Patuakhali

Patuakhali is a town and the district headquarters of Patuakhali District in Barisal Division, Bangladesh, on the southern bank of the Laukathi river. Its municipality was established in 1892, which makes it one of the oldest towns and municipalities in the country. The town covers 27.03 square kilometres and had 65,000 residents in 13,994 households at the 2011 census, with a literacy rate of 79.89 percent. The name is generally taken to come from Patuar Khal, the canal of Patua, through which Portuguese pirates raided the area in the early seventeenth century. A civil court was set up in 1868 and a subdivision in 1871; Patuakhali Government Jubilee High School, founded in 1876, is among the oldest schools in Bangladesh.