Sonargaon
About 27 km southeast of Dhaka, Sonargaon was a prominent administrative centre, port and mint-town in the 14th century and was mentioned in the accounts of travelers like Ibn Batuta, Ma Huan, and Ralph Fitch. It remained important until the 17th century when Dhaka replaced it as the main political and commercial centre of eastern Bengal. It regained some importance again in the 19th century when Panam-Nagar was established as a trading centre in cotton fabrics, chiefly English piece goods. Hindu merchants built palatial houses in an ornate European style in Panam-Nagar, overgrown ruins of which remain today, on both sides of a main thoroughfare.
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