Banglapedia

Banglapedia
National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh
Editor
Original titleবাংলাপিডিয়া
TranslatorVarious
LanguageBengali, English
SubjectVarious
GenreEncyclopedia
PublisherBanglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh
Publication date
January 2003
Publication placeBangladesh
Media typePrint (hardcover), CD-ROM, Online
Pages14 Volumes
ISBN984-32-0576-6
OCLC52727562
Original text
বাংলাপিডিয়া online
Website

(English Edition)

(Bengali Edition)

Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia.[1] It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online,[2] in both Bengali and English.[3] The print version comprises fourteen 500-page volumes. The first edition was published in January 2003 in ten volumes by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.[4] with a plan to update it every two years.[5] The second edition was issued in 2012 in fourteen volumes.[6]

Banglapedia was not designed as a general encyclopedia but as a specialized encyclopedia on Bangladesh-related topics.[7] For the encyclopedia's purposes, Bangladesh is defined as the territory comprising ancient Eastern India, Bengal Sultanate, Bengal Subah, Bengal Presidency, East Bengal, East Pakistan, and the independent Bangladesh, in historical succession.[5][8]

The encyclopedia's chief editor is Sirajul Islam.[9] Over 1450 writers and specialists in Bangladesh and abroad helped create the entries.[4][5] Banglapedia has over 5,700 entries in six editorial categories,[2] each of which is overseen by an expert editor,[4][5][8] as well as over 2,000 single and four-colour illustrations and 2,100 cross-references.[4][5]

The project was funded by the Government of Bangladesh, private sector organizations, academic institutes and UNESCO.[4][7] Though its original budget was 800,000 taka (roughly US$10,000), the Asiatic Society eventually spent 80 million taka (roughly US$1 million) on the project.[1][4][9] Despite controversies over entries on the Bangladesh Liberation War and indigenous people, both the Bengali and English versions became popular upon publication.[5]

  1. ^ a b Rahman, Mohammad Mahbubur (September 2002). "Banglapedia". Asia-Pacific Cooperative Programme in Reading Promotion and Book Development. Asia/Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-07.
  2. ^ a b "Banglapedia on CD-Rom to hit market by February". The New Age. 2004-01-02. Archived from the original on 2005-02-07. Retrieved 2007-07-23.
  3. ^ Iqbal, Iftekhar (2006-11-16). "The case for Bangladesh Studies". The Daily Star. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2007-06-07.
  4. ^ a b c d e f UNB (2003-03-24). "Compilation of Banglapedia completed". General news. Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP). Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Akkas, Abu Jar M (2004-05-23). "Banglapedia edition every 2 years". The Weekly Holiday. Archived from the original on 2005-12-13. Retrieved 2007-06-07.
  6. ^ Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal, ed. (2012), "Welcome to Banglapedia", Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.), Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, archived from the original on 2020-05-15, retrieved 2015-05-12
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference StarM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference preface was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference makinghistory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).