Barishal

Barishal, also written Barisal, is a major city on the banks of the Kirtankhola River in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarters of both Barisal District and Barisal Division, and it ranks among the country's oldest municipalities and river ports. Its network of rivers and waterways carries much of the local transport and earned it the nickname Venice of the East, or Venice of Bengal. The municipality was established in 1876 under British rule and became a City Corporation on 25 July 2002. The city is divided into 30 wards and 50 mahallas and covers about 58 square kilometres. The 2022 census counted 419,484 residents in the City Corporation, while the article's lead cites 533,000 under the 2023 national census. The name is traced to the Perso-Arabic phrase Bahr-e-Sawal, meaning the ship of questions.