Map - Nilphamari District (Nilphamari Zila)

Nilphamari (নীলফামারী জেলা, Nilphamari Jela also Nilphamari Zila) is a district in Northern Bangladesh. It is a part of the Rangpur Division. It is about 400 kilometers to the northwest of the capital Dhaka. It has an area of 1580.85 km2. Nilphamari is bounded by Rangpur and Lalmonirhat in east, Rangpur and Dinajpur in south, Dinajpur and Panchagarh in west, Cooch Behar of India in north. There are many rivers in Nilphamari including the Tista, Buritista, Isamoti, Jamuneshwari, Dhum, Kumlai, Charalkata, Sorbomongola, Salki, Chikli, Chara and Deonai. There are four Municipal Corporation in Nilphamari district. Area of these Municipalities are Nilphamari 42.70 SqKm(27.50 SqKm Present, 15.20 SqKm Ongoing), Saidpur-34.42 SqKm, Jaldhaka-28.22 SqKm and Domar-9.421 SqKm. There are 60(sixty) Unions, 370 Moujas and 378 Village in Nilphamari district.

About 200 years ago, the British established farms for cultivating indigo (nil). The soil of this area was very fertile for indigo cultivation. As a result, a lot of nil kuthi and nil khamar (farm) were built here compared to the other districts. It is widely believed that the term "nil khamari" was derived from "nil khamar" by the local farmers. And then the word "Nilphamari" was derived from "Nil khamari".