Khulna District Information
Khulna is a district in the southern area of Bangladesh within Khulna Division. Khulna district was established on 1882. The district consists of 9 upazilas and 5 thanas, 71 union parishads, 2 municipalities, 47 wards, 188 mahallas, 747 mouzas and 1106 villages. The upazilas are Terokhada Upazila, Batiaghata Upazila, Dacope Upazila, Dumuria Upazila, Dighalia Upazila, Koyra Upazila, Paikgachha Upazila, Phultala Upazila and Rupsa Upazila.
Naming History:Khulna was named after a goddess of the Hindu religion, Khulleshwari.
Area: 4394.46 km²
Boundary: Khulna district is bordered on the north by the Jessore District and the Narail District, on the south by the Bay of Bengal, on the east by the Bagerhat District, and on the west by the Satkhira District.
Distance from capital city: Khulna city is 333 km southwest of Dhaka.
Transportation: Transportation process is mainly by roads, waterways and railways. Khulna city is connected with Dhaka by air, rail, waterways and by road.
Seaport: Mongla seaport. The largest seaport of Bangladesh.
Weather: Annual average temperature of this district is 35.5°C and lowest 12.5°C. Annual rainfall is 1710 mm.
Main rivers: Rupsa-Pasur, Bhairab, Shibsha, Dharla, Bhadra, Ball, and Kobadak.
Forest: Sundarbans (Part of the largest Mangrove Forest of the world).
Marks of War of Liberation: As the symbol of brutality of Pakistani Army of 1971 there are 3 Mass graves in Khulna. And as a symbol of brave patriot Bangalis there are 1 Sculpture (Bir Bangali) and 5 Monument.
Population: 2334285. Among them male are 51.87%, female 48.13%.
Religion: Muslim 73.49%, Hindu 25.74%, Christian 0.67%, Buddhist 0.04%, and Others 0.06%.
Literacy rate: 43.9%. Among them male are 52.2%, female 34.6%.
Main occupations: Agriculture 25.11%, service 18.93%, industry 16.38%, agricultural labourer 11.3% etc.
Main crops: Paddy, jute, sesame, betel nut, vegetable etc.
Main fruits: Jackfruit, mango, banana etc.
Mills and factories: Paper mill, jute mills, salt industry, hard board mill, textile mill, match factory, shipyard, steel mill, cable mill, rice mill, flour mill, ice factory, press mill, saw mill etc.
Main exports: Paddy, rice, jute, sesame, betel nut, gur, mango, jackfruit and prawn.
Educational institutions:
Khulna has many famous educational institutions. There is 1 public university is called Khulna University. Beside this there are 5 private universities Northern University Bangladesh(NUB), America Bangladesh University(AMBUN), Darul Ihsan University(DIU), Asian University.(AU) and West Coast University Panama Bangladesh Centre.(WCU) (CBHE Provider). Khulna city has a Government financed engineering University and a medical college. They are Khulna University of Engineering and Technology and Khulna Medical College (K.M.C.). There are also some famous University colleges like Brajalal Gov. college and Azam Khan Government Commerce College. Beside these there is a teacher’s training college, 1 regional public administration training institute, 1 polytechnic institute, 1 vocational institute, 1 homeopathic college and 1 social welfare training centre. Khulna is under the Jessore Education Board. This board varies the SSC and HSC standard. Thewre are many famous schools and colleges all over the district.
Places of interest:
• Khulna owns the major part of Sundarbans.The Sundarbans is the largest mangrove forest in the world. The royal Bengal tiger inhabits the area. There are many other rare animals like monkeys, chitra deer, crocodiles, wild cocks, wild pigs and thousands of kinds of birds.
• The historically-famous Shatgombuj Mosque (Sixty Dome Mosque) is in the Bagerhat District. Actually it has 77 domes.
• Khan Jahan Ali’s mazar and the lake . he was a famous saint. The lake has crocodiles of sweet water which is rare.
• Kuakatan. Both the rising and the setting of the sun into the ocean can be seen.
Khulna city:
Khulna is the third largest city in Bangladesh. It is located on the banks of the Rupsha and Bhairab rivers and a famous port city. The seaport is called Mongla port just 38 km from Khulna City. It is the divisional headquarters of Khulna Division and a major industrial and commercial center. The city has a n airport and also many ancient ships Tern (1912), Osrich and Lepcha. Khulna has a shipyard also but it receives limited support from the Bangladesh Navy by building small, ocean-going ships. Newspaper mills, jute mills and salt industries has a lot of contributions for its economy. Khulna city consists of 38 wards and 183 mahallas. The area of the city is 20.60 sq km. The literacy rate among the town people is 59.1%.The population of the city is 855,650 (2007) and the wider Statistical Metropolitan Area had at the same time an estimated population of 1,388,425.