Barisal District Information

Posted In: Barishal, by on May, 16 2011. 14 Comments

Barisal District is a district in southern Bangladesh and is also the headquarter of Barisal Division. Formerly the district was called Bakerganj which was established as a district in 1797. It was a municipality from1876 to 2002 and upgraded to city corporation in 2002. Barisal was declared a division on 1 January, 1993. Barisal district consists of one city corporation, five municipalities, 66 wards, 111 mahallas, 10 upazilas, 86 union parishads, 1147 mouzas and 1175 villages. 10 upazilas are AGAILJHARA, BABUGANJ, BAKERGANJ, BANARIPARA, GOURNADI, HIZLA, BARISAL SADAR, MEHENDIGANJ, MULADI, WAZIRPUR.

Naming History: In Ancient name Barisal was a kingdom CHANDRADVIPA. The capital of this kingdom was at Bakla. The founder of the kingdom was Danuj Madhav or Danuj Mardhan Dev. It was formerly known as Chandradip. Then in British period it became a district and named as Bakerganj. After all now it is Barisal district.

Area: 2790.51 sq km.

Boundary: The district is bounded by MADARIPUR, SHARIATPUR, CHANDPUR and LAKSHMIPUR districts on the north, PATUAKHALI, BARGUNA and JHALOKATI districts on the south, BHOLA and Lakshmipur districts on the east, Jhalokati, PIROJPUR and GOPALGANJ districts on the west.

Communication facilities: As like as other district Barisal district has a lot of roads where bus and other transports are common. Barisal is connected by steamer with Dhaka to the north and with Chittagong to the southeast. There is a airport also which is located just outside of the city. It has frequent flight services to Dhaka via Biman Bangladesh Airlines and GMG Airlines.

Weather: The maximum annual average temperature of Barisal is 35.1°C, minimum 12.1°C. Annual rainfall is 1955 mm.

Main rivers: The Meghna, Arial Khan,Kacha , Kirtonkhola,Tentulia , Naya Bhanga, Jayanti, Shwarupkathi and Amtali.

Marks of the War of Liberation: There are 3 Mass killing site, 2 mass grave, 2 sculpture and 4 memorial.

Population: 2330960. Among them male are 49.99%, female 50.01%.

Religion: Muslim 86.19%; Hindu 13.10%, Christian 0.63% and others 0.08%.

Literacy rate: 42.9%; male 47.9%, female 37.9%.

Main occupations: Agriculture 35.28%, agricultural labourer 18.76%,commerce 13.89%, service 10.64% etc.

Economical base: Mostly based on farming and fishing.

Main crops: Paddy, jute, oil seed, betel leaf, onion, sugarcane etc.

Main fruits: Mango, jackfuit, banana, coconut, litchi, betel nut, black berry, guava, amra etc.

Mills and factories: Jute mill, textile mill, pharmaceutical industry, biscuit factory, flour mill, oil mill, ice factory and rice mill.

Major Educational institutions: There is a medical college Sher-E-Bangla Medical College in Barisal city. There is also 1 university college B M COLLEGE (1889) which is famous. There are also 1 polytechnic institute, 1 physical education college, 2 teacher’s training college,1nursing institute 1, 1 cadet college (Barisal Cadet College) in this district. Beside these there are 7 government college, 39 non-government college, 4 government high school, 312 non-government high school and many other junior school. Government, non governmewnt primary schools.

Places to see:
• Durga sagar. A large pond which is famous for the migrant birds.
• The Bell’s on the banks of River Kirtonkhola.
• Kuakata beach. Here sunrise and sunset can be seen at a time.
• Dapdapia Bridge over the river Kirtonkhola.
• Rammohan Samadhi Mandir
• Sujabad Kella
• Sangram Kella
• Sharkal Fort
• Girja Mahalla
• Ebadullah Mosque
• Kasai Mosque
• Oxford Church
• Shankar Math
• Kali Bari of Mukunda Das
• Joint Mosque at Bhatikhana
• Aswini Kumar Town hall
• One domed Mosque (Kasba)
• Brass image of Manasa weighing three maunds (Char Bania Bari)

Barisal City:
The city lies in the Ganges (Padma) River delta and on the bank of Kirtonkhola. Barisal became municipality in 1957 and remains until 2002 when it was upgraded into a city corporation. The city corporation consists of 30 wards and 50 mahallahs. The area of the city is 16.37 sq km. It has a population of 202242. Among them male are 53.28%, female 46.72%. Literacy rate among the city dweller is 65%.

Notable Personalities:
• Aroj Ali Matubbar. Famous Philosopher.
• A. K. Fazlul Huq. Famous politician.
• Brojomohun Dutta
• Aswini Kumar Dutta .Founder of BM College
• Jibanananda Das. Famous bangla poet.
• Sufia Kamal. Famous bangla poet.
• Kamini Roy. Famous bangla poet.
• Abdur Rahman Biswas .A president and politician.
• Altaf Mahmud .A famous music director & Lyrician.
• Abdul Gaffar Choudhury . Famous Journalist.
• Tofazzal Hossain Manik Miah. Founder Editor of The Daily Ittefuq.

About Shakilah

Loves history, culture and traveling to new places!