Situated in the north-eastern part of the South Asian subcontinent, between 20o25' and 26o38' north latitude and 88o01' and 92o40' east longitude, Bangladesh occupies a unique geographic location. With an area of 14.4 million hectares, it is one of the most fertile regions of the world and spans a relatively short stretch of land between the Himalayan mountain chain and the Bay of Bengal. It is a vast flood plain located at the confluence of Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna and is dominated by the flooding patterns of these rivers and those of many smaller rivers and tributaries. The country has some 700 rivers, tributaries, mountain streams, and meandering creeks, with a total length of over 24,000 kilometres.
Three broad physiographic regions are discernible in Bangladesh:
a) Flood plains, consisting generally of level alluvium, occupy about 80 percent of the country. Differences in elevation between adjoining ridges and depressions range from around one meter on tidal flood plains near the coast to 2-4 meters over the river flood plains, and as much as 5-6 meters in the Sylhet Basin in the north-east. This physiographic region is also dotted with other water bodies.
b) Terraces (which are slightly uplifted fault blocks and include Madhupur and Barind tracts) account for about 8 percent. Topographically Madhupur tract is relatively more dissected than the Barind tract.
c) Hills occupy about 12 percent of the land area. They occur in northeast and eastern portion of the country. The hills comprise two types of topography - the high hills and low hills. The highest elevation in the Chittagong Hill Tract is 600 meters above sea. Slopes in the hills are generally steep.
Almost all of Bangladesh (144,400 km2) lies in the active delta of three of the world's major rivers. A few small tracts of higher land occur in Sylhet, Mymensingh and Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) regions. The south-western region consists of a large number of dead and cut-off rivers, the coastal part of which includes the famous Sundarbans mangrove forest. Within greater Sylhet and Mymensingh districts lie a number of depressed basins inundated by fresh water during the monsoon, gradually drying out during the dry winter season. Climate is tropical and monsoon rainfall varies from 1,200-3,500 mm. Average daily temperatures vary from 11-34oC. Soils are fertile and well-watered, but less than 20% of the cropped area is irrigated. Maximum elevation is 850 m on the Bangladesh - Burmese border. Rice is the major agriculture crop while jute, sugarcane and tea are the main cash crops. Other important crops are wheat, tobacco, pulses, vegetables and tree fruits. Garments, raw and manufactured jute goods, tea, fish, and hides and skins are the chief exports. 1990/91 exports totalled TK 60.2 billion and imports amounted to TK 111.5 billion. Gross domestic product in current value was TK 7,156 in 1990/91, equivalent to $200 per capita. Principal natural resources are natural gas, lignite coal, limestone, ceramic clay and glass sand.
