The city is 333 km southwest of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, to which it is connected by air, road, train and water transportation. The steamer fleet for this route includes the ancient ships Tern (1912), Osrich and Lepcha.

Famous as an important centre of Buddhist culture from the 7th to 12th centuries, the buildings excavated here were made wholly of baked bricks. There are more than 50 scattered Buddhist sites, but the three most important are Salban Vihara, Kotila Mura and Charpatra Mura.

Salban Vihara was a well-planned, 170 sq m (182 sq ft) monastery facing a temple in the centre of the courtyard. Nearby is a museum housing the finds excavated here, which include terracotta plaques, bronze statues, a bronze casket, coins, jewellery and votive stupas embossed with Buddhist inscriptions.

Kotila Mura comprises three large stupas representing Buddha, Dharma and Sangha, the ‘Three Jewels of Buddhism’. The most important discovery at Charpatra Mura were four royal copper-plate decrees, three belonging to Chandra rulers, the other to Sri Viradhara Deva, a later Hindu king.

Note that some of the major ruins are within a military cantonment and cannot be visited without permission from military officers.

Under Mughal rule in the 17th century, the city was also known as Jahangir Nagar, and was both a provincial capital and a centre of the world-wide muslin trade. The modern city, however, was developed chiefly under British rule in the 19th century, and soon became the second-largest city in Bengal after Calcutta (presently Kolkata). With the partition of India in 1947, Dhaka became the administrative capital of East Pakistan, and later, in 1972, the capital of an independent Bangladesh. During the intervening period, the city witnessed widespread turmoil; this included many impositions of martial law, the declaration of Bangladesh’s independence, military suppression, devastation during war, and natural calamities.

Modern Dhaka is the centre of political, cultural and economic life in Bangladesh.^{[citation needed]} It has both the highest literacy rate – 62.3%^[5] – and the most diverse economy amongst Bangladeshi cities. Although its urban infrastructure is the most developed in the country, it nonetheless faces challenges such as pollution, congestion, supply shortages, poverty and crime. In recent decades, Dhaka has seen modernisation of transport, communications and public works. The city is attracting considerable foreign investment and greater volumes of commerce and trade. It is also experiencing an increasing influx of people from across the nation.

The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal and India in 1947, when the region became the eastern wing of the newly-formed Pakistan. However, it was separated from the western wing by 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) across India. Political and linguistic discrimination as well as economic neglect led to popular agitations against West Pakistan, whose campaign of suppression led to the war for independence in 1971 and the establishment of Bangladesh after the East Bengali independence militia and Indian Army jointly defeated Pakistani forces. However, the new state had to endure famines, natural disasters and widespread poverty, as well as political turmoil and military coups. The restoration of democracy in 1991 has been followed by relative stability and economic progress.

Bangladesh is among the most densely populated countries in the world and has a high poverty rate. Geographically the country straddles the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and is subject to annual monsoon floods and cyclones. The government is a parliamentary democracy; however, civilian rule has been suspended under emergency law since 11 January 2007. Bangladesh is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, SAARC, BIMSTEC, the OIC, and the D-8. As the World Bank notes in its July 2005 Country Brief, the country has made significant progress in human development in the areas of literacy, gender parity in schooling and reduction of population growth.