East Pakistan was the eastern provincial exclave of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, covering the territory of the modern country Bangladesh. The province was restructured and renamed from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, with a coastline on the Bay of Bengal. East Pakistanis were popularly known as "Pakistani Bengalis"; to distinguish this region from India's state West Bengal, East Pakistan was known as "Pakistani Bengal". In 1971, East Pakistan became the newly independent state Bangladesh, which means "country of Bengal" or "country of Bengalis" in Bengali language.
Suhrawardy (middle) with US President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
Elizabeth II, seen here visiting Chittagong in 1961, was Pakistan's Queen until 1956.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman announcing the Six Points
Surrender of Pakistan in December 1971
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. Islamabad is the nation's capital, while Karachi is its largest city and financial centre. Pakistan is the 33rd-largest country by area and the ninth-largest in Asia. Bounded by the Arabian Sea on the south, the Gulf of Oman on the southwest, and the Sir Creek on the southeast, it shares land borders with India to the east; Afghanistan to the west; Iran to the southwest; and China to the northeast. It shares a maritime border with Oman in the Gulf of Oman, and is separated from Tajikistan in the northwest by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor.
Priest-King from Mohenjo-daro (c. 2500 BCE)
Cremation urn, Gandhara grave culture, Swat Valley, c. 1200 BCE
Standing Buddha from Gandhara (1st–2nd century CE)
Badshahi Mosque, Lahore