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Rajshahi

District headquarters, 1765–1947

Rājśāhīরাজশাহী

Today Rajshahi, Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh. Same place, same name.

Key facts

Historical name
Rajshahi
Type
District headquarters
Coordinates
24.3667° N, 88.6000° E(seed dataset)
Governance
Directly administered
Record confidence
High confidence
Identifiers
Q322155

Directly administered by the Governor-General of India, and therefore part of British India in the statutory sense of the Interpretation Act 1889, s.18.

Location

Pin placed at the coordinates recorded for this place. Colonial-era boundaries are not drawn.

Description

District and divisional head-quarters on the Ganges, entered in the Imperial Gazetteer under its colonial town name Rampur Boalia.

Historical notes

Centre of the silk and indigo trade of northern Bengal; the town took the district's name, Rajshahi, in modern usage.

Administrative history

Administrative parenthood changed over time. Each row states the years it is recorded for, and the source it comes from.

Administrative units this place is recorded under, by year
YearsRelationUnitConfidence
from 1901Part ofBengal PresidencyPresidency · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred.High confidencesource
from 1901Part ofRajshahiDistrict · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred.High confidencesource

Recorded names

Every documented spelling and transliteration held for this place. The historical name is canonical; modern names redirect to it.

Name variants recorded for this place
NameScriptTypeYears
RajshahiLatinHistorical English
RājśāhīOther scriptAlternative spelling
Rampur BoaliaLatinAlternative spelling
রাজশাহীBengaliIndigenous

Records and references

Imperial Gazetteer of India
Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31), Vol. 21 (21), p. 163
Census of India
Census of India, 1901, Vol. VI (6): Bengal

Sources

  1. Database· identityCC0

    Wikidata (Q322155), Wikimedia Foundation

    Wikidata, CC0 1.0

    Retrieved 2026-08-29

  2. Gazetteer· administrativeLicence unverified

    Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908–31), DSAL entry: Rampur Boalia, University of Chicago / Digital South Asia Library

    Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago — the 1908–31 text is public domain, but DSAL's digital presentation states no licence; link-out only

    Retrieved 2026-08-29

  3. Archive· descriptionPublic domain

    Internet Archive scan: in.gov.ignca.30990, Internet Archive

    Scanned volume of a pre-1929 publication (Imperial Gazetteer of India 1908–31 / Census of India 1901); public domain. Digitisation courtesy of the Internet Archive.

    Retrieved 2026-08-29

  4. Encyclopedia· generalCC BY-SA

    Wikipedia: Rajshahi, Wikimedia Foundation

    Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0

    Retrieved 2026-08-29

Sources tagged “Licence unverified” are linked to rather than reproduced. Scans and images are only displayed inline where the licence is confirmed permissive.