Prescribed by National Curriculum and Textbook Board as a Textbook for Class VIII from the academic year 2012 Bangladesh and Global Studies For Class VIII Written by Dr. Mamtazuddin Patwari Dr. Khondoker Mokaddem Hossain Dr. A K M Shahnawaz Dr. Abu Md. Delwar Hossain Dr. Selina Akhter Fahmida Haq Dr. Uttam Kumar Das Md. Anwarul Hoque Syeda Sangeeta Imam Edited by Dr. Muntassir Mamoon Prof. Shafiul Alam Abul Momen Dr. Mahboob Sadiq Dr. Morshed Shafiul Hasan Dr. Syed Azizul Huq Syed Mahfooz Ali Translated by Prof. Golenoor Afrose Talukder Goutam Roy Surajit Roy Mazumder Ainul Huda Atiq Mohammad Shahdat Hussain Bhuiya National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Dhaka Published by National Curriculum and Textbook Board 69-70, Motijheel Commercial Area, Dhaka- 1000 All rights reserved by the Publisher First Edition : January 2012 Co-ordinator Dilruba Ahmed Pervej Akter Tahmina Rahman Computer Compose Perform Color Graphics (Pvt.) Ltd. Cover, Illustration & Graphics Sudarshan Bachar Sujaul Abedeen Design National Curriculum & Textbook Board For free distribution form academic year 2013 by the Government of Bangladesh Printed by : Preface Education is a prerequisite to the national development. Without modern education, building a self-reliant, skilled and dignified nation is not possible. National Education Policy 2010 was developed from this inspiration. The lower secondary and secondary level revised curriculum has been developed based on the aims and objectives of this education policy, in the background of new expectations and reality of life. The aims and objectives of the curriculum developed in 2011 are reflected in the Bangladesh and Global Studies book for class eight. Written in light of the new curriculum, content of this book is presented in a new style and technique. Instead of isolated presentation of sociology, history, civics, economics, geography and population studies, contents of these subjects are integrated in this Bangladesh and Global Studies book. Thus, the students will have a holistic view of a particular time, i.e., they will get a complete idea of Bangladesh and the world context of that period. As a result, the students will get idea about history and heritage, arts and culture, and principles and values of this country. They will also have scopes to think about very important things such as life of this people, the great achievement of the liberation war, patriotism, humanism, brotherhood, and scientific attitude. The main objective of this effort is to inspire students to nurture good thinking and honest living. Besides, according to the national expectations, efforts have been made to ensure joyful reading of small and beautiful study matter by freeing the students from over-loaded content. Following the suggestions of eminent people and educationists of the country, and the government's decision, in accordance with the need of the curriculum, Multiple Choice Questions and creative questions are added for exercise as samples at the end of each chapter to make assessment more meaningful. This step will help to reduce the dependency of students on rote learning. Students will be able to apply knowledge and understanding in real life situation, and to judge, analyze and evaluate any subject. In addition, arrangement is made for various types of activities to engage students in real life situation. In this part of exercise named "activities", students will be able to display personal skill, creativity, and sense of taste and of beauty. This version of the book is published as an experimental edition. Curriculum is a continuous process on which textbooks are written. Therefore, any constructive and logical suggestion for improvement will be gratefully considered. Since it was published in a short time, some inadvertent mistakes and omissions may be found in the book. Our efforts to make the next editions more refined and impeccable will continue. I thank those who have assisted us with their intellect and efforts in the writing, editing, translating, and preparing creative questions and activities of this textbook. We hope that the textbook will ensure learners to have a pleasant reading and to achieve the expected skills. Professor Md. Mostafa Kamaluddin Chairman National Curriculum and Textbook Board, Dhaka Contents Chapter Name of the Chapter Page One Colonial Age and the Liberation War of Bengal 1-12 Two Liberation War of Bangladesh 13-35 Three Art and Culture of the Bangladesh 36-43 Four Archaeological Description of Colonial Age 44-49 Five Socialization and Development 50-53 Six Bangladesh Economy 54-59 Seven State and Government System of Bangladesh 60-74 Eight Disasters in Bangladesh 75-88 Nine Population and Development of Bangladedsh 89-93 Ten Social Problems of Bangladesh 94-100 Eleven Minority Ethnic groups of Bangladesh 101-112 Twelve Resources of Bangladesh 113-122 Thirteen Bangladesh and some International Organization 123-132 Bangladesh and Global Studies Class VIII Chapter One Colonial Age and the Liberation War of Bengal Lesson-1: Bangladesh under foreign rulers After the fall of the Pal Dynesty, the Sen Dynesty ruled Bangla. Comming from the Southern India the kings of the Sen Dynesty ushered in the era of rule of Bengal by foreigners. Ikhtiaruddin Mohammad Bin Bakhtiar Khiljee occupied Bengal after defeating the Sens. He was a Turkish military ruler who hankered after riches. The communication of Bengal with Turkey started after the conquest of Bengal by him. Bengal also came in touch with the religion of Islam and the greater Persian civilization. Fakaruddin Mobarak Shah established the system of having an "Independent Sultan" in Bangal in 1338A.D which lasted for 200 years. It is to be noted that none of the Sultans were Bangalee. They made the Persian language "Farci" the court language of Bengal and this lasted for a considerable period of time even after the British take-over. During British rule, Man Singh, the Commander of Moghal emperor Akbar made Bengal a "Suba" or a "Province'' of Delhi. Even the reign and the control of Isa Khan, Kedar Roy, Protapaditta and others popularly known as "Bar Bhuiya" still prevailed during that period in East-South Bengal. Almost all of them were either the defeated-Pathans; defeated by the Moghals in different parts of India or the medieval kings of Rajput Dynasty; none of the them was Bangalee. The beginning of taking away money from Bengal Jahangir ascended the throne of Bengal after the death of his father Akbar. His ascension to the throne brought about a great change in Bengal-Delhi relationship. Jahangir started to take a huge amount of money from the govt. exchequer of Bengal for meeting expenses of war, industry, literature and luxury and recreation. By the end of 1678, Subedar Sayesta Khan had sent cash worth Tk 30 lac and gold worth Tk 4 lac to Delhi. This trend simply increased at later times. Subedar Sujauddin sent Tk 14 crore and 63 lac to Delhi during his long 11-year tenure. One can better imagine how much this big amount would be in today's market. A huge amount of money and wealth were sent from Bengal in this manner for a long time. In Economics this is called capital outflow. 2 Bangladesh and Global Studies Activity Activity-1: Explain the reason why "Farci" became the court language of Bengal. Activity-2: Mention some incidents of capital outflow from Bengal. Lesson-2: Emergence of European Power We all know that the economic condition of some European countries flourished due to the discovery of mineral resources, expansion of sea-trade and development in technical and commercial fields. As a result of this, a powerful trade revolution started from 14th century. Then, the internal economic condition and economic organizations of those countries started to be stronger. So it became important for them to look for raw materials and markets for selling their products. In 1498, Vasco-de-Gama, a portugeese sailor reached Kalikot port of South India. This incident gave a chance for other countries to contest in the competition of expanding trade and commerce in India. Al Bukark an experienced sailor, captured the entire trade of India by taking control of the Indian Ocean. A peace agreement was signed in 1648 among some European warring nations. This agreement is called West Fallier accord. Peace was restored after the signing of this agreement and as such many European nations set out for trade and commerce with new vigour and energy. India became the target of many of these nations. The Silk and many other fine clothes and the different spices of Bengal were chief attractions for them. This brought about a momentum in the trade of Bengal after a long time. Export income of Bengal stood at about 2 lac pound/18 lac taka only from England during 4 years from 1680-83. The arrival of European traders / merchants in Bengal The foreign merchants established big industries and earned a huge profit; they could do so by combining their capital with technical knowledge and by employing local workers to do hard work. With the passage of time, English merchants became more important than the Portuguese. Besides, the Persian, the Dinemar and the Dutch merchants also established industries and conducted business in Bengal. A short description of foreign merchant's investment and business can be had even from the description of the foreign tourists. French tourist Barniyar wrote in 1666 "The Dutch sometimes employed 07-08 hundred workers in their Silk factory at Kashimbazar." The English and the merchants of other nations also conducted business of this type. Colonial Age and the Liberation War of Bengal 3 French tourist Barniyar also mentioned 22 thousand balls of Silk were produced every year only at Kashimbazar. Running business in this way, the English merchants realised that they would get maximum Permanent Settlements.