BACKERGUNGE, a district of British India in the Dacca division of Bengal. It forms part of the joint delta of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, and its area is 3,523sq.m. The general aspect of the district is that of a flat even country, dotted with clusters of bamboos and betel-nut trees, and intersected by a net work of dark-coloured and sluggish streams. The level of the country is low, lying as it does on the fringe of the Gangetic delta; and the rivers, streams and water-courses are so numerous that there are few villages which cannot be reached by boat at any season of the year. Towards the north-west nothing is to be seen for miles but tracts of unreclaimed swamps and rice lands, with a few huts scattered here and there and raised on mounds of earth. In the south of the district, along the coast of the Bay of Bengal, lie the forest tracts of the Sundarbans, now partially reclaimed, which extend over nearly goo square miles. The is lands on the sea-front are exposed to devastation by cyclonic storm-waves.
The principal rivers of the district are the Meghna, the Arial Khan and the Madhumati or Baleswar, with their numerous off shoots. The Meghna represents the channel by which accumu lated waters of the Brahmaputra and Ganges reach the sea. It flows along the eastern boundary for about loom. till it debouches into the Bay of Bengal. During the latter part of its course this noble river expands into a large estuary containing many islands, the principal of which is that of Dakshin Shahbazpur. The chan nel between this island and the mainland was formerly 25m. wide, but it has contracted owing to accretions on either side till its width has been reduced to barely 5 miles. Most of the rivers in the district are subject to tidal action, and nearly all of them are navigable at high tide by country boats of all sizes. The rise of the tide is very considerable in the estuary of the Meghna, and a strong "bore" or tidal wave runs up it at spring tides.
The population was returned in 1931 at 2,939,050. Seven-tenths are Mohammedans, among whom the Farazi sect is numerous. There is a Buddhist section consisting of Maghs, as the Arakanese are called in Bengal, who first settled in Backergunge about i800, and have made themselves very useful in the clearing of the Sundarbans. The soil is fertile, being annually enriched by the silt brought down by the rivers, and yields abundant harvests of rice, while the produce of coconut and betel-nut trees is a valu able source of income. Jhalakati is an important centre of trade, especially in betel-nuts. The climate is one of the healthiest in Eastern Bengal, owing to the flushing of the rivers and creeks by the tides, while the strong south-west monsoon, which comes up directly from the Bay of Bengal keeps the atmosphere cool. Barisal, the headquarters station had a population in 1921 of 35,716.