, the region used to be known as Chandradwip. Before the establishment of this state, this region was known as ‘Bakla’. Bakla means grain trader which comes from the Arabic word. A man named Kanungo built the port of Bakla. Arab and Persian merchants used to come to this seaport to trade. The name Bakla-Chandradwip can be discovered in large letters on a very ancient foreign map. Until 1897, the district was known as Bakla-Chandradwip. Bakerganj district was established in 1898 with the southern part of the Dhaka district. In 1801, the district headquarters of Bakerganj district was shifted to Barisal (Girdebandar). There still exist many discordances corresponding to the origin of the district name, Barisal. Some other popular opinions are “due to gargantuan Shawal tress (Boro+shal= Barisal), or because of the love story of Portuguese Berry and shelly, the name appeared as Barisal or because of the big salt balls, the name appears such. The English and Portuguese merchants used to call this region ‘Barisalt’ for its large salt stocks and large grains of salt. Realizing the historical significance of Barisal, the erstwhile British government in its Bengal District Administration Report of 1913-14 recommended the establishment of the Barisal division including Faridpur and Khulna districts. Later implementation was not possible due to various political reasons. Finally, excluding Faridpur and Khulna districts, the Barisal division was established on 1st January 1993 with the ancient Chandradwip state(present Barisal district) and the greater Bakerganj district.
Barisal is one of the districts of Bangladesh, with which no countries Border is Connected and it is one of the districts (city) with no Train (rail) communication. And especially Barisal has the largest floating Guava Market in the world. It possesses a paddy floating market as well. Barisal is remarkably blessed with coconut.
Barisal, the land gave birth to one of the seven highest awarded liberation war movement individuals, Birsreshtho captain Mohiuddin Jahangir. Under the sector 9 along with Patuakhali and Khulna (Shatkhira excluded), few parts of Faridpur and Goapalgonj (as a whole) and under the sector commander, M.A.Jalil Barisal managed to defeat the enemy and wipe out all the enemies from the territory completely on 8th December and the Sub-division that sacrificed most from the region is the smallest sub-division of the district, Banaripara as highest 212 martyrs laid down their lives only from the concerned sub-division.
Remarkably, people are mostly dependent upon naval transportation despite having air and bus transportation facilities. Barisal consists of 1116 Villages. Barisal possesses a naval area of 160.37 Square kilometers. 1572 educational institutions are in this particular district. Barisal consists of 10 sub-divisions in number.
Barisal possesses one city corporation, 6 parliamentary constituencies, 6 municipalities and 87 Union Parishads as well in its administrative infrastructure. Many remarkable persons from the district Barisal contributed to the development of the concerned community morally, socially, financially and so on and worked ceaselessly in the past to make this world a better place to live are remarked in our at a glance section but the most remarkable personalities are Sher-E-Bangla A.k. Fazlul Haque (Chief minister of Undivided Bengal and the governor of erstwhile East Pakistan) who spearheaded the Bi-nation treaty based on religious sentiment and following which India and Pakistan appeared divided in 1947 as a consequence and the contribution of Ashiwinikumar in building Barisal cannot be unrecognized. Charonkobi Mukunda Das, a major initiator of “Dislodge British movement” is also from Barisal.
Barisal, the district which is situated across the bank of Kirtankhola and possesses blessed river like Shandha and appears appealing to others especially because of it’s natural beauty (riverine) and it’s accolades and reputation of the production of Averrhoa carambola, Tenualosa Elisha, coconut and Balam Rice.
| At a glance of Barisal | ||
| 1 | Area | 2784.52 Square Kilometer |
| 2 | Population | Total 24,87,012 (Updated)
23,43,10 (2011) Men: 1137210 Women: 1187100 |
| 3 | Founding Year | 1797 |
| 4 | Postal Code | 8200 |
| 5 | Literacy rate | 61.02 |
| 6 | Birth rate | -(.13%) |
Sub-divisions
- Bakerganj Upazila.
- Banaripara Upazila.
- Barisal Sadar Upazila.
- Agailjhara Upazila.
- Babuganj Upazila.
- Gaurnadi Upazila.
- Hizla Upazila.
- Mehendiganj Upazila.
- Wazirpur Upazila.
- Muladi Upazila
Interested Places
- Shatla swamp Valley.
- Durga Shagar.
- Bangabandhu Garden.
- Muktijoddha Park.
- Graveyard of Shahid kazi Azizul Haque.
- Slaughter House (1971)
- Liberation war torture cell.
- Guthia Mosque.
- Oxford Mission Church.
- Sher-e-Bangla Memoirs Museum.
- LAkutia Jamidar Bari.
- Mahilara Moth.
- Ulania Jamidar Bari.
- Kirtankhola river.
- Koloshkathi Jamidar Bari. (house of Kaloshkathi Landlord)
- Rab Sheraniabad Bridge and many more.
Highlighted Personalities
- Captain Mohiuddin Chowdhury ( Birsreshtho)
- Major M.A. Jalil, Sector Commander of the war in 1971.
- Abdur Rahman Biswas (Former President, the people’s republic of Bangladesh)
- Kanai Chatterjee (Bengali Maoist Leader)
- Brojmohon Datto (Bengali Philanthropist and social contributor)
- Ashwini Kumar Datto (Founder of B.M. college)
- Jibananda Das (Ruposhi Banglar Kobi)
- Kushumkumari Das (Poet)
- Sufia Kamal (poet)
- Kamini Ray (Poet)
- Shamsuddin Abul Kalam (Bangladeshi Novelist)
- Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, writer of (Amar vaier Rokte ragnano)
- Altaf Mahmud, Composer of (Amar vaier Rokte ragnano)
- Anil Biswas (Music Composer, Bollywood)
- Tofazzel Hossain Manik Mia (Founder Editor, The daily Ittefaq)
- Hanif Sangket (Tv host, writer, producer)
- Nachiketa (Singer)
Written & Edited by Niaz Mahmud Sakib