Editing Dhaka (section)

===Trade and migration===
[[File:19th century porcelain rice dish of Old Dhaka family.jpg|thumb|[[China (porcelain)]] belonging to a family of Old Dhaka in the 1800s.]]
Dhaka hosted factories of the English East India Company, the [[Dutch East India Company]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=5 February 2018 |title=The rise and fall of the Dutch in Dhaka |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/the-rise-and-fall-the-dutch-dhaka-1530046 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928164533/https://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/the-rise-and-fall-the-dutch-dhaka-1530046 |archive-date=28 September 2022 |access-date=28 September 2022 |work=The Daily Star}}</ref> and [[French Indies Company|French East India Company]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=French, the |url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/French,_The |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928164533/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/French,_The |archive-date=28 September 2022 |access-date=28 September 2022 |website=Banglapedia}}</ref> The property of the [[Ahsan Manzil]] was initially bought by the French for their factory and later sold to the Dhaka Nawab Family. The Portuguese were reportedly responsible for introducing [[cheese]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=24 January 2014 |title=Você fala Bangla? |url=https://archive.dhakatribune.com/uncategorized/2014/01/24/voce-fala-bangla |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928164533/https://archive.dhakatribune.com/uncategorized/2014/01/24/voce-fala-bangla |archive-date=28 September 2022 |access-date=28 September 2022 |work=Dhaka Tribune}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Portuguese influence in Bengal |url=https://dailyasianage.com/news/241706/portuguese-influence-in-bengal |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928164531/https://dailyasianage.com/news/241706/portuguese-influence-in-bengal |archive-date=28 September 2022 |access-date=28 September 2022 |work=The Asian Age |location=Bangladesh}}</ref> Dhaka saw an influx of migrants during the Mughal Empire. An [[Armenian community of Dhaka|Armenian community]] from the [[Safavid Empire]] settled in Dhaka and was involved in the city's textile trade, paying a 3.5% tax.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ali |first1=Ansar |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |last2=Chaudhury |first2=Sushil |last3=Islam |first3=Sirajul |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]] |year=2012 |editor-last=Islam |editor-first=Sirajul |editor-link=Sirajul Islam |edition=Second |chapter=Armenians, The |access-date=28 September 2022 |editor-last2=Jamal |editor-first2=Ahmed A. |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Armenians,_The |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612140831/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Armenians,_The |archive-date=12 June 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The Armenians were very active in the city's social life. They opened the [[Pogose School]]. [[Marwari people|Marwari]]s were the Hindu trading community. Dhaka also became home to [[History of Jews in Bangladesh|Jews]] and Greeks.<ref name="thejc">{{Cite news |title=The extraordinary story of the Bangladesh Jews |url=https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/features/the-extraordinary-story-of-the-bangladesh-jews-1.58433 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928164532/https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/features/the-extraordinary-story-of-the-bangladesh-jews-1.58433 |archive-date=28 September 2022 |access-date=28 September 2022 |work=The Jewish Chronicle}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=11 January 2021 |title=History of the Greek community in Dhaka |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/news/history-the-greek-community-dhaka-2025501 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928164535/https://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/news/history-the-greek-community-dhaka-2025501 |archive-date=28 September 2022 |access-date=28 September 2022 |work=The Daily Star}}</ref> The city has a [[Greek Memorial, Dhaka|Greek memorial]]. Several families of Dhaka's elite spoke [[Dhakaiya Urdu|Urdu]] and included Urdu poets. [[Persian people|Persians]] also settled in the city to serve as administrators and military commanders of the Mughal government in Bengal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Karim |first=Abdul |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]] |year=2012 |editor-last=Islam |editor-first=Sirajul |editor-link=Sirajul Islam |edition=Second |chapter=Iranians, The |access-date=28 September 2022 |editor-last2=Jamal |editor-first2=Ahmed A. |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Iranians,_The |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702011005/http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Iranians,_The |archive-date=2 July 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> The legacy of cosmopolitan trading communities lives on in the names of neighbourhoods in Old Dhaka, including [[Farashganj]] (French Bazaar), [[Armanitola]] (Armenian Quarter) and Postogola (Portuguese Quarter).

According to those who lived in the historic city, "Dhaka was a courtly, genteel town – the very last flowering, in their telling, of Mughal etiquette and sensibility. It is this history that is today still reflected in the faded grandeur of the old city, now crumbling due to decades of neglect. The narrow, winding, high-walled lanes and alleyways, the old high-ceilinged houses with verandas and balconies, the old neighbourhoods, the graveyards and gardens, the mosques, the grand old mansions – these are all still there if one goes looking".<ref name="himalmag1">{{Cite magazine |date=26 March 2019 |title=Out of place, out of time |url=https://www.himalmag.com/zafar-sobhan-dhaka-bangladesh/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928164534/https://www.himalmag.com/zafar-sobhan-dhaka-bangladesh/ |archive-date=28 September 2022 |access-date=28 September 2022 |magazine=Himal Southasian}}</ref> Railway stations, postal departments, civil service posts and river port stations were often staffed by [[Anglo-Indians]].<ref>Railways, steamer services, postal departments and lower civil services</ref>

The city's hinterland supplied rice, jute, [[gunny sack]]s, turmeric, ginger, leather hides, silk, rugs, [[saltpeter]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Saltpetre |url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Saltpetre |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024151133/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php/Saltpetre |archive-date=24 October 2022 |access-date=24 October 2022 |website=Banglapedia}}</ref> salt,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Salt Industry |url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Salt_Industry |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024151131/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Salt_Industry |archive-date=24 October 2022 |access-date=24 October 2022 |website=Banglapedia}}</ref> sugar, [[indigo]], cotton, and iron.<ref name="bp-americans">{{Cite web |title=Americans, The |url=https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Americans,_The |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024151135/https://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Americans,_The |archive-date=24 October 2022 |access-date=24 October 2022 |website=Banglapedia}}</ref> British opium policy in Bengal contributed to the [[Opium War]]s with [[China]]. American traders collected artwork, handicrafts, terracotta, sculptures, religious and literary texts, manuscripts, and military weapons from Bengal. Some objects from the region are on display in the [[Peabody Essex Museum]].<ref name="bp-americans" /> The increase in international trade led to profits for many families in the city, allowing them to buy imported luxury goods.