History

The history of Cox's Bazar begins in the Mughal period. On his way to Arakan, when the Mughal Prince Shah Shuja (1616–1660) passed through the hilly terrain of the present day Cox’s Bazar, he was attracted to the scenic and captivating beauty of the region. He commanded his forces to camp there. A place named Dulahazara, meaning "one thousand palanquins", still exists in the area.

After the Mughals, the place came under the control of the Tipras and the Arakanese, followed by the Portuguese and then the British.

The name Cox's Bazar/Bazaar derived from the name of Captain James Cox of the East India, who was in charge of the naval base. In 1854, Cox's Bazar was made a sub-divisional headquarters.

After the end of British rule, Cox's Bazar remained part of East Pakistan. Captain Advocate Fazlul Karim was the first chairman after independence from the British of Cox's Bazar municipality. 

He established the Tamarisk Forest along the beach to draw tourism to the town and to protect the beach from the tide. He donated many of his father-in-law's and his own lands to establish a public library and town hall. In 1971, the wharf was used as a naval port by the Pakistan Navy's gunboats. This and the nearby airstrip of the Pakistan Air Force were the scene of intense shelling by the Indian Navy during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971.