Bangladesh

Just one more card for today.. I'll need to leave in about half an hour - I'll be meeting up with Matt after he finishes work and then the plan is to go to the cinema to see 'Dark Shadows' (I'm a bit worried as most of the reviews I've read about it haven't been very good, but I really love most Tim Burton films so I do have to give it a try at least!). Anyway.. this card is such a treat: my first ever written and stamped postcard from Bangladesh! I'd tried to arrange a swap from there before but that didn't work out. ..then earlier this year another opportunity arose and I just couldn't resist ;)

I really, really like this card. The place it depicts looks so peaceful and tranquil, and the yellow field looks so pretty.

 Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India and Burma and by the Bay of Bengal to the south. The capital (and largest city) is Dhaka, located in central Bangladesh. The official state language is Bengali. The name Bangladesh means "Country of Bengal" in the official Bengali language.

The borders of present-day Bangladesh were established with the partition of Bengal during the reign and demise of the British India. Its map was chartered by Sir Cyril Radcliffe during the creation of Pakistan and India in 1947, when the region became East Pakistan, part of the newly formed nation of Pakistan. Due to political exclusion and economic exploitation by the politically dominant West Pakistan, popular agitation grew against West Pakistan and led to the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, after the Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence on 26 March 1971. With the direct and indirect help of India, 9 months of war came to an end on 16 December 1971 by the surrender of the Pakistan Army at Ramna Race Course, after 13 days of direct action by the Indian Army.

Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy, with an elected parliament called the Jatiyo Sangshad. It is the eighth-most populous country and among the most densely populated countries in the world. Just like in the rest of South Asia the poverty rate prevails, although the United Nations has acclaimed Bangladesh for achieving tremendous progress in human development. Geographically, the country straddles the fertile Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta and is subject to annual monsoon floods and cyclones.

The country is listed among the Next Eleven economies. It is a founding member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, BCIM, the D-8 and BIMSTEC, and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Non-Aligned Movement. However, Bangladesh continues to face a number of major challenges, including widespread political and bureaucratic corruption, widespread poverty, and an increasing danger of hydrologic shocks brought on by ecological vulnerability to climate change.