Old Dhaka (
Puran Dhaka) is a term used to refer to the historic old city of
Dhaka, the capital of modern
Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as
Jahangir Nagar, the capital of Mughal Bengal. It was one of the largest and most prosperous cities of the
Indian subcontinent and the center of the worldwide
muslin trade. The Nawab of Bengal shifted the capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad in the early-18th century. With the rise of British Calcutta, Dhaka began to stagnate and came to be known as the "City of Magnificent Ruins". The British however began to develop the modern city from the mid-19th century.