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Bengal

December 30, 2022

For other uses, see Bengal (disambiguation).

Bengal (/bɛnˈɡɔːl/ ben-GAWL;[3][4] Bengali: বাংলা/বঙ্গ, romanized: Bānglā/Bôngô, pronounced [ˈbɔŋgo] (listen)) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predominantly covering present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. Geographically, it consists of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta system, the largest river delta in the world and a section of the Himalayas up to Nepal and Bhutan. Dense woodlands, including hilly rainforests, cover Bengal's northern and eastern areas, while an elevated forested plateau covers its central area; the highest point 3,636 metres (11,929 ft) is at Sandakphu. In the littoral southwest are the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest. The region has a monsoon climate, which the Bengali calendar divides into six seasons.

Bengal
  • বাংলা/বঙ্গ
  • Bānglā/Bôngô
Region
Bengal region in Asia
ContinentAsia
Countries Bangladesh
 India
Major urban agglomerations (2011 census)
Iron Age India, Vedic India, Suhma Kingdom, Pundravardhana, Vanga Kingdom1500 – c. 500 BCE
Gangaridai, Nanda Empire500 – c. 350 BCE
Mauryan Empire4th century – 2nd century BCE
Shunga Empire, Gupta Empire, Later Gupta dynasty185–75 BCE, 3rd century CE – 543 CE, 6th–7th century
Gauda Kingdom590–633 CE
Pala Empire, Sena Empire8th–11th century, 12th century
Delhi Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate1204–1339 CE, 1338–1576 CE
Bengal Subah (Mughal Empire), Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad1565–1717 CE, 1717–1765 CE
Bengal Presidency (British India)1765–1947 CE
Principal subdivisions
List
Area
 • Total237,212 km2 (91,588 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)
 • Total241,120,100
 • Density1,000/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
DemonymBengali
Time zonesUTC+5:30 (IST)
UTC+6 (BST)
Official languagesBangladesh – Bengali[1]
West Bengal – Bengali[2]
This article contains Bengali text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

Bengal, then known as Gangaridai, was a leading power in ancient South Asia, with extensive trade networks forming connections to as far away as Roman Egypt. The Bengali Pala Empire was the last major Buddhist power in the subcontinent, founded in 750 CE and becoming the dominant power in the northern Indian subcontinent by the 9th century CE.[5][6][7] It was replaced by the Hindu Sena dynasty in the 12th century.[5] Islam had been introduced during the Pala Empire, through trade with the Abbasid Caliphate;[8] it spread across Bengal following the formation of the Delhi Sultanate. The region reached its highest prosperity under the Bengal Sultanate, founded in 1352, which became one of the world's richest trading nations.[9]

Absorbed into the Mughal Empire in 1576, the Bengal Subah was the empire's wealthiest province, and became a major global exporter,[10][11][12] and center of industries such as cotton textiles, silk,[13] and shipbuilding.[14] Its economy was worth 12% of the world's GDP,[15][16][17] a value bigger than the entirety of Western Europe, and its citizens' living standards were among the world's highest.[18][15] The region was conquered by the British East India Company after the Battle of Plassey in 1757, and became a part of the Bengal Presidency of British India. Bengal made significant contributions to the world's first Industrial Revolution, but later suffered its own deindustrialisation.[19] East India Company policies, such as increasing agriculture tax rates from 10% to up to 50%, alongside drought and epidemics, contributed to famines such as the Great Bengal famine of 1770, which resulted in the deaths of 1 million to 10 million Bengalis.[20][21]

After World War Two, during which Bengal was invaded by Japan, Bengal played a major role in hosting revolutionary groups of the Indian independence movement. As part of the Partition of India, Bengal was divided between predominantly Muslim and Hindu populations; an independent, united Bengal was considered, but the idea was rejected, predominantly due to religious divisions.[note 1] West Bengal subsequently became a part of India and East Bengal a part of Pakistan, although it won its independence as Bangladesh in 1971. Today, Bengal is divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal; the historical region encompassed the modern-day states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Assam, among others in India, and some parts of Myanmar or Burma (Rakhine State).[22][23] The population of Bengal was estimated to be 250 million in 2011, with an estimated 160 million people in Bangladesh and 91.3 million people in India,[24][self-published source?] making it one of the most densely populated regions in the world.[22] The predominant ethnolinguistic group is the Bengali people, who speak the Indo-Aryan language of Bengali. Bengali peoples also have a significant presence in the Indian states of Tripura, Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Uttarakhand, and others.[25]

Etymology

Main article: Names of Bengal

The name of Bengal is derived from the ancient kingdom of Banga (pronounced Bôngô),[26][27] the earliest records of which date back to the Mahabharata epic in the first millennium BCE.[27] The reference to 'Vangalam' is present in an inscription in the Vrihadeshwara temple at Tanjore, which is perhaps the earliest reference to Bengal as such.[28] Theories on the origin of the term Banga point to Dravidian tribes, later known as the Bang, that settled in the area circa 1000 BCE, and the Austric word Bong (Sun-god).[29][self-published source?][30] The term Vangaladesa is used to describe the region in 11th-century South Indian records.[31][32][33] The modern term Bangla is prominent from the 14th century, which saw the establishment of the Sultanate of Bengal, whose first ruler Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah was known as the Shah of Bangala.[34] The Portuguese referred to the region as Bengala in the Age of Discovery.[35]

Geography

Main articles: Geography of Bangladesh and Geography of West Bengal

Most of the Bengal region lies in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta, but there are highlands in its north, northeast and southeast. The Ganges Delta arises from the confluence of the rivers Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers and their respective tributaries. The total area of Bengal is 232,752  km2—West Bengal is 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi) and Bangladesh 147,570 km2 (56,977 sq mi).

The flat and fertile Bangladesh Plain dominates the geography of Bangladesh. The Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet regions are home to most of the mountains in Bangladesh. Most parts of Bangladesh are within 10 metres (33 feet) above the sea level, and it is believed that about 10% of the land would be flooded if the sea level were to rise by 1 metre (3.3 feet).[36] Because of this low elevation, much of this region is exceptionally vulnerable to seasonal flooding due to monsoons. The highest point in Bangladesh is in Mowdok range at 1,052 metres (3,451 feet).[37] A major part of the coastline comprises a marshy jungle, the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world and home to diverse flora and fauna, including the royal Bengal tiger. In 1997, this region was declared endangered.[38]

West Bengal is on the eastern bottleneck of India, stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south. The state has a total area of 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi).[39] The Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in the northern extreme of the state belongs to the eastern Himalaya. This region contains Sandakfu (3,636 m (11,929 ft))—the highest peak of the state.[40] The narrow Terai region separates this region from the plains, which in turn transitions into the Ganges delta towards the south. The Rarh region intervenes between the Ganges delta in the east and the western plateau and high lands. A small coastal region is on the extreme south, while the Sundarbans mangrove forests form a remarkable geographical landmark at the Ganges delta.

At least nine districts in West Bengal and 42 districts in Bangladesh have arsenic levels in groundwater above the World Health Organization maximum permissible limit of 50 µg/L or 50 parts per billion and the untreated water is unfit for human consumption.[41] The water causes arsenicosis, skin cancer and various other complications in the body.

Geographic distinctions

North Bengal

 
On a clear day, the snowy peaks of the Himalayas in Nepal and Sikkim can be seen from northern Bangladesh and Darjeeling district of West Bengal

North Bengal is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladeshi part comprises Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. Generally, it is the area lying west of Jamuna River and north of Padma River, and includes the Barind Tract. Politically, West Bengal's part comprises Jalpaiguri Division (Alipurduar, Cooch Behar, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda) together and Bihar's parts include Kishanganj district. Darjeeling Hills are also part of North Bengal. Although only people of Jaipaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar identifies themselves as North Bengali. North Bengal is divided into Terai and Dooars regions. North Bengal is also noted for its rich cultural heritage, including two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Aside from the Bengali majority, North Bengal is home to many other communities including Nepalis, Santhal people, Lepchas and Rajbongshis.

Northeast Bengal

 
Waterfalls are a common sight in the highlands of eastern Bangladesh

Northeast Bengal[42] refers to the Sylhet region, comprising Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and the Karimganj district in the Indian state of Assam. The region is noted for its distinctive fertile highland terrain, extensive tea plantations, rainforests and wetlands. The Surma and Barak river are the geographic markers of the area. The city of Sylhet is its largest urban center, and the region is known for its unique regional language known as Sylheti. The ancient name of the region is Srihatta.[43] The region was ruled by the Kamarupa and Harikela kingdoms as well as the Bengal Sultanate. It later became a district of the Mughal Empire. Alongside the predominant Bengali population resides a small Bishnupriya Manipuri, Khasia and other tribal minorities.[43]

The region is the crossroads of Bengal and northeast India.

Central Bengal

Central Bengal refers to the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh. It includes the elevated Madhupur tract with a large Sal tree forest. The Padma River cuts through the southern part of the region, separating the greater Faridpur region. In the north lies the greater Mymensingh and Tangail regions.

South Bengal

Main article: South Bengal

South Bengal covers the southwestern Bangladesh and the southern part of the Indian state of West Bengal.The Bangladeshi part includes Khulna Division, Barisal Division and the proposed Faridpur Division[44] The Indian part of South Bengal includes 12 districts: Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Burdwan, East Midnapur, West Midnapur, Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum, Nadia, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas.[45][46][47]

The Sundarbans, a major biodiversity hotspot, is located in South Bengal. Bangladesh hosts 60% of the forest, with the remainder in India.

Southeast Bengal

Main article: Greater Chittagong
 
Cox's Bazar has the longest uninterrupted sea beach in the world

Southeast Bengal[48][49][50] refers to the hilly and coastal Bengali-speaking areas of Chittagong Division in southeastern Bangladesh. Southeast Bengal is noted for its thalassocratic and seafaring heritage. The area was dominated by the Bengali Harikela and Samatata kingdoms in antiquity. It was known to Arab traders as Harkand in the 9th century.[51] During the medieval period, the region was ruled by the Sultanate of Bengal, the Kingdom of Tripura, the Kingdom of Mrauk U, the Portuguese Empire and the Mughal Empire, prior to the advent of British rule. The Chittagonian language, a sister of Bengali is prevalent in coastal areas of southeast Bengal. Along with its Bengali population, it is also home to Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups, including the Chakma, Marma, Tanchangya and Bawm peoples.

Southeast Bengal is considered a bridge to Southeast Asia and the northern parts of Arakan are also historically considered to be a part of it.[52]

Places of interest

There are four World Heritage Sites in the region, including the Sundarbans, the Somapura Mahavihara, the Mosque City of Bagerhat and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway. Other prominent places include the Bishnupur, Bankura temple city, the Adina Mosque, the Caravanserai Mosque, numerous zamindar palaces (like Ahsan Manzil and Cooch Behar Palace), the Lalbagh Fort, the Great Caravanserai ruins, the Shaista Khan Caravanserai ruins, the Kolkata Victoria Memorial, the Dhaka Parliament Building, archaeologically excavated ancient fort cities in Mahasthangarh, Mainamati, Chandraketugarh and Wari-Bateshwar, the Jaldapara National Park, the Lawachara National Park, the Teknaf Game Reserve and the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Cox's Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh is home to the longest natural sea beach in the world with an unbroken length of 120 km (75 mi). It is also a growing surfing destination.[53] St. Martin's Island, off the coast of Chittagong Division, is home to the sole coral reef in Bengal.

Flora and fauna

 
A 2015 census of Sundarbans Bengal tigers found 106 in Bangladesh and 76 in West Bengal.[54]

The flat Bengal Plain, which covers most of Bangladesh and West Bengal, is one of the most fertile areas on Earth, with lush vegetation and farmland dominating its landscape. Bengali villages are buried among groves of mango, jackfruit, betel nut and date palm. Rice, jute, mustard and sugarcane plantations are a common sight. Water bodies and wetlands provide a habitat for many aquatic plants in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta. The northern part of the region features Himalayan foothills (Dooars) with densely wooded Sal and other tropical evergreen trees. Above an elevation of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), the forest becomes predominantly subtropical, with a predominance of temperate-forest trees such as oaks, conifers and rhododendrons. Sal woodland is also found across central Bangladesh, particularly in the Bhawal National Park. The Lawachara National Park is a rainforest in northeastern Bangladesh. The Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh is noted for its high degree of biodiversity.

The littoral Sundarbans in the southwestern part of Bengal is the largest mangrove forest in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The region has over 89 species of mammals, 628 species of birds and numerous species of fish. For Bangladesh, the water lily, the oriental magpie-robin, the hilsa and mango tree are national symbols. For West Bengal, the white-throated kingfisher, the chatim tree and the night-flowering jasmine are state symbols. The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh and India. The fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal.

History

Main article: History of Bengal

Prehistory

Human settlement in Bengal can be traced back 20,000 years.[citation needed] Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,300 years.[55][56] Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region. By the 11th century BCE, the people of the area lived in systemically aligned housing, used human cemeteries and manufactured copper ornaments and fine black and red pottery.[57] The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation.[57] Estuaries on the Bay of Bengal allowed for maritime trade. The early Iron Age saw the development of metal weaponry, coinage, permanent field agriculture and irrigation.[57] From 600 BCE, the second wave of urbanisation engulfed the north Indian subcontinent, as part of the Northern Black Polished Ware culture.

Antiquity

 
Hindu sculpture, 11th century

Ancient Bengal was divided between the regions of Varendra, Suhma, Anga, Vanga, Samatata and Harikela. Early Indian literature described the region as a thalassocracy, with colonies in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.[58] For example, the first recorded king of Sri Lanka was a Bengali prince called Vijaya. The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai.[59] The Greek ambassador Megasthenes chronicled its military strength and dominance of the Ganges delta. The invasion army of Alexander the Great was deterred by the accounts of Gangaridai's power in 325 BCE. Later Roman accounts noted maritime trade routes with Bengal. A Roman amphora has been found in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal, made in Aelana (present day Aqaba in Jordan) between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.[60] Another prominent kingdom in ancient Bengal was Pundravardhana, which was located in Northern Bengal with its capital being located at Mahasthangarh in modern-day Bogra district. The kingdom was Buddhist, and left behind historic viharas (monasteries).[61][62][63] In vedic mythology the royal families of Magadha, Anga, Vanga, Suhma and Kalinga were all related and descended from one King.[64]

Ancient Bengal was considered a part of Magadha region, which was the cradle of Indian arts and sciences. Currently the Maghada region is divided into several states that are Bihar, Jharkhand and Bengal (West Bengal and East Bengal)[64] The legacy of Magadha includes the concept of zero, the invention of Chess[65] and the theory of solar and lunar eclipses and the Earth orbiting the Sun.[citation needed] Sanskrit and derived Old Indo-Aryan dialects, was spoken across Bengal.[66] The Bengali language evolved from Old Indo-Aryan Sanskrit dialects. The region was ruled by Hindu, Buddhist and Jain dynasties, including the Mauryans, Guptas, Varmans, Khadgas, Palas, Chandras and Senas among others. In the 9th century, Arab Muslim traders frequented Bengali seaports and found the region to be a thriving seafaring kingdom with well-developed coinage and banking.[57]

Medieval era

Further information: Pala Empire and Bengal Sultanate
 
Inscriptions on the Adina Mosque proclaim the builder Sikandar Shah as "the wisest, the most just, the most perfect and most liberal of the Sultans of Arabia, Persia and India."

The Pala Empire was an imperial power in the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of Bengal. They were followers of the Mahayana and Tantric schools of Buddhism. The empire was founded with the election of Gopala as the emperor of Gauda in 750.[6] At its height in the early 9th century, the Pala Empire was the dominant power in the northern subcontinent, with its territory stretching across parts of modern-day eastern Pakistan, northern and northeastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh.[6][7] The empire enjoyed relations with the Srivijaya Empire, the Tibetan Empire, and the Arab Abbasid Caliphate. Islam first appeared in Bengal during Pala rule, as a result of increased trade between Bengal and the Middle East.[8] The resurgent Hindu Sena dynasty dethroned the Pala Empire in the 12th century, ending the reign of the last major Buddhist imperial power in the subcontinent.[5][67]

Beginning around 1199, a military commander from the Delhi Sultanate, Bakhtiar Khilji, overran a few western districts of Bengal.[68][69] Muslim rule introduced agrarian reform, a new calendar and Sufism. The region saw the rise of important city states in Sonargaon, Satgaon and Lakhnauti. By 1352, Ilyas Shah achieved the unification of an independent Bengal. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Bengal Sultanate was a major diplomatic, economic and military power in the subcontinent. It developed the subcontinent's relations with China, Egypt, the Timurid Empire and East Africa. In 1540, Sher Shah Suri was crowned Emperor of the northern subcontinent in the Bengali capital Gaur.[citation needed]

Mughal era (1576–1757)

 
A woman in Dhaka clad in fine Bengali muslin, 18th century
Main article: Bengal Subah
Further information: Mughal Empire and Muslin trade in Bengal

The Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the 16th century. The Bengal Subah province in the Mughal Empire was the wealthiest state in the subcontinent. Bengal's trade and wealth impressed the Mughals so much that it was described as the Paradise of the Nations by the Mughal Emperors.[70] The region was also notable for its powerful semi-independent aristocracy, including the Twelve Bhuiyans and the Nawabs of Bengal.[71] It was visited by several world explorers, including Ibn Battuta, Niccolo De Conti and Admiral Zheng He.

Under Mughal rule, Bengal was a center of the worldwide muslin and silk trades. During the Mughal era, the most important center of cotton production was Bengal, particularly around its capital city of Dhaka, leading to muslin being called "daka" in distant markets such as Central Asia.[13] Domestically, much of India depended on Bengali products such as rice, silks and cotton textiles. Overseas, Europeans depended on Bengali products such as cotton textiles, silks and opium; Bengal accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia, for example, including more than 50% of textiles and around 80% of silks.[10] From Bengal, saltpetre was also shipped to Europe, opium was sold in Indonesia, raw silk was exported to Japan and the Netherlands, cotton and silk textiles were exported to Europe, Indonesia, and Japan,[11] cotton cloth was exported to the Americas and the Indian Ocean.[12] Bengal also had a large shipbuilding industry. In terms of shipbuilding tonnage during the 16th–18th centuries, economic historian Indrajit Ray estimates the annual output of Bengal at 223,250 tons, compared with 23,061 tons produced in nineteen colonies in North America from 1769 to 1771.[14]

Since the 16th century, European traders traversed the sea routes to Bengal, following the Portuguese conquests of Malacca and Goa. The Portuguese established a settlement in Chittagong with permission from the Bengal Sultanate in 1528, but were later expelled by the Mughals in 1666. In the 18th-century, the Mughal Court rapidly disintegrated due to Nader Shah's invasion and internal rebellions, allowing European colonial powers to set up trading posts across the territory. The British East India Company eventually emerged as the foremost military power in the region; and defeated the last independent Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757.[71]

Colonial era (1757–1947)

Main article: Bengal Presidency
 
The Battle of Plassey in 1757 ushered British rule

In Bengal effective political and military power was transferred from the old regime to the British East India Company around 1757–65.[72]Company rule in India began under the Bengal Presidency. Calcutta was named the capital of British India in 1772. The presidency was run by a military-civil administration, including the Bengal Army, and had the world's sixth earliest railway network. Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule (notably the Great Bengal famine of 1770 and Bengal famine of 1943).[73][74]

About 50 million were killed in Bengal due to massive plague outbreaks and famines which happened in 1895 to 1920, mostly in western Bengal.[75]

The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was initiated on the outskirts of Calcutta, and spread to Dhaka, Chittagong, Jalpaiguri, Sylhet and Agartala, in solidarity with revolts in North India. The failure of the rebellion led to the abolition of the Company Rule in India and establishment of direct rule over India by the British, commonly referred to as the British Raj. The late 19th and early 20th century Bengal Renaissance had a great impact on the cultural and economic life of Bengal and started a great advance in the literature and science of Bengal.[citation needed] Between 1905 and 1911, an abortive attempt was made to divide the province of Bengal into two: Bengal proper and the short-lived province of Eastern Bengal and Assam.[76] Under British rule, Bengal experienced deindustrialisation.[19]

In 1876, about 200,000 people were killed in Bengal by the Great Bangladesh cyclone.[77]

Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement, in which revolutionary groups were dominant. Armed attempts to overthrow the British Raj began with the rebellion of Titumir, and reached a climax when Subhas Chandra Bose led the Indian National Army against the British. Bengal was also central in the rising political awareness of the Muslim population—the All-India Muslim League was established in Dhaka in 1906. The Muslim homeland movement pushed for a sovereign state in eastern India with the Lahore Resolution in 1943. Hindu nationalism was also strong in Bengal, which was home to groups like the Hindu Mahasabha. In spite of a last-ditch effort by politicians Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, Sarat Chandra Bose to form a United Bengal,[78] when India gained independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines.[79] The western joined India (and was named West Bengal) while the eastern part joined Pakistan as a province called East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan, giving rise to Bangladesh in 1971). The circumstances of partition were bloody, with widespread religious riots in Bengal.[79][80]

Post-partition (1947–present)

The 1970 Bhola cyclone took the lives of 500,000 people in Bengal, making it one of the deadliest recorded cyclones.

India

 
Tram car in College street, Kolkata
West Bengal

West Bengal became one of India's most populous states. Calcutta (later renamed to Kolkata to be consistent with the Bengali pronunciation), the former capital of the British Indian Empire, became the state capital of West Bengal and continued to be India's largest city until the late 20th century, when severe power shortages, strikes and a violent Marxist-Naxalite movement damaged much of the state's infrastructure in the 1960s and 70s, leading to a period of economic stagnation.[citation needed] West Bengal politics underwent a major change when the Left Front won the 1977 assembly election, defeating the incumbent Indian National Congress. The Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) governed the state for over three decades, which was the world's longest elected Communist administration in history.[81] Since the 2000s, West Bengal has experienced an economic rejuvenation, particularly in its IT industry.[citation needed]

Tripura
 
The former royal palace of Hill Tippera in Agartala

The princely state of Hill Tippera, which was under the suzerainty of British India, became the modern state of Tripura. Following the death of Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman, the princely state acceded to the Union of India on 15 October 1949 under the Tripura Merger Agreement signed by Maharani Regent Kanchan Prava Devi. By the 1950s, the region had a Bengali majority population due to the influx of Hindu refugees from East Pakistan after partition. It became a Union Territory of India in November 1953. It was granted full statehood with an elected legislature in July 1963. An insurgency by indigenous people affected the state for several years. The Left Front ruled the state between 1978 and 1988, followed by a stint of Indian National Congress rule until 1993, and then a return to the Communists.[82]

Karimganj district of Assam

Karimganj District joined the Union of India after its partition from Sylhet as per the Sylhet referendum in 1947 and became a part of Assam's Barak Valley. One of the most significant events in the region's history was the language movement in 1961, in which the killing of agitators by state police led to Bengali being recognised as one of the official languages of Assam. The issue of Bengali settlement in the state has been a contentious part of the Assam conflict.

Bangladesh

 
Shaheed Minar in Dhaka commemorates the 1952 Language Movement
East Pakistan (1947–1971)
Main article: Bangladesh Liberation War

In 1948, the Government of the Dominion of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Bengal. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies. The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952. The movement reached its climax when several student demonstrators were shot dead by police firing. As a result of the movement, Pakistan government in 1956 included Bengali as national lanuage along with Urdu. UNESCO in 1999 declared 21 February as International Mother Language Day honouring the 1952 incident.

East Bengal, which was later renamed to East Pakistan in 1955, was home to Pakistan's demographic majority and played an instrumental role in the founding of the new state. Strategically, Pakistan joined the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization under the Bengali prime minister Mohammad Ali of Bogra as a bulwark against communism.[83] However, tensions between East and West Pakistan grew rapidly over political exclusion, economic neglect and ethnic and linguistic discrimination. The State of Pakistan was subjected to years of military rule due to fears of Bengali political supremacy under democracy. Elected Bengali-led governments at the federal and provincial levels, which were led by statesmen such as A. K. Fazlul Huq and H. S. Suhrawardy, were deposed.[84][85]

 
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led Bengali's decade long independence struggle including the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971

During the 1960s, calls for greater self determination grew in East Pakistan. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman emerged as the leader of the province's dissent against the Pakistani state. Rahman launched the Six point movement for autonomy in 1966. In the 1970 national election, Rahman's party, the Awami League, won a majority of seats in parliament.[86] The erstwhile Pakistani military junta refused to accept election results which triggered civil disobedience across East Pakistan. The Pakistani military responded by launching a genocide that caused the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. The first Government of Bangladesh and the Mukti Bahini waged a guerrilla campaign with support from neighbouring India, which hosted millions of war refugees. Global support for the independence of East Pakistan increased due to the conflict's humanitarian crisis, with the Indian Armed Forces intervening in support of the Bangladesh Forces in the final two weeks of the war and ensuring Pakistan's surrender.[87]

Bangladesh (1971–present)

After independence, Bangladesh adopted a secular democracy under its new constitution in 1972. Awami League premier Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became the country's strongman and implemented many socialist policies. A one party state was enacted in 1975. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated later that year during a military coup that ushered in sixteen years of military dictatorships and presidential governments. The liberation war commander Ziaur Rahman emerged as Bangladesh's leader in the late 1970s. He reoriented the country's foreign policy towards the West and restored free markets and the multiparty polity. President Zia was assassinated in 1981 during a failed military coup. He was eventually succeeded by his army chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Lasting for nine years, Ershad's rule witnessed continued pro-free market reforms and the devolution of some authority to local government.[88] The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was founded in Dhaka in 1985.[89] The Jatiya Party government made Islam the state religion in 1988.[90]

A popular uprising restored parliamentary democracy in 1991. Since then, Bangladesh has largely alternated between the premierships of Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, as well as technocratic caretaker governments. Emergency rule was imposed by the military in 2007 and 2008 after widespread street violence between the League and BNP. The restoration of democratic government in 2009 was followed by the initiation of the International Crimes Tribunal to prosecute surviving collaborators of the 1971 genocide. Today, the country is one of the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world. It is listed as one of the Next Eleven countries, it also has one of the fastest real GDP growth rates. Its gross domestic product ranks 39th largest in the world in terms of market exchange rates and 30th in purchasing power parity. Its per capita income ranks 143th and 136th in two measures. In the field of human development, it has progressed ahead in life expectancy, maternal and child health, and gender equality. However, it continues to face challenging problems, including poverty, corruption, terrorism, illiteracy, and inadequate public healthcare.[91][92]

Historical maps and flags of states

The Bengal region had been part of major empires and kingdoms like Gangaridai, Nanda Empire, Maurya Empire, Gupta Empire, Pala Empire, Sena dynasty, and Bengal Sultanate. It has also been a regional empire, ruling over neighbouring regions like Bihar, Orissa, Arakan, and parts of North India, Assam and Nepal.

Maps

Flags

Politics

Politically, the region is divided between the People's Republic of Bangladesh, an independent state, and the eastern provinces of the Republic of India, including West Bengal. Politically both Bangladesh and Indian Bengal are socialist, with left wing parties dominating the region's politics.

Bangladeshi Republic

Main article: Bangladesh
 
Bangabhaban (the House of Bengal) is the official residence of the president of Bangladesh

The state of Bangladesh is a parliamentary republic based on the Westminster system, with a written constitution and a President elected by parliament for mostly ceremonial purposes. The government is headed by a Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President from among the popularly elected 300 Members of Parliament in the Jatiyo Sangshad, the national parliament. The Prime Minister is traditionally the leader of the single largest party in the Jatiyo Sangshad. Under the constitution, while recognising Islam as the country's established religion, the constitution grants freedom of religion to non-Muslims.

Between 1975 and 1990, Bangladesh had a presidential system of government. Since the 1990s, it was administered by non-political technocratic caretaker governments on four occasions, the last being under military-backed emergency rule in 2007 and 2008. The Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) are the two largest political parties in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is a member of the UN, WTO, IMF, the World Bank, ADB, OIC, IDB, SAARC, BIMSTEC and the IMCTC. Bangladesh has achieved significant strides in human development compared to its neighbours.

Indian Bengal

Main article: West Bengal
 
Writers' Building, the official seat of the Government of West Bengal

West Bengal is a constituent state of the Republic of India, with local executives and assemblies- features shared with other states in the Indian federal system. The president of India appoints a governor as the ceremonial representative of the union government. The governor appoints the chief minister on the nomination of the legislative assembly. The chief minister is the traditionally the leader of the party or coalition with most seats in the assembly. President's rule is often imposed in Indian states as a direct intervention of the union government led by the prime minister of India.

Each state has popularly elected members in the Indian lower house of parliament, the Lok Sabha. Each state nominates members to the Indian upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha.

The state legislative assemblies also play a key role in electing the ceremonial president of India. The former president of India, Pranab Mukherjee, was a native of West Bengal and a leader of the Indian National Congress.

The two major political forces in the Bengali-speaking zone of India are the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress being minor players.

Crossborder relations

Main article: Bangladesh-India relations

India and Bangladesh are the world's second and eighth most populous countries respectively. Bangladesh-India relations began on a high note in 1971 when India played a major role in the liberation of Bangladesh, with the Indian Bengali populace and media providing overwhelming support to the independence movement in the former East Pakistan. The two countries had a twenty five-year friendship treaty between 1972 and 1996. However, differences over river sharing, border security and access to trade have long plagued the relationship. In more recent years, a consensus has evolved in both countries on the importance of developing good relations, as well as a strategic partnership in South Asia and beyond. Commercial, cultural and defence co-operation have expanded since 2010, when Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina and Manmohan Singh pledged to reinvigorate ties.

The Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi operates a Deputy High Commission in Kolkata and a consular office in Agartala. India has a High Commission in Dhaka with consulates in Chittagong and Rajshahi. Frequent international air, bus and rail services connect major cities in Bangladesh and Indian Bengal, particularly the three largest cities- Dhaka, Kolkata and Chittagong. Undocumented immigration of Bangladeshi workers is a controversial issue championed by right-wing nationalist parties in India but finds little sympathy in West Bengal.[93] India has since fenced the border which has been criticised by Bangladesh.[94]

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of Bangladesh, Demographics of West Bengal, and Languages of Bangladesh
 
Districts of Bangladesh
 
Districts of West Bengal
 
Bengali Muslims taking part in mass prayer of Eid al-Fitr
 
Bengali Hindu priests performing Durga Puja rituals
 
Buddhist Chakma people enjoying one of their festivals in south-eastern Bangladesh

The Bengal region is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. With a population of 300 million, Bengalis are the third largest ethnic group in the world after the Han Chinese and Arabs.[note 2] According to provisional results of 2011 Bangladesh census, the population of Bangladesh was 149,772,364;[95] however, CIA's The World Factbook gives 163,654,860 as its population in a July 2013 estimate. According to the provisional results of the 2011 Indian national census, West Bengal has a population of 91,347,736.[96] "So, the Bengal region, as of 2011, has at least 241.1 million people. This figures give a population density of 1003.9/km2; making it among the most densely populated areas in the world.[97][98]

Language in Bengal

  Bengali (93%)
  Others (7%)

Bengali is the main language spoken in Bengal. Many phonological, lexical, and structural differences from the standard variety occur in peripheral varieties of Bengali across the region. Other regional languages closely related to Bengali include Sylheti, Chittagonian, Chakma, Rangpuri/Rajbangshi, Hajong, Rohingya, and Tangchangya.[99]

English is often used for official work alongside Bengali. Other major Indo-Aryan languages such as Hindi, Urdu, Assamese, and Nepali are also familiar to Bengalis.[100]

Religions in Bangladesh 2011
Religions Percent
Islam
 
 90.4%
Hinduism
 
 8.5%
others
 
 1.1%
Religions in West Bengal 2011
Religions Percent
Hinduism
 
 70.54%
Islam
 
 27.01%
others
 
 2.45%

Religions in Bengal region (Bangladesh and West Bengal) 2011

  Islam (66.37%)
  Hinduism (31.98%)
  Christianity (0.52%)
  Buddhism (0.49%)
  Others or no religion (0.64%)
Bengal region religious diversity as per 2011 census[101][102][103]
Religion Population
Muslims ( ) 160,049,043
Hindus ( ) 77,116,197
Christians ( ) 1,257,708
Buddhists ( ) 1,181,533
Others 1,515,619
Total 241,120,100

In addition, several minority ethnolinguistic groups are native to the region. These include speakers of other Indo-Aryan languages (e.g., Bishnupriya Manipuri, Oraon Sadri, various Bihari languages), Tibeto-Burman languages (e.g., A'Tong, Chak, Koch, Garo, Megam, Meitei Manipuri, Mizo, Mru, Pangkhua, Rakhine/Marma, Kok Borok, Riang, Tippera, Usoi, various Chin languages), Austroasiatic languages (e.g., Khasi, Koda, Mundari, Pnar, Santali, War), and Dravidian languages (e.g., Kurukh, Sauria Paharia).[99]

Life expectancy is around 72.49 years for Bangladesh[104] and 70.2 for West Bengal.[105][106] In terms of literacy, West Bengal leads with 77% literacy rate,[97] in Bangladesh the rate is approximately 72.9%.[107][note 3] The level of poverty in West Bengal is at 19.98%, while in Bangladesh it stands at 12.9%[108][109][110]

West Bengal has one of the lowest total fertility rates in India. West Bengal's TFR of 1.6 roughly equals that of Canada.[111]

About 20,000 people live on chars. Chars are temporary islands formed by the deposition of sediments eroded off the banks of the Ganges in West Bengal, which often disappear in the monsoon season. They are made of very fertile soil. The inhabitants of the chars are not recognised by the Government of West Bengal on the grounds that it is not known whether they are Indians or Bangladeshis. Consequently, no identification documents are issued to char-dwellers who cannot benefit from health care, barely survive because of very poor sanitation and are prevented from emigrating to the mainland to find jobs when they have turned 14. On a particular char, it was reported that 13% of women died at childbirth.[112]

Economy

Main articles: Economy of Bangladesh and Economy of West Bengal
 
Amartya Sen, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics
 
Muhammad Yunus, winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize
 
Abhijit Banerjee, winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics
 
Biman Bangladesh Airlines is the largest airline based in the Bengal region

Historically, Bengal has been the industrial leader of the subcontinent.

The region is one of the largest rice producing areas in the world, with West Bengal being India's largest rice producer and Bangladesh being the world's fourth largest rice producer.[113] Other key crops include jute, tea, sugarcane and wheat. There are significant reserves of limestone, natural gas and coal. Major industries include textiles, leather goods, pharmaceuticals, shipbuilding, banking and information and communication technology.

Three stock exchanges are located in the region, including the Dhaka Stock Exchange, the Chittagong Stock Exchange and the Calcutta Stock Exchange.

Intra-Bengal trade

Bangladesh and India are the largest trading partners in South Asia, with two-way trade valued at an estimated US$6.9 billion.[114] Most of this trade relationship is centered on some of the world's busiest land ports on the Bangladesh-India border, particularly the West Bengal section.

The partition of India severed the once strong economic links which integrated the region. Decades later, frequent air, rail and bus services are increasingly connecting cities in Bangladesh and West Bengal, as well as the wider region, including Northeast India, Nepal and Bhutan. However the overall economic relationship remains well below potential.

Major cities

Urban Areas

The following are the largest urban areas in Bengal (in terms of population):

 
National Martyr's Memorial in Dhaka, built on memories of the martyrs of Bangladesh Liberation War.
 
The Victoria Memorial in Kolkata, India
List of major urban areas in Bengal
Rank City Country Population (2022) Image
1 Dhaka   Bangladesh 22,478,116[115]
2 Kolkata   India 15,133,888
3 Chittagong   Bangladesh 5,252,842[116]
4 Asansol   India 1,478,266[117]
 
Modernised ISP, Asansol
5 Siliguri   India 1,092,000[118]
6 Khulna   Bangladesh 1,500,689[119]
7 Rajshahi   Bangladesh 1,290,600[119]
8 Rangpur   Bangladesh 1,450,128[119]
9 Sylhet   Bangladesh 928,000[119]
10 Bogra   Bangladesh 864,000[119]
11 Durgapur   India 699,000
12 Comilla   Bangladesh 630,000[119]
13 Agartala   India 615,000[120]
14 Faridpur   Bangladesh 557,632[121]

Major ports

 
New Mooring Terminal, Port of Chittagong
 
Aerial view of Haldia port, Haldia Port
List of The Major Ports in Bengal
Port Name Type Status Location Country
Port of Chittagong Sea Port Active Chittagong, Chittagong   Bangladesh
Port of Haldia Sea Port
River Port 		Active Haldia, East Midnapur   India
Port of Mongla Sea Port Active Mongla, Bagerhat, Khulna   Bangladesh
Port of Payra Sea Port Active Kalapara, Patuakhali, Barisal   Bangladesh
Port of Kolkata River Port Active Kolkata, Kolkata   India
Port of Narayanganj River Port Active Narayanganj, Dhaka   Bangladesh
Port of Benapole-Petrapole Landport Active Sharsha, Jessore-Bangaon, North 24 Parganas   Jessore -   Bangaon

Tourist attractions

List of The Tourist Attraction of Bengal
Name Type City/Area Sample Image
Sundarbans World's largest natural mangrove forest   Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat,  South 24 Parganas, North 24 parganas
 
A Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) from Sundarbans
Cox's Bazar World's longest uninterrupted sea beach   Cox's Bazar
 
Cox's Bazar sea beach
Kuakata Sea beach   Patuakhali
 
Kuakata sea beach
Digha Sea beach   East Midnapur
 
Digha sea beach
Chittagong Hill Tracts Hilly areas inhabited by different tribal peoples   Rangamati, Khagrachhari, Bandarban
 
A view of Sajek, Rangamati
Ratargul Only swamp forest in the Bengal region   Sylhet District
 
A view of Ratargul
Lawachara National Park Major national park and nature reserve   Moulvibazar, Sylhet
 
A view of Lawachara national park
Satchhari Reserve forest   Habiganj, Sylhet
 
A view of Satchari national park
Siliguri Hilly area of foothills of Himalayas   Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri
 
A view of Siliguri Metropolis

Strategic importance

 
The strategically important city of Chittagong is home to the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal

The Bengal region is located at the crossroads of two huge economic blocs, the SAARC and ASEAN. It gives access to the sea for the landlocked countries of Bhutan and Nepal, as well as the Seven Sister States of North East India. It is also located near China's southern landlocked region, including Yunnan and Tibet.

Both India and Bangladesh plan to expand onshore and offshore oil and gas operations. Bangladesh is Asia's seventh-largest natural gas producer. Its maritime exclusive economic zone potentially holds many of the largest gas reserves in the Asia-Pacific.[122]

The Bay of Bengal is strategically important for its vital shipping lanes and its central location between the Middle East and the Pacific. The Bay of Bengal Initiative, based in Dhaka, brings together Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka to promote economic integration in the subregion. Other regional groupings include the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation (BCIM) and the Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal (BBIN) Initiative.

Culturally, Bengal is significant for its huge Muslim and Hindu populations. Bengali Muslims are the world's second largest Muslim ethnicity (after Arab Muslims), and Bangladesh is the world's third largest Muslim-majority country (after Indonesia and Pakistan). Bengali Hindus make up the second largest linguistic community in India.

Culture

Main article: Culture of Bengal

Language

Main article: Bengali language

The Bengali language developed between the 7th and 10th centuries from Apabhraṃśa and Magadhi Prakrit.[123] It is written using the indigenous Bengali alphabet, a descendant of the ancient Brahmi script. Bengali is the 5th most spoken language in the world. It is an eastern Indo-Aryan language and one of the easternmost branches of the Indo-European language family. It is part of the Bengali-Assamese languages. Bengali has greatly influenced other languages in the region, including Odia, Assamese, Chakma, Nepali and Rohingya. It is the sole state language of Bangladesh and the second most spoken language in India.[124] It is also the seventh most spoken language by total number of speakers in the world.

Bengali binds together a culturally diverse region and is an important contributor to regional identity. The 1952 Bengali Language Movement in East Pakistan is commemorated by UNESCO as International Mother Language Day, as part of global efforts to preserve linguistic identity.

Currency

Main article: History of the taka
 
A silver coin with Proto-Bengali script, 9th century

In both Bangladesh and West Bengal, currency is commonly denominated as taka. The Bangladesh taka is an official standard bearer of this tradition, while the Indian rupee is also written as taka in Bengali script on all of its banknotes. The history of the taka dates back centuries. Bengal was home one of the world's earliest coin currencies in the first millennium BCE. Under the Delhi Sultanate, the taka was introduced by Muhammad bin Tughluq in 1329. Bengal became the stronghold of the taka. The silver currency was the most important symbol of sovereignty of the Sultanate of Bengal. It was traded on the Silk Road and replicated in Nepal and China's Tibetan protectorate. The Pakistani rupee was scripted in Bengali as taka on its banknotes until Bangladesh's creation in 1971.

Literature

Bengali literature
বাংলা সাহিত্য
 
 
 
Bengali literature
By category
Bengali language
Bengali language authors
Chronological list – Alphabetic List
Bengali writers
Writers – Novelists – Poets
Forms
Novel – Poetry – Science Fiction
Institutions and awards
Literary Institutions
Literary Prizes
Related Portals
Literature Portal

India Portal

Bangladesh Portal
Main articles: Bengali literature, Indian English literature, and Bangladeshi English literature
 
Rabindranath Tagore, known as the Bengali Shakespeare, being hosted at the Parliament of Iran in the 1930s

Bengali literature has a rich heritage. It has a history stretching back to the 3rd century BCE, when the main language was Sanskrit written in the brahmi script. The Bengali language and script evolved circa 1000 CE from Magadhi Prakrit. Bengal has a long tradition in folk literature, evidenced by the Chôrjapôdô, Mangalkavya, Shreekrishna Kirtana, Maimansingha Gitika or Thakurmar Jhuli. Bengali literature in the medieval age was often either religious (e.g. Chandidas), or adaptations from other languages (e.g. Alaol). During the Bengal Renaissance of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Bengali literature was modernised through the works of authors such as Michael Madhusudan Dutta, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Satyendranath Dutta and Jibanananda Das. In the 20th century, prominent modern Bengali writers included Syed Mujtaba Ali, Jasimuddin, Manik Bandopadhyay, Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Buddhadeb Bose, Sunil Gangopadhyay and Humayun Ahmed.

Prominent contemporary Bengali writers in English include Amitav Ghosh, Tahmima Anam, Jhumpa Lahiri and Zia Haider Rahman among others.

Personification

Main article: Mother Bengal

The Bangamata is a female personification of Bengal which was created during the Bengali Renaissance and later adopted by the Bengali nationalists.[125] Hindu nationalists adopted a modified Bharat Mata as a national personification of India.[126] The Mother Bengal represents not only biological motherness but its attributed characteristics as well – protection, never ending love, consolation, care, the beginning and the end of life. In Amar Sonar Bangla, the national anthem of Bangladesh, Rabindranath Tagore has used the word "Maa" (Mother) numerous times to refer to the motherland i.e. Bengal.

Art

See also: Bangladeshi art
 
Bangladeshi paintings on sale at an art gallery in Dhaka

The Pala-Sena School of Art developed in Bengal between the 8th and 12th centuries and is considered a high point of classical Asian art.[127][128] It included sculptures and paintings.[129]

Islamic Bengal was noted for its production of the finest cotton fabrics and saris, notably the Jamdani, which received warrants from the Mughal court.[130] The Bengal School of painting flourished in Kolkata and Shantiniketan in the British Raj during the early 20th century. Its practitioners were among the harbingers of modern painting in India.[131] Zainul Abedin was the pioneer of modern Bangladeshi art. The country has a thriving and internationally acclaimed contemporary art scene.[132]

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of Bengal
 
Bungalows originated from Bengali architecture

Classical Bengali architecture features terracotta buildings. Ancient Bengali kingdoms laid the foundations of the region's architectural heritage through the construction of monasteries and temples (for example, the Somapura Mahavihara). During the sultanate period, a distinct and glorious Islamic style of architecture developed the region.[133] Most Islamic buildings were small and highly artistic terracotta mosques with multiple domes and no minarets. Bengal was also home to the largest mosque in South Asia at Adina. Bengali vernacular architecture is credited for inspiring the popularity of the bungalow.[134]

The Bengal region also has a rich heritage of Indo-Saracenic architecture, including numerous zamindar palaces and mansions. The most prominent example of this style is the Victoria Memorial, Kolkata.

In the 1950s, Muzharul Islam pioneered the modernist terracotta style of architecture in South Asia. This was followed by the design of the Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban by the renowned American architect Louis Kahn in the 1960s, which was based on the aesthetic heritage of Bengali architecture and geography.[135][136]

Sciences

Main article: Science and technology in Bangladesh
 
A sculpture on Fazlur Rahman Khan at the Sears Tower in the United States

The Gupta dynasty, which is believed to have originated in North Bengal, pioneered the invention of chess, the concept of zero, the theory of Earth orbiting the Sun, the study of solar and lunar eclipses and the flourishing of Sanskrit literature and drama.[65][137] Bengal was the leader of scientific endeavours in the subcontinent during the British Raj. The educational reforms during this period gave birth to many distinguished scientists in the region. Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics, made very significant contributions to plant science, and laid the foundations of experimental science in the Indian subcontinent.[138] IEEE named him one of the fathers of radio science.[139] He was the first person from the Indian subcontinent to receive a US patent, in 1904. In 1924–25, while researching at the University of Dhaka, Prof Satyendra Nath Bose well known for his works in quantum mechanics, provided the foundation for Bose–Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose–Einstein condensate.[140][141][142] Meghnad Saha was the first scientist to relate a star's spectrum to its temperature, developing thermal ionization equations (notably the Saha ionization equation) that have been foundational in the fields of astrophysics and astrochemistry.[143] Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri was a physicist, known for his research in general relativity and cosmology. His most significant contribution is the eponymous Raychaudhuri equation, which demonstrates that singularities arise inevitably in general relativity and is a key ingredient in the proofs of the Penrose–Hawking singularity theorems.[144] In the United States, the Bangladeshi-American engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan emerged as the "father of tubular designs" in skyscraper construction. Ashoke Sen is an Indian theoretical physicist whose main area of work is string theory. He was among the first recipients of the Fundamental Physics Prize "for opening the path to the realisation that all string theories are different limits of the same underlying theory".[145]

Music

Main article: Music of Bengal
 
A Baul musician. The Baul ballads of Bengal are classified by UNESCO as humanity's intangible cultural heritage

The Baul tradition is a unique heritage of Bengali folk music.[146] The 19th century mystic poet Lalon Shah is the most celebrated practitioner of the tradition.[147] Other folk music forms include Gombhira, Bhatiali and Bhawaiya. Hason Raja is a renowned folk poet of the Sylhet region. Folk music in Bengal is often accompanied by the ektara, a one-stringed instrument. Other instruments include the dotara, dhol, flute, and tabla. The region also has a rich heritage in North Indian classical music.

Cuisine

Main article: Bengali cuisine

Bengali cuisine is the only traditionally developed multi-course tradition from the Indian subcontinent. Rice and fish are traditional favourite foods, leading to a saying that "fish and rice make a Bengali".[148] Bengal's vast repertoire of fish-based dishes includes Hilsa preparations, a favourite among Bengalis. Bengalis make distinctive sweetmeats from milk products, including Rôshogolla, Chômchôm, and several kinds of Pithe. The old city of Dhaka is noted for its distinct Indo-Islamic cuisine, including biryani, bakarkhani and kebab dishes.

Boats

See also: Country boats in Bangladesh
 
18th century painting of a budgerow

There are 150 types of Bengali country boats plying the 700 rivers of the Bengal delta, the vast floodplain and many oxbow lakes. They vary in design and size. The boats include the dinghy and sampan among others. Country boats are a central element of Bengali culture and have inspired generations of artists and poets, including the ivory artisans of the Mughal era. The country has a long shipbuilding tradition, dating back many centuries. Wooden boats are made of timber such as Jarul (dipterocarpus turbinatus), sal (shorea robusta), sundari (heritiera fomes), and Burma teak (tectons grandis). Medieval Bengal was shipbuilding hub for the Mughal and Ottoman navies.[149][150] The British Royal Navy later utilised Bengali shipyards in the 19th century, including for the Battle of Trafalgar.

Attire

Bengali women commonly wear the shaŗi and the salwar kameez, often distinctly designed according to local cultural customs. In urban areas, many women and men wear Western-style attire. Among men, European dressing has greater acceptance. Men also wear traditional costumes such as the kurta with dhoti or pyjama, often on religious occasions. The lungi, a kind of long skirt, is widely worn by Bangladeshi men.[citation needed]

Festivals

Main articles: List of festivals in Bangladesh and List of festivals of West Bengal

The two Eids and Muharram are the biggest and most important festivals for Muslims, who are the majority.Durga Puja is the biggest festival of the Hindus in Bengal as well as the most significant socio-cultural event of the Bengali Hindus in general.[151]Christmas (called Borodin in Bengali) is also a major festival where people irrespective of their beliefs and faiths participate. Other major festivals include Kali Puja, Saraswati Puja, Holi, Rath Jatra, Janmashtami, Poila Boishakh and Poush Parbon.

Media

Bangladesh has a diverse, outspoken and privately owned press, with the largest circulated Bengali language newspapers in the world. English-language titles are popular in the urban readership.[152] West Bengal had 559 published newspapers in 2005,[153] of which 430 were in Bengali.[153] Bengali cinema is divided between the media hubs of Dhaka and Kolkata.

Sports

Cricket and football are popular sports in the Bengal region. Local games include sports such as Kho Kho and Kabaddi, the latter being the national sport of Bangladesh. An Indo-Bangladesh Bengali Games has been organised among the athletes of the Bengali speaking areas of the two countries.[154]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ especially Direct Action Day in Calcutta and then in Noakhali in 1946
  2. ^ Roughly 163 million in Bangladesh and 100 million in the Republic of India (CIA Factbook 2014 estimates, numbers subject to rapid population growth); about 3 million Bangladeshis in the Middle East, 1 million Bengalis in Pakistan, 0.4 million British Bangladeshi.
  3. ^ CRI do not give a breakdown by gender or state the age bracket for the data

References

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  2. ^ (PDF). Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities, Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India. pp. 122–126. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
  3. ^ "Bengal". The Chambers Dictionary (9th ed.). Chambers. 2003. ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
  4. ^ . Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Sailendra Nath Sen (1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. New Age International. pp. 277–287. ISBN 978-81-224-1198-0.
  6. ^ a b c R. C. Majumdar (1977). Ancient India. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 268–. ISBN 978-81-208-0436-4.
  7. ^ a b Sailendra Nath Sen (1999). Ancient Indian History and Civilization. New Age International. pp. 280–. ISBN 978-81-224-1198-0.
  8. ^ a b Raj Kumar (2003). Essays on Ancient India. Discovery Publishing House. p. 199. ISBN 978-81-7141-682-0.
  9. ^ Nanda, J.N. (2005). Bengal: The Unique State. Concept Publishing Company. p. 10. ISBN 978-81-8069-149-2. Bengal [...] was rich in the production and export of grain, salt, fruit, liquors and wines, precious metals and ornaments besides the output of its handlooms in silk and cotton. Europe referred to Bengal as the richest country to trade with.
  10. ^ a b Om Prakash, "Empire, Mughal", History of World Trade Since 1450, edited by John J. McCusker, vol. 1, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, pp. 237–240, World History in Context. Retrieved 3 August 2017
  11. ^ a b John F. Richards (1995), The Mughal Empire, page 202, Cambridge University Press
  12. ^ a b Giorgio Riello, Tirthankar Roy (2009). How India Clothed the World: The World of South Asian Textiles, 1500–1850. Brill Publishers. p. 174. ISBN 9789047429975.
  13. ^ a b Richard Maxwell Eaton (1996), The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760, page 202, University of California Press
  14. ^ a b Ray, Indrajit (2011). Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution (1757–1857). Routledge. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-136-82552-1.
  15. ^ a b M. Shahid Alam (2016). Poverty From The Wealth of Nations: Integration and Polarization in the Global Economy since 1760. Springer Science+Business Media. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-333-98564-9.
  16. ^ Khandker, Hissam (31 July 2015). "Which India is claiming to have been colonised?". The Daily Star (Op-ed). Dhaka.
  17. ^ Maddison, Angus (2003): Development Centre Studies The World Economy Historical Statistics: Historical Statistics, OECD Publishing, ISBN 9264104143, pages 259–261
  18. ^ Harrison, Lawrence E.; Berger, Peter L. (2006). Developing cultures: case studies. Routledge. p. 158. ISBN 9780415952798.
  19. ^ a b Ray, Indrajit (2011). Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution (1757–1857). Routledge. pp. 7–10. ISBN 978-1-136-82552-1.
  20. ^ Roy, Tirthankar (2019), How British Rule Changed India's Economy: The Paradox of the Raj, Springer, pp. 117–, ISBN 978-3-030-17708-9, The 1769-1770 famine in Bengal followed two years of erratic rainfall worsened by a smallpox epidemic.
  21. ^ Datta, Rajat (2000). Society, economy, and the market : commercialization in rural Bengal, c. 1760-1800. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Distributors. pp. 262, 266. ISBN 81-7304-341-8. OCLC 44927255.
  22. ^ a b Arijit Mazumdar (27 August 2014). Indian Foreign Policy in Transition: Relations with South Asia. Routledge. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-317-69859-3.
  23. ^ Lewis, David (31 October 2011). Bangladesh: Politics, Economy and Civil Society. Cambridge University Press. pp. 44, 45. ISBN 978-1-139-50257-3.
  24. ^ "Bengalis". Facts and Details. from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  25. ^ (PDF). nclm.nic.in. Ministry of Minority Affairs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 July 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2018.
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External links

 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bengal.

December 30, 2022
bengal, other, uses, disambiguation, ɔː, gawl, বঙ, romanized, bānglā, bôngô, pronounced, ˈbɔŋgo, listen, geopolitical, cultural, historical, region, south, asia, specifically, eastern, part, indian, subcontinent, apex, predominantly, covering, present, banglad. For other uses see Bengal disambiguation Bengal b ɛ n ˈ ɡ ɔː l ben GAWL 3 4 Bengali ব ল বঙ গ romanized Bangla Bongo pronounced ˈbɔŋgo listen is a geopolitical cultural and historical region in South Asia specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal predominantly covering present day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal Geographically it consists of the Ganges Brahmaputra delta system the largest river delta in the world and a section of the Himalayas up to Nepal and Bhutan Dense woodlands including hilly rainforests cover Bengal s northern and eastern areas while an elevated forested plateau covers its central area the highest point 3 636 metres 11 929 ft is at Sandakphu In the littoral southwest are the Sundarbans the world s largest mangrove forest The region has a monsoon climate which the Bengali calendar divides into six seasons Bengal ব ল বঙ গBangla BongoRegionBengal region in AsiaContinentAsiaCountries Bangladesh IndiaMajor urban agglomerations 2011 census Agartala Asansol Bogra Chattogram Comilla Dhaka Durgapur Faridpur Howrah Khulna Kolkata Mymensingh Rajshahi Rangpur Siliguri SylhetIron Age India Vedic India Suhma Kingdom Pundravardhana Vanga Kingdom1500 c 500 BCEGangaridai Nanda Empire500 c 350 BCEMauryan Empire4th century 2nd century BCEShunga Empire Gupta Empire Later Gupta dynasty185 75 BCE 3rd century CE 543 CE 6th 7th centuryGauda Kingdom590 633 CEPala Empire Sena Empire8th 11th century 12th centuryDelhi Sultanate Bengal Sultanate1204 1339 CE 1338 1576 CEBengal Subah Mughal Empire Nawabs of Bengal and Murshidabad1565 1717 CE 1717 1765 CEBengal Presidency British India 1765 1947 CEPrincipal subdivisionsList Barisal divisionBurdwan divisionChittagong divisionDhaka divisionJalpaiguri divisionKhulna divisionMalda divisionMedinipur divisionMymensingh divisionPresidency divisionRajshahi divisionRangpur divisionSylhet divisionArea Total237 212 km2 91 588 sq mi Population 2011 Total241 120 100 Density1 000 km2 2 600 sq mi DemonymBengaliTime zonesUTC 5 30 IST UTC 6 BST Official languagesBangladesh Bengali 1 West Bengal Bengali 2 This article contains Bengali text Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols Bengal then known as Gangaridai was a leading power in ancient South Asia with extensive trade networks forming connections to as far away as Roman Egypt The Bengali Pala Empire was the last major Buddhist power in the subcontinent founded in 750 CE and becoming the dominant power in the northern Indian subcontinent by the 9th century CE 5 6 7 It was replaced by the Hindu Sena dynasty in the 12th century 5 Islam had been introduced during the Pala Empire through trade with the Abbasid Caliphate 8 it spread across Bengal following the formation of the Delhi Sultanate The region reached its highest prosperity under the Bengal Sultanate founded in 1352 which became one of the world s richest trading nations 9 Absorbed into the Mughal Empire in 1576 the Bengal Subah was the empire s wealthiest province and became a major global exporter 10 11 12 and center of industries such as cotton textiles silk 13 and shipbuilding 14 Its economy was worth 12 of the world s GDP 15 16 17 a value bigger than the entirety of Western Europe and its citizens living standards were among the world s highest 18 15 The region was conquered by the British East India Company after the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and became a part of the Bengal Presidency of British India Bengal made significant contributions to the world s first Industrial Revolution but later suffered its own deindustrialisation 19 East India Company policies such as increasing agriculture tax rates from 10 to up to 50 alongside drought and epidemics contributed to famines such as the Great Bengal famine of 1770 which resulted in the deaths of 1 million to 10 million Bengalis 20 21 After World War Two during which Bengal was invaded by Japan Bengal played a major role in hosting revolutionary groups of the Indian independence movement As part of the Partition of India Bengal was divided between predominantly Muslim and Hindu populations an independent united Bengal was considered but the idea was rejected predominantly due to religious divisions note 1 West Bengal subsequently became a part of India and East Bengal a part of Pakistan although it won its independence as Bangladesh in 1971 Today Bengal is divided between Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal the historical region encompassed the modern day states of Bihar Jharkhand Odisha and Assam among others in India and some parts of Myanmar or Burma Rakhine State 22 23 The population of Bengal was estimated to be 250 million in 2011 with an estimated 160 million people in Bangladesh and 91 3 million people in India 24 self published source making it one of the most densely populated regions in the world 22 The predominant ethnolinguistic group is the Bengali people who speak the Indo Aryan language of Bengali Bengali peoples also have a significant presence in the Indian states of Tripura Assam Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland and Uttarakhand and others 25 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Geography 2 1 Geographic distinctions 2 1 1 North Bengal 2 1 2 Northeast Bengal 2 1 3 Central Bengal 2 1 4 South Bengal 2 1 5 Southeast Bengal 2 2 Places of interest 3 Flora and fauna 4 History 4 1 Prehistory 4 2 Antiquity 4 3 Medieval era 4 4 Mughal era 1576 1757 4 5 Colonial era 1757 1947 4 6 Post partition 1947 present 4 6 1 India 4 6 2 Bangladesh 4 6 2 1 East Pakistan 1947 1971 4 6 2 2 Bangladesh 1971 present 5 Historical maps and flags of states 5 1 Maps 5 2 Flags 6 Politics 6 1 Bangladeshi Republic 6 2 Indian Bengal 6 3 Crossborder relations 7 Demographics 8 Economy 8 1 Intra Bengal trade 9 Major cities 9 1 Urban Areas 9 2 Major ports 9 3 Tourist attractions 10 Strategic importance 11 Culture 11 1 Language 11 2 Currency 11 3 Literature 11 4 Personification 11 5 Art 11 6 Architecture 11 7 Sciences 11 8 Music 11 9 Cuisine 11 10 Boats 11 11 Attire 11 12 Festivals 11 13 Media 11 14 Sports 12 See also 13 Notes 14 References 15 External linksEtymologyMain article Names of Bengal The name of Bengal is derived from the ancient kingdom of Banga pronounced Bongo 26 27 the earliest records of which date back to the Mahabharata epic in the first millennium BCE 27 The reference to Vangalam is present in an inscription in the Vrihadeshwara temple at Tanjore which is perhaps the earliest reference to Bengal as such 28 Theories on the origin of the term Banga point to Dravidian tribes later known as the Bang that settled in the area circa 1000 BCE and the Austric word Bong Sun god 29 self published source 30 The term Vangaladesa is used to describe the region in 11th century South Indian records 31 32 33 The modern term Bangla is prominent from the 14th century which saw the establishment of the Sultanate of Bengal whose first ruler Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah was known as the Shah of Bangala 34 The Portuguese referred to the region as Bengala in the Age of Discovery 35 GeographyMain articles Geography of Bangladesh and Geography of West Bengal The Ganges Brahmaputra delta Most of the Bengal region lies in the Ganges Brahmaputra delta but there are highlands in its north northeast and southeast The Ganges Delta arises from the confluence of the rivers Ganges Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers and their respective tributaries The total area of Bengal is 232 752 km2 West Bengal is 88 752 km2 34 267 sq mi and Bangladesh 147 570 km2 56 977 sq mi The flat and fertile Bangladesh Plain dominates the geography of Bangladesh The Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet regions are home to most of the mountains in Bangladesh Most parts of Bangladesh are within 10 metres 33 feet above the sea level and it is believed that about 10 of the land would be flooded if the sea level were to rise by 1 metre 3 3 feet 36 Because of this low elevation much of this region is exceptionally vulnerable to seasonal flooding due to monsoons The highest point in Bangladesh is in Mowdok range at 1 052 metres 3 451 feet 37 A major part of the coastline comprises a marshy jungle the Sundarbans the largest mangrove forest in the world and home to diverse flora and fauna including the royal Bengal tiger In 1997 this region was declared endangered 38 West Bengal is on the eastern bottleneck of India stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south The state has a total area of 88 752 km2 34 267 sq mi 39 The Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in the northern extreme of the state belongs to the eastern Himalaya This region contains Sandakfu 3 636 m 11 929 ft the highest peak of the state 40 The narrow Terai region separates this region from the plains which in turn transitions into the Ganges delta towards the south The Rarh region intervenes between the Ganges delta in the east and the western plateau and high lands A small coastal region is on the extreme south while the Sundarbans mangrove forests form a remarkable geographical landmark at the Ganges delta At least nine districts in West Bengal and 42 districts in Bangladesh have arsenic levels in groundwater above the World Health Organization maximum permissible limit of 50 µg L or 50 parts per billion and the untreated water is unfit for human consumption 41 The water causes arsenicosis skin cancer and various other complications in the body Landscapes A river in Bangladesh A mustard and date palm farm in West Bengal A tea garden in Bangladesh Kanchenjunga from Singalila National Park West BengalGeographic distinctions North Bengal On a clear day the snowy peaks of the Himalayas in Nepal and Sikkim can be seen from northern Bangladesh and Darjeeling district of West Bengal North Bengal is a term used for the north western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal The Bangladeshi part comprises Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division Generally it is the area lying west of Jamuna River and north of Padma River and includes the Barind Tract Politically West Bengal s part comprises Jalpaiguri Division Alipurduar Cooch Behar Darjeeling Jalpaiguri North Dinajpur South Dinajpur and Malda together and Bihar s parts include Kishanganj district Darjeeling Hills are also part of North Bengal Although only people of Jaipaiguri Alipurduar and Cooch Behar identifies themselves as North Bengali North Bengal is divided into Terai and Dooars regions North Bengal is also noted for its rich cultural heritage including two UNESCO World Heritage Sites Aside from the Bengali majority North Bengal is home to many other communities including Nepalis Santhal people Lepchas and Rajbongshis Northeast Bengal Waterfalls are a common sight in the highlands of eastern Bangladesh Northeast Bengal 42 refers to the Sylhet region comprising Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and the Karimganj district in the Indian state of Assam The region is noted for its distinctive fertile highland terrain extensive tea plantations rainforests and wetlands The Surma and Barak river are the geographic markers of the area The city of Sylhet is its largest urban center and the region is known for its unique regional language known as Sylheti The ancient name of the region is Srihatta 43 The region was ruled by the Kamarupa and Harikela kingdoms as well as the Bengal Sultanate It later became a district of the Mughal Empire Alongside the predominant Bengali population resides a small Bishnupriya Manipuri Khasia and other tribal minorities 43 The region is the crossroads of Bengal and northeast India Central Bengal Central Bengal refers to the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh It includes the elevated Madhupur tract with a large Sal tree forest The Padma River cuts through the southern part of the region separating the greater Faridpur region In the north lies the greater Mymensingh and Tangail regions South Bengal Main article South Bengal South Bengal covers the southwestern Bangladesh and the southern part of the Indian state of West Bengal The Bangladeshi part includes Khulna Division Barisal Division and the proposed Faridpur Division 44 The Indian part of South Bengal includes 12 districts Kolkata Howrah Hooghly Burdwan East Midnapur West Midnapur Purulia Bankura Birbhum Nadia South 24 Parganas North 24 Parganas 45 46 47 The Sundarbans a major biodiversity hotspot is located in South Bengal Bangladesh hosts 60 of the forest with the remainder in India Southeast Bengal Main article Greater Chittagong Cox s Bazar has the longest uninterrupted sea beach in the world Southeast Bengal 48 49 50 refers to the hilly and coastal Bengali speaking areas of Chittagong Division in southeastern Bangladesh Southeast Bengal is noted for its thalassocratic and seafaring heritage The area was dominated by the Bengali Harikela and Samatata kingdoms in antiquity It was known to Arab traders as Harkand in the 9th century 51 During the medieval period the region was ruled by the Sultanate of Bengal the Kingdom of Tripura the Kingdom of Mrauk U the Portuguese Empire and the Mughal Empire prior to the advent of British rule The Chittagonian language a sister of Bengali is prevalent in coastal areas of southeast Bengal Along with its Bengali population it is also home to Tibeto Burman ethnic groups including the Chakma Marma Tanchangya and Bawm peoples Southeast Bengal is considered a bridge to Southeast Asia and the northern parts of Arakan are also historically considered to be a part of it 52 Places of interest There are four World Heritage Sites in the region including the Sundarbans the Somapura Mahavihara the Mosque City of Bagerhat and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Other prominent places include the Bishnupur Bankura temple city the Adina Mosque the Caravanserai Mosque numerous zamindar palaces like Ahsan Manzil and Cooch Behar Palace the Lalbagh Fort the Great Caravanserai ruins the Shaista Khan Caravanserai ruins the Kolkata Victoria Memorial the Dhaka Parliament Building archaeologically excavated ancient fort cities in Mahasthangarh Mainamati Chandraketugarh and Wari Bateshwar the Jaldapara National Park the Lawachara National Park the Teknaf Game Reserve and the Chittagong Hill Tracts Cox s Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh is home to the longest natural sea beach in the world with an unbroken length of 120 km 75 mi It is also a growing surfing destination 53 St Martin s Island off the coast of Chittagong Division is home to the sole coral reef in Bengal Flora and fauna A 2015 census of Sundarbans Bengal tigers found 106 in Bangladesh and 76 in West Bengal 54 The flat Bengal Plain which covers most of Bangladesh and West Bengal is one of the most fertile areas on Earth with lush vegetation and farmland dominating its landscape Bengali villages are buried among groves of mango jackfruit betel nut and date palm Rice jute mustard and sugarcane plantations are a common sight Water bodies and wetlands provide a habitat for many aquatic plants in the Ganges Brahmaputra delta The northern part of the region features Himalayan foothills Dooars with densely wooded Sal and other tropical evergreen trees Above an elevation of 1 000 metres 3 300 ft the forest becomes predominantly subtropical with a predominance of temperate forest trees such as oaks conifers and rhododendrons Sal woodland is also found across central Bangladesh particularly in the Bhawal National Park The Lawachara National Park is a rainforest in northeastern Bangladesh The Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh is noted for its high degree of biodiversity The littoral Sundarbans in the southwestern part of Bengal is the largest mangrove forest in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site The region has over 89 species of mammals 628 species of birds and numerous species of fish For Bangladesh the water lily the oriental magpie robin the hilsa and mango tree are national symbols For West Bengal the white throated kingfisher the chatim tree and the night flowering jasmine are state symbols The Bengal tiger is the national animal of Bangladesh and India The fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal HistoryMain article History of Bengal Prehistory Human settlement in Bengal can be traced back 20 000 years citation needed Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4 300 years 55 56 Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE rice cultivating communities inhabited the region By the 11th century BCE the people of the area lived in systemically aligned housing used human cemeteries and manufactured copper ornaments and fine black and red pottery 57 The Ganges Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation 57 Estuaries on the Bay of Bengal allowed for maritime trade The early Iron Age saw the development of metal weaponry coinage permanent field agriculture and irrigation 57 From 600 BCE the second wave of urbanisation engulfed the north Indian subcontinent as part of the Northern Black Polished Ware culture Antiquity Hindu sculpture 11th century Ancient Bengal was divided between the regions of Varendra Suhma Anga Vanga Samatata and Harikela Early Indian literature described the region as a thalassocracy with colonies in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean 58 For example the first recorded king of Sri Lanka was a Bengali prince called Vijaya The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai 59 The Greek ambassador Megasthenes chronicled its military strength and dominance of the Ganges delta The invasion army of Alexander the Great was deterred by the accounts of Gangaridai s power in 325 BCE Later Roman accounts noted maritime trade routes with Bengal A Roman amphora has been found in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal made in Aelana present day Aqaba in Jordan between the 4th and 7th centuries AD 60 Another prominent kingdom in ancient Bengal was Pundravardhana which was located in Northern Bengal with its capital being located at Mahasthangarh in modern day Bogra district The kingdom was Buddhist and left behind historic viharas monasteries 61 62 63 In vedic mythology the royal families of Magadha Anga Vanga Suhma and Kalinga were all related and descended from one King 64 Ancient Bengal was considered a part of Magadha region which was the cradle of Indian arts and sciences Currently the Maghada region is divided into several states that are Bihar Jharkhand and Bengal West Bengal and East Bengal 64 The legacy of Magadha includes the concept of zero the invention of Chess 65 and the theory of solar and lunar eclipses and the Earth orbiting the Sun citation needed Sanskrit and derived Old Indo Aryan dialects was spoken across Bengal 66 The Bengali language evolved from Old Indo Aryan Sanskrit dialects The region was ruled by Hindu Buddhist and Jain dynasties including the Mauryans Guptas Varmans Khadgas Palas Chandras and Senas among others In the 9th century Arab Muslim traders frequented Bengali seaports and found the region to be a thriving seafaring kingdom with well developed coinage and banking 57 Medieval era Further information Pala Empire and Bengal Sultanate Inscriptions on the Adina Mosque proclaim the builder Sikandar Shah as the wisest the most just the most perfect and most liberal of the Sultans of Arabia Persia and India The Pala Empire was an imperial power in the Indian subcontinent which originated in the region of Bengal They were followers of the Mahayana and Tantric schools of Buddhism The empire was founded with the election of Gopala as the emperor of Gauda in 750 6 At its height in the early 9th century the Pala Empire was the dominant power in the northern subcontinent with its territory stretching across parts of modern day eastern Pakistan northern and northeastern India Nepal and Bangladesh 6 7 The empire enjoyed relations with the Srivijaya Empire the Tibetan Empire and the Arab Abbasid Caliphate Islam first appeared in Bengal during Pala rule as a result of increased trade between Bengal and the Middle East 8 The resurgent Hindu Sena dynasty dethroned the Pala Empire in the 12th century ending the reign of the last major Buddhist imperial power in the subcontinent 5 67 Beginning around 1199 a military commander from the Delhi Sultanate Bakhtiar Khilji overran a few western districts of Bengal 68 69 Muslim rule introduced agrarian reform a new calendar and Sufism The region saw the rise of important city states in Sonargaon Satgaon and Lakhnauti By 1352 Ilyas Shah achieved the unification of an independent Bengal In the 14th and 15th centuries the Bengal Sultanate was a major diplomatic economic and military power in the subcontinent It developed the subcontinent s relations with China Egypt the Timurid Empire and East Africa In 1540 Sher Shah Suri was crowned Emperor of the northern subcontinent in the Bengali capital Gaur citation needed Mughal era 1576 1757 A woman in Dhaka clad in fine Bengali muslin 18th century Main article Bengal Subah Further information Mughal Empire and Muslin trade in Bengal The Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the 16th century The Bengal Subah province in the Mughal Empire was the wealthiest state in the subcontinent Bengal s trade and wealth impressed the Mughals so much that it was described as the Paradise of the Nations by the Mughal Emperors 70 The region was also notable for its powerful semi independent aristocracy including the Twelve Bhuiyans and the Nawabs of Bengal 71 It was visited by several world explorers including Ibn Battuta Niccolo De Conti and Admiral Zheng He Under Mughal rule Bengal was a center of the worldwide muslin and silk trades During the Mughal era the most important center of cotton production was Bengal particularly around its capital city of Dhaka leading to muslin being called daka in distant markets such as Central Asia 13 Domestically much of India depended on Bengali products such as rice silks and cotton textiles Overseas Europeans depended on Bengali products such as cotton textiles silks and opium Bengal accounted for 40 of Dutch imports from Asia for example including more than 50 of textiles and around 80 of silks 10 From Bengal saltpetre was also shipped to Europe opium was sold in Indonesia raw silk was exported to Japan and the Netherlands cotton and silk textiles were exported to Europe Indonesia and Japan 11 cotton cloth was exported to the Americas and the Indian Ocean 12 Bengal also had a large shipbuilding industry In terms of shipbuilding tonnage during the 16th 18th centuries economic historian Indrajit Ray estimates the annual output of Bengal at 223 250 tons compared with 23 061 tons produced in nineteen colonies in North America from 1769 to 1771 14 Since the 16th century European traders traversed the sea routes to Bengal following the Portuguese conquests of Malacca and Goa The Portuguese established a settlement in Chittagong with permission from the Bengal Sultanate in 1528 but were later expelled by the Mughals in 1666 In the 18th century the Mughal Court rapidly disintegrated due to Nader Shah s invasion and internal rebellions allowing European colonial powers to set up trading posts across the territory The British East India Company eventually emerged as the foremost military power in the region and defeated the last independent Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757 71 Colonial era 1757 1947 Main article Bengal Presidency The Battle of Plassey in 1757 ushered British rule In Bengal effective political and military power was transferred from the old regime to the British East India Company around 1757 65 72 Company rule in India began under the Bengal Presidency Calcutta was named the capital of British India in 1772 The presidency was run by a military civil administration including the Bengal Army and had the world s sixth earliest railway network Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule notably the Great Bengal famine of 1770 and Bengal famine of 1943 73 74 About 50 million were killed in Bengal due to massive plague outbreaks and famines which happened in 1895 to 1920 mostly in western Bengal 75 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was initiated on the outskirts of Calcutta and spread to Dhaka Chittagong Jalpaiguri Sylhet and Agartala in solidarity with revolts in North India The failure of the rebellion led to the abolition of the Company Rule in India and establishment of direct rule over India by the British commonly referred to as the British Raj The late 19th and early 20th century Bengal Renaissance had a great impact on the cultural and economic life of Bengal and started a great advance in the literature and science of Bengal citation needed Between 1905 and 1911 an abortive attempt was made to divide the province of Bengal into two Bengal proper and the short lived province of Eastern Bengal and Assam 76 Under British rule Bengal experienced deindustrialisation 19 In 1876 about 200 000 people were killed in Bengal by the Great Bangladesh cyclone 77 Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement in which revolutionary groups were dominant Armed attempts to overthrow the British Raj began with the rebellion of Titumir and reached a climax when Subhas Chandra Bose led the Indian National Army against the British Bengal was also central in the rising political awareness of the Muslim population the All India Muslim League was established in Dhaka in 1906 The Muslim homeland movement pushed for a sovereign state in eastern India with the Lahore Resolution in 1943 Hindu nationalism was also strong in Bengal which was home to groups like the Hindu Mahasabha In spite of a last ditch effort by politicians Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy Sarat Chandra Bose to form a United Bengal 78 when India gained independence in 1947 Bengal was partitioned along religious lines 79 The western joined India and was named West Bengal while the eastern part joined Pakistan as a province called East Bengal later renamed East Pakistan giving rise to Bangladesh in 1971 The circumstances of partition were bloody with widespread religious riots in Bengal 79 80 Post partition 1947 present The 1970 Bhola cyclone took the lives of 500 000 people in Bengal making it one of the deadliest recorded cyclones India Tram car in College street KolkataWest BengalWest Bengal became one of India s most populous states Calcutta later renamed to Kolkata to be consistent with the Bengali pronunciation the former capital of the British Indian Empire became the state capital of West Bengal and continued to be India s largest city until the late 20th century when severe power shortages strikes and a violent Marxist Naxalite movement damaged much of the state s infrastructure in the 1960s and 70s leading to a period of economic stagnation citation needed West Bengal politics underwent a major change when the Left Front won the 1977 assembly election defeating the incumbent Indian National Congress The Left Front led by the Communist Party of India Marxist CPI M governed the state for over three decades which was the world s longest elected Communist administration in history 81 Since the 2000s West Bengal has experienced an economic rejuvenation particularly in its IT industry citation needed Tripura The former royal palace of Hill Tippera in Agartala The princely state of Hill Tippera which was under the suzerainty of British India became the modern state of Tripura Following the death of Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman the princely state acceded to the Union of India on 15 October 1949 under the Tripura Merger Agreement signed by Maharani Regent Kanchan Prava Devi By the 1950s the region had a Bengali majority population due to the influx of Hindu refugees from East Pakistan after partition It became a Union Territory of India in November 1953 It was granted full statehood with an elected legislature in July 1963 An insurgency by indigenous people affected the state for several years The Left Front ruled the state between 1978 and 1988 followed by a stint of Indian National Congress rule until 1993 and then a return to the Communists 82 Karimganj district of AssamKarimganj District joined the Union of India after its partition from Sylhet as per the Sylhet referendum in 1947 and became a part of Assam s Barak Valley One of the most significant events in the region s history was the language movement in 1961 in which the killing of agitators by state police led to Bengali being recognised as one of the official languages of Assam The issue of Bengali settlement in the state has been a contentious part of the Assam conflict Bangladesh Shaheed Minar in Dhaka commemorates the 1952 Language Movement East Pakistan 1947 1971 Main article Bangladesh Liberation War In 1948 the Government of the Dominion of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language sparking extensive protests among the Bengali speaking majority of East Bengal Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law the government outlawed public meetings and rallies The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February 1952 The movement reached its climax when several student demonstrators were shot dead by police firing As a result of the movement Pakistan government in 1956 included Bengali as national lanuage along with Urdu UNESCO in 1999 declared 21 February as International Mother Language Day honouring the 1952 incident East Bengal which was later renamed to East Pakistan in 1955 was home to Pakistan s demographic majority and played an instrumental role in the founding of the new state Strategically Pakistan joined the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization under the Bengali prime minister Mohammad Ali of Bogra as a bulwark against communism 83 However tensions between East and West Pakistan grew rapidly over political exclusion economic neglect and ethnic and linguistic discrimination The State of Pakistan was subjected to years of military rule due to fears of Bengali political supremacy under democracy Elected Bengali led governments at the federal and provincial levels which were led by statesmen such as A K Fazlul Huq and H S Suhrawardy were deposed 84 85 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led Bengali s decade long independence struggle including the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 During the 1960s calls for greater self determination grew in East Pakistan Sheikh Mujibur Rahman emerged as the leader of the province s dissent against the Pakistani state Rahman launched the Six point movement for autonomy in 1966 In the 1970 national election Rahman s party the Awami League won a majority of seats in parliament 86 The erstwhile Pakistani military junta refused to accept election results which triggered civil disobedience across East Pakistan The Pakistani military responded by launching a genocide that caused the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 The first Government of Bangladesh and the Mukti Bahini waged a guerrilla campaign with support from neighbouring India which hosted millions of war refugees Global support for the independence of East Pakistan increased due to the conflict s humanitarian crisis with the Indian Armed Forces intervening in support of the Bangladesh Forces in the final two weeks of the war and ensuring Pakistan s surrender 87 Bangladesh 1971 present After independence Bangladesh adopted a secular democracy under its new constitution in 1972 Awami League premier Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became the country s strongman and implemented many socialist policies A one party state was enacted in 1975 Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated later that year during a military coup that ushered in sixteen years of military dictatorships and presidential governments The liberation war commander Ziaur Rahman emerged as Bangladesh s leader in the late 1970s He reoriented the country s foreign policy towards the West and restored free markets and the multiparty polity President Zia was assassinated in 1981 during a failed military coup He was eventually succeeded by his army chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad Lasting for nine years Ershad s rule witnessed continued pro free market reforms and the devolution of some authority to local government 88 The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation SAARC was founded in Dhaka in 1985 89 The Jatiya Party government made Islam the state religion in 1988 90 A popular uprising restored parliamentary democracy in 1991 Since then Bangladesh has largely alternated between the premierships of Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party as well as technocratic caretaker governments Emergency rule was imposed by the military in 2007 and 2008 after widespread street violence between the League and BNP The restoration of democratic government in 2009 was followed by the initiation of the International Crimes Tribunal to prosecute surviving collaborators of the 1971 genocide Today the country is one of the emerging and growth leading economies of the world It is listed as one of the Next Eleven countries it also has one of the fastest real GDP growth rates Its gross domestic product ranks 39th largest in the world in terms of market exchange rates and 30th in purchasing power parity Its per capita income ranks 143th and 136th in two measures In the field of human development it has progressed ahead in life expectancy maternal and child health and gender equality However it continues to face challenging problems including poverty corruption terrorism illiteracy and inadequate public healthcare 91 92 Historical maps and flags of statesThe Bengal region had been part of major empires and kingdoms like Gangaridai Nanda Empire Maurya Empire Gupta Empire Pala Empire Sena dynasty and Bengal Sultanate It has also been a regional empire ruling over neighbouring regions like Bihar Orissa Arakan and parts of North India Assam and Nepal Maps Gangaridai in Ptolemy s map 1st century The Pala Empire 9th century At its greatest extent the Bengal Sultanate s realm and protectorates stretched from Jaunpur in North India in the west to Tripura and Arakan in the east The Bengal Sultanate 16th century Bengal amp Bihar in 1776 by James Rennell Colonial Bengal 19th century Colonial Eastern Bengal and Assam early 20th century Province of Bengal 1931 Map of West Bengal Map of Bangladesh Map of TripuraFlags Flag of Bengal Sultanate Flag of the Bengal Subah 15 18th Century Flag of Bengal Presidency under British rule Flag of Bangladesh during Bangladesh Liberation War and after Flag of Bangladesh from 1972 onwardsPoliticsPolitically the region is divided between the People s Republic of Bangladesh an independent state and the eastern provinces of the Republic of India including West Bengal Politically both Bangladesh and Indian Bengal are socialist with left wing parties dominating the region s politics Bangladeshi Republic Main article Bangladesh Bangabhaban the House of Bengal is the official residence of the president of Bangladesh The state of Bangladesh is a parliamentary republic based on the Westminster system with a written constitution and a President elected by parliament for mostly ceremonial purposes The government is headed by a Prime Minister who is appointed by the President from among the popularly elected 300 Members of Parliament in the Jatiyo Sangshad the national parliament The Prime Minister is traditionally the leader of the single largest party in the Jatiyo Sangshad Under the constitution while recognising Islam as the country s established religion the constitution grants freedom of religion to non Muslims Between 1975 and 1990 Bangladesh had a presidential system of government Since the 1990s it was administered by non political technocratic caretaker governments on four occasions the last being under military backed emergency rule in 2007 and 2008 The Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party BNP are the two largest political parties in Bangladesh Bangladesh is a member of the UN WTO IMF the World Bank ADB OIC IDB SAARC BIMSTEC and the IMCTC Bangladesh has achieved significant strides in human development compared to its neighbours Indian Bengal Main article West Bengal Writers Building the official seat of the Government of West Bengal West Bengal is a constituent state of the Republic of India with local executives and assemblies features shared with other states in the Indian federal system The president of India appoints a governor as the ceremonial representative of the union government The governor appoints the chief minister on the nomination of the legislative assembly The chief minister is the traditionally the leader of the party or coalition with most seats in the assembly President s rule is often imposed in Indian states as a direct intervention of the union government led by the prime minister of India Each state has popularly elected members in the Indian lower house of parliament the Lok Sabha Each state nominates members to the Indian upper house of parliament the Rajya Sabha The state legislative assemblies also play a key role in electing the ceremonial president of India The former president of India Pranab Mukherjee was a native of West Bengal and a leader of the Indian National Congress The two major political forces in the Bengali speaking zone of India are the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress with the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP and the Indian National Congress being minor players Crossborder relations Main article Bangladesh India relations India and Bangladesh are the world s second and eighth most populous countries respectively Bangladesh India relations began on a high note in 1971 when India played a major role in the liberation of Bangladesh with the Indian Bengali populace and media providing overwhelming support to the independence movement in the former East Pakistan The two countries had a twenty five year friendship treaty between 1972 and 1996 However differences over river sharing border security and access to trade have long plagued the relationship In more recent years a consensus has evolved in both countries on the importance of developing good relations as well as a strategic partnership in South Asia and beyond Commercial cultural and defence co operation have expanded since 2010 when Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina and Manmohan Singh pledged to reinvigorate ties The Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi operates a Deputy High Commission in Kolkata and a consular office in Agartala India has a High Commission in Dhaka with consulates in Chittagong and Rajshahi Frequent international air bus and rail services connect major cities in Bangladesh and Indian Bengal particularly the three largest cities Dhaka Kolkata and Chittagong Undocumented immigration of Bangladeshi workers is a controversial issue championed by right wing nationalist parties in India but finds little sympathy in West Bengal 93 India has since fenced the border which has been criticised by Bangladesh 94 DemographicsMain articles Demographics of Bangladesh Demographics of West Bengal and Languages of Bangladesh Districts of Bangladesh Districts of West Bengal Bengali Muslims taking part in mass prayer of Eid al Fitr Bengali Hindu priests performing Durga Puja rituals Buddhist Chakma people enjoying one of their festivals in south eastern Bangladesh The Bengal region is one of the most densely populated areas in the world With a population of 300 million Bengalis are the third largest ethnic group in the world after the Han Chinese and Arabs note 2 According to provisional results of 2011 Bangladesh census the population of Bangladesh was 149 772 364 95 however CIA s The World Factbook gives 163 654 860 as its population in a July 2013 estimate According to the provisional results of the 2011 Indian national census West Bengal has a population of 91 347 736 96 So the Bengal region as of 2011 update has at least 241 1 million people This figures give a population density of 1003 9 km2 making it among the most densely populated areas in the world 97 98 Language in Bengal Bengali 93 Others 7 Bengali is the main language spoken in Bengal Many phonological lexical and structural differences from the standard variety occur in peripheral varieties of Bengali across the region Other regional languages closely related to Bengali include Sylheti Chittagonian Chakma Rangpuri Rajbangshi Hajong Rohingya and Tangchangya 99 English is often used for official work alongside Bengali Other major Indo Aryan languages such as Hindi Urdu Assamese and Nepali are also familiar to Bengalis 100 Religions in Bangladesh 2011Religions PercentIslam 90 4 Hinduism 8 5 others 1 1 Religions in West Bengal 2011Religions PercentHinduism 70 54 Islam 27 01 others 2 45 Religions in Bengal region Bangladesh and West Bengal 2011 Islam 66 37 Hinduism 31 98 Christianity 0 52 Buddhism 0 49 Others or no religion 0 64 Bengal region religious diversity as per 2011 census 101 102 103 Religion PopulationMuslims 160 049 043Hindus 77 116 197Christians 1 257 708Buddhists 1 181 533Others 1 515 619Total 241 120 100In addition several minority ethnolinguistic groups are native to the region These include speakers of other Indo Aryan languages e g Bishnupriya Manipuri Oraon Sadri various Bihari languages Tibeto Burman languages e g A Tong Chak Koch Garo Megam Meitei Manipuri Mizo Mru Pangkhua Rakhine Marma Kok Borok Riang Tippera Usoi various Chin languages Austroasiatic languages e g Khasi Koda Mundari Pnar Santali War and Dravidian languages e g Kurukh Sauria Paharia 99 Life expectancy is around 72 49 years for Bangladesh 104 and 70 2 for West Bengal 105 106 In terms of literacy West Bengal leads with 77 literacy rate 97 in Bangladesh the rate is approximately 72 9 107 note 3 The level of poverty in West Bengal is at 19 98 while in Bangladesh it stands at 12 9 108 109 110 West Bengal has one of the lowest total fertility rates in India West Bengal s TFR of 1 6 roughly equals that of Canada 111 About 20 000 people live on chars Chars are temporary islands formed by the deposition of sediments eroded off the banks of the Ganges in West Bengal which often disappear in the monsoon season They are made of very fertile soil The inhabitants of the chars are not recognised by the Government of West Bengal on the grounds that it is not known whether they are Indians or Bangladeshis Consequently no identification documents are issued to char dwellers who cannot benefit from health care barely survive because of very poor sanitation and are prevented from emigrating to the mainland to find jobs when they have turned 14 On a particular char it was reported that 13 of women died at childbirth 112 EconomyMain articles Economy of Bangladesh and Economy of West Bengal Amartya Sen winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics Muhammad Yunus winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Abhijit Banerjee winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics Biman Bangladesh Airlines is the largest airline based in the Bengal region Historically Bengal has been the industrial leader of the subcontinent The region is one of the largest rice producing areas in the world with West Bengal being India s largest rice producer and Bangladesh being the world s fourth largest rice producer 113 Other key crops include jute tea sugarcane and wheat There are significant reserves of limestone natural gas and coal Major industries include textiles leather goods pharmaceuticals shipbuilding banking and information and communication technology Three stock exchanges are located in the region including the Dhaka Stock Exchange the Chittagong Stock Exchange and the Calcutta Stock Exchange Intra Bengal trade Bangladesh and India are the largest trading partners in South Asia with two way trade valued at an estimated US 6 9 billion 114 Most of this trade relationship is centered on some of the world s busiest land ports on the Bangladesh India border particularly the West Bengal section The partition of India severed the once strong economic links which integrated the region Decades later frequent air rail and bus services are increasingly connecting cities in Bangladesh and West Bengal as well as the wider region including Northeast India Nepal and Bhutan However the overall economic relationship remains well below potential Major citiesUrban Areas The following are the largest urban areas in Bengal in terms of population National Martyr s Memorial in Dhaka built on memories of the martyrs of Bangladesh Liberation War The Victoria Memorial in Kolkata India List of major urban areas in Bengal Rank City Country Population 2022 Image1 Dhaka Bangladesh 22 478 116 115 Dhaka2 Kolkata India 15 133 888 Kolkata3 Chittagong Bangladesh 5 252 842 116 Chittagong4 Asansol India 1 478 266 117 Modernised ISP Asansol5 Siliguri India 1 092 000 118 Siliguri6 Khulna Bangladesh 1 500 689 119 Khulna7 Rajshahi Bangladesh 1 290 600 119 Rajshahi8 Rangpur Bangladesh 1 450 128 119 Rangpur9 Sylhet Bangladesh 928 000 119 Sylhet10 Bogra Bangladesh 864 000 119 Bogra11 Durgapur India 699 000 Durgapur12 Comilla Bangladesh 630 000 119 Comilla13 Agartala India 615 000 120 Agartala14 Faridpur Bangladesh 557 632 121 FaridpurMajor ports New Mooring Terminal Port of Chittagong Aerial view of Haldia port Haldia Port List of The Major Ports in Bengal Port Name Type Status Location CountryPort of Chittagong Sea Port Active Chittagong Chittagong BangladeshPort of Haldia Sea PortRiver Port Active Haldia East Midnapur IndiaPort of Mongla Sea Port Active Mongla Bagerhat Khulna BangladeshPort of Payra Sea Port Active Kalapara Patuakhali Barisal BangladeshPort of Kolkata River Port Active Kolkata Kolkata IndiaPort of Narayanganj River Port Active Narayanganj Dhaka BangladeshPort of Benapole Petrapole Landport Active Sharsha Jessore Bangaon North 24 Parganas Jessore BangaonTourist attractions List of The Tourist Attraction of Bengal Name Type City Area Sample ImageSundarbans World s largest natural mangrove forest Khulna Satkhira Bagerhat South 24 Parganas North 24 parganas A Bengal tiger Panthera tigris tigris from SundarbansCox s Bazar World s longest uninterrupted sea beach Cox s Bazar Cox s Bazar sea beachKuakata Sea beach Patuakhali Kuakata sea beachDigha Sea beach East Midnapur Digha sea beachChittagong Hill Tracts Hilly areas inhabited by different tribal peoples Rangamati Khagrachhari Bandarban A view of Sajek RangamatiRatargul Only swamp forest in the Bengal region Sylhet District A view of RatargulLawachara National Park Major national park and nature reserve Moulvibazar Sylhet A view of Lawachara national parkSatchhari Reserve forest Habiganj Sylhet A view of Satchari national parkSiliguri Hilly area of foothills of Himalayas Darjeeling Jalpaiguri A view of Siliguri MetropolisStrategic importance The strategically important city of Chittagong is home to the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal The Bengal region is located at the crossroads of two huge economic blocs the SAARC and ASEAN It gives access to the sea for the landlocked countries of Bhutan and Nepal as well as the Seven Sister States of North East India It is also located near China s southern landlocked region including Yunnan and Tibet Both India and Bangladesh plan to expand onshore and offshore oil and gas operations Bangladesh is Asia s seventh largest natural gas producer Its maritime exclusive economic zone potentially holds many of the largest gas reserves in the Asia Pacific 122 The Bay of Bengal is strategically important for its vital shipping lanes and its central location between the Middle East and the Pacific The Bay of Bengal Initiative based in Dhaka brings together Bangladesh India Myanmar Thailand Nepal Bhutan and Sri Lanka to promote economic integration in the subregion Other regional groupings include the Bangladesh China India Myanmar Forum for Regional Cooperation BCIM and the Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal BBIN Initiative Culturally Bengal is significant for its huge Muslim and Hindu populations Bengali Muslims are the world s second largest Muslim ethnicity after Arab Muslims and Bangladesh is the world s third largest Muslim majority country after Indonesia and Pakistan Bengali Hindus make up the second largest linguistic community in India CultureMain article Culture of Bengal Language Main article Bengali language Bengali Letters The Bengali language developed between the 7th and 10th centuries from Apabhraṃsa and Magadhi Prakrit 123 It is written using the indigenous Bengali alphabet a descendant of the ancient Brahmi script Bengali is the 5th most spoken language in the world It is an eastern Indo Aryan language and one of the easternmost branches of the Indo European language family It is part of the Bengali Assamese languages Bengali has greatly influenced other languages in the region including Odia Assamese Chakma Nepali and Rohingya It is the sole state language of Bangladesh and the second most spoken language in India 124 It is also the seventh most spoken language by total number of speakers in the world Bengali binds together a culturally diverse region and is an important contributor to regional identity The 1952 Bengali Language Movement in East Pakistan is commemorated by UNESCO as International Mother Language Day as part of global efforts to preserve linguistic identity Currency Main article History of the taka A silver coin with Proto Bengali script 9th century In both Bangladesh and West Bengal currency is commonly denominated as taka The Bangladesh taka is an official standard bearer of this tradition while the Indian rupee is also written as taka in Bengali script on all of its banknotes The history of the taka dates back centuries Bengal was home one of the world s earliest coin currencies in the first millennium BCE Under the Delhi Sultanate the taka was introduced by Muhammad bin Tughluq in 1329 Bengal became the stronghold of the taka The silver currency was the most important symbol of sovereignty of the Sultanate of Bengal It was traded on the Silk Road and replicated in Nepal and China s Tibetan protectorate The Pakistani rupee was scripted in Bengali as taka on its banknotes until Bangladesh s creation in 1971 Literature Bengali literature ব ল স হ ত য Bengali literatureBy category Bengali languageBengali language authorsChronological list Alphabetic ListBengali writersWriters Novelists PoetsFormsNovel Poetry Science FictionInstitutions and awardsLiterary Institutions Literary PrizesRelated Portals Literature Portal India Portal Bangladesh PortalvteMain articles Bengali literature Indian English literature and Bangladeshi English literature Rabindranath Tagore known as the Bengali Shakespeare being hosted at the Parliament of Iran in the 1930s Bengali literature has a rich heritage It has a history stretching back to the 3rd century BCE when the main language was Sanskrit written in the brahmi script The Bengali language and script evolved circa 1000 CE from Magadhi Prakrit Bengal has a long tradition in folk literature evidenced by the Chorjapodo Mangalkavya Shreekrishna Kirtana Maimansingha Gitika or Thakurmar Jhuli Bengali literature in the medieval age was often either religious e g Chandidas or adaptations from other languages e g Alaol During the Bengal Renaissance of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Bengali literature was modernised through the works of authors such as Michael Madhusudan Dutta Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay Rabindranath Tagore Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay Kazi Nazrul Islam Satyendranath Dutta and Jibanananda Das In the 20th century prominent modern Bengali writers included Syed Mujtaba Ali Jasimuddin Manik Bandopadhyay Tarasankar Bandyopadhyay Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay Buddhadeb Bose Sunil Gangopadhyay and Humayun Ahmed Prominent contemporary Bengali writers in English include Amitav Ghosh Tahmima Anam Jhumpa Lahiri and Zia Haider Rahman among others Personification Main article Mother Bengal The Bangamata is a female personification of Bengal which was created during the Bengali Renaissance and later adopted by the Bengali nationalists 125 Hindu nationalists adopted a modified Bharat Mata as a national personification of India 126 The Mother Bengal represents not only biological motherness but its attributed characteristics as well protection never ending love consolation care the beginning and the end of life In Amar Sonar Bangla the national anthem of Bangladesh Rabindranath Tagore has used the word Maa Mother numerous times to refer to the motherland i e Bengal Art See also Bangladeshi art Bangladeshi paintings on sale at an art gallery in Dhaka The Pala Sena School of Art developed in Bengal between the 8th and 12th centuries and is considered a high point of classical Asian art 127 128 It included sculptures and paintings 129 Islamic Bengal was noted for its production of the finest cotton fabrics and saris notably the Jamdani which received warrants from the Mughal court 130 The Bengal School of painting flourished in Kolkata and Shantiniketan in the British Raj during the early 20th century Its practitioners were among the harbingers of modern painting in India 131 Zainul Abedin was the pioneer of modern Bangladeshi art The country has a thriving and internationally acclaimed contemporary art scene 132 Architecture Main article Architecture of Bengal Bungalows originated from Bengali architecture Classical Bengali architecture features terracotta buildings Ancient Bengali kingdoms laid the foundations of the region s architectural heritage through the construction of monasteries and temples for example the Somapura Mahavihara During the sultanate period a distinct and glorious Islamic style of architecture developed the region 133 Most Islamic buildings were small and highly artistic terracotta mosques with multiple domes and no minarets Bengal was also home to the largest mosque in South Asia at Adina Bengali vernacular architecture is credited for inspiring the popularity of the bungalow 134 The Bengal region also has a rich heritage of Indo Saracenic architecture including numerous zamindar palaces and mansions The most prominent example of this style is the Victoria Memorial Kolkata In the 1950s Muzharul Islam pioneered the modernist terracotta style of architecture in South Asia This was followed by the design of the Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban by the renowned American architect Louis Kahn in the 1960s which was based on the aesthetic heritage of Bengali architecture and geography 135 136 Sciences Main article Science and technology in Bangladesh A sculpture on Fazlur Rahman Khan at the Sears Tower in the United States The Gupta dynasty which is believed to have originated in North Bengal pioneered the invention of chess the concept of zero the theory of Earth orbiting the Sun the study of solar and lunar eclipses and the flourishing of Sanskrit literature and drama 65 137 Bengal was the leader of scientific endeavours in the subcontinent during the British Raj The educational reforms during this period gave birth to many distinguished scientists in the region Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics made very significant contributions to plant science and laid the foundations of experimental science in the Indian subcontinent 138 IEEE named him one of the fathers of radio science 139 He was the first person from the Indian subcontinent to receive a US patent in 1904 In 1924 25 while researching at the University of Dhaka Prof Satyendra Nath Bose well known for his works in quantum mechanics provided the foundation for Bose Einstein statistics and the theory of the Bose Einstein condensate 140 141 142 Meghnad Saha was the first scientist to relate a star s spectrum to its temperature developing thermal ionization equations notably the Saha ionization equation that have been foundational in the fields of astrophysics and astrochemistry 143 Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri was a physicist known for his research in general relativity and cosmology His most significant contribution is the eponymous Raychaudhuri equation which demonstrates that singularities arise inevitably in general relativity and is a key ingredient in the proofs of the Penrose Hawking singularity theorems 144 In the United States the Bangladeshi American engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan emerged as the father of tubular designs in skyscraper construction Ashoke Sen is an Indian theoretical physicist whose main area of work is string theory He was among the first recipients of the Fundamental Physics Prize for opening the path to the realisation that all string theories are different limits of the same underlying theory 145 Music Main article Music of Bengal A Baul musician The Baul ballads of Bengal are classified by UNESCO as humanity s intangible cultural heritage The Baul tradition is a unique heritage of Bengali folk music 146 The 19th century mystic poet Lalon Shah is the most celebrated practitioner of the tradition 147 Other folk music forms include Gombhira Bhatiali and Bhawaiya Hason Raja is a renowned folk poet of the Sylhet region Folk music in Bengal is often accompanied by the ektara a one stringed instrument Other instruments include the dotara dhol flute and tabla The region also has a rich heritage in North Indian classical music Cuisine Main article Bengali cuisine Bengali cuisine is the only traditionally developed multi course tradition from the Indian subcontinent Rice and fish are traditional favourite foods leading to a saying that fish and rice make a Bengali 148 Bengal s vast repertoire of fish based dishes includes Hilsa preparations a favourite among Bengalis Bengalis make distinctive sweetmeats from milk products including Roshogolla Chomchom and several kinds of Pithe The old city of Dhaka is noted for its distinct Indo Islamic cuisine including biryani bakarkhani and kebab dishes Boats See also Country boats in Bangladesh 18th century painting of a budgerow There are 150 types of Bengali country boats plying the 700 rivers of the Bengal delta the vast floodplain and many oxbow lakes They vary in design and size The boats include the dinghy and sampan among others Country boats are a central element of Bengali culture and have inspired generations of artists and poets including the ivory artisans of the Mughal era The country has a long shipbuilding tradition dating back many centuries Wooden boats are made of timber such as Jarul dipterocarpus turbinatus sal shorea robusta sundari heritiera fomes and Burma teak tectons grandis Medieval Bengal was shipbuilding hub for the Mughal and Ottoman navies 149 150 The British Royal Navy later utilised Bengali shipyards in the 19th century including for the Battle of Trafalgar Attire Bengali women commonly wear the shaŗi and the salwar kameez often distinctly designed according to local cultural customs In urban areas many women and men wear Western style attire Among men European dressing has greater acceptance Men also wear traditional costumes such as the kurta with dhoti or pyjama often on religious occasions The lungi a kind of long skirt is widely worn by Bangladeshi men citation needed Festivals Main articles List of festivals in Bangladesh and List of festivals of West Bengal The two Eids and Muharram are the biggest and most important festivals for Muslims who are the majority Durga Puja is the biggest festival of the Hindus in Bengal as well as the most significant socio cultural event of the Bengali Hindus in general 151 Christmas called Borodin in Bengali is also a major festival where people irrespective of their beliefs and faiths participate Other major festivals include Kali Puja Saraswati Puja Holi Rath Jatra Janmashtami Poila Boishakh and Poush Parbon Media Bangladesh has a diverse outspoken and privately owned press with the largest circulated Bengali language newspapers in the world English language titles are popular in the urban readership 152 West Bengal had 559 published newspapers in 2005 153 of which 430 were in Bengali 153 Bengali cinema is divided between the media hubs of Dhaka and Kolkata Sports Cricket and football are popular sports in the Bengal region Local games include sports such as Kho Kho and Kabaddi the latter being the national sport of Bangladesh An Indo Bangladesh Bengali Games has been organised among the athletes of the Bengali speaking areas of the two countries 154 See alsoBengali Renaissance Bengalis Greater Bengal East India Hindi Belt List of Bengalis North East India PunjabNotes especially Direct Action Day in Calcutta and then in Noakhali in 1946 Roughly 163 million in Bangladesh and 100 million in the Republic of India CIA Factbook 2014 estimates numbers subject to rapid population growth about 3 million Bangladeshis in the Middle East 1 million Bengalis in Pakistan 0 4 million British 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