The Longest Beach in the World – Cox's Bazaar
Cox's Bazar (Bengali: কক্সবাজার) is a town, a fishing port and district headquarters inBangladesh. It is known for its wide sandy beach which is the world's longest natural sandy sea beach.[2][3][4] It is an unbroken 125 km sandy sea beach with a gentle slope. It is located 150 km south of the industrial port Chittagong. Cox’s Bazar is also known by the name "Panowa", the literal translation of which means "yellow flower". Its other old name was "Palongkee". The modern Cox's Bazar derives its name from Captain Hiram Cox (died 1799), an officer serving in British India. An officer of theBritish East India Company, Captain Cox was appointed Superintendent of Palongkee outpost after Warren Hastings became Governor of Bengal. Captain Cox was specially mobilised to deal with a century-long conflict between Arakan refugees and local Rakhains. The Captain was a compassionate soul and the plight of the people touched his heart. He embarked upon the mammoth task of rehabilitating refugees in the area and made significant progress. A premature death took Captain Cox in 1799 before he could finish his work. But the work he had done earned him a place in the hearts of the locals, and to commemorate his role in rehabilitation work a market was established and named after him Cox's Bazaar ("Cox's Market").
Today, Cox's Bazar is one of the most-visited tourist destinations in Bangladesh, however it has yet to become a major international tourist destination, with no international hotel chains operating here, due to lack of publicity and transportation.
The Town
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Cox's Bazar (Town) Cox's Bazar municipality was constituted in 1869 and was turn into a town committee in 1959. The town committee was again replaced by municipality in 1972 and it was elevated to B-grade in 1989. The municipality covers an area of 6.85 sq km with 27 mahallas and 9 wards; population 60234; male 57.09%, female 42.91%. The literacy rate among the town people is 52.2%. Cox's Bazar having been a great tourist resort various establishments have developed in the town including 6 big hotels, 30 medium hotels, 50 semi-medium hotels, Jhinuk market for the tourists and the Burmese market dealing in luxury goods from Burma, Thailand and China.[5] Located along the Bay of Bengal in South Eastern Bangladesh, Cox's Bazar Town is a very big port and health resort. But it is mostly famous for its long natural sandy beach. The municipality covers an area of 6.85 km² with 27 mahallas and 9 wards and has a population of 51,918.[1] Cox's Bazar is connected by road and air with Chittagong.[6]
History
The greater Chittagong area including Cox's Bazar was under the rule of Arakan Kings from the early 9th century till its conquest by theMughals in 1666 AD.[7] When the Mughal Prince Shah Shuja was passing through the hilly terrain of the present day Cox’s Bazar on his way to Arakan, he was attracted to the scenic and captivating beauty of the place. He commanded his forces to camp there. His retinue of one thousand palanquins stopped there for some time. A place named Dulahazara, meaning "one thousand palanquins", still exists in the area. After the Mughals, the place came under the control of the Tipras and the Arakanese, followed by the Portuguese and then the British.
The name Cox's Bazar/Bazaar originated from the name of a British East India Company officer, Captain Hiram Cox who was appointed as the Superintendent of Palonki (today's Cox's Bazar) outpost after Warren Hastings became the Governor of Bengal following theBritish East India Company Act in 1773. Captain Cox was especially mobilised to deal with a century long conflict between Arakanrefugees & local Rakhains at Palonki. The Captain made significant progress in rehabilitation of refugees in the area, but had died (in 1799) before he could finish his work. To commemorate his role in rehabilitation work a market / bazaar was established and was named after him as Cox's Bazaar (market of Cox). Cox's Bazar thana was first established in 1854 and a municipality was constituted in 1869.[7]
After the Sepoy Mutiny (Indian Rebellion of 1857) in 1857, the British East India Company was highly criticised & questioned on humanitarian grounds, specially for its Opium trade monopoly over the Indian Sub-Continent. However, after its dissolution on 1 January 1874, all of the company's assets including its Armed Forces were acquired by the British Crown. After this historic take over, Cox's Bazar was declared a district of the Bengal Province under the British Crown.
After the end of British rule in 1947, Cox's Bazar remained as a part of East Pakistan. Captain Advocate Fazlul Karim, the first Chairman (after independence from the British) of Cox's Bazar Municipality established the Tamarisk Forest along the beach to draw tourist attention in this town and also to protect the beach from tidal waves. He also donated many of his father in law’s and his own lands for establishing a Public Library and a Town Hall for the town. He was inspired to build Cox's Bazar as a tourist spot after seeing beaches of Bombay and Karachi, and one of the pioneers in developing Cox's Bazar as such. He founded a Maternity Hospital, the Stadium and the drainage system by procuring grants from the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation through correspondence. Mr. T. H. Matthews, the principal of the Dacca Engineering College (1949~1954) was his friend who had helped him in doing this. Engineer Chandi Charan Das was the government civil engineer who had worked on all these projects. In 1959 the municipality was turned into a town committee.[7] In 1961 the erstwhile Geological Survey of Pakistaninitiated investigation of radioactive minerals like monazite around the cox's bazar sea-beach area and a number of precious heavy minerals were identified the same year.[8]
In 1971, Cox's bazar wharf was used as a naval port by the Pakistan Navy's gunboats. This and the nearby airstrip of the Pakistan Air Force were the scene of intense shelling by theIndian Navy during Bangladesh Liberation War. During the war, Pakistani soldiers killed many people in the town including eminent lawyer Jnanendralal Chowdhury. The killing of two freedom fighters named Farhad and Subhash at Badar Mokam area is also recorded in history.[9]
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After the independence of Bangladesh Cox's Bazar started to get the administrative attention. In 1972 the town committee of Cox's Bazar was again turned into a municipality. In 1975, The Government of Bangladesh established a pilot plant at Kalatali, Cox's Bazar to assess the commercial viability of the heavy mineral content in the placer deposits of the area with the cooperation of the Australian Government.[8] Later, in 1984 Cox's Bazar subdivision was promoted to a district and 5 years later (in 1989) the Cox's Bazar municipality was elevated to B-grade.[7] In 1994 (jobs) the Marine Fisheries and Technology Station (MFTS) was established at Cox's Bazar. MFTS is a research station of Bangladesh Fisheries Research Institute (BFRI) headquartered in Mymensingh. The station covers a land area of 4 hactor and is equipped with 5 specialised laboratories, and one indoor and one outdoor cistern complex.[10] In April 2007 Bangladesh got connected to the submarine cable network as a member of the SEA-ME-WE-4 Consortium, as Cox's Bazar was selected as the landing station of the submarine cable.[11]
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