Netrakona (District)

Netrokona District
Basic data
Country	Bangladesh
division	Maimansingh
Seat	Netrakona
surface	2,794.3 km²
Residents	2,229,642 (2011)
density	798 inhabitants per km²
ISO 3166-2	BD-41
Website	netrokona.gov.bd

Coordinates: 24 ° 53 '  N , 90 ° 44'  E

Netrakona ( Bengali নেত্রকোনা জেলা , Netrakonā jelā ) English : Netrokona district ) is an administrative district in Bangladesh , which is located in the center of the Maimansingh division, which was newly formed in 2015 . Previously, the district was part of the Dhaka Division . The district capital is the city of Netrakona .

geography

The 2794.28 km² district of Netrakona is surrounded by several other districts, Sunamganj in the east, Kishoreganj in the south and Maimansingh in the west. It borders India in the north .

The main rivers in Netrakona are the Dhala , Kangsha , Shila , Someshwari and Teorkali , all of which are part of the Meghna river system.

Nature and wildlife

The vegetation corresponds to that of the lowland areas of Bengal and Assam with numerous evergreen trees. There are also fruit trees, palms and banana trees. However, the landscape is largely characterized by the intensive cultivation of rice, sugar cane, jute, tobacco and mustard.

The fauna includes several species of deer, elephants and tigers. However, wild elephants and tigers have become rare because of deforestation and the rapidly increasing population (settlement pressure). There are also numerous species of birds, fish, reptiles, snakes and amphibians.

climate

The climate is tropical and warm all year round. The annual average temperature varies from a maximum of 33.3 degrees Celsius to a minimum of 12 degrees. The annual rainfall is 2174 mm (2011) and the humidity is high all year round. There is little rain in the months from November to March. June, July and August are the months with the most rain.

history

In the Middle Ages it was part of various small kingdoms that were partly Buddhist, partly Hindu. First it was part of the Kingdom of Kamarupa , then from 750 of the Kingdom of Pala and from 1120 part of the Sena Empire . From the 12th century onwards, Muslim armies tried to conquer the area, which they succeeded between 1204 and 1303. It belonged first to the Sultanate of Delhi , later to the Sultanate of Bengal and then to the Mughal Empire . From 1765 it belonged to British India as part of the Dhaka Division to the Mymensingh District (today Maimansingh Division). The sub-district emerged in the 19th century. From 1947 to 1971 the district was part of East Pakistan in the Republic of Pakistan. On January 17, 1984 the previous sub-district Netrakona became an independent district.

population

Population development

As everywhere in Bangladesh, the population in the district has been growing rapidly for decades. The following table illustrates this:

age structure

As everywhere in Bangladesh, the population is on average very young. The average age at the last census in 2011 was 20 years and the trend is rising.

The 2011 census showed the following age structure:

Age	0–9 years	10–19 years	20-29 years	30–39 years	40-49 years	50–59 years	60–69 years	70–79 years	80 years and more
number	626.904	437.697	341,733	276.833	215.239	139,304	101,613	56,376	33,943
proportion of	28.12%	19.63%	15.33%	12.42%	9.65%	6.25%	4.56%	2.53%	1.52%
Source: Zila Netrakona, table P14, page 422

Significant places

The most populous place within the district is the district capital Netrakona . Other towns are Durgapur , Kendua , Madan and Mohanganj . But with Kalmakanda and Purbadhala there are two other places without municipal rights with more than 10,000 inhabitants. The urban population makes up only 11.09 percent of the total population. The named places have the following population figures:

Ethnic groups

The population is ethnically very uniform. Only 25,247 people do not belong to the Bengal people. These include 17,982 Garo, 5185 Hajong and 626 Barmon. In 7 of the 10 Upazilas almost only Bengal live.

8915 (3.96%) Garo and 1959 (0.87%) Hajong live in the Upazila Durgapur, 8231 (3.03%) Garo and 3172 (1.17%) Hajong in the Upazila Kalmakanda and 762 (0.30%) in the Upazila Purbadhala 25%) Garo and 27 (0.01%) Hajong. The Barmon are widely dispersed throughout the Netrakona district.

religion

Until the early Middle Ages, the majority of the population was Buddhist. But a thousand years ago there were also numerous Hindus. With the Muslim conquest of the region in 1303, Buddhism almost completely disappeared and many caste-free Hindus also converted to Islam over the course of the next few centuries.

At the 1911 census, of the 655,295 residents of the Netrakona subdivision, 427,970 (65.31%) were Muslim, 215,185 (32.84%) were Hindus, 11,202 (1.71%) were animists, and only 929 (0.14%) were Christians. The Thanas Barhatta, Kendua and Netrakona were clearly Muslim, the Thana Durgapur had a relative majority of Muslims and the Thana Khaliajuri had a narrow Hindu majority.

At the last census in British India in 1941, all ten of today's Upazilas passed as thanas. Nine had Muslim majorities with strong Hindu minorities and Khaliajuri had a Hindu majority (56.30%).

Due to the high birth rate, the proportion of Muslims is growing steadily. In 2011 there are still strong Hindu minorities in all Upazilas, between 10,179 in Madan and 35,819 in Netrakona Sadar. In percentage terms, the Hindus are most strongly represented in Upazila Khaliajuri with 33.54 percent. The Garo are almost all Christians.

year	Buddhists		Christians		Hindus		Muslims		Other		Total
	number	proportion of	number	proportion of	number	proportion of	number	proportion of	number	proportion of	number	proportion of
1981	110	0.01%	18,871	1.31%	174,624	12.11%	1,245,140	86.34%	3397	0.23%	1,442,142	100.00%
1991	715	0.04%	19,994	1.16%	189,082	10.92%	1,517,751	87.68%	3393	0.20%	1,730,935	100.00%
2001	164	0.01%	18,905	0.95%	204,329	10.28%	1,762,534	88.65%	2256	0.11%	1,988,188	100.00%
2011	54	0.00%	18,200	0.82%	207.430	9.30%	2,001,732	89.78%	2226	0.10%	2,229,642	100.00%
Source: 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011 census results

administration

A Netrakona administrative unit was created as early as the 19th century. Administratively, the district is divided into ten Upazilas : Atpara, Barhatta, Durgapur, Kalmakanda, Kendua, Khaliajuri, Madan, Mohanganj, Netrakona Sadar and Purbadhala. Within this administrative division there are five self-governing cities ( municipalities ), 86 Union Parishads (village councils) and 2282 villages.

economy

There are a total of 1,602,738 people (2011) who are older than 10 years. Of these, 422,746 people are in school or are not gainfully employed, 12,858 people are looking for work and 564,708 people work in a household. 602,426 people are in paid employment. Of these, 450,702 (= 74.8 percent) people work in agriculture and fishing, 30,175 in industry and 121,549 in services.

The district's economy is mainly dominated by agriculture . Of the 458,472 farms in the district, 61.65% are farms that grow rice, wheat, vegetables, spices, pulses and fruits. Agriculture dominates the district's economy; Main products are rice , sugar cane , jute , oil seeds , legumes , onions , wheat and lentils as well as peanuts , vegetables , milk , eggs and animal skins . The most common types of fruit are mangoes , jackfruit , bananas, pineapples, litchis , coconuts and blackberries.

Web links

• Article on Netrakona District on Banglapedia
• Netrakona at the 2011 census
• Zila Netrakona at the 2011 census
• Article Netrakona Subdivision in the Imperial Gazetteer of India