Char Alexander

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Char Alexander (Ramgoti) is a small island located off the coast of Noakhali, Bangladesh. When Alexander the Great reached South-East part of India, (now Noakhali, Bangladesh) in July of 327 B.C.E., he landed on the island, and noticed the fertility of land and the versatility of the local people. Thus the island was named after him. He recruited twenty one local citizens to his army, and took them to Macedonia (now Greece) to train, while sixteen of his soldiers stayed behind until Alexander returned the following year in an attempt to wage a war with a local Indian clan.

Alexander fought a battle in India against Porus, an Indian leader, at the river Hydaspes in July of 326 B.C.E. Alexander's army crossed the river during a thunderstorm to meet Porus' forces. The Indians were defeated, even though they fought with elephants, which the Macedonians had never before seen. Alexander captured Porus, and like the other local rulers he had defeated, allowed him to continue to govern his territory. Alexander also subdued an independent province and granted it to Porus as a gift. During the battle, Alexander's horse, Bucephalus, was wounded and died. Alexander had ridden Bucephalus into every battle in Greece and Asia, so he founded a city in his horse's name.

Alexander's next goal was to reach the Ganges River, which was 250 miles away, because he thought that it flowed into the outer ocean. His troops, however, had heard tales of the powerful Indian tribes that lived on the Ganges river, and remembered the difficulty of the battle with Porus, so they refused to go any farther east. Alexander accepted their decision, and persuaded them to travel south down the rivers Hydaspes and Indus, so that they might reach the ocean on the southern edge of the world. The army rode down the rivers on the rivers on rafts, attacking and subduing villages along the way. During this trip, Alexander sought out the Indian philosophers, the Brahmins, who were famous for their wisdom, and debated them on philosophical issues.

One of the villages in which the army stopped belonged to the Malli, who were said to be one of the most warlike of the Indian tribes. Alexander was wounded several times in the attack, most seriously when an arrow pierced his breastplate and his ribcage. The Macedonian officers rescued him in a narrow escape from the village.

Alexander and his army reached the mouth of the Indus in July of 325 B.C.E., and turned westward to return to their home.