Sunamganj District

Etymology

The name Sunamganj is derived from its founder, Sipahi Sunamuddin, who established a bazaar on the bank of the river Surma.

Geography

Sunamganj is located in the Sylhet Division with the Sylhet District to its east, Habiganj District to its south and Netrokona District to its west. The Surma River and Kushiyara River run through the district whilst Ratna River criss-crosses the district and beyond. The River Da'uka or Danuka also run through district Sunamganj.

The annual average temperature of Sunamganj has a maximum of 33.2 °C and a minimum 13.6 °C, with annual rainfall of 3334 mm. There are many haors and beels (wetlands ecosystems) in Sunamganj.

Ancient period

Sunamganj District was underwater in ancient time; it was part of a vast sea by the name of Ratnag, which was an abbreviation of Ratnakar (common noun for sea in Bengali: রত্নাকর). Ratnakar expanded from cliffs of Meghalaya on the west to the coast of Tripura in the east, both Meghalaya and Tripura were inhabited by Kirata people of Mongoloid race. People from Meghalaya travelled to Tripura and vice versa by seagoing vessels. Seabed began to rise by the end of twelfth century CE due to alluvial silting over the centuries. It was northeast of the district that first began to elevate in form of atolls and then most parts of the district arose from underneath the sea.

Classic period

In the ancient period, Sunamganj was part of the 'Larh' (La'urh) Kingdom that included western part of Sylhet, Habiganj, Netrokona, Kishoreganj and the northern part of Mymensingh. After the conquest of Sylhet (Kingdom of Gaurh) in 1303 by Muslims under the spiritual guidance of Hazrat Shah Jalal Yamani, Hazrat Shah Kamal Quhafah brought the entire Kingdom of La'urh under his control with aid of his twelve disciples and his second son, Shah Muazzam Uddin Qureshi, who administered the entire district from Shaharpara and he maintained a second sub-administration office at Nizgaon,bank of the river Surma - present day Shologhar(there is now Shologhar Masjid and madrasa) in Sunamganj town, which was administered by one of his descendants. Between the latter part of 1300 CE and 1765 CE, the present-day Sunamganj district was a part of Iqlim-e-Muazzamabad, i.e. the state of Muazzamabad, which was an independent state until 1620 when it was conquered by the mighty Mughal of Delhi. The last sultan of Muazzamabad was Hamid Qureshi Khan, who was a descendant of Hazrat Shah Kamal Quhafah and he was widely known by his appellation of Shamsher Khan. After the fall of Jalalabad (present-day Sylhet), Shamsher Khan, accepted the post of Nawab-cum-Fauzadar and remained so until his death at the Battle of Giria on 29 April 1740 along with Sarfaraz Khan, Nawab of Bengal.

In 1336, a devastating flood occurred as a result of a broken dam in Manipur. This flood is popularly known as the 'White Water Flood'. An earthquake on 12 June 1897 caused many deaths.

During the war of liberation there were many encounters between freedom fighters and the Pakistani Army. Sunamganj was liberated on 6 December 1971.

People and ethnicity

Sunamganj has a total population of 1,968,669; males constitute 50.89% and females 49.11%. People of Sunamganj are racially and ethnically diverse, ranging from Arab Semite to Aryan and Dravidian, including Jarwa, Gabar and Jangil tribal peoples. Jawa Bazaar is variant of Jarawa Bazaar. There are also about 6,643 people of Manipuri, Khasi, Garo and Hajong ethnic groups from neighbouring states of India.

Faith

The district of Sunamganj has 3566 mosques, 740 temples and 61 churches.

Stone and sand business

Since 1960 sunamganj has been known for the stone and sand business, River Sand. It has been supplying river sand, natural sand, crushed stone, gravel and shingle. Beside this there are more than a thousand businessman are involved in this business, where about fifty thousand workers are directly dependent in this sector.

Aquaculture

Sunamganj is a major source of freshwater fish; Tanguar Haor is the largest inland billabong for aquaculture and it is located in Tahipur Upzala. Sunamganj has more haors than any other district in Bangladesh and this makes it famous for fishery business.

ICT

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry is relatively a new sector in the country's economy. Though it is yet to make tangible contributions in the national economy. In Sunamganj the IT sector is a rising attraction to the young generation. Inspire new generation is a rising young web developer group who started their mission to inspire the new generation with their voluntary workshop and seminar on website design, graphics and networking to create new young entrepreneurship in Sunamganj. They also provide IT, Website design, Domain Registration, Web Hosting, Graphics, Software Development & Email Marketing and other computer aided Services.

District

District Administrator is appointed from amongst non-civil servants, usually from amongst the member of political party that is in power at the time of appointment and endorsed by the central government. Deputy Commissioner is appointed from amongst career civil servants, who administers all subordinate branches of the administration such as upazillah parishad

Subdistricts

Sunamganj District comprises 11 sub-districts or Upazilas:

Schools and colleges

The major educational institutes of Sunamganj are:

Media and culture

Sunamganj is renowned for bards and folk music; mystic poet Hason Raja (1854CE-1922CE), Saifa Banu (1860-1926) poet and half-sister of Hasan Raja, Diwan Mosin Raja, Syed Shahnoor, Radharaman Dutta, Radhamadhav Dutta, Doorbin Shah, Shah Abdul Karim, Muniruzzaman Munir, Shofiqun-Nur, Nurul Ghani, Dilly Meah, Qari Amiruddin and many more have hailed from this area.

Notable personalities