The history of the area can be traced back to 200–300 AD.
A ruin of a city built by Chand Sadagar has been found in the Baghmara Forest Block. During the Mughal
period, the Mughal Kings leased the forests of the Sundarbans to nearby
residents. Many criminals took refuge in the Sundarbans from the advancing armies of Emperor Akbar.
Many have been known to be attacked by tigers.[4ny
of the buildings which were built by them later fell to hands of Portuguese pirates, salt smugglers and dacoits in
the 17th century. Evidence of the fact can be traced from the ruins at
Netidhopani and other places scattered all over Sundarbans.[5]
The legal status of the forests underwent a series of changes, including the
distinction of being the first mangrove forest in the world to be brought under
scientific management. The area was mapped first in Persian, by the Surveyor
General as early as 1764 following soon after proprietary rights were obtained
from the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II by the British East India Company in 1757.
Systematic management of this forest tract started in the 1860s after the establishment
of a Forest Department in the Province of Bengal, in British India. The
management was entirely designed to extract whatever treasures were available,
but labour and lower management mostly were staffed by locals, as the British
had no expertise or adaptation experience in mangrove forest.
The
first Forest Management Division to have jurisdiction over the Sundarbans was
established in 1869. In 1875 a large portion of the mangrove forests was
declared as reserved forests under the Forest Act, 1865 (Act VIII of 1865). The
remaining portions of the forests were declared a reserve forest the following
year and the forest, which was so far administered by the civil administration
district, was placed under the control of the Forest Department. A Forest
Division, which is the basic forest management and administration unit, was
created in 1879 with the headquarters in Khulna, Bangladesh. The first
management plan was written for the period 1893–98
In
1911, it was described as a tract of waste country which had never been
surveyed, nor had the census been extended to it. It then stretched for about
266 kilometres (165 mi) from the mouth of the Hugli to the mouth of the Meghna
river and was bordered inland by the three settled districts of the 24 Parganas,
Khulna and Bakerganj. The total area (iThe Sundarban forest lies in the vast delta on the Bay of Bengal
formed by the super confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra
and Meghna
rivers across southern Bangladesh. The seasonally flooded Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests
lie inland from the mangrove forests on the coastal fringe. The forest covers
10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) of which about 6,000 square
kilometres (2,300 sq mi) are in Bangladesh.[9]
It became inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. The Indian part of
Sundarbans is estimated to be about 4,110 square kilometres
(1,590 sq mi), of which about 1,700 square kilometres
(660 sq mi) is occupied by waterbodies in the forms of river, canals
and creeks of width varying from a few meters to several kilometres.
The
Sundarbans is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats
and small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests. The interconnected network
of waterways makes almost every corner of the forest accessible by boat. The
area is known for the eponymous Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris),
as well as numerous fauna including species of birds, spotted deer, crocodiles
and snakes. The fertile soils of the delta have been subject to intensive human
use for centuries, and the ecoregion has been mostly converted to intensive
agriculture, with few enclaves of forest remaining. The remaining forests,
taken together with the Sundarbans mangroves, are important habitat for the
endangered tiger. Additionally, the Sundarbans serves a crucial function as a
protective barrier for the millions of inhabitants in and around Khulna and Mongla
against the floods that result from the cyclones.
The Sundarbans has also been enlisted among the finalists in the New7Wonders of Nature.
Physiography
ncluding
water) was estimated at 16,900 square kilometres (6,526 sq mi). It was
a water-logged jungle, in which tigers and other wild beasts abounded. Attempts
at reclamation had not been very successful. The Sundarbans was everywhere
intersected by river channels and creeks, some of which afforded water
communication throughout the Bengal region both for steamers and for native
boats.
The Sundarban forest lies in the vast delta on the Bay of
Bengal formed by the super confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna
rivers across southern Bangladesh. The seasonally flooded Sundarbans freshwater
swamp forests lie inland from the mangrove forests on the coastal fringe. The
forest covers 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) of which about
6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi) are in Bangladesh.[9]
It became inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. The Indian part of
Sundarbans is estimated to be about 4,110 square kilometres
(1,590 sq mi), of which about 1,700 square kilometres
(660 sq mi) is occupied by waterbodies in the forms of river, canals
and creeks of width varying from a few meters to several kilometres.
The
Sundarbans is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and
small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests. The interconnected network of
waterways makes almost every corner of the forest accessible by boat. The area
is known for the eponymous Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris),
as well as numerous fauna including species of birds, spotted deer, crocodiles
and snakes. The fertile soils of the delta have been subject to intensive human
use for centuries, and the ecoregion has been mostly converted to intensive
agriculture, with few enclaves of forest remaining. The remaining forests,
taken together with the Sundarbans mangroves, are important habitat for the
endangered tiger. Additionally, the Sundarbans serves a crucial function as a
protective barrier for the millions of inhabitants in and around Khulna and Mongla
against the floods that result from the cycloThe Sundarban forest lies in the
vast delta on
the Bay of Bengal formed by the super confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra and Meghna
rivers across southern Bangladesh. The seasonally flooded Sundarbans freshwater
swamp forests lie inland from the mangrove forests on the coastal fringe. The
forest covers 10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) of which about
6,000 square kilometres (2,300 sq mi) are in Bangladesh.[9] It became inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site
in 1997. The Indian part of Sundarbans is estimated to be about 4,110 square
kilometres (1,590 sq mi), of which about 1,700 square kilometres
(660 sq mi) is occupied by waterbodies in the forms of river, canals
and creeks of width varying from a few meters to several kilometres.
The
Sundarbans is intersected by a complex network of tidal waterways, mudflats and
small islands of salt-tolerant mangrove forests. The interconnected network of
waterways makes almost every corner of the forest accessible by boat. The area
is known for the eponymous Royal Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris),
as well as numerous fauna including species of birds, spotted deer, crocodiles
and snakes. The fertile soils of the delta have been subject to intensive human
use for centuries, and the ecoregion has been mostly converted to intensive
agriculture, The Sundarban forest lies in the vast delta on the Bay of Bengal
formed by the super confluence of the Padma, Brahmaputra
and Meghna
rivers across southern Bangladesh. The seasonally flooded Sundarbans freshwater swamp forests
lie inland from the mangrove forests on the coastal fringe. The forest covers
10,000 square kilometres (3,900 sq mi) of which about 6,000 square
kilometres (2,300 sq mi) are in Bangladesh.[9]
It became inscribed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1997. The Indian part of
Sundarbans is estimated to be about 4,110 square kilometres
(1,590 sq mi), of which about 1,700 square kilometres
(660 sq mi) is occupied by waterbodies in the forms of river, canals
and creeks of width varying from a few meters to several kilometre.
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