Portal:Bangladesh/Selected article archive/January 2008

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Banglapedia is the national encyclopedia of Bangladesh, available in print, in CD-ROM format and online. It is written both in Bangla and in English. Its chief editor is Sirajul Islam and is published by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. It is planned to be updated every two years. The goal of this ten-volume reference work, initiated in 1998, is to inquire, interpret and integrate the lived experiences and achievements of the people of Bangladesh from ancient times to date. More than 6,000 entries were contributed by over 1,200 writers and specialists. The project was at a cost of taka 80 million, to which UNESCO made a contribution under the participation programme through Bangladesh National Commission for UNESCO. More than 8,000 sets of the Banglapedia have sold out in advance, earning Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Taka 30 million.

The project, conceptually and territorially, interprets the term Bangladesh to mean successively ancient Eastern India, Suba Bangla, Shahi Bangalah, Mughal Suba Bangla, Bengal Presidency, Bengal Province, East Bengal, East Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Banglapedia entries are compiled and edited in six different editorial categories, namely, arts and humanities, history and heritage, state and governance, society and economy, natural sciences and biological sciences, in addition to a gazetteer group focusing on districts and upazilas. It covers, on the physical plane, the rise of the Bengal Delta, and its evolution to date. Attention has been given, on the human plane, to the changing features of the formation of the delta's janapada or human settlements. That includes the rise and fall of kingdoms, invasions from within and beyond and their implications, dynastic rules and administration, as well as other aspects of Bangladesh's past and present. Extensive coverage has been given to political geography, religion, literature, art and architecture, folk practices and institutions, indigenous and colonial administration, politics, society, economy, ethnicity, and the sciences. (more...)