Current Time in Bagerhat, Bangladesh

Bagerhat lies in the south-western corner of Bangladesh, in the Khulna division, on the Bhairab River amid the flat, watery delta country where the Ganges and Brahmaputra spread towards the Bay of Bengal. Rivers, canals and shrimp ponds cut through the landscape in every direction, and the great mangrove forest of the Sundarbans begins a short distance to the south. The climate is hot and humid, dominated by a heavy monsoon and by the cyclones that periodically sweep in from the bay.

The town itself is small, with a population of about a hundred thousand, and serves as the administrative centre of a rural district of farmers and fishermen. Its economy rests on rice, coconut, betel nut, date palm sugar and above all shrimp farming, which has become the region's main export and a significant earner of foreign currency for the country.

Bagerhat owes its fame to a remarkable episode in the fifteenth century. A Muslim saint and general known as Khan Jahan Ali arrived in what was then a densely forested and thinly populated corner of Bengal, cleared the land, dug enormous freshwater tanks and founded a city called Khalifatabad. He and his followers built dozens of mosques, bridges, roads and reservoirs in a distinctive style using brick and terracotta, adapted to a delta where stone was unavailable. After his death the city declined and the jungle reclaimed much of it, leaving the monuments half-buried until modern times.

The Mosque City of Bagerhat is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important historical places in Bangladesh. Its centrepiece is the Sixty Dome Mosque, a vast brick hall whose slightly curved roof is carried on rows of stone pillars and covered by scores of small domes, its name a puzzle since the actual number is far greater than sixty. Nearby stand the Nine Dome Mosque, the Singar Mosque, the tomb of Khan Jahan Ali beside a large tank inhabited by crocodiles that pilgrims come to see, and many smaller ruins scattered through the surrounding villages and fields.

Beyond the monuments, the district is a gateway to the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and home to the Bengal tiger, spotted deer, crocodiles and countless birds. Boat trips leave from nearby Mongla, the country's second seaport, which lies within the district. Village life here follows the water, with fishing, boat building, mat weaving and the tapping of date palms for molasses in winter.

Roads connect Bagerhat to Khulna in about an hour and, since the opening of the Padma bridge, to Dhaka in a much shorter time than before, while ferries and river craft remain important. Colleges affiliated with the national university serve local students, and Khulna's universities are close at hand.

Bagerhat is significant as the home of medieval Bengal's most extraordinary Islamic architecture and as a doorway to the Sundarbans.