Cox’s Bazar District Information

Cox’s Bazar District is a district in the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh. Cox’s Bazar thana was established in 1854 and Cox’s Bazar Subdivision was formed comprising of Cox’s Bazar sadar, Chakoria, Maheskhali and Teknaf thanas. Afterwards three new thanas were constituted under this subdivision such as Ukhia, Kutubdia and Ramu. Under the decentralisation scheme the thanas were transformed into upazilas and the Cox’s Bazar subdivision was elevated to a district in 1984. It consists of 7 upazilas, 3 municipalities, 27 wards, 58 mahallas, 67 union parishads, 199 mouzas and 975 villages. Upazilla or Thana are Chakaria Upazila, Coxs Bazar Sadar Upazila, Kutubdia Upazila, Maheshkhali Upazila, Ramu Upazila, Teknaf Upazila and Ukhia Upazila.

Area: 2491.86 square kilometers.

Boundary: This district is bounded by Chittagong district on the north, bay of bengal on the south, Bandarban district, Arakan (Myanmer) and the naf river on the east, the Bay of Bengal on the west.

Religion: Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists.

Major rivers: Matamuhuri, bakkhali, Reju Khal, Naf, Maheshkhali channel and Kutubdia channel.

Main forests areas : Phulchhari Range, Bhumaria-ghona Range, Meher-ghona Range, Bak Khali Range.

Weather: This district has a wonderful weather.The annual average temperature in Cox’s Bazar is 34.8 °C and a minimum of 16.1 °C. The climate remains hot and humid with some seasons of temperate weather. The average amount of rainfall is 4285 nm.

Mode of transportation: Cox’s Bazar is connected both by air and road from Dhaka and Chittagong.

History of the name: It is named after Cox’s Bazar, which is one of the world’s longest natural sea beaches (120 km) including mud flats. It is located 150 km south of Chittagong. Cox’s Bazar is also known by the name “Panowa”, the literal translation of which means “yellow flower”. Its other old name was “Palongkee”. The modern Cox’s Bazar derives its name from Captain Cox (died 1798), an army officer serving in British India. Captain Cox was specially mobilized to deal with a century long conflict between Arakan refugees and local Rakhains. The Captain was a compassionate soul and the plight of the people touched his heart. He embarked upon the mammoth task of rehabilitating refugees in the area, and made significant progress. The work he had done earned him a place in the hearts of the locals and to commemorate his role in rehabilitation work a market was established and named after him as Cox’s Bazaar (“Cox’s Market”). Often termed as the “World’s longest beach”, Cox’s Bazar is yet to become a major tourist destination in Asia allegedly due to lack of publicity.

Cox’s Bazar Town :
This is a small port and health resort. But it is mostly famous for its long natural sandy beach. The town is full of hotel and restaurants.The municipality covers an area of 6.85 km² with 27 mahallas and 9 wards and has a population of 51,918. Cox’s Bazar is connected by road and air with Chittagong.

Speciality of the district:
Cox’s Bazar is Often termed as the “World’s longest beach”. As one of the most beautiful and famous tourist spots in Bangladesh, the major source of economy in Cox’s Bazar is tourism. Millions of foreigners and Bangladeshi natives visit this coastal city every year. As a result, a large number of hotels, guest houses and motels have been built in the city and coastal region
It is also one of the fishing ports of Bangladesh.A number of people are also involved in fishing and collecting seafood and sea products for their livelihood. Various kinds of Oyster, Snail, Pearl and their ornaments are very popular with tourists in seaside and city stores.
the first surfing initiative in Bangladesh’s history is in 2002 in Cox’s Bazar.It has now extended to hold an annual competition including locals and foreign tourists.
Submarine Cable Landing Station is here.
The sand at Cox’s Bazar beach and surrounding areas is rich in heavy-metal mineral content. The heavy minerals of Cox’s Bazar beach sands are dominated by hornblende, garnet, epidote, ilmenites (both unaltered and altered) with magnetite, rutile, pyrite and some hydroxides. Inani beach has also a lot of diposite like Cox’s Bazar. Surrounding islands of Maheshkhali, Kutubdia and Nijhum Deep as well as mainland beach in Teknaf area are also believed to have similar large deposits. The total deposit in these locations is about 20.5 million tons of raw sand, which contains 4.4 million tons of heavy minerals .

Places of interest:
Cox’s Bazar, mostly famous for its beautiful sea beach and the sunset, has several other attractions.
The main attraction of Cox’s Bazar is the long sandy beach that stretches from the mouth of the Bakkhali river going all the way to Teknaf.
Laboni Beach: This is the main beach of Cox’s Bazar and is considered the main beach due to the fact that it is closest to the town. Close to the beach, there are hundreds of small shops selling souvenirs and beach accessories to the tourists.
Himchari: Located about 18 km south of Cox’s Bazar[13] along the sea beach, is a nice place for the picnic and film shooting. This picnic spot is famous for its waterfalls. Its another attraction is the Christmas tree. Birds and animals roam near the road.
inani Beach: Located 35 km south of Cox’s Bazar, this white sandy beach is located within Ukhia Thana.[15] This beach is famous for its golden sand and clean shark free water which is ideal for sea bathing. Inani beach is famous for the rock and coral boulders. big coral boulders are found in this beach. It is only 32 km from the main beach.
Cox’s Bazar, mostly famous for its beautiful sea beach and the sunset, has several other attractions, including:
Aggmeda Khyang: a large Buddhist monastery, and a place revered by around 400,000 Buddhist people of Cox’s Bazar; and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. Equally elaborate in plan, elevation and decoration is the Aggameda Khyang near the entrance to the Cox’s Bazar town which nestles at the foot of a hill under heavy cover of a stand of large trees. The main sanctuary-cum-monastery is carried on a series of round timber columns, which apart from accommodating the prayer chamber and an assembly hall, also is the repository of a large of small bronze Buddha images-mostly of Burmese origin– and some old manuscripts.

Ramu : This is a typical Buddhist village, about 16 km. from Cox’s Bazar, on the main road to Chittagong. There are monasteries, khyangs and pagodas containing images of Buddha in gold, bronze and other metals inilaid with precious stones. One of the most interesting of these temples is on the bank of the Baghkhali river.The village is famous for its handicrafts and homemade cigars.
The village has a charm of its own. Weavers ply there trade in open workshops and craftsmen make handmade cigars in their pagoda like houses.

Dulhazra Safari Park: This safari park is an extension of an animal sanctuary located along the Chittagong-Cox’s Bazar road about 50 km from Cox’s Bazar town. The sanctuary itself protects a large number of wild elephants which are native to the area. Other animal attractions include lions, Bengal tigers, Crocodiles, Bears, Chitals and lots of different types of birds and monkey.

Maheskhali : An island off the coast of Cox’s Bazar. It has an area of 268 square kilometers. In the hills on the coast is built the shrine of Adinath, dedicated to siva. By its side on the same hill is Buddhist Pagoda.

Sonadia Island : It is about seven kilometer of Cox’s Bazar and about nine square kilometer in area. The western side of the island is sandy and different kinds of shells are found on the beach. Off the northern part of the island, there are beds of window pane oysters.

Teknaf : Southernmost tip of Bangladesh, Teknaf situated on the Naaf river and just at the end of the hilly regions of the district. Mayanmar is on the opposite bank of Naaf river. Wild animals and birds are available .

St. Martin’s Island: This is the only coral island in Bangladesh, situated at 9km south of Teknaf. It is a very popular tourist spot in the country. Sometimes it is considered as most beautiful place ofg Bangladesh.
Coxsbazar Circuit House:this is located 2 km from the Laboni Point, famous for its location. As from this location tourist can see the sea from a height and also enjoy the view of Coxsbazar city.