Dhaka Division
administrative division of Bangladesh
Dhaka Division (Bengali: ঢাকা বিভাগ, romanized: Ḍhaka Bibhag) is an administrative division of Bangladesh. Dhaka serves as the capital city of Dhaka Division, the Dhaka District and Bangladesh. The division remains a population magnet, and covers an area of 20,508.8 km2 with a population in excess of 44 million, it is one of the fastest growing populous administrative divisions of the world, growing at a rate of 1.94% since prior count, compared with the national average of 1.22%. However, national figures may include data skewing expatriation of male labor force as gender ratio is skewed towards females.
Dhaka Division borders every other division in the country except Rangpur Division. It is bounded by Mymensingh Division to the north, Barisal Division to the south, Chittagong Division to the east and south-east, Sylhet Division to the north-east, and Rajshahi Division to the west and Khulna Divisions to the south-west.
Etymology
The origins of the name Dhaka are uncertain. It may derive from the dhak tree, which was once common in the area, or from Dhakeshwari, the 'patron goddess' of the region. Another popular theory states that Dhaka refers to a membranophone instrument, dhak which was played by order of Subahdar Islam Khan I during the inauguration of the Bengal capital in 1610.
Some references also say it was derived from a Prakrit dialect called Dhaka Bhasa; or Dhakka, used in the Rajtarangini for a watch station; or it is the same as Davaka, mentioned in the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta as an eastern frontier kingdom.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q330158. VIAF identifies the subject as 146777395. The Library of Congress control number is n2002125988. Authority coordinates are 24.167, 90.417. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1610.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dhaka Division” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.