5 Interesting Facts About Bangladesh That No One Knows 1. Bangladesh Didn't Exist Before 1971 Before 1971 Bangladesh didn't exist. The region of Bengal was ruled by a list of Indian, Turkic, and Mughal dynasties as well as the British. In 1947, the British Raj relinquished its rule over the Indian sub-continent following decades of independence movements, resulting in the establishment of the countries of India and Pakistan—East and West Pakistan. Bangladesh was “East Pakistan” until its Independence in 1971 2. The Only Country to Fight a War and Declare Independence Over Language The name “Bangladesh” is made up of two words; “Bangla," the native name of the Bengali language, and “desh," meaning country. In the years following the division of the Indian sub-continent, tensions rose between West and East Pakistan (Bangladesh) on a number of different fronts including West Pakistan’s economic exploitation of East Pakistan, political division, cu...