Kuakata

Kuakata is a town in Patuakhali District on the southern coast of Bangladesh, in Kalapara Upazila about 320 kilometres south of Dhaka. It is known for its panoramic sea beach, a sandy expanse 18 kilometres long and 3 kilometres wide with unobstructed views of both sunrise and sunset over the Bay of Bengal. The name comes from the Bengali word kua, meaning well, after wells dug on the shore by Rakhine settlers who arrived in the late 18th century after being expelled from Arakan. It is a pilgrimage place for Hindu and Buddhist communities and has a Buddhist monastery, Rakhine villages, Kuakata National Park and a mangrove forest. The 2011 census counted 9,077 people in the town, and it is nicknamed the Daughter of the Sea.