City history
Dhaka evolved from a 17th-century Mughal provincial capital into a global metropolis, adopting standard time along the 90th East meridian and briefly experimenting with daylight saving time in 2009.
Chapter one
Earliest documented name
"Disputed; attributed to Dhakeshwari Temple, dhak trees, or dhak drums."
The name Daca first appeared on a 1550 map by Portuguese historian Joao de Barros during the Bengal Sultanate. Earlier indigenous written records are not definitively documented, and theories attribute the name to the 12th-century Dhakeshwari Temple, native dhak trees, or ceremonial drums.
Earliest mapped European transliteration of Dhaka
First recorded by Portuguese cartographer Joao de Barros in his 1550 map of Bengal during the Sultanate period.
City of Jahangir
Official administrative name given by Mughal Subahdar Islam Khan I in 1610 upon establishing the city as Bengal's capital, honoring Emperor Jahangir.
Anglicized spelling of Dhaka
Standard English spelling adopted under British colonial rule and retained through East Pakistan administration until the late 20th century.
Spelling matching native Bengali pronunciation
Officially changed by the Government of Bangladesh in 1982 to align English spelling with Bengali phonetics.
Chapter two
British India standardized Bengal's regional timekeeping to Calcutta Mean Time (UTC+05:53:20), moving away from local solar observations across Dhaka.
During World War II, British India advanced Bengal to UTC+06:30 on October 1, 1941, followed by temporary shifts between UTC+05:30 and UTC+06:30.
East Pakistan formally adopted Dacca Time set at UTC+06:00 on September 15, 1951, standardizing time six hours ahead of GMT.
Upon independence, Bangladesh retained UTC+06:00 as Bangladesh Standard Time, calculated relative to the 90 degrees East longitude meridian.
Bangladesh introduced nationwide daylight saving time on June 19, 2009, advancing clocks one hour to UTC+07:00 to reduce severe electricity deficits.
Clocks returned to UTC+06:00 on December 31, 2009, and the government permanently canceled DST in early 2010 due to limited energy savings.
Chapter three
Completed in Old Dhaka and consecrated in 1824, St. Thomas' Church included a prominent square clock tower that served as a central civic timekeeper.
A precision horizontal solar sundial was installed inside Baldha Garden in Old Dhaka to measure local apparent solar time using cast shadows.
Bangladesh officially standardized the Bengali solar calendar in 1988, fixing Pahela Baishakh (Bengali New Year) to April 14 every year, celebrated annually at Ramna Park in Dhaka.
The opening of Dhaka Metro Rail (MRT Line 6) in December 2022 brought computer-synchronized transit scheduling to the capital city.