When British rule over India ended in 1947, two new countries were created: India and Pakistan. But Pakistan was split into two parts separated by over 1,000 miles of Indian territory. West Pakistan had the government and the money. East Pakistan, which would become Bangladesh, had more people but less power. The people of East Pakistan spoke Bengali, but the government in West Pakistan tried to make Urdu the only official language. This made the Bengali-speaking majority angry. They felt their culture was being erased. In 1970, a terrible cyclone hit East Pakistan and killed hundreds of thousands of people. The West Pakistani government responded slowly, and many East Pakistanis felt abandoned. On March 26, 1971, a leader named Sheikh Mujibur Rahman declared East Pakistan's independence as the new nation of Bangladesh. War broke out immediately. The Pakistani army attacked civilians. Millions of people fled to India as refugees. After nine months of fighting, India joined the war on Bangladesh's side. Pakistan surrendered on December 16, 1971. Bangladesh, meaning "Land of the Bengalis," became the world's newest nation.