Bangladesh's Land example essay topic

Bangladesh, a low-lying country crossed by many rivers. It has a coastline of about 360 miles along the Bay of Bengal. Its total size is 144,000 square kilometers and its land area is 133,910 square kilometers. Its climate is a subtropical monsoon climate. It has great variations in seasonal rainfall, moderately warm temperatures, and high humidity. The climate is basically the same throughout entire country.

Bangladesh has a lot of severe natural disasters such as floods, tropical cyclones, tornadoes, and tidal bores. There are Chittagong Hills in southeast, Low Hills in northeast, and middle-elevation hills in north and northwest. Since Bangladesh is such a small country, the land is very densely populated. There are 1,900 people per square mile. It is the most densely populated country in the world. There is very little land to be shared among farmers.

Fortunately, most of Bangladesh's land is suitable for farming. Five percent of the population owns one quarter of the land. Many rich farmers own thousands of acres. Fifty-four percent of Bangladeshis are land less or own less than half an acre of land.

Since Bangladesh is an agricultural country, the people who have no farmland often find it very difficult to earn a living. Bangladesh lies within a broad delta formed by the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers. It is extremely flat and low-lying. It is prone to annual flooding. People have to build their homes on raised mounds of earth to escape the floods of the monsoon seasons. A lot of fertile soil is deposited by the floodwaters.

Less than one-tenth of Bangladesh's territory is a hilly area. It includes the Chittagong Hill Tracts. The country's highest peak is Mow dok Meal, which is on the border with Myanmar. There are small, scattered hills along the eastern and northern borders with India. The soil in the hilly areas is much less fertile than the annually replenished alluvium of the surrounding flooded plains. Each year, the Hill Tracts people plant wheat, rice corn and vegetables all together, and harvest them in different seasons.

About 80 percent of the annual rainfall occurs in the monsoon period, which lasts from late May to mid-October. The average annual precipitation ranges from about 55 inches along the country's east central border to more than 200 inches in the far northeast. During monsoon season, the roads are very slippery and muddy. The advantage of the rain is fertile soil. The disadvantage of the rain, however, is a lot of destruction and death. The houses of poorer people get flooded.

Life is very difficult for the people in villages. The lifestyle of people in rural areas is closely tied to the cycle of the monsoons. In addition to the monsoon, Bangladesh is subject to devastating cyclones, tornadoes, and tidal waves. Cyclones originate over the Bay of Bengal, in the periods of April to May and September to November. These storms can cause great damage and loss of life. The cyclone of November 1970, in which about 500,000 lives were lost in Bangladesh, was one of the worst natural disasters of the 20th century.

Tornadoes, which also occur in the monsoon season, cause harm to Bangladesh as well. In May 1996, a tornado ripped through northern Bangladesh and killed more than 440 people, injured thousands and destroyed at least 80 villages. Rivers are a prominent and important feature of the landscape in Bangladesh. In the dry season the numerous streams that cross Bangladesh are several kilometers wide. In the summer monsoon season the streams combine into an extremely broad region of silt-laden water. In the non monsoon months the exposed ground contains many water-filled borrow pits, or tanks.

These tanks are a main source of water for drinking, bathing, and small-scale irrigation. Approximately 82 percent of the country's population live in rural areas. Practically all of them make their living on agriculture. Bangladesh produces large quantities of agricultural goods because of the fertile soil.

It produces the world's most jute. The main food crops grown are rice, pulses, and vegetables such as peppers and potatoes. Bangladesh does not have many minerals. The central energy resource, natural gas, is found in several small fields in the northeast. There is a coalfield in the northwest and large peat beds underlie most of the delta. Limestone and pottery clays are found in the northeast.

There are some petroleum mines as well. Currently, the Bay of Bengal is being excavated in search of oil and gas. Bangladesh is a tropical country with many problems. There is flooding, cyclones, tornadoes, lack of land. The country is very small and highly populated.

Bangladesh has a lot of rich fertile soil good for farming but there is not enough for everyone. It is a very poor country but is still developing.