Jessore, city, southwestern Bangladesh. It is situated on the Bhairab River, a distributary stream of the vast Padma (Ganges [Ganga])–Jamuna (Brahmaputra) delta.
According to tradition, its name is a corruption of yashohara (“glory depriving”), as the town is said to have robbed Vikramaditya’s 17th-century capital of Gaur of its preeminence. Ancient buildings include the Rajbari of Chanchra and the shrines of the Muslim saints Bahram Shah and Gharib Shah. Constituted a municipality in 1864, Jessore contains a stadium, a library, and four government colleges affiliated with the University of Rajshahi.
The surrounding region occupies the central portion of the Gangetic delta between the Hugli (Hooghly; in India) and Meghna estuaries. It consists of an alluvial plain intersected by watercourses that to the south spread out into the large marshes of the Sundarbans. The chief crops of that region are rice, sugarcane, and dates. Pop. (2001) 176,655; (2011) 201,796.