The People's Republic of Bangladesh is located at the north end of the Bay of Bengal, surrounded by India except for a short border with Myanmar (Burma) in the far southeast. The Ganges Delta, the world's largest delta, occupies a large part of the country and faces directly south. The southeast of the country is a region of hills and ridges that faces southwest. Bangladesh includes about 3/4 of the cultural region of Bengal. It was part of the British Empire of India until 1947, when the Bengal area was partitioned, the western portion becoming the Indian state of West Bengal and the rest becoming the East Bengal Province of the divided nation of Pakistan. The country achieved its independence from Pakistan following bitter fighting in 1971. Chittagong, in the southeast, was the only deepwater port in the present territory of Bangladesh during British rule. There is a second, much smaller port at Mongla in the southwest. The British built only two traditional lighthouse stations in the country, Chittagong River (Norman's Point) and Kutubdia Island. Neither survive but new towers have been built at both locations. Bangladesh is divided administratively into eight divisions. The southeastern Chittagong Division includes a little more than half of the country's coastline. The Bengali word for a lighthouse is bātighara (বাতিঘর). Dbīpa is an island, nadī is a river, and bandara is a port or harbor. Coastal lighthouses in Bangladesh are operated by the Mercantile Marine Department of the Department of Shipping; harbor lights are maintained by the port authorities of Chittagong and Mongla. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume F of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 112.
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Chittagong Division Lighthouses
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P.K. Sen Bhaban, Chittagong, June 2010 Google Maps photo by Avoy Pal |
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Khulna Division Lighthouses
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Bhasan Char Light, Bhasan Char, March 2019 Google Maps photo by Zzoha Tasdiquzzoha |
Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: South: Myanmar (Burma) | West: West Bengal and Odisha
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Posted November 18, 2007. Checked and revised June 12, 2023. Lighthouses: 25. Site copyright 2023 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.