of the people of Bangladesh from ancient times to the present. The project, conceptually and territorially, interprets the term "Bangladesh" to mean successively ancient Eastern India, the Bengal Sultanate, Bengal Subah, Bengal Presidency, East Bengal, East Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The editor's preface states: Working team Over 1,200 writers and specialists contributed to the encyclopedia, one fifth of whom were foreign experts in Bangladesh or experts working abroad. They are mostly academics, as well as specialists in districts and upazilas for locality inputs and people from professions and occupations. District and upazila cartography has been processed at the Geographic information system (GIS) and cartographic laboratory set up for the Banglapedia. A gazetteer group was created to focus on districts and upazilas. The fact that around 400 local intellectuals were charged with writing about their respective zilas and upazilas was described as a unique approach to information gathering. In addition, 250 people worked in research management for seven years. A total of 2,000 scholars and technicians were involved. There were 270 full-time personnel on the project in all, with 35 to 40 people employed at any given time. Sirajul Islam is the chairman of the Board of Editors of Banglapedia, and the editor of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. A professor of history at the University of Dhaka, the oldest and largest university in Bangladesh, Islam gave up his day job five years before the formal date for retirement, to make time for Banglapedia. He also edited the 3 volumes of the History of Bangladesh (political, economic and socio-cultural), published by the Asiatic Society In 1991. He is now working on the Children's Banglapedia and the Cultural Survey of Bangladesh, and is also in charge of the National Online Biography project of the Society and the Banglapedia Trust. The encyclopedia was prepared by a board of editors that included Professor Sirajul Islam of the Department of History, Dhaka University, as the Chairman and Chief Editor, Professor Sajahan Miah of the Department of Philosophy, Dhaka University, as the Convenor and Managing Editor, Professor M. Aminul Islam as the Chairman of Project Implementation Committee, the Chairman of Fund Management Committee, and the Chairman of Cartography Committee, Professor Abdul Momin Chowdhury as the Chairman of Publication Committee, Professor S M Mahfuzur Rahman as the Convenor of Purchase and Procurement Committee, Shahida Alam as the Convenor of Public Relations and Communication Committee, and