Bangladesh: The Booster Engine

Abstract

the historic role of Bangladesh—along with the historical province of Bengal, the eastern two-thirds of which constitutes the nation of Bangladesh—as an economic “booster engine” that benefitted many of today’s most powerful countries, particularly Great Britain. This image contrasts starkly with the longstanding, now outdated, portrayal of Bangladesh as an economic “basket case.” The nation’s past role as an economic booster can shed some light on how Bangladesh quietly transformed itself from a basket case to a showcase in the 50 years since its independence. I begin by going back 300 years to the central role Bengal played during a pivotal period of history. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Bengal was among the most prosperous places on earth. The name Bangladesh was used in Bengal for several centuries before 1971, when the country gained independence, but it entered the world’s vocabulary only at that time, which contributed to the new nation’s dissociation from the rich history of Bengal. Today, Bangladesh conjures up images of famine and abject poverty, which were a significant and tragic part of its history. This difficult period began in 1757, but prior to that, the territory of present-day Bangladesh was the core of Bengal’s agricultural and manufacturing success. The remaining one-third of Bengal is now West Bengal, one of India’s 28 states. In this essay, I briefly address the apparent clash between the thesis that Bengal boosted the West and the theory that the Western nations got rich through their superior institutions and innovations. I then describe six ways that Bengal, including the large area that is now Bangladesh, contributed to the development of the West. I conclude by briefly highlighting a key reason Bangladesh is ascending anew today. BANGLADESH: THE BOOSTER ENGINE