The British never used the term “Rohingya.” It was the word some Muslims, especially in the north of Arakan, used to refer to themselves in their own Bengali-related language. It simply meant “of Rohang,” their name for Arakan. It implied that Arakan was their home. In the same way, people just across the border, speaking a mutally intelligible Bengali dialect, called themselves Chatgaya, “of Chittagong.”
