Rangpur । রংপুর

History:

Rangpur (রংপুর) was conquered by the army of Raja Man Singh, a commander of the Mughal emperor, Akbar, in 1575, but it was only until 1686 that it was fully integrated into the Mughal Empire. Names of places like Mughalbasa (literal meaning being a locality of the Mughals), and Mughalhat (literal meaning a “local market” organized by the Mughals) bear testimony to the Mughal Association and past of Rangpur and its hinterland. Later on, Rangpur passed under the control of “Sarker” of Ghoraghat. During the period of the British East India Company, the Sannyasi Rebellion took place.

Rangpur Division

Rangpur Division (Bengali: রংপুর বিভাগ, pronounced Rangpur Bibhag) was proclaimed as Bangladesh's seventh division on January 25th, 2010, prior to which it was part of the Rajshahi Division. It has been created with greater Rangur and Dinajpur regions and in total consists of eight districts which are Rangpur, Kurigram, Gaibandha, Nilphamari, Dinajpur, Panchagarh, Thakurgaon and Lalmonirhat. This division consists of 58 Upazillas within the said 8 districts. With a population of 13.9 million, Rangpur division is the northernmost division of Bangladesh.

The major cities in the division includes Rangpur & Dinajpur

Geography:

Rangpur is a district in northern part of Bangladesh. Rangpur District is bordered on the north by Nilphamari District, on the south by Gaibandha District, on the east by Kurigram, and on the west by Dinajpur district. Rangpur town is the district & division headquarters.

The soil composition is mainly alluvial soil (80%) of the Teesta River basin, and the remaining is barind soil. The temperature ranges from 32 degrees Celsius to 11 degrees Celsius, and the annual rainfall averages 2931 mm.

Sub-districts

The district has 3 municipalities, namely, Rangpur Main (Sadar), Badarganj, and Haragach, and eight Upazilas, namely:

* Badarganj
* Gangachara
* Kaunia
* Rangpur Sadar
* Mithapukur
* Pirgachha
* Pirganj
* Taraganj

Rangpur town, covering an area of around 43 square kilometers, lies on the bank of the Little Ghaghat River, and was turned into a municipality back in 1869. The population of the Rangpur municipality as of 2006 is 251,699, with 52% male and 48% female, and the literacy rate is 54.6%.

Places of interest:

Just south of the city of Rangpur lies the Tajhat, a former "rajbari" or zamindar's palace. After the end of the British Raj, the building was abandoned and decayed rapidly, although it was used for a few years as a courthouse during the 1980s. In the year 2004, it was largely restored and turned into a museum with ancient inscriptions, art and coins from the area on display.

RDRS (Rangpur and Dinajpur Rural Service) Bangladesh [4], an NGO in northwest Bangladesh, has a large office and guesthouse/convention center in the town of Rangpur.
A museum and women's training centre was established in Pairabondh, the birth place of famous Begum Rokeya. It is half an hour drive away from Rangpur city. Apart from the Tajbari museum there is another museum at the heart of the town. The town is known as Green town for its beautiful garden and green park throughout the town. It has a District magistrate office where the great Social Reformer Rammohan Roy served for long time. Nowadays there are lots of market places all through the city. Carmichael College, built during the Raj era, is located in Rangpur. The literacy rate has increased after the independence of the country from Pakistan. New Rangpur University is also planned and the construction will start soon. This will create a new mile stone for the city. There are many schools, mosques, and temples in the city.
There is a big Zoo at the heart of the city. There is an ancient auditorium named 'Town Hall' at the center of the city, where different cultural programs are held. The economy of the people is weak since there is no major natural resource like minerals and industry. In the rural areas, there are no source of income for landless poor people. In the great Rangpur region, no economic development took place until the 90s, mainly because of the yearly flooding the region used to see before the making of "Teesta Barrage." The coal is found near this district. There is a large military cantonment in the town. "Bhinno Jogot" is a big theme park and a popular picnic spot which is situated 15 kilometres from Rangpur Town.

Near the stadium, there is a very beautiful place called 'Chicli vata' surrounding bij many lakes and rice fields.


NB: Information collected from Wikipedia.org