Panchagarh District

Panchagarh is a district located in the Rangpur Division of northern Bangladesh. Established as a district on February 1, 1984, it is the northernmost district in the country. The district spans an area of 1,404.62 km² and is bounded on three sides by the Indian border, with Darjeeling district to the north, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts to the northeast, Uttar Dinajpur to the west, Dinajpur and Thakurgaon districts to the south, and Nilphamari district to the east.

History

Panchagarh has two main beliefs about how it received its name. The first is that it was named after an area called Pancha Nagari in the kingdom of Pundu Nagar, and the second is that it was named after the five forts (garh) in the region, including Bhitargarh, Hosaingarh, Mirgarh, Rajangarh, and Devengarh.

Administrative Area

The district was part of the Jalpaiguri district during the British Raj in undivided Bengal. In 1911, Jalpaiguri was fully established as a thana, and the headquarters of the Jalpaiguri thana was situated in Jagdal upazila of the current Panchagarh district. The thana was later relocated to the bank of Karatoya River in its current position for environmental and transportation benefits.

Location

Geographically, Panchagarh is located in the lower basin of the Himalayas and has highlands compared to the rest of Bangladesh. The soil composition is distinct, with rich sand and stones. The district consists of five upazilas, 43 unions, 420 mauzas, 825 villages, two paurashavas, 18 wards, and 64 mahallas. It has 16 rivers, including the Karatoya, Atrai, Teesta, Nagor, Mahananda, Tangon, Dahuk, Pathraj, Bhulli, Talma, Chawai, Kurum, Tirnoi, and Chilka. The length of the border between Bangladesh and India in Panchagarh is 286.87 km (178.25 mi), designed by Sir Cyril John Radcliffe in 1947.