History & Background
A distributary of the Ganges flowing past Khulna, Bangladesh's third-largest city, the Rupsha River shaped the city's growth as a river port and industrial center from the colonial era onward, when British and later Bengali entrepreneurs built jute processing mills along its banks that made Khulna one of the world's leading jute export hubs through the mid-20th century. The Khan Jahan Ali Bridge, a combined rail-and-road bridge completed in 2005, now spans the river, and passenger and cargo boats still ply its waters daily.