Bangladesh Trivia Quiz

Answer: India

Bangladesh is part of the Indian subcontinent, which also includes India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Bangladesh is almost completely surrounded by India to the west, north and east. A small part of southeastern Bangladesh (around 273 kilometres) borders Myanmar. Much of southern Bangladesh borders the Bay of Bengal.

Answer: 1971

The name 'Bangladesh' means 'Land of the Bengals'. Bengal is a historic area that has been inhabited for thousands of years. It became a province of British India towards the end of the 18th century. During the 1947 partition of India, the province of Bengal was divided: West Bengal became part of India and East Bengal became a Pakistani province (separated from the rest of Pakistan by almost 2000 kilometres of Indian territory.). Decades later, in 1971, East Bengal gained independence and became Bangladesh.

Answer: Dhaka

Dhaka (which can also be spelled Dacca) is a huge city roughly in the centre of Bangladesh. It was the provincal capital of the Mughal dynasty during the 17th century. The city was known for its sea trade, but became less prominent under British rule. When Bangladesh was formed in 1947, Dhaka was its capital city.

Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia, Kabul is the capital of Afghanistan, and Tehran is the capital of Iran.

Answer: Indian Ocean

The Indian Ocean makes up around one fifth of all the ocean area on Earth and the Bay of Bengal is a small northern part of it. Bangladesh borders the bay, along with India and Myanmar. Sri Lanka and Indonesia are island nations that also border the Bay of Bengal.

Answer: Ganges

The Ganges is the holy river in Hinduism and is closely associated with the religion, which began in the area of Asia that the Ganges runs through (though most of the population of Bangladesh identifies as Muslim). The river begins in the Himalayas, travels through India, and empties into the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh.

The stretch of the Ganges that flows through Bengal (which includes Bangladesh and a small part of India) is known as the Padma. While the Ganges is a relatively small river, it's notable because of its religious significance.

Answer: Heavy rainfall in the monsoon season

The monsoon period brings heavy rainfall to Bangladesh from June to September. Severe storms are common at the beginning and end of the monsoon season with winds that can reach speeds of around 100 miles per hour. In coastal areas, the storms can cause huge waves that can damage property.

The unpredictable nature of the storms and floods, coupled with significant levels of poverty in Bangladesh, has caused thousands of people to die over the centuries that Bangladesh has been inhabited.

Answer: It flooded and followed a new course.

One word to describe Bangladesh would be 'wet'. During the monsoon season, the country floods frequently. In 1787, the Tista River flooded so much that its waters were diverted onto a different course. As a result of the flood and river course change, a new smaller stream was also formed. By the early 1800s, the stream had grown into a river, which became the Jamuna.

Answer: Lychee

Lychees have rough pink-coloured skin and white flesh inside. They are small, round fruits that grow in clusters on a lychee tree. Lychees are native to Southeast Asia and need constantly moist soil to grow effectively. The fruit has been linked to the deaths of malnourished children in Bangladesh and other Southeast Asian countries because it contains a toxin that affects food metabolism, particularly when it is unripe.

Answer: 1052 metres

Bangladesh borders a thin strip of Indian territory to the north. Beyond India to the northwest is Nepal, to the northeast is Bhutan, and running across all three countries is the Himalayan mountain range. Despite being relatively close to Everest, Bangladesh is a low-lying country.

It was built on the deltaic plains of two rivers and much of the country is on average around 9 metres above sea level. While most of the land is flat, the Chittagong Hill Tracts form the eastern border with Myanmar. Saka Haphong is the highest recorded mountain in the region (and the country) and stands at 1052 metres.

It's smaller than Scotland's Ben Nevis (1344 metres) and Mount Washington (1916 metres) in New Hampshire.

Answer: The Sundarbans

The Sundarbans became the third UNESCO World Heritage site in Bangladesh in 1997. It is a mangrove forest on the Bay of Bengal which is home to a wide range of flora and fauna, some of which are under threat from extinction like the Bengal tiger and the Indian python. The Sundarbans joined two historic Bangladeshi sites on the UNESCO list: the Historic Mosque City of Bagerhat and the Ruins of the Buddhist Vihara at Paharpur.