page_title: Haor
section_title: Human habitation
hierarchical_section_title: Haor / Human habitation
caption_attribution_description: A police patrol speed boat in the haor region
context_page_description: A haor, is a wetland ecosystem in the north eastern part of Bangladesh which physically is a bowl or saucer shaped shallow depression, also known as a backswamp. During monsoon haors receive surface runoff water from rivers and canals to become vast stretches of turbulent water. They turn into a vast inland seas within which the villages appear as islands. Occasional high winds during the rainy season generate large waves in the haor, which may cause considerable damage to homesteads. However they all but dry up in the post-monsoon period. During winter, these haors are vast stretches of green land.
context_section_description: Prior to the 12th century there is almost no information available on the human habitation here. The information up to the 17th century is sketchy. During the British period, this area was not stringently surveyed, and not a lot of information is available.
  It is believed that the early settlers of the area were Hindus and other ethnic groups including Garo, Hajong, Khasi and Koch people coming down from the hills to the north. They were drawn to the area because of its productivity and favorable tenurial terms. With the expansion of Muslim power in the south and the west further Hindu migration continued in the 13th and 14th century. Following an Afghan defeat in Orissa in 1592, a large number of Afghans moved into the area. Expansion of Muslim population continued after the Muslim conquest of Sylhet in 1612, accelerating after the British conquest of Sylhet in 1765. By the 1770s all the cultivable land was brought under plough cultivation.
  From the 1780s, population and area under cultivation declined till early 20th century, mostly due to successive natural calamities including floods and earthquakes. The haor basin became an important fishing zone during this time. Population growth picked up again in the 20th century, again due to the opportunity to cultivate land for a nominal rent.
  In the haor region, villages are tightly nucleated and built on the natural levees (locally known as kandas). The haor villages are very large in size because no settlement can take place beyond the levees. During the dry cropping season, the satellite villages are established deep inside haor beds, far from parent villages. After harvesting and before inundation, the village structures are dismantled and transported back to parent villages along with harvests.
caption: A police patrol speed boat in the haor region
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