Sylhet region

Sylhet সিলেট ꠍꠤꠟꠐ
Region
Etymology: Srihatta/Shrihotto (Prestige marketplace)
Nickname(s): Jalalabad
Countries	Bangladesh  India
Areas	Sylhet Division, Bangladesh Barak Valley, India
Population (2011)
• Total	13,522,872
	(Pop. of Sylhet Division and Barak Valley)
Demonym(s)	Sylheti
Time zones	UTC+6 (BST)
	UTC+05:30 (IST)
Language(s)	Sylheti

Sylhet (Bengali: সিলেট, Sylheti: ꠍꠤꠟꠐ) is a geographical and cultural region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent and comprises the Sylhet Division in Bangladesh, which includes the Surma Valley, and the three districts of the Barak Valley in Assam, India. Among these three districts, North Cachar belonged to the Kachari Kingdom before the British Raj now Dima Hasao rules here, whereas Karimganj and Hailakandi belonged to the Sylhet district of then Bengal. Karimganj was separated from Sylhet after the 1947 referendum, with the rest of Sylhet falling under East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and Karimganj under India. In 1947, when a plebiscite was held in Sylhet, the region was divided into two; the eastern part of Sylhet which is known as Barak Valley remained with India whereas the other part fell under East Pakistan. Geographically the region is surrounded by hills from all three sides except its western plain boundary with Bangladesh. Nihar Ranjan Roy, author of Bangalir Itihash, says that "South Assam / Northeastern Bengal or Barak Valley is the extension of the Greater Surma/Meghna Valley of Bengal in every aspect from culture to geography".^[1]

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