English
বাংলা
About Dhaka
Dhaka district sits in the middle of Bangladesh and contains the national capital, governed by the Dhaka North and Dhaka South city corporations, together with five upazilas around it: Savar, Dhamrai, Keraniganj, Nawabganj and Dohar. It is the most densely populated district in the country, with roughly 14.7 million people counted in the 2022 census on less than 1,500 square kilometres, and about three in four of them living in urban areas.
The landscape is shaped by water. The Buriganga runs along the old city's southern edge, the Turag and Balu ring it to the west and east, and the Dhaleshwari, Ichamati and Kaliganga thread through the rural south-west before the Padma marks the boundary near Dohar. Low beels such as Belai and the wetlands of Nawabganj flood in the monsoon, which is why the city has spread north onto the higher red soil of the Madhupur tract around Savar and Uttara.
For a visitor, Dhaka is two places at once. Old Dhaka is a maze of lanes, Mughal and colonial monuments, rickshaws and specialist bazaars that have traded the same goods for centuries; the newer city to the north is a skyline of offices, universities, garment headquarters and shopping centres. Beyond the city limits, Savar and Dhamrai still have brickfields, paddy fields, temples and weavers' villages.
History
Settlement here is far older than the capital. Savar was a regional seat in the early medieval period, and the name Dhaka is widely linked to the Dhakeshwari temple said to date from the Sena era. The town grew into a real capital in 1608, when the Mughals made it the seat of Bengal and Islam Khan briefly named it Jahangirnagar. Under governors such as Shaista Khan it became famous for muslin so fine it was traded across Asia and Europe, and the Lalbagh Fort, Bara Katra and many mosques date from this time.
The British administrative district of Dhaka was created in 1772. The city lost status when Murshidabad and then Calcutta rose, briefly became capital of Eastern Bengal and Assam after the 1905 partition, and in 1947 became the capital of East Bengal. The language movement of 1952, the 7 March 1971 speech at the Race Course ground (now Suhrawardy Udyan) and the surrender of the Pakistani army on 16 December 1971 all happened here, and Dhaka has been the capital of independent Bangladesh since then.
Economy and livelihoods
Dhaka is the commercial and financial centre of the country. Head offices of banks, telecom operators and garment exporters cluster in Motijheel, Gulshan, Banani and Tejgaon, and the Dhaka Export Processing Zone at Savar and the garment belt along the Dhaka-Aricha highway employ hundreds of thousands of workers, most of them women. Old Dhaka remains the wholesale engine of the nation: Islampur for fabric, Chawkbazar for cosmetics, toys and packaging, Babubazar for groceries and Moulvibazar for spices. Outside the city, Savar and Dhamrai run dairy farms, brickfields and vegetable plots, Keraniganj has a huge ready-made garment cluster for the domestic market, and Dhamrai's metalworkers still cast brass and bell metal by the lost-wax method.
Food, culture and festivals
Old Dhaka has its own dialect, the Dhakaiya speech of the original "Dhakaiya" families, and its own food: kacchi biryani, morog polao, bakarkhani flatbread baked in clay ovens, and the famous Ramadan iftar market at Chawkbazar. Shakrain, the kite festival at the end of Poush, fills Old Dhaka's rooftops every January, and Pahela Baishakh begins with the Mangal Shobhajatra procession from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dhaka University.
Religious life is diverse. Dhaka is called the city of mosques, Dhakeshwari is the national temple, Armenian and Catholic churches survive in Armanitola and Tejgaon, and the Rath Yatra of Dhamrai, with its towering wooden chariot, is one of the oldest chariot festivals in the country. Shankhari Bazar is still where conch-shell bangles are carved and sold.
Places to visit in Dhaka
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Lalbagh Fort
An unfinished Mughal fort begun in 1678 by Prince Muhammad Azam and continued by Shaista Khan, in the south-west of Old Dhaka. Inside its walled gardens are the tomb of Pari Bibi, a three-domed mosque and the governor's audience hall and bath. Go early in the morning, when the gardens are quiet.
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Ahsan Manzil
The pink palace of the Nawabs of Dhaka on the bank of the Buriganga at Kumartuli, completed in the 1870s and now a museum. Its restored rooms show the family's furniture, portraits and the grand ballroom and durbar hall.
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Star Mosque (Tara Masjid)
A small mosque in Armanitola whose walls and domes are covered in mosaic of broken Chinese and Japanese porcelain, with blue stars as the main motif. It is a short walk from Ahsan Manzil and easy to combine with it.
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National Parliament House
Louis Kahn's monumental concrete and marble Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, surrounded by an artificial lake and lawns. Even from outside, its geometry is one of the great sights of modern architecture.
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National Martyrs' Memorial, Savar
The seven-peaked Jatiyo Smriti Soudho at Savar, about 35 km north-west of the city, honours those killed in the 1971 Liberation War. Its landscaped grounds and mass graves draw large crowds on 26 March and 16 December.
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Dhakeshwari Temple
Regarded as the national temple of Bangladesh and associated with the city's name. The compound off Lalbagh is busiest during Durga Puja, when it is the focus of the capital's celebrations.
What Dhaka is famous for
How to get to Dhaka
Most journeys in Bangladesh begin or end in Dhaka. Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at Kurmitola handles international and domestic flights. Trains arrive at Kamalapur and Airport stations, and the Padma Bridge line now links the city to the south-west. Long-distance buses use Gabtoli and the newer terminals for the north and west, Sayedabad for the south and east, and Mohakhali for the north-east, while river launches to Barishal and the coast leave from Sadarghat on the Buriganga. Inside the city, the MRT Line 6 metro between Uttara and Motijheel is the quickest way to cross town; allow plenty of time for road traffic otherwise.
Markets and haats
- Islampur and Chawkbazar
- Old Dhaka's wholesale heart: Islampur for saree, three-piece and shirting fabric by the bale, Chawkbazar for cosmetics, toys, plastics and packaging. Many sellers across the country stock up here.
- Karwan Bazar
- The capital's main wholesale produce market, busiest before dawn, when trucks unload vegetables, fruit, fish and eggs from every part of the country.
- Dhaka New Market and Gausia
- A 1950s market near Nilkhet and its neighbours, known for clothes, fabric, shoes, kitchenware and the book stalls of Nilkhet across the road. Bargaining is expected.
- Mirpur Benarasi Palli
- A neighbourhood of weavers and shops in Mirpur selling Benarasi, katan and jamdani saree directly from looms and showrooms, especially busy before Eid and weddings.
Dhaka at a glance
Shops from Dhaka on Midmart
Buying from shops in Dhaka
Every shop on Midmart collects payment its own way and arranges its own delivery — Midmart never handles your money or your parcel. Delivery is charged per shop: order from three shops and you pay three delivery charges.
Estimate a delivery chargeQuestions about Dhaka
Make or grow something in Dhaka?
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Sell online from DhakaMore districts in Dhaka Division
- Faridpur Jute country on the Padma, and home of the poet of rural Bengal
- Gazipur Sal forests, jackfruit orchards and the factory belt north of Dhaka
- Gopalganj Beel country on the Madhumati, with floating gardens and Tungipara
- Kishoreganj Gateway to the haors, home of Sholakia and the poet Chandrabati
- Madaripur Arial Khan river town of date-palm gur, Shah Madar and Shakuni Lake
- Manikganj Where the Jamuna meets the Padma: zamindar palaces and hajari gur
- Munshiganj Ancient Bikrampur: potatoes, patkhir and the north end of the Padma Bridge
- Narayanganj Old Sonargaon, jamdani looms and the knitwear port on the Shitalakshya
- Narsingdi Looms of Madhabdi, lotkon orchards and the ancient city of Wari-Bateshwar
- Rajbari Goalundo and Daulatdia: the Padma gateway of onions and jute
- Shariatpur Where the Padma meets the Meghna: Zajira, Kirtinasha and bibikhana pitha
- Tangail Tangail saree, Porabari chamcham and the sal forests of Madhupur
Sources and photo credits
Figures are from the sources below. Census figures are from the 2022 Population and Housing Census unless stated.
- Banglapedia — Dhaka District
- BBS Population and Housing Census 2022, National Report Vol. 1 (final enumerated figures, Nov 2023)
- Wikipedia — Dhaka District
- Ahsan Manzil, Old Dhaka — Photo: Shafiul Islam Shaikot · CC BY 4.0 (source, CC BY 4.0)
- Lalbagh Fort from above — Photo: Pinu Rahman · CC BY-SA 4.0 (source, CC BY-SA 4.0)