History
The city's past — the Varendra region, the Puthia rajas, the silk trade and 1971.
Varendra: the old name of this country
Rajshahi sits in Varendra, the historic region of northern Bengal whose name the city's museum and university still carry.
Ancient and early medieval
How Rajshahi became a city of schools
From a private English school in 1828 to a university in 1953, the institutions that gave the city its name for education.
1828
1910: three men and a museum
How a zamindar, a lawyer and a schoolteacher founded the oldest museum in Bangladesh.
1910
Silk: why they call it the silk city
Records place silk production here as far back as the thirteenth century. The Dutch came for it, and the state factory followed in 1961.
13th century onwards
Rampur Boalia: the town before the city
The name Rajshahi is newer than the place. Before it, this was Rampur Boalia, named after an administrative office set up in 1825.
1825
Rajshahi in 1971
The university campus was occupied from April until the night of 18 December, and three of its teachers were killed.
1971