Bangladesh is the world’s most densely populated country. Its surface area is roughly on par with the state of New York, but at 160 million residents its population is over half that of the entire United States. This becomes even more remarkable when you consider that a majority of its surface area is occupied by the enormous Ganges River delta and flood plain; it is the world’s largest, at nearly 2,500km across when it empties into the Bay of Bengal. It is also one of the world’s newest countries, having achieved independence from Pakistan only in 1971. Its recent history is full of turmoil and bloodshed. The journey to independence began with India’s own independence from British colonial rule in 1947. As part of that process, the new government partitioned the former province of Bengal into two parts — West Bengal, which is now a part of India and contains the enormous city of Kolkata; and East Bengal (first renamed as East Pakistan, and now Bangladesh) which was absorbed by Pakistan. Tensions between East and West Pakistan boiled over in 1971 when West Pakistan refused to recognize an election in the east; the ensuing war created 10 million refugees, over 300,000 dead, and was only ended when the Indian Army backed the East Bengali rebels in order to stave off a humanitarian crisis.