It has different times been variously described by historians and travelers as a large city, a Pargana and trade center.
This place now extends over a number of villages comprising about thirty eight squire kilometers. Modern Sonargaon covers the villages of Aminpur, Panama, Goaldi, Mograpara, Azampur and Dulalpur and spread of both side of Dhaka Chitogong Trunk road. There are a number of old relics and architectural remains in the area, some of witch had been built in t he early fifteenth century A.D.
The history of Sonargaon is, to a great extent, clear from the late thirteenth century – but its origin is uncertain. It is generally believed that Subornanagram ora Sonargaon are an ancient place and had existed front the time of the Pala and Deba kings as their administration town. It is also surmised that the ancient capital city of Vikrampur last iris former prosperity owing to the change in the river courses and their rulers mocrd to Sonargaon on the other side of the river. But there is no dated reference to Sonargaon before the thirteenth century A.D. According to Ziauddin Barani, author of Tarikh-i-Firuzshahi, Ghyasuddin Balban, the sultan ofDillhi came to Bengalto suppress the rebellious governer Tugril Khan and concluded a treaty of friendship with Rai Daruj the Hindu king of Sonargaon. Henceforth it became the seat of administration of the Muslim rulers of eastern Bengal. In 1338 Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah declared himself an independent ruler and established his headquarters at this place. Thereafter several rules of Ilyas Shahi dynasty no doubt ruled Bengall from Lakhanabati but sultan Gyasuddin Muhmmad Azom Shah of this dynasty (1389-1410) really made Sonargaon known all over the sub- continent. He also invited the celebrated Persion Poet Hapiz to pay a visit to his capital.
The famous Moroccan traveler Ibn Batuta visited this place in about 1345A.D. He took a sea going vessel from Sonargaon for his journey to the island of Java in Indonesia. The Chinese traveler who came to Bengal during the fifteenth century described Sonargeon as a Walled city wit h a flourishing trade and commerce. In 1586 the English traceler Ralph Fitch visited Sonargaon when I sa Khan, the most prominent among the Zaminder of Bengal, known as Bara Bhuiyas was the ruler of the area. According to him Sonargaon was situated six miles from Sripuf and famous for the best and finest quality cotton textiles ( Muslin) in the whole of the subcontinent. The story of the heroic resistance pit forward by Isa Khan and his successors to the Mughal governor and generals till the eastern part of the procunce was subjugated by Islam Khan is well known. After Islam Khan had moved from Rajmahal to Dhaka in the darkly seventeenth century 1610), Sonargaon lost its importance as an administratibe center but retaomef its commercial predominance, whice continued for a long time ever after the establishment of British rule.
Tough in Sonargaon, signs of pre Muslim remains cannot be traced there are a number of old relics and architectural remains in the area, some of which built in warily fifteenth century A.D. Among them the tomb of Sultan Gyasuddoin Azam Shah of Ilyas Shahi Dynasty, the single- domed mosque at Mograpara ( built in 1486) during the time of SultanFatrh Shah,the tomb of Hazrat Shaikh Muhammad,the Goaldi mosque ( built in 1519 during the time of Alauddin Hussain Shah), the arched bridge at Panam, the tombs of five Pairs and Manah Shah, The Dsmdam fort are the most significant. The Khasinagar Dighi, the large pond was used by the weavers to wash their cotton threads to produce finer Muslin cloth. The Ain-i-Akbari mentioned about the special quality of the water of this pond, which made the muslin threads remarkably whiter and brighter.
A part of the city at present known as Panamnagar came into prominence during the second half of the nineteenth and early part or the twentieth century. This place is known to have been built by the local merchants who flourished un this period ocer the remains of the old city. The buildings of Panamnagar are of different style and represent a new chapter of architecture which continue in Bengal throughout the British period. The Panam monuments, mostly residential in character are special in the sense nowhere in Bengal such a large assemblage of residential buildings exist. All these bear testimony to the pattern of architecture developed during pre- Mughal and Mughal Periods and at a later stage during the British in this part of Bangladesh. But unfortunately a vast period of this history has so long been ignored. As Brady –Bart pointed out in the first decade of the 20th century when he wrote the humble cultivator today lives and dies on the very scene of its former greatness, careless and ignorant of its long –forgotten, it passed out of the realm of history and none cared to record the annals of a kingdom whose they was done. So Sonargaon slept unminded, and itself unminded of its past. The folk Art Museum established by the government of Bangladesh. Among the additional items of Tourist attraction are handicraft made of jute and Bamboo, Clay works and shops Jamdani saris and designed etc.
