ABSTRACT
The city of Dacca, on the northern bank of the river Buriganga, lies at the heart of the region which now constitutes the People's Republic of Bangladesh and which in the British period was commonly known as East or Eastern Bengal. The Buriganga, some twenty-six miles in length, rejoins the Dhaleswari near Narayanganj, twin city and in some sense port of Dacca. Dacca city was also comparatively well placed for landward communications being on the southern edge of an old alluvial terrace. Dacca city not only stood upon the Buriganga but was itself crisscrossed by minor rivers and creeks, the most notable of which was the Dulai. Dacca also became a large manufacturing centre. The textile industry became the prime industry of Dacca and one of the chief sources of its wealth and prosperity, catering for markets as widely separated as Southeast Asia and Europe.
