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Sylhet
Sylhet (Bengali: সিলেট, Sylheti: ꠍꠤꠟꠐ) is a metropolitan city in northeastern Bangladesh. It is the administrative seat of Sylhet Division. The city is located on the right bank of the Surma River in northeastern Bengal. It has a subtropical climate and lush highland terrain. The city has a population of more than half a million. Sylhet is one of Bangladesh's most important spiritual and cultural centres. It is one of the most important cities of Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong due to its importance to the country's economy. Sylhet produces the highest amount of tea and gas in the country.
In 1303, the Sultan of Lakhnauti Shamsuddin Firoz Shah conquered Sylhet by defeating Gour Govinda. Sylhet was a realm of the Bengal Sultanate. In the 16th-century, Sylhet was controlled by the Baro-Bhuyan zamindars and later became a sarkar (district) of the Mughal Empire. Sylhet emerged as the Mughals' most significant imperial outpost in the east and its importance remained as such throughout the seventeenth century. British rule began in the 18th century under the administration of the East India Company. With its ancient seafaring tradition, Sylhet became a key source of lascars in the British Empire. The Sylhet municipal board was established in 1867. Originally part of the Bengal Presidency and later Eastern Bengal and Assam; the town was part of Colonial Assam between 1874 and 1947 when following a referendum and the partition of British India, it became part of East Bengal. The Sylhet City Corporation was constituted in 2001. The Government of Bangladesh designated Sylhet a metropolitan area in 2009.
The hinterland of the Sylhet valley is the largest oil and gas-producing region in Bangladesh. It is also the largest hub of tea production in Bangladesh. It is notable for its high-quality cane and agarwood. The city is served by the Osmani International Airport which is named after General M A G Osmani, the Commander of the Bangladesh Liberation Forces. People from Sylhet form a significant portion of the Bangladeshi diaspora, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as other countries in the Middle East.
Toponymy
The name Sylhet is an anglicisation of Shilhot (শিলহট). Its origins seem to come from the Sanskrit words of শিলা śilā (meaning stone) and হট্ট haṭṭa (meaning marketplace). These words match the landscape and topography of the hilly region. The Shila stones were abundant across Sylhet and King Gour Govinda is known to have used stones to guard his capital. The word changed to Shilhot due to the elision of letter-final অ ô in the Bengali language.
History
In 1995, the Government of Bangladesh declared Sylhet as the sixth divisional headquarters of the country.[12] Sylhet has played a vital role in the Bangladeshi economy. Several of Bangladesh's finance ministers have been Members of Parliament from the city of Sylhet. Badar Uddin Ahmed Kamran was a longtime mayor of Sylhet. Humayun Rashid Choudhury, a diplomat from Sylhet, served as President of the UN General Assembly and Speaker of the Bangladesh National Parliament.
In 2001, the municipality was upgraded to the Sylhet City Corporation. It was made a metropolitan city in 2009.
Geography and climate
Sylhet is located at 24.8917°N 91.8833°E, in the northeastern region of Bangladesh within the Sylhet Division, within the Sylhet District and Sylhet Sadar Upazila. Sylhet has a typical Bangladesh tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) bordering on a humid subtropical climate (Cwa) at higher elevations. The rainy season from April to October is hot and humid with very heavy showers and thunderstorms almost every day, whilst the short dry season from November to February is very warm and fairly clear. Nearly 80% of the annual average rainfall of 4,200 millimetres (170 in) occurs between May and September.
The city is located within the region where there are hills and basins which constitute one of the most distinctive regions in Bangladesh. The physiography of Sylhet consists mainly of hill soils, encompassing a few large depressions known locally as "beels" which can be mainly classified as oxbow lakes, caused by tectonic subsidence primarily during the earthquake of 1762.
Geologically, the region is complex having diverse sacrificial geomorphology; high topography of Plio-Miocene age. Available limestone deposits in different parts of the region suggest that the whole area was under the ocean in the Oligo-Miocene. In the last 150 years three major earthquakes hit the city, at a magnitude of at least 7.5 on the Richter Scale, the last one took place in 1918, although many people are unaware that Sylhet lies on an earthquake prone zone.
Administration
Further information: Wards of Sylhet City Corporation
Sylhet is divided into 6 metropolitan thanas(police station) and consists of 27 wards and 224 mahallas. The thanas are:
Bimanbandar Thana
Kotwali Thana Google Maps
Jalalabad Thana Google Maps
Dakshin Surma Thana Google Maps
Mogla Bazar Thana Google Maps
Shah Paran Thana
It is a small city with an area of 26.50 km2. The rapid growth and expansion of Sylhet occurred during the colonial period. Sylhet Municipality was established in 1878. A devastating earthquake demolished almost the entire town on 12 June 1897 following which a modern and European model new town was built on the wreckage. Many new roads were constructed in the late 1890s and Sylhet became really connected to the other parts of the country with the establishment of an extension line of Assam Bengal Railway in 1912–15. From the beginning of the 20th century, the importance of Sylhet increased with the establishment of the tea industry. In the 1950s and 1960s, rapid urbanisation took place in the town, fostered by the expatriate Sylhetis and the process is still ongoing.
On 10 April 2001, Sylhet was changed to a city corporation from a municipal board, and currently, the city is administrated by the Sylhet City Corporation. At present, Sylhet is the district-headquarters as well as the divisional headquarters of the districts of Sunamganj, Habiganj, Moulvibazar and Sylhet District. The Sylhet City Corporation is responsible for the services that are provided within the city which includes traffic, roads, garbage collection, water supply, registrations and many others. The corporation consists of the Mayor and 22 other commissioners, and focuses on the development of the city.
Healthcare
Recently a medical university called Sylhet Medical University has been established in the city. According to the Prime Minister's order to strictly monitor whether medical standards are being properly maintained in medical colleges, a medical university will be set up in each division. According to the order, Chittagong and Rajshahi Medical University have already been established. Sylhet Medical University is the 4th Medical University of the directive.
Culture
Sylhet has a very diverse culture which is noticeably distinct from that of Bengali owing to the influx of multi-ethnic immigrants in ancient times. There is a widely held misconception through which Sylhetis are usually seen as having a conservative mindset; a very inaccurate portrayal of Sylhetis and their culture, while in reality, it's quite the opposite thanks to Sylheti culture's liberal and pro-plurality outlook. Sylhet is religiously very diverse, and is noted for peaceful co-existence, harmony, and mutual respect between its inhabitants of different faiths since ancient times. Sylhet has a distinct cultural and economic development, and linguistic differences (Greater Sylhet region was a part of Assam and Surma Valley State for much of the British Raj in comparison to the rest of Bangladesh), and given that Sylhet has, for most of its recent history, been a region of a larger entity. As so many Sylhetis are resident abroad, Sylhet has a major flow of foreign currency from non-resident Bangladeshis. The major holidays celebrated in Sylhet include traditional and religious celebrations. Cultural or nationalistic celebrations include the Language Movement Day, this is where wreaths are laid at the Shaheed Minar paying tribute to the martyrs, the Bangladeshi Independence Day, Victory Day celebrated with parades by school and academies, and the Pohela Baishakh—celebration of the Bengali New Year. Marriages are practised in a traditional Sylheti Muslim style, Sini faan (engagement) with the Gaaye halud (haldi or turmeric ceremony), Mehndi (henna ceremony) Akht (Nikah or Muslim way of marriage), Bidaai (Rukhsati/baraat or the farewell of bride), walima (reception) holy prayers. The traditional dance of Sylhet is called Sylheti Dhamail. Shah Abdul Karim and Hason Raja are two of the most prominent figures in Bengali culture for their contribution in Bangla music.
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