Banglapedia, or the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh, is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online, in both Bengali and English. The print version comprises ten 500-page volumes. The first edition was published in January 2003 by the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, with a plan to update it every two years.

Banglapedia was not designed as a general encyclopedia but as a specialized encyclopedia on Bangladesh-related topics. For the encyclopedia's purposes, Bangladesh is defined as the territory comprising ancient Eastern India, Suba Bangla, Shahi Bangalah, Mughal Suba Bangla, Bengal Presidency, Bengal Province, East Bengal, East Pakistan, and the independent Bangladesh, in historical succession.

The encyclopedia's chief editor is Sirajul Islam. Over 1200 writers and specialists in Bangladesh and abroad helped create the entries.Banglapedia has over 5,700 entries in six editorial categories, each of which is overseen by an expert editor, as well as over 2,000 single and four-colour illustrations and 2,100 cross-references.

Sheikh Mohammed Sultan (Bengali: শেখ মোহাম্মাদ সুলতান) (1923–1994), better known as SM Sultan(এস এম সুলতান), was a painter from Bangladesh. Sultan was born on 10 August 1923 in Masimdia, Narail district, Bangladesh. He was declared the Man of Asia in 1982 by University of Cambridge.

After only five years of schooling in Victoria Collegiate School in Narail, Sultan joined his father to work as a mason. He began to draw the buildings his father used to work on and developed an artistic disposition. He wanted to go to Kolkata to study art, but his family did not have the means to send him there. Eventually, Sultan went to Kolkata in 1938 with monetary support from the local zamindar (landlord).

Having inadequate qualifications for admission into the Art School in Kolkata, Sultan only managed to get in through the help of the poet and art critic Hasan Shahid Suhrawardy (1890–1965, Who introduced Jamini Roy to the world) a member of the governing body of the School also known as elder brother of Shahid Suhrawardy, former Prime Minister of Pakistan. Sultan also stayed at Suhrawardy's house and was allowed use of his library. Sultan, however, never completed his education.