Chittagong through the Ages

The political status of Chittagong during the early days is rather sketchy. However, from the available records, it appears that in 151 A. D. the war Lord of Magadha named Chandra Surya occupied Chittagong and Arakan and established his Kingdom in the region and the same dynasty ruled up to 5th century A. D. In the 6th Century A. D. Chittagong was annexed by the king of Samatata and ruled by the Khargaraj dynasty for about 100 years. In the 8th century Dharmapal ruled Chittagong for a short period. In the 10th century A. D. Chittagong was annexed by Arakan kingdom. In the last part of 10th centaury, Chang Thump the king of Tripura conquered Chittagong. In the 11-12th century Chittagong was a part of Paga kingdom. King Damadar Dev ruled Chittagong during the 1st part of 13th century. From the writings of European traveller Marco Polo, it appears that in 1273 chittagong was conquered by the Tatar Khans. In the beginning of 14th century A. D. Chittagong was again annexed by Arakan kingdom. In 1340 Fakharuddin Mubarak Shah, the ruler of Sonargaon conquered Chittagong.
From that time up to the emergence of the Pathan rule in the 16th century but with certain brief intervals, Chittagong was ruled by the sultans of Gour. During the year 1538-39 Sher Shah’s General Noazish occupied Chittagong and till 1580 it was ruled by the Afgans. Though the Afghans left Bengal in 1575, Jamal Khan panni ruled Chittagong up to 1580. In 1580 she was re-captured by the Arakans and remained under the occupation till 1665, when Moghul General Shaestha Khan expelled Arakanese from Chittagong and the area from the south of the Feni river to the south of Shankha river was under the occupation of Moghuls. In 1756 Moghul General Adhu Khan of Dohazari Fort occupied the southern part of the river Shankha upto the north of Naf river from the Arakans.
In 1760 the Nawab of Bengal Mir Kashem gave away the ruler ship of this region to the East India Company through a mandate. From that time Chittagong was a part of India under the British rule till the partition of India. In 1971, the then East Pakistan emerged as an independent country known as Bangladesh and Chittagong became the major port of the country.