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Background of Chapainawabganj district
A.  Naming: 
 
The name Chapainawabganj has been taken recently. Earlier this area was known as 'Nawabganj'.  It is known about the naming of Chapainawabganj that during the pre-British period this area was the Bihar land of the Nawabs of Murshidabad and its location was in Daudpur mouza of the present Sadar upazila.  The place was named Nawabganj because the Nawabs used to come here to hunt with their allies and entourage. It is said that the place where Nawab Sarfaraz Khan (1839-40 AD) of Bengal-Bihar-Orissa once came hunting and encamped. later it became known as Nawabganj.  However, according to most researchers, Nawabganj was named during the reign of Nawab Alivardi Khan (1840-56 AD).  Over time, the name of Nawabganj spread around.  Then Nawabganj was known as 'Chapainwabganj' as its post office was located in the village of Chapai.
 
 Historically there is no accurate information on the naming of this ‘chapai’.  However, there are two rumors in this regard: -
 
 
1.There is a village called Maheshpur 5/6 miles away from the present Nawabganj town.  During the Nawab's reign, a beautiful woman named 'Champarani' or 'Champabai' lived in this village.  The fame of his dance spread widely in the area and he became the favorite of the Nawabs.  Many people think that the name of this place is 'Chapai' after her.
 
 
2.  There is another common way of naming it 'Chapai' - this region was the residence of King Lakhinder.  The capital of Lakhinder was Champak.  But there is considerable disagreement as to where the actual location of this Champak city was.  Chasai, Chandpur, Behula village and Behula river are found in Hokonbabganj district.  Although the Behula River now flows in Malda district, Chapai was under Malda district in the pre-partition period.  Historian Akshay Kumar Maitreya (181-1930 AD) thinks that Behula took her husband on a raft and floated upstream.  Linguist Dr.  The enemies of Lausanne, described in the first volume of Muhammad Shahidullah's (185-1969 AD) book 'Bangla Sahityer Kotha', entered Gaur through Jamutinagar.  Jambaria in the present Bholahat upazila was formerly known as Jamutinagar.  Based on this, some researchers have identified Chapai as Behula's father-in-law's Champaknagar and have suggested that the name Chapai originates from the name Champak. 
 
 
 B.  Ancient Chapainawabganj (from prehistoric times to 1204 AD): 
 
Historians and geographers have traced Rajshahi, Chapainawabganj, Naogaon, Natore, Bogra, Rangpur, Dinajpur and parts of Malda and Murshidabad in West Bengal and the whole region including Darjeeling and Kochbihar.  Another reason why this area is considered to be the oldest region of Bangladesh is that, the most ancient antiquities and antiquities have been found in the Barind region.  And the history of Chapainawabganj region is associated with the history of Barind land.  At one time the lion's share of North Bengal belonged to Pundravardhana.  It is believed that this Pundravardhana later became known as Gaura.  According to the traveler Ibn Battuta, the city was situated somewhere between the Ganges and the Karatoya rivers.  Of course, there is no end to the legends about the kingdom of Gaura.  It is known from the descriptions given in the texts of the Jains of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries that Lakshmanavati of Malda district belonged to Gaura.  Gaura is mentioned in Bhavishyapurana or Trikandashesh as belonging to Pundra or Barindra.  The first mention of Panchagaur is found in the book 'Brajatarangini' and later in many books Panchagaur is mentioned.  According to the historians, this Panchagaur is made up of Gaura, Saraswat, Kanauj, Mithila and Utkal.  At one time Murshidabad, Birbhum, parts of Burdwan and Maldah belonged to Gaura.  In this regard, scholars consider Nawabganj to be a part of Gaura. During the reign of Gaura king Shashanka (c. 808-838 AD), Chapainawabganj was included in his kingdom as a part of Gaura.  After the death of Shashanka, the kingdom of Gaura passed under Emperor Harshavardhana and his ally Kamrupraj Bhaskaravarma.  After Harshavardhana's death, the continuous onslaught of external enemies ushered in a century-long period of darkness and anarchy in the state and social life of Gaura called 'Matsyanyaya'.  In the middle of the eighth century, the period  of fishing in the kingdom of Gaura came to an end with the rise to power of the first Pala king Gopal (c. 750-80 AD).  Pala rule in Bengal lasted for about three centuries.  Later, the Sena dynasty, who came from Karnataka and lived in the Radha region, took over the throne of Gaura.
 
 
C.  During the Muslim rule, Chapainawabganj (1204-1857 AD): 
 
 
Ikhtiyaruddin Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji, a fortune-seeking Turkish general, conquered Nadia in 1204 AD. This marked the beginning of Muslim rule in Bengal.  During the Muslim period, the city of Gaura came to be known as Lakhnauti (Lakshnavati).  During the reign of Ilyas Shahi dynasty, the entire Bengali-speaking territory came under a single state called 'Bangala'.  However, the golden age of the history of Gaura or Bengal is considered to be the reign of Hussain Shahi dynasty.  And naturally Chapainawabganj district as the foothills of Gaura then achieved unimaginable material prosperity.  During the reign of Sultan Alauddin Hossain Shah (1493-1519 AD), the greatest king of medieval Bengal, Chapainawabganj reached its highest peak of glory.  And the famous small Sonamasjid of Gaura still survives as a witness to that glory. After the conquest of Bengal by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1576 AD, most of the areas of North and West Bengal including Chapainawabganj became part of the Mughal Empire.  In some areas of East and South Bengal, the Bar Bhuiyans then formed an anti-Mughal resistance.  However, among the Mughal subahdars, Prince Muhammad Sujar (1631-59 AD) has several notables in Chapainawabganj.  The remains of his Kachari house are in Firozpur of Shibganj upazila.  During his time Hazrat Shah Neyamtullah (R) came here to spread Islam in the eastern part of Gaura.  Subaddar Shuja greeted him with utmost respect.  Later, Shah Neyamtullah established a permanent abode at Ferozepur on the outskirts of Gaura. The Mughal Empire weakened after the reign of Emperor Aurangzeb (1757-1707 AD) and since then it has enjoyed the status of an independent political entity under the Bengal Nawabs.  During the reign of Nawab Murshid Quli Khan (1717-1726 AD) the capital of Bengal was shifted from Dhaka to Murshidabad which is closer to Chapainawabganj in terms of geographical distance.  As mentioned earlier, during the Nawabi period, the Chapainawabganj area became well-known among the aristocracy of Murshidabad as the hunting ground of the Nawabs and the name 'Nawabganj' gained popularity at that time.
 
 
D. British period (1757-1747 AD):
 
The defeat of Nawab Sirajuddaula by the British East India Company lead by Robert Clive in the Battle of Palashi in 1757 sowed the seeds of British colonial rule in Bengal and India.  The state, society and economy of Bengal underwent a negative transformation and the importance of Chapainawabganj as the backbone of Murshidabad during the Nawabi period waned.  However, it is also true that most of the rural and urban settlements we see in Chapainawabganj district at present are built in the British period. Although the history of Nawabganj region is very ancient, the history of Nawabganj thana town and subdivision town is not very long.  In 1813 Purnia and Dinajpur districts were dissolved and Malda district was formed, but it was not given to any collector till 1859 AD.  Mr.  Ravan Show was the first District Magistrate and Collector of Malda District. At that time Shibganj and Kaliachak police stations were notorious as crime prone areas.  Nawabganj was then just a police outpost under Shibganj police station. Munsef Chowki was shifted from Shibganj to Nawabganj in 183 AD and was upgraded to Nawabganj Police Station in 1899 AD.  Since the establishment of the thana, plans and efforts to form a separate subdivision with Nawabganj and its adjoining thanas have been going on.  Until 17 AD, Nawabganj region was included in Rajshahi district and in 16-1905 AD it was included in Bhagalpur (division) of Bihar.  Meanwhile, Nawabganj Municipality was formed in 1903 with 12 ward commissioners.  During the Partition of Bengal in 1905 AD, the region, including the then East Bengal and Assam Provinces, was again included in the Rajshahi Division, though it belonged to the Malda District.  When the Sub-Registry Office was established in Nawabganj in 1908, the activity increased here.  The post office at Chapai village was shifted to Nawabganj town in 1925 and was renamed as Chapainawabganj for the convenience of government work.  From that time Nawabganj city became famous as Chapainawabganj.
 
 
E.  Pakistan and Bangladesh period  (1947-present):
 
 
During the partition of India in 1947, Nawabganj and its adjoining Shibganj, Nachol, Bholahat and Gomstapur police stations were separated from Malda and included in the Rajshahi district of East Pakistan, according to the Radcliffe Award.  In order to facilitate the administration, a new subdivision was formed on 1 November 1947 with a thana of Rajshahi district and Porsha thana of Dinajpur and a subdivisional headquarters was established at Nawabganj.  This new subdivision was named 'Nawabganj'.  After the declaration of Nawabganj subdivision, Syed Ahmad Chowdhury became the first subdivisional administrator, EPCS (1948-1949 AD).
 In 1982, the then President Hussein Muhammad Ershad declared the administration to be at the doorstep of the people and transformed the police stations into upazilas and subdivisions into districts.According to this step, 5 thanas of Nawabganj were upgraded to Shibganj, Nachol, Bholahat, Gomstapur and Nawabganj Sadar upazilas.  On 1 March 1984, Nawabganj subdivision was officially declared a district. During that Minister of Health and Population Affairs of the Government of Bangladesh, Major General M.  Shamsul Haque inaugurated Chapainawanganj district. Deputy commissioner K. Shamsul Haque was appointed the first deputy commissioner of Nawabganj. He served as the Deputy Commissioner from 01.03.1984 to 06.08.1985.  Nawabganj district was officially renamed as Chapainawabganj on August 1, 2001 in response to the demands of the people of the district.
 
 
Remarkable events during the war of liberation:
 
 
The participation of the people of Chapainawabganj in the war of independence of Bangladesh in 1971 was all-pervading and spontaneous.  The heroic struggle of the local freedom fighters and the people made it possible to liberate the town of Chapainawabganj from the grip of the Pak army at the last stage of the war of liberation.  On 10 December the freedom fighters advanced from the other side of the river Mahananda to capture the town of Chapainawabganj.  Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir led this group of about fifty fighters under the direction of the then Sector Commander Kazi Nuruzzaman.  Although he arrived at the village of Bargharia on the banks of the Mahananda, he could not cross the river and enter the town before 13th December.  That night Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir divided his forces into three divisions and sent them to attack the city.  He himself lead a section and crossed the Mahananda in the middle of the night with his comrades and came to the outskirts of the city.  He fought with the enemy at a place called Reicher.  Fighting valiantly, Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir was forcing the Pak army and their allies to retreat from the battlefield when the enemy's ruthless bullets came and pierced his forehead.  Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir was martyred.  Due to his heroic fighting and courageous war plan, the freedom fighters were able to liberate the city of Chapainawabganj on 14 December.  Martyr Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir was buried in the premises of the historical choto Sona Mosque.  The heroism of the great Captain Mohiuddin Jahangir has become immortal in the hearts of the liberated people of Chapainawabganj and Bangladesh.  
 
 
Upgraded to Chapainawabganj district:
 
 
 In 1982 at that time, President Hussein   Muhammad Ershad declared the administration to be at the doorstep of the people and transformed the police stations into upazilas and subdivisions into districts.  Due to this move, 5 thanas of Nawabganj were upgraded to Shibganj, Nachol, Bholahat, Gomstapur and Nawabganj Sadar upazilas.  On 1 March 1984, Nawabganj subdivision was officially declared a district.During this time, Minister of Health and Population Affairs of the Government of Bangladesh, Major General M.  Shamsul Haque inaugurated Chapainawabganj district.  Nawabganj district was appointed the first deputy commissioner.  Who is Shamsul Haque.  He served as the Deputy Commissioner from 01.031984 AD to 08.08.1975 AD.  Nawabganj district was officially renamed as Chapainawabganj on August 1, 2001 in response to the demands of the people of the district.
 
 
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