Look at Bangladesh from space (like the photo above) and you can see it: green land laced with silver-grey rivers, like a giant leaf with veins. There are more than 700 rivers in the country. Many children take a boat to school instead of a bus.
The rivers all start far away in the Himalayan mountains. When the snow on the mountains melts, and when the monsoon rains arrive in summer, the rivers swell up. They flow downhill across the flat plains of Bangladesh, carrying tiny bits of mountain rock with them all the way to the sea.
That mud is gold dust for farmers. When the rivers spill over their banks each year, they leave a fresh layer of fertile soil behind. Rice, jute, tea and vegetables all grow brilliantly in it. Bangladesh is one of the biggest rice-growing countries in the world.
Because the country is so flat and so full of water, boats matter more than cars in many places. Markets float on the water. Big wooden ferries chug between islands. In quiet creeks, a fisherman might be standing in a tiny canoe, balancing perfectly while throwing a net.