Old Dhaka

Old Dhaka (Puran Dhaka) is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka, the capital of modern Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangir Nagar, the capital of Mughal Bengal. It was one of the largest and most prosperous cities of the Indian subcontinent and the center of the worldwide muslin trade. The Nawab of Bengal shifted the capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad in the early-18th century. With the rise of British Calcutta, Dhaka began to stagnate and came to be known as the "City of Magnificent Ruins". The British however began to develop the modern city from the mid-19th century.