Sylhet

Sylhet otherwise called Jalalabad, is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the managerial seat of Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the correct bank of the Surma River in northeastern Bengal. It has a subtropical atmosphere and lavish good country landscape. The city has a populace of more than 800,000 residents.[4] Sylhet is one of Bangladesh's most vital otherworldly and social focuses. It is a standout amongst the most vital urban areas of Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong in light of the fact that because of its significance to the nation's economy, and also its status as a traveler goal. The city's dargahs, or entombment destinations of Muslim holy people, draw a few thousand aficionados every year.

The name of Sylhet is the anglicized type of the antiquated Indo-Aryan term Srihatta.[5] In 1303, the Sufi Muslim pioneer Shah Jalal vanquished Sylhet by overcoming the nearby Hindu Raja.[6] Ibn Battuta went to Sylhet in the fourteenth century and saw Bengali Muslims changing the district into a rural basket.[7] Sylhet was a mint town of the Bengal Sultanate. In the sixteenth century, Sylhet was controlled by the Baro-Bhuyan zamindars and turned into an area of the Mughal Empire.[8] British administer started in the eighteenth century under the organization of the East India Company. With its antiquated marine convention, Sylhet turned into a key wellspring of lascars in the British Empire. The Sylhet civil board was set up in 1867.[9] Originally part of the Bengal Presidency and later Eastern Bengal and Assam; the town was a piece of Colonial Assam in the vicinity of 1874 and 1947, when following a submission and the segment of British India, it turned out to be a piece of East Bengal.[6] The Sylhet City Corporation was constituted in 2001. The Government of Bangladesh assigned Sylhet a metropolitan zone in 2009.[10]

The hinterland of the Sylhet valley is the biggest oil and gas-creating area in Bangladesh. It is likewise the biggest center of tea creation in Bangladesh. It is prominent for its excellent stick and agarwood.[11][12] The city is served by the Osmani International Airport. Individuals from Sylhet shape a noteworthy segment of the Bangladeshi diaspora, especially in Britain.

Historical background

The name Sylhet is anglicized from Srihatta. In Indo-Aryan dialects, Sri implies distinction or excellence. Hatta (Haat) is a term for a commercial center. In the Mughal Empire's records, Srihatta was utilized as the name for the locale in the Bengal Subah.[13] In British India, Srihatta ended up plainly known as Sylhet in English.

History

Pre-Islamic

Sylhet was under the domain of the Harikela and Kamarupa kingdoms of old Bengal and Assam. Buddhism was pervasive in the primary thousand years. In the early medieval period, the territory was commanded by Hindu realms, which were under the ostensible suzerainty of the Senas and Devas.[14][15] The historical backdrop of the dynasts in the area is reported by their copper-plate charters.

Islamic

Hallowed place of Hazrat Shah Jalal

The fourteenth century denoted the start of Islamic impact in Sylhet. The Muslim general Shamsuddin Firoz Shah's armed force vanquished the neighborhood Hindu Raja Gour Govinda after the raja's mistreatment of Muslim vagrants. The general's armed force was supported by a Middle Eastern Sufi minister, Shah Jalal, and 313 of his companions.[17] The region ended up noticeably known as Jalalabad (Land of Jalal) under the Bengal Sultanate. It facilitated a mint which delivered the taka. At the point when the Moroccan voyager Ibn Batutta went by Shah Jalal in Sylhet in 1345, he noticed that local people grasped Islam because of Shah Jalal's minister activities."It was by his works that the general population of these mountains wound up plainly changed over to Islam" composed Battuta in his journal. Bengali Muslims were abusing the fruitful place that is known for Sylhet for agrarian creation and delighted in relative flourishing. The district started to encounter a flood of Muslim pilgrims, including Turks, Arabs and Persians. Amid the late sixteenth century, the area was to a great extent controlled by the Kingdom of Bhati. The Mughals therefore vanquished the locale. Sylhet turned into a region headquarter of the Bengal Subah. Its eight mahals included Pratapgarh, Bahua, Jaintia, Habili, Sarail, Laur and Harinagar. The area produced yearly incomes of 167,000 rupees.[18]

Colonial

Keane connect and the Ali Amjad Clock




The Mulnicherra Estate is the most seasoned tea plant in South Asia

Sylhet went under British organization in 1765. Sylhet was deliberately critical for the British in their quest for overcoming Northeast India and Upper Burma. The principal business tea ranch in British India was opened in the Mulnicherra Estate in Sylhet in 1857.[19] Sylhet was constituted as a region in 1867.[20] Despite challenges to the Governor of Bengal from its Bengali-larger part populace, the town was made piece of the Chief Commissioner's Province of Assam in 1874 with a specific end goal to encourage Assam's instructive and business improvement. The Assam Bengal Railway was built up in the late nineteenth century to interface Assam and Sylhet with the port city of Chittagong. In 1905, Sylhet turned into a divisional headquarter of Eastern Bengal and Assam. In 1912, it was again isolated from Bengal and made piece of Assam Province. The Muslims of Sylhet by and large supported gathering with Bengal.[citation needed] The Bengali Muslim tip top in Dacca likewise vouched for Sylhet's get-together with Bengal. By the 1920s, associations, for example, the Sylhet Peoples Association and Sylhet-Bengal Reunion League activated general conclusion requesting the division's fuse into Bengal. In any case, the Bengalis of Sylhet were compellingly set in the organization, instructive establishments and business exercises of Assam.[21][22]

Because of the extent of Sylhet's Bengali Muslim dominant part, the All India Muslim League shaped the primary chose government in British Assam.

The quantities of lascars developed between the two world wars, with some winding up in the docks of London and Liverpool. Sylhet's lascars hitched English ladies. Amid World War II, many battled on the Allied front before settling down in the United Kingdom, where they opened Indian curry bistros and restaurants.

In 1947, after a choice, all of past region of Sylhet turned into a piece of East Bengal in the Dominion of Pakistan, excepting its Karimganj sub-division which was consolidated into the Dominion of India. The submission was hung on 6 July 1947. 239,619 individuals voted to join East Bengal (with the impact of ending up noticeably East Pakistan) and 184,041 voted to be a piece of Assam (i.e. some portion of India). The submission was recognized by Article 3 of the Indian Independence Act 1947.

East Pakistan[edit]

Sylhet turned into the center of Pakistan's tea industry after 1947. Pakistan wound up plainly one of the world's biggest tea exporters because of advancement of ranches in Sylhet by the Ispahani family, James Finlay and Company and others. Burmah Oil found petroleum gas saves in Sylhet's hinterland in 1955.[26]

Bangladesh[edit]

Focal Shaheed Minar

Sylhet was a point of convergence of East Pakistan's Liberation War, which made the Bangladeshi Republic. It was the main residence of Muhammad Ataul Ghani Osmani, the Commander of Bangladesh Forces. The Battle of Sylhet seethed between the Pakistani military and Bangladesh-India Allied Forces from 7 to 15 December 1971, in the end prompting a Pakistani surrender and the freedom of Sylhet.

In 1995, the Government of Bangladesh announced Sylhet as the 6th divisional central station of the country.[27] Sylhet has assumed a fundamental part in the Bangladeshi economy. A few of Bangladesh's back pastors have been Members of Parliament from the city of Sylhet. Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran was a long-lasting chairman of Sylhet. Humayun Rashid Choudhury, a representative from Sylhet, filled in as President of the UN General Assembly and Speaker of the Bangladesh National Parliament.

In 2001, the region was moved up to the Sylhet City Corporation. It was made a metropolitan city in 2009.[28]

Topography and climate[edit]

Sylhet is situated at 24.8917°N 91.8833°E, in the north eastern area of Bangladesh inside the Sylhet Division, inside the Sylhet District and Sylhet Sadar Upazila. Sylhet has a normal Bangladesh tropical rainstorm atmosphere (Köppen Am) verging on a moist subtropical atmosphere (Cwa) at higher rises. The blustery season from April to October is hot and muggy with overwhelming showers and electrical storms practically consistently, while the short dry season from November to February is warm and genuinely clear. About 80% of the yearly normal precipitation of 4,200 millimeters (170 in) happens amongst May and September.[29]

The city is situated inside the area where there are slopes and bowls which constitute a standout amongst the most particular locales in Bangladesh. The physiography of Sylhet comprises for the most part of slope soils, enveloping a couple of extensive melancholies referred to locally as "beels" which can be principally named oxbow lakes, caused by structural subsidence fundamentally amid the quake of 1762. It is flanked by the Indian conditions of the Meghalaya in the north, Assam in the east, Tripura in the south and the Bangladesh regions of Netrokona, Kishoregonj and Brahmanbaria in the west. The region secured by Sylhet Division is 12,569 km2, which is around 8% of the aggregate land territory of Bangladesh.

Topographically, the locale is perplexing having different conciliatory geomorphology; high geology of Plio-Miocene age, for example, Khasi and Jaintia slopes and little hillocks along the fringe. At the inside there is a huge low laying surge plain of late cause with saucer formed melancholies, privately called Haors. Accessible limestone stores in various parts of the district propose that the entire range was under the sea in the Oligo-Miocene. Over the most recent 150 years three noteworthy seismic tremors hit the city, at an extent of no less than 7.5 on the Richter Scale, the last one occurred in 1918, albeit many individuals are unconscious that Sylhet lies on the quake inclined zone of Bangladesh.[30]

[hide]Climate information for Sylhet, Bangladesh

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year

Normal high °C (°F) 25.2

(77.4) 27.1

(80.8) 30.4

(86.7) 30.8

(87.4) 30.8

(87.4) 30.9

(87.6) 30.9

(87.6) 31.6

(88.9) 31.2

(88.2) 30.9

(87.6) 29.2

(84.6) 26.3

(79.3) 29.6

(85.3)

Normal low °C (°F) 12.9

(55.2) 14.2

(57.6) 18.1

(64.6) 20.8

(69.4) 22.6

(72.7) 24.4

(75.9) 24.9

(76.8) 25.0

(77) 24.3

(75.7) 22.5

(72.5) 18.4

(65.1) 14.0

(57.2) 20.2

(68.4)

Normal precipitation mm (inches) 8

(0.31) 31

(1.22) 146

(5.75) 372

(14.65) 569

(22.4) 796

(31.34) 834

(32.83) 621

(24.45) 548

(21.57) 232

(9.13) 30

(1.18) 13

(0.51) 4,200

(165.34)

Source: WMO[31]

Administration[edit]

Additional data: Wards of Sylhet City Corporation

Sylhet comprises of 27 wards and 210 mahallas, it is a little city with a zone of 26.50 km2.[32] The quick development and extension of Sylhet happened amid the frontier time frame. Sylhet Municipality was set up in 1878. An overwhelming seismic tremor devastated practically the whole town on 12 June 1897 after which an advanced and European model new town was based on the destruction. Numerous new streets were developed in the late 1890s and Sylhet turned out to be truly associated with alternate parts of the nation with the foundation of an augmentation line of Assam Bengal Railway in 1912–15. From the earliest starting point of the twentieth century, the significance of Sylhet expanded with the foundation of the tea business. In the 1960s, fast urbanization occurred in the town, encouraged by the ostracize Sylhetis and the procedure is as yet continuous.

On 10 April 2001, Sylhet was changed to a city company from a civil board, and as of now the city is administrated by the Sylhet City Corporation. At exhibit, Sylhet is the area base camp and in addition the divisional base camp of the regions of Sunamganj, Habiganj, Moulvibazar and Sylhet District. The Sylhet City Corporation is in charge of the administrations that are given inside the city which incorporates movement, streets, trash gathering, water supply, enlistments and numerous others. The organization comprises of the Mayor and 22 different chiefs, and concentrates on the advancement of the city.[33]

Military[edit]

Sylhet is deliberately vital for the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The Bangladesh Army's seventeenth Infantry Division is based at Jalalabad Cantonment in Sylhet.[34] The cantonment is additionally home of the School of Infantry and Tactics (SI&T) and the first Para-commando Battalion, a tip top commando unit of the Bangladesh Army.

Healthcare

Sylhet is likewise home to numerous doctor's facilities that deliberately give human services to the group, for example, the Shahid Shamsuddin Hospital District Hospital, MAG Osmani Medical College, Jalalabad Ragib-Rabeya Medical College, North East Medical College, Sylhet Women's Medical College, Ibn Sina Hospital, Noorjahan Hospital, Oasis Hospital, Mount Adora Hospital, Square Medical Service, Popular Medical Service, Medinova Medical Service and the Mohanagar Hospital and also private ones, for example, the Al Haramain Hospital. [35]

Demographics

See likewise: Demographics of Bangladesh

As of the 2011 evaluation, the city has a populace of 479,837.[1] Together with the metropolitan territory it has a populace of 2,675,346 starting at 2001, constituting 2.06% of the national population.[36] The populace development rate of the city is 1.73%, which has lessened from 1.93% of every 1991.[37] As of 2001, It had normal education rate of 69.73%.[38] The most astounding proficiency rate was 84.24% in Ward 22 and the least was 48.15% in Ward 10 (2001). The aggregate number of family units in the city was 55,514.[32]

Most of the populace are Bangali while there are noteworthy minority groups,[39] which incorporates the Bishnupriya Manipuri, Khasi and others.

The Sylheti dialect is talked by far most of the general population, while standard Bengali is the official dialect utilized by the state government and officials.[40][41][42]

The greater part of Sylhetis are Muslims (90%), different religious gatherings incorporate Hindus (8%), and not very many quantities of different religions, predominantly Buddhists and Christians (under 2%).[36] most of the Muslims are principally Sunni Hanafi;[43] and there are huge quantities of individuals who additionally take after Sufi beliefs, the most powerful is the lessons of Maulana Abdul Latif who was from the town of Fultoli, Zakigang. He was a relative of Hazrat Shah Kamal Quhafa, one of the supporters of Hazrat Shah Jalal.[44]

Diaspora

See likewise: British Bangladeshi and Sylheti diaspora

Road sign in English and Bengali on Brick Lane, London

A large number of Bangladeshi exiles have sources in Sylhet Division. The biggest quantities of individuals from Sylhet living abroad is in the United Kingdom , with a populace of around 500,000 (95% of the Bangladeshi population).[45][46] Over 200,000 individuals are Bangladeshi-conceived, who have moved to the United Kingdom.[47] They are moved in the precincts of East London, having built up themselves inside the groups, prominently in the region of Brick Lane which has been named as Banglatown.[48][49][50] Sylheti exiles are known as "Londoni" in Sylhet.[44][51] Many have likewise emigrated to the United States — they are for the most part spread out the nation over, yet have an extensive focus in New York City and Hamtramck, Michigan.[52][53] Many Sylhetis have and also emigrated to Canada, France, Australia, Spain, Germany, Sweden and other European nations. A huge number of Sylhetis are additionally functioning as visitor laborers in the Middle Eastern Gulf states.

Sylhet has a "Companionship Link" with the city of St Albans in the United Kingdom. The connection was set up in 1988 when the District gathering upheld a lodging venture in Sylhet as a major aspect of the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless.[citation needed] Sylhet was picked on the grounds that it is the territory of starting point for the biggest ethnic minority aggregate in St Albans.[56] In July 1996, the leader of Sylhet, Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, marked the Twinning accord amongst Sylhet and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets (home to around 55,000 Sylhetis at the time), with the chairman of Tower Hamlets late Albert Jacobs in London.[57] In March 2009, the Mayor of Sylhet, Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran, marked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to shape another Friendship Link amongst Sylhet and the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale (home to around 10,000 Sylhetis at exhibit), with the Mayor of Rochdale Cllr Keith Swift at the Sylhet City Corporation


Economy[edit]

A business building and inn in Sylhet

A. M. A. Muhith MP, Finance Minister of Bangladesh, speaks to Sylhet in the Jatiyo Sangshad

The Sylhet Metropolitan Area is one of Bangladesh's principle business focuses. Sylhet's economy is firmly connected with the Bangladeshi diaspora, particularly the British Bangladeshi people group. The city gets a noteworthy part of the nation's yearly settlements, which have driven development in land and construction.[58] various strip malls, eateries and inns have opened subsequently. Sylhet likewise depends on religious tourism, with a great many lovers going by its Sufi hallowed places every year, and in addition ecotourism in its more extensive regular hinterland. Nature resorts have been worked in the city's edges. A few essential Bangladeshi organizations are situated in Sylhet, including Jalalabad Gas Transmission and Distribution, Sylhet Gas Fields and Alim Industries. Biman Bangladesh Airlines works a few flights from Sylhet to the United Kingdom and the Middle East. Streets interface Sylhet with the Indian conditions of Meghalaya and Assam.

Sylhet's hinterland assumes an indispensable part in the economy of Bangladesh. It is home to the nation's biggest gaseous petrol fields, sole raw petroleum field,[59] biggest tea manors, elastic, palm oil, stick, agarwood[60] and citrus ranches. Rice creation in the locale is one of the nation's most astounding. Substantial businesses incorporate power plants, compost plants, bond plants and condensed oil gas plants. Other significant enterprises in the area incorporate earthenware production, hardware and gear, instant articles of clothing and pharmaceuticals. The greater part of the tea generation in Bangladesh is based around Sylhet, and the business likewise has noteworthy fares. The region is likewise known for delivering oranges and other comparable natural products. One of these organic product is called "Satkara".[citation needed]

Two Bangladeshi back priests from the city have been chosen to the Jatiyo Sangshad: Saifur Rahman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party and Abul Maal Abdul Muhith of the Awami League.

Utility[edit]

Sylhet has high rates of Electric power lack and water deficiency. As indicated by the Power Development Board, Sylhet is just getting 50MW, which is half than the request of 100MW. The city organization is additionally providing just 22,500 gallons of water, far not as much as the request of around 65,000.[61] The real wellsprings of water to the city is the tube wells and the Surma River. There are additionally elevated amounts of arsenic in the water in Sylhet than in most different locales, this is for the most part because of the various profundity screening in the tubewells.[62] According to the World Health Organization in 1997, around 61% are very tainted by arsenic,[63] however in 1999, the rate of boreholes tried where arsenic levels are over 50 micrograms for each liter, was under 25%.[64] There are around 331 enlisted eateries in the city, just 15% keep up clean offices and 85% have unhygienic conditions that are perilous for the public.[65]

Culture[edit]

Additional data: Culture of Bangladesh

Hason Raja

Sylhet has a particular social and monetary improvement, and etymological contrasts (Greater Sylhet area was a piece of Assam and Surma Valley State for a great part of the British Raj in contrast with whatever is left of Bangladesh), and given that Sylhet has, for the majority of its current history, been a district of a bigger entity.[66][67] As such a variety of Sylhetis are occupant abroad, Sylhet has a noteworthy stream of outside money from non-inhabitant Bangladeshis. The major occasions celebrated in Sylhet incorporate conventional and religious festivals, Muslim celebrations of Ramadan and afterward after, Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha.[68][69] Cultural or nationalistic festivals incorporate the Language Movement Day, this is the place wreaths are laid at the Shaheed Minar paying tribute to the saints, the Bangladeshi Independence Day, Victory Day celebrated with parades by school and foundations, and the Pohela Baishakh—festivity of the Bengali New Year. Relational unions are polished in a conventional Bengali Muslim style, with the gaaye halud, mehendi craftsmanship and blessed supplications.

Sports[edit]

Sylhet International Cricket Stadium

Cricket is the most well known Sport in Sylhet. Bangladesh Premier League establishment Sylhet Royals are situated in Sylhet International Cricket Stadium (M.A.G. Osmani Stadium), which was worked in 1965 and has a limit of 15,000 onlookers. It is for the most part utilized brandishing occasions. The Sylhet Stadium was revamped in 2013 particularly to have matches of 2014 ICC World Twenty20. It is arranged close rich green tea plants on the city periphery. In the National Cricket League Sylhet Division has not won any titles however won in the One-Day Cricket League in 2001–02 season. Eminent players from Sylhet who have played for the Bangladesh national cricket group incorporate Rajin Saleh,[70] Enamul Haque Jr,[71] Tapash Baisya,[72] and Alok Kapali.[73] Chess player Rani Hamid was granted the FIDE Women's International Master (WIM) title in 1985.

Transport[edit]

Additional data: Transport in Bangladesh

Osmani International Airport

Sylhet Central Railway station

The principle transport frameworks utilized as a part of the city are cycle rickshaws, auto rickshaws (for the most part known as infant taxicabs or CNGs), transports, smaller than usual transports and autos. There are around 80,000 rickshaws running every day. Transport benefit costs have expanded starting at 2008, up to 30% higher, costs ranges from Tk4 to 15.95.[74]

The N2 is the national roadway that associates the city with nation's capital and biggest city Dhaka and with numerous different parts of the nation. The N2 parkway is additionally part of AH1 and AH2-two longest courses of the Asian Highway Network.

The city of Sylhet is served by Osmani International Airport, situated at the north of the city. It is Bangladesh's third busiest air terminal and turned into a worldwide air terminal because of the request of exile Bangladeshis and their relatives from the United Kingdom and the United States. The fundamental incessant aircrafts of the airplane terminal are Biman Bangladesh Airlines, Flydubai, United Airways, US-Bangla Airlines and Novoair. The air terminal got its first worldwide entry on 3 November 2002, with Biman touching base from Kuwait through Abu Dhabi in transit to Dhaka.[75] Meanwhile, it got first immediate global landing on 15 March 2017 as a non-stop flight of Dubai based bearer Flydubai arrived at the airport.[76] Work began in 2006 to overhaul the air terminal to universal principles, including another terminal building, a jetway, a runway, and development of the runway to oblige wide-bodied aircraft.[77] It was affirmed that in May 2007, Biman will be working Hajj flights specifically from the air terminal later in 2007.[78]

Rail

The Sylhet Railway Station is the principle railroad station giving trains on national courses worked by the state-run Bangladesh Railway. Some critical prepare that causes/ends :

Towards Dhaka[edit]

Prepare No. Train Name Train Type Departures

710 Parabat Express Intercity Daily (with the exception of Fri)

718 Jayantika Express Intercity Daily

740 Upaban Express Intercity Daily

10 Surma Mail Mail Daily

Towards Chittagong[edit]

Prepare No. Train Name Train Type Departures

724 Udayan Express Intercity Daily (with the exception of Fri)

720 Paharika Express Intercity Daily (with the exception of Fri)

14 Jalalabad Express Mail Daily

Towards Akahura

Prepare No. Train Name Train Type Departures

18 Kushiara Express Mail Daily

Education[edit]

Primary article: List of instructive foundations of Sylhet

Additional data: Education in Bangladesh

There are two state funded colleges in Sylhet: Shahjalal University of Science and Technology and Sylhet Agricultural University.[79] There are some conspicuous schools in Sylhet, for example, Jalalabad Cantonment Public School and College, MAG Osmani Medical College, Sylhet, Sylhet Engineering College,[80] Sylhet Cadet College, Murari Chand College,[81] Institute of Health Technology, Sylhet and Sylhet Polytechnic Institute.

Education[edit]

Principle article: List of instructive establishments of Sylhet

Additional data: Education in Bangladesh

There are two state funded colleges in Sylhet: Shahjalal University of Science and Technology and Sylhet Agricultural University.[79] There are some unmistakable universities in Sylhet, for example, Jalalabad Cantonment Public School and College, MAG Osmani Medical College, Sylhet, Sylhet Engineering College,[80] Sylhet Cadet College, Murari Chand College,[81] Institute of Health Technology, Sylhet and Sylhet Polytechnic Institute.