Map - Gabtali Upazila (Gabtali)

Gabtali (গাবতলী) is an upazila of the Bogra District, located in Bangladesh's Rajshahi Division. It is named after its administrative centre, the town of Gabtali and is best known as the home upazila of Ziaur Rahman, the late President of Bangladesh. Gabtali town is 7 km north of Bogra.

There are numerous theories on how Gabtali got its name. According to Najmul Huda, the history of the naming of this place is unknown and possible theories are mere folklore.

In the Gabtali Fables by Mubarak Ali Akhand, he mentions an incident which took place in circa 1932 when he was 10–12 years old. It was the day of Eid and the Dakshinpara villagers, including Akhand, set off to offer prayers in the Madhyapara eidgah. In the middle of the village, to the left of the road, stood an enormous shaky Gaub tree. The local worshippers there informed them that the village was named after this Gaub tree. The area is known to have many Gaub trees, and historically in northwestern Gabtali, there were forests and dense vegetation which the locals called ‘Ara’. Gaub trees were abundant in the Ara forests, and were said to have been born naturally. In the early 1900s, large jute-laden boats (known as lao in the local dialect) drove from the low lands at the rear of Gabtali Sadar across many towns. The wood from the underside of the boat, known in Bengali as toli, could be found across the Gabtoli area. Many people found the underside wood digging the wells, and this wood continues to be found when the soil is dug. Some believe that this is probably also a factor as to why Gabtoli is an impoverished area.