The earliest historical records of the Port of Chittagong date back to the fourth century BCE, when sailors from the area embarked on voyages to Southeast Asia.

The second century Greco-Roman geographer Ptolemy mentioned the port on his map as one of the finest harbors in Asia and the eastern frontier of the Indian subcontinent.

The seventh-century traveling Chinese scholar and poet Xuanzang described it as "a sleeping beauty emerging from mists and water".

Arab and Persian traders arrived in the eighth century, and the region emerges as a major trading center on the maritime silk route, renowned for its pearls, rice, and textiles.

Chittagong also attracts many Sufi missionaries who settle in the region and play an instrumental role in the spread of Islam.

The claim by King Min Bin of Mrauk-U that all of Bengal belonged to ancient Arakanese kingdoms, though without foundation, is nonetheless used by Min Bin as the pretext to exploit the growing weakness of Bengal, a sultanate in long decline due to its wars with the Delhi Sultanate and the Ahom Kingdom.

Leading  a combined invasion force of twelve thousand (three armies of eleven thousand men in a three-pronged attack, and a flotilla of war boats carrying one thousand troops), he invades Bengal on October 7, 1532.

According to Arakanese chronicles, the combined invasion force defeated an Bengal army of ten thousand men and took Chittagong.

Mughal forces of Emperor Aurangzeb under General Bujurg Umed Khan, son of Shaista Khan, expel the Portuguese from the Bengal port city of Chittagong, which has been under the control of the Portuguese and the Magh pirates (a notorious name for Arakanese) for one hundred and twenty-eight years, and rename the city as Islamabad.

While Chittagong city and port have acquired great fame as centers of business and trade during the period of Portuguese occupation, the Mughal occupation restores peace and order in the district as a whole and in the city in particular.

Burmese forces occupy Shalpuri Island near Chittagong, which is claimed by the East India Company, on September 23, providing the casus belli for the First Anglo-Burmese War.

Burmese expansion into Manipur and Assam has created a long border between British India and the Burmese Empire.

The British, based in Calcutta, support rebels from Manipur, Assam and Arakan fleeing into British territory.

Calcutta had unilaterally declared Cachar and Jaintia British protectorates, and sent in troops.

Cross border raids into these newly acquired territories from British territories and spheres of influence vex the Burmese.

Convinced that war was inevitable, Burmese commander-in-chief, Maha Bandula, has become a main proponent of offensive policy against the British.

Bandula is part of the war party at Bagyidaw's court, which also includes Queen Me Nu and her brother, the Lord of Salin.

Bandula believes that a decisive victory will allow Ava to consolidate its gains in its new western empire in Arakan, Manipur, Assam, Cachar and Jaintia, as well as take over eastern Bengal.

The Burmese success causes extreme panic in Chittagong and ...

European traders set up the first tea gardens in the Indian subcontinent at Chittagong, using Chinese tea plants from the Calcutta Botanical Garden.