Dhaka’s history essentially begins in 1608 when the Mughal rulers proclaimed it as the new capital of Bengal, and thus 2008 saw a few celebrations of Dhaka’s 400th birthday. Before then, Dhaka was a functional trading port consisting of a small township served by many bazaars. It would not be until the Mughals relocated the capital from Sonargaon that the city began its expansion. The next century would see the city hosting a number of international interests with scores of Portuguese, French, English and Dutch merchants visiting Dhaka’s trading ports, where a finewoven cotton known as muslin was produced for export and famed internationally for its quality, showing up on the tailoring tables of Europe. These early economic successes prepared the city to one day become the future capital of East Pakistan and eventually Bangladesh.

Bangladeshi terracotta is visible on its many Hindu and Buddhist temples.

To see the Bangladesh of today against its glorious history, it is both enlightening and depressing to imagine that Bengal used to occupy such a place of glory and power in the subcontinent. During the 16th century, its wealth supported the Mughal Empire, and at its zenith in the mid-18th century, Bengal’s cotton and silk textiles were in demand worldwide with Dutch, Portuguese, British and French traders landing on its shores. However, the late colonial period marked a substantial change as the British proved themselves successful at draining Bengal of its wealth and destroying its cotton industry. Despite its past triumphs, 1943 proved to be the watershed year in this demise, when a terrible famine gripped the people, leaving an estimated three to five million dead from starvation, a tragedy from which modern Bangladesh has yet to fully recover. To understand such atmospheric heights and catastrophic falls, let us start from the beginning.

Homaira and Taimur of Dhaka’s Urban Study Group have started offering guided explorations of Old Dhaka, on both the weekends and weekdays, in an effort to see some of the older buildings preserved and restored. Here’s a quote from their recent mailings regarding the preservation work they’re attempting to do:

While our documentation of the other mohallahs of Ward 72 are going on, we have started documenting the Sutrapur and Farashganj area also . At present we are trying to start actual restoration work on few small-scale projects in Shakhari Bazaar and Tati Bazaar which we hope will have a snowball effect; we’ll soon send out detailed information on the projects.

Today’s update is about another heritage building at risk. A grand mansion is being demolished in Farashganj for redevelopment by the owners. USG has already documented the building and trying to negotiate with the owners with conservation proposal with the half that is still standing and is also trying to persuade the goverment officials regarding the possible modification of the current building construction rules to facilitate conservation while protecting the economic interest of the owners/developers.

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