fbpx
Wikipedia

Bengal

March 17, 2023

For other uses, see Bengal (disambiguation).

This article contains Bengali text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

Bengal (/bɛnˈɡɔːl/ ben-GAWL;[1][2] Bengali: বাংলা/বঙ্গ, romanized: Bānglā/Bôngô, pronounced [ˈbɔŋgo] (listen)) is a historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Bengal proper is divided between modern-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. The administrative jurisdiction of Bengal historically extended beyond the territory of Bengal proper. Bengal ceased to be a single unit after the partition of India in 1947.

Bengal
The Bengali-speaking zone

Various Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austric and other peoples inhabited the region since antiquity. The ancient Vanga Kingdom is widely regarded as the namesake of the Bengal region.[3] The Bengali calendar dates back to the reign of Shashanka in the 4th century. The Pala Empire was founded in Bengal during the 8th century. The Sena dynasty ruled between the 11th and 13th centuries. By the 14th century, Bengal was absorbed by Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent. An independent Bengal Sultanate was formed and became the eastern frontier of the Islamic world.[4][5][6] During this period, Bengal's rule and influence spread to Assam, Arakan, Tripura, Bihar, and Orissa.[7][8] Mughal Bengal later emerged as a prosperous part of the Mughal Empire.

The last independent Nawab of Bengal was defeated in 1757 at the Battle of Plassey by the British Empire's East India Company. The company's Bengal Presidency grew into the largest administrative unit of British India with Calcutta as the capital of India. At its peak, the presidency stretched from Burma, Penang, Singapore and Malacca in the east to The Punjab and Ceded and Conquered Provinces in the west. Bengal was gradually re-organized by the early 20th century. As a result of first partition of Bengal, a short-lived province called Eastern Bengal and Assam existed between 1905 and 1911 with its capital in the former Mughal capital Dhaka. Following the Sylhet referendum and votes by the Bengal Legislative Council and Bengal Legislative Assembly, the region was again divided along religious lines in 1947.

Etymology

Main article: Names of Bengal

The name of Bengal is derived from the ancient kingdom of Banga (pronounced Bôngô),[9][10] the earliest records of which date back to the Mahabharata epic in the first millennium BCE.[10] 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.[11] 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).[12][self-published source?][13] The term Vangaladesa is used to describe the region in 11th-century South Indian records.[14][15][16] 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.[17] The Portuguese referred to the region as Bengala in the Age of Discovery.[18]

History

Main article: History of Bengal

Antiquity

See also: Vanga Kingdom, Gauda Kingdom, Samatata, and Pala Empire
 
Art of the Pala period from Dinajpur, 11th century. Ancient Bengal was reputed for its war elephants
 
Punch-marked coin of the Vanga Kingdom, 400-300 BCE

Neolithic sites have been found in several parts of the region.[19] In the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities dotted the region. By the eleventh century BCE, people in Bengal lived in systematically aligned homes, produced copper objects, and crafted black and red pottery. Remnants of Copper Age settlements are located in the region.[20] At the advent of the Iron Age, people in Bengal adopted iron-based weapons, tools and irrigation equipment.[21] From 600 BCE, the second wave of urbanisation engulfed the north Indian subcontinent as part of the Northern Black Polished Ware culture. Cities in Mahasthangarh, Chandraketugarh and Wari-Bateshwar emerged. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation.[22] Estuaries on the Bay of Bengal allowed for maritime trade with distand lands in Southeast Asia and elsewhere.[22]

The ancient geopolitical divisions of Bengal included Varendra, Suhma, Anga, Vanga, Samatata and Harikela. These regions were often independent or under the rule of larger empires. The Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription indicates that Bengal was ruled by the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century BCE.[23] The inscription was an administrative order instructing relief for a distressed segment of the population.[23] Punch-marked coins found in the region indicate that coins were used as currency during the Iron Age.[24][25] The namesake of Bengal is the ancient Vanga Kingdom which was reputed as a naval power with overseas colonies. A prince from Bengal named Vijaya founded the first kingdom in Sri Lanka. The two most prominent pan-Indian empires of this period included the Mauryans and the Gupta Empire. The region was a center of artistic, political, social, spiritual and scientific thinking, including the invention of chess, Indian numerals, and the concept of zero.[26]

The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai.[27] 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, including a cavalry of war elephants. Later Roman accounts noted maritime trade routes with Bengal. 1st century Roman coins with images of Hercules were found in the region and point to trade links with Roman Egypt through the Red Sea.[28] The Wari-Bateshwar ruins are believed to be the emporium (trading center) of Sounagoura mentioned by Roman geographer Claudius Ptolemy.[29][30] A Roman amphora was found in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal which was made in Aelana (present-day Aqaba, Jordan) between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.[31]

The first unified Bengali polity can be traced to the reign of Shashanka. The origins of the Bengali calendar can be traced to his reign. Shashanka founded the Gauda Kingdom. After Shashanka's death, Bengal experienced a period of civil war known as Matsyanyayam.[32] The ancient city of Gauda later gave birth to the Pala Empire. The first Pala emperor Gopala I was chosen by an assembly of chieftains in Gauda. The Pala kingdom grew into one of the largest empires in the Indian subcontinent. The Pala period saw advances in linguistics, sculpture, painting, and education. The empire achieved its greatest territorial extent under Dharmapala and Devapala. The Palas vied for control of Kannauj with the rival Gurjara-Pratihara and Rashtrakuta dynasties. Pala influence also extended to Tibet and Sumatra due to the travels and preachings of Atisa. The university of Nalanda was established by the Palas. They also built the Somapura Mahavihara, which was the largest monastic institution in the subcontinent. The rule of the Palas eventually disintegrated. The Chandra dynasty ruled southeastern Bengal and Arakan. The Varman dynasty ruled parts of northeastern Bengal and Assam. The Sena dynasty emerged as the main successor of the Palas by the 11th century. The Senas were a resurgent Hindu dynasty which ruled much of Bengal. The smaller Deva dynasty also ruled parts of the region. Ancient Chinese visitors like Xuanzang provided elaborate accounts of Bengal's cities and monastic institutions.[33]

Muslim trade with Bengal flourished after the fall of the Sasanian Empire and the Arab takeover of Persian trade routes. Much of this trade occurred with southeastern Bengal in areas east of the Meghna River. Bengal was probably used as a transit route to China by the earliest Muslims. Abbasid coins have been discovered in the archaeological ruins of Paharpur and Mainamati.[34] A collection of Sasanian, Umayyad and Abbasid coins are preserved in the Bangladesh National Museum.[35]

Sultanate period

See also: Bengal Sultanate
 
Coin featuring a horseman issued by the Delhi Sultanate celebrating the Muslim conquest of Lakhnauti
 
Chinese manuscript showing an African giraffe gifted to China by the Sultan of Bengal on 20 September 1414
 
The Bengal Sultanate was an empire with widespread maritime and mercantile links

In 1204, the Ghurid general Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji began the Islamic conquest of Bengal.[36] The fall of Lakhnauti was recounted by historians circa 1243. Lakhnauti was the capital of the Sena dynasty. According to historical accounts, Ghurid cavalry swept across the Gangetic plains towards Bengal. They entered the Bengali capital disguised as horse traders. Once inside the royal compound, Bakhtiyar and his horsemen swiftly overpowered the guards of the Sena king who had just sat down to eat a meal. The king then hastily fled to the forest with his followers.[37] The overthrow of the Sena king has been described as a coup d’état, which "inaugurated an era, lasting over five centuries, during which most of Bengal was dominated by rulers professing the Islamic faith. In itself this was not exceptional, since from about this time until the eighteenth century, Muslim sovereigns ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent. What was exceptional, however, was that among India’s interior provinces only in Bengal—a region approximately the size of England and Scotland combined—did a majority of the indigenous population adopt the religion of the ruling class, Islam".[37] Bengal became a province of the Delhi Sultanate. A coin featuring a horseman was issued to celebrate the Muslim conquest of Lakhnauti with inscriptions in Sanskrit and Arabic. An abortive Islamic invasion of Tibet was also mounted by Bakhtiyar. Bengal was under the formal rule of the Delhi Sultanate for approximately 150 years. Delhi struggled to consolidate control over Bengal. Rebel governors often sought to assert autonomy or independence. Sultan Iltutmish re-established control over Bengal in 1225 after suppressing the rebels. Due to the considerable overland distance, Delhi's authority in Bengal was relatively weak. It was left to local governors to expand territory and bring new areas under Muslim rule, such as through the Conquest of Sylhet in 1303.

In 1338, new rebellions sprung up in Bengal's three main towns. Governors in Lakhnauti, Satgaon and Sonargaon declared independence from Delhi. This allowed the ruler of Sonargaon, Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah, to annex Chittagong to the Islamic administration. By 1352, the ruler of Satgaon, Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah, unified the region into an independent state. Ilyas Shah established his capital in Pandua.[38] The new breakaway state emerged as the Bengal Sultanate, which developed into a territorial, mercantile and maritime empire. At the time, the Islamic world stretched from Muslim Spain in the west to Bengal in the east.

The initial raids of Ilyas Shah saw the first Muslim army enter Nepal and stretched from Varanasi in the west to Orissa in the south to Assam in the east.[39] The Delhi army continued to fend off the new Bengali army. The Bengal-Delhi War ended in 1359 when Delhi recognized the independence of Bengal. Ilyas Shah's son Sikandar Shah defeated Delhi Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq during the Siege of Ekdala Fort. A subsequent peace treaty recognized Bengal's independence and Sikandar Shah was gifted a golden crown by the Sultan of Delhi.[40] The ruler of Arakan sought refuge in Bengal during the reign of Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah. Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah later helped the Arakanese king to regain control of his throne in exchange for becoming a tributary state of the Bengal Sultanate. Bengali influence in Arakan persisted for 300 years.[41] Bengal also helped the king of Tripura to regain control of his throne in exchange for becoming a tributary state. The ruler of the Jaunpur Sultanate also sought refuge in Bengal.[42] The vassal states of Bengal included Arakan, Tripura, Chandradwip and Pratapgarh. At its peak, the Bengal Sultanate's territory included parts of Arakan, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, and Tripura.[7] The Bengal Sultanate experienced its greatest military success under Alauddin Hussain Shah, who was proclaimed as the conqueror of Assam after his forces led by Shah Ismail Ghazi overthrew the Khen dynasty and annexed large parts of Assam. In maritime trade, the Bengal Sultanate benefited from Indian Ocean trade networks and emerged as a hub of re-exports. A giraffe was brought by African envoys from Malindi to Bengal's court and was later gifted to Imperial China. Ship-owing merchants acted as envoys of the Sultan while travelling to different regions in Asia and Africa. Many rich Bengali merchants lived in Malacca.[43] Bengali ships transported embassies from Brunei, Aceh and Malacca to China. Bengal and the Maldives had a vast trade in shell currency.[44] The Sultan of Bengal donated funds to build schools in the Hejaz region of Arabia.[45]

The five dynastic periods of the Bengal Sultanate spanned from the Ilyas Shahi dynasty, to a period of rule by Bengali converts, to the Hussain Shahi dynasty, to a period of rule by Abyssinian usurpers; an interruption by the Suri dynasty; and ended with the Karrani dynasty. The Battle of Raj Mahal and the capture of Daud Khan Karrani marked the end of the Bengal Sultanate during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar. In the late 16th-century, a confederation called the Baro-Bhuyan resisted Mughal invasions in eastern Bengal. The Baro-Bhuyan included twelve Muslim and Hindu leaders of the Zamindars of Bengal. They were led by Isa Khan, a former prime minister of the Bengal Sultanate. By the 17th century, the Mughals were able to fully absorb the region to their empire.

Mughal period

See also: Bengal Subah
 
Mughal painting showing Emperor Akbar offering prayers after the conquest of Bengal
 
Art of the Sundarbans showing a Ghazi riding a Bengal tiger
 
Art of Murshidabad. An ivory elephant tusk crafted into a model of the Royal Peacock Barge of the Nawab of Bengal

Mughal Bengal had the richest elite and was the wealthiest region 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.[46] A new provincial capital was built in Dhaka. Members of the imperial family were appointed to positions in Mughal Bengal, including the position of governor (subedar). Dhaka became a center of palace intrigue and politics. Some of the most prominent governors included Rajput general Man Singh I, Emperor Shah Jahan's son Prince Shah Shuja, Emperor Aurangzeb's son and later Mughal emperor Azam Shah, and the influential aristocrat Shaista Khan. During the tenure of Shaista Khan, the Portuguese and Arakanese were expelled from the port of Chittagong in 1666. Bengal became the eastern frontier of the Mughal administration. By the 18th century, Bengal became home to a semi-independent aristocracy led by the Nawabs of Bengal.[47] Bengal premier Murshid Quli Khan managed to curtail the influence of the governor due to his rivalry with Prince Azam Shah. Khan controlled Bengal's finances since he was in charge of the treasury. He shifted the provincial capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad.

In 1717, the Mughal court in Delhi recognized the hereditary monarchy of the Nawab of Bengal. The ruler was officially titled as the "Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa", as the Nawab ruled over the three regions in the eastern subcontinent. The Nawabs began issuing their own coins but continued to pledge nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor. The wealth of Bengal was vital for the Mughal court because Delhi received its biggest share of revenue from the Nawab's court. The Nawabs presided over a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity, including an era of growing organization in textiles, banking, a military-industrial complex, the production of fine quality handicrafts, and other trades. A process of proto-industrialisation was underway. Under the Nawabs, the streets of Bengali cities were filled with brokers, workers, peons, naibs, wakils, and ordinary traders.[48] The Nawab's state was a major exporter of Bengal muslin, silk, gunpowder and saltpetre. The Nawabs also permitted European trading companies to operate in Bengal, including the British East India Company, the French East India Company, the Danish East India Company, the Austrian East India Company, the Ostend Company, and the Dutch East India Company. The Nawabs were also suspicious of the growing influence of these companies.

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.[49] 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.[50] 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,[51] cotton cloth was exported to the Americas and the Indian Ocean.[52] 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.[53]

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.[47]

Colonial era (1757–1947)

Main article: Bengal Presidency
 
The Battle of Plassey in 1757 ushered British rule
 
The Bengal Presidency at its greatest extent between 1858 and 1867

In Bengal effective political and military power was transferred from the old regime to the British East India Company around 1757–65.[54]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. The Governor of Bengal was concurrently the Viceroy of India for many years. Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule (notably the Great Bengal famine of 1770 and Bengal famine of 1943).[55][56] Under British rule, Bengal experienced the deindustrialisation of its pre-colonial economy.[57]

Company policies led to the deindustrialisation of Bengal's textile industry.[58] The capital amassed by the East India Company in Bengal was invested in the emerging Industrial Revolution in Great Britain, in industries such as textile manufacturing.[57][59] Economic mismanagement, alongside drought and a smallpox epidemic, directly led to the Great Bengal famine of 1770, which is estimated to have caused the deaths of between 1 million and 10 million people.[60][61][62][63]

In 1862, the Bengal Legislative Council was set up as the first modern legislature in India. Elected representation was gradually introduced during the early 20th century, including with the Morley-Minto reforms and the system of dyarchy. In 1937, the council became the upper chamber of the Bengali legislature while the Bengal Legislative Assembly was created. Between 1937 and 1947, the chief executive of the government was the Prime Minister of Bengal.

The Bengal Presidency was the largest administrative unit in the British Empire. At its height, it covered large parts of present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Malaysia, and Singapore. In 1830, the British Straits Settlements on the coast of the Malacca Straits was made a residency of Bengal. The area included the erstwhile Prince of Wales Island, Province Wellesley, Malacca and Singapore.[64] In 1867, Penang, Singapore and Malacca were separated from Bengal into the Straits Settlements.[64] British Burma became a province of India and a later a Crown Colony in itself. Western areas, including the Ceded and Conquered Provinces and The Punjab, were further reorganized. Northeastern areas became Colonial Assam.

In 1876, about 200,000 people were killed in Bengal by the Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 in the Barisal region.[65] About 50 million were killed in Bengal due to massive plague outbreaks and famines which happened in 1895 to 1920, mostly in western Bengal.[66]

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. 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 where the All India Muslim League was founded.[67] In 1911, the Bengali poet and polymath Rabindranath Tagore became Asia's first Nobel laureate when he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

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,[68] when India gained independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines.[69] 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.[69][70]

Partition of Bengal (1947)

 
The Kotwali Gate marks the border between West Bengal and Bangladesh on the Chapai Nawabganj-Malda side
Main article: Partition of Bengal (1947)
See also: United Bengal, History of Bangladesh, and History of West Bengal

On 27 April 1947, the last Prime Minister of Bengal Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy held a press conference in New Delhi where he outlined his vision for a independent Bengal. Suhrawardy said "Let us pause for a moment to consider what Bengal can be if it remains united. It will be a great country, indeed the richest and the most prosperous in India capable of giving to its people a high standard of living, where a great people will be able to rise to the fullest height of their stature, a land that will truly be plentiful. It will be rich in agriculture, rich in industry and commerce and in course of time it will be one of the powerful and progressive states of the world. If Bengal remains united this will be no dream, no fantasy".[71] On 2 June 1947, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee told the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom that there was a "distinct possibility Bengal might decide against partition and against joining either Hindustan or Pakistan".[72]

On 3 June 1947, the Mountbatten Plan outlined the partition of British India. On 20 June, the Bengal Legislative Assembly met to decide on the partition of Bengal. At the preliminary joint meeting, it was decided (120 votes to 90) that if the province remained united, it should join the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. At a separate meeting of legislators from West Bengal, it was decided (58 votes to 21) that the province should be partitioned and West Bengal should join the Constituent Assembly of India. At another meeting of legislators from East Bengal, it was decided (106 votes to 35) that the province should not be partitioned and (107 votes to 34) that East Bengal should join the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan if Bengal was partitioned.[73] On 6 July, the Sylhet district of Assam voted in a referendum to join East Bengal.

The English barrister Cyril Radcliffe was instructed to draw the borders of Pakistan and India. The Radcliffe Line created the boundary between the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan, which later became the Bangladesh-India border. The Radcliffe Line awarded two-thirds of Bengal as the eastern wing of Pakistan, although the historic Bengali capitals of Gaur, Pandua, Murshidabad and Calcutta fell on the Indian side close to the border with Pakistan. Dhaka's status as a capital was also restored.

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 region 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).[74] 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).[75] 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.[76]

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).[77] 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.[78] 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.[79] The water causes arsenicosis, skin cancer and various other complications in the body.

  • Fertile Plains of Bengal
  •  

    Plains during the dry season

  •  

    Cultivated plots of land

  •  

    Paddy field

  •  

    Jute field

  •  

    Mustard and sugarcane field

  •  

    Rivers and canals

Historical, political and cultural geography

Geographic distinctions

North Bengal

 
View of the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region and Kangchenjunga from the plains of north 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

 
Madhabkunda waterfall in Moulvibazar, Sylhet. Waterfalls are a common sight in the highlands of eastern Bangladesh

Northeast Bengal[80] 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.[81] 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.[81]

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[82] 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.[83][84][85]

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[86][87][88] 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.[89] 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.[90]

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.[91] 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.[92]

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.

Politics

Today, the region of Bengal proper is divided between the sovereign state of the People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal.[93] The Bengali-speaking Barak Valley forms part of the Indian state of Assam. The Indian state of Tripura has a Bengali-speaking majority and was formerly the princely state of Hill Tipperah. In the Bay of Bengal, St. Martin's Island is governed by Bangladesh; while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has a plurality of Bengali speakers and is governed by India's federal government as a union territory.

Bangladeshi Republic

Main article: Bangladesh
 
Bangabhaban (the House of Bengal) is the presidential palace 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
 
A meeting between the naval commanders of India and Bangladesh

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.[94] India has since fenced the border which has been criticised by Bangladesh.[95]

Economy

Main articles: Economy of Bangladesh and Economy of West Bengal
 
Elephant being loaded onto a ship, 1858
 
Calcutta Port, 1903
 
The 42 is the tallest building in the region as of 2022
 
Chittagong has the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal

The Ganges Delta provided advantages of fertile soil, ample water, and an abundance of fish, wildlife, and fruit.[96] Living standards for Bengal's elite were relatively better than other parts of the Indian subcontinent.[96] Between 400 and 1200, Bengal had a well-developed economy in terms of land ownership, agriculture, livestock, shipping, trade, commerce, taxation, and banking.[97] The apparent vibrancy of the Bengal economy in the beginning of the 15th century is attributed to the end of tribute payments to the Delhi Sultanate, which ceased after the creation of the Bengal Sultanate and stopped the outflow of wealth. Ma Huan's travelogue recorded a booming shipbuilding industry and significant international trade in Bengal.

In 1338, Ibn Battuta noticed that the silver taka was the most popular currency in the region instead of the Islamic dinar.[98] In 1415, members of Admiral Zheng He's entourage also noticed the dominance of the taka. The currency was the most important symbol of sovereignty for the Sultan of Bengal. The Sultanate of Bengal established an estimated 27 mints in provincial capitals across the kingdom.[99][100] These provincial capitals were known as Mint Towns.[101] These Mint Towns formed an integral aspect of governance and administration in Bengal.

The taka continued to be issued in Mughal Bengal, which inherited the sultanate's legacy. As Bengal became more prosperous and integrated into the world economy under Mughal rule, the taka replaced shell currency in rural areas and became the standardized legal tender. It was also used in commerce with the Dutch East India Company, the French East India Company, the Danish East India Company and the British East India Company. Under Mughal rule, Bengal was the center of the worldwide muslin trade. The muslin trade in Bengal was patronized by the Mughal imperial court. Muslin from Bengal was worn by aristocratic ladies in courts as far away as Europe, Persia and Central Asia. The treasury of the Nawab of Bengal was the biggest source of revenue for the imperial Mughal court in Delhi. Bengal had a large shipbuilding industry. The shipbuilding output of Bengal during the 16th and 17th centuries stood at 223,250 tons annually, which was higher than the volume of shipbuilding in the nineteen colonies of North America between 1769 to 1771.[53]

Historically, Bengal has been the industrial leader of the subcontinent. Mughal Bengal saw the emergence of a proto-industrial economy backed up by textiles and gunpowder. The organized early modern economy flourished till the beginning of British rule in the mid 18th-century, when the region underwent radical and revolutionary changes in government, trade, and regulation. The British displaced the indigenous ruling class and transferred much of the region's wealth back to the colonial metropole in Britain. In the 19th century, the British began investing in railways and limited industrialization. However, the Bengali economy was dominated by trade in raw materials during much of the colonial period, particularly the jute trade.[102]

The partition of India changed the economic geography of the region. Calcutta in West Bengal inherited a thriving industrial base from the colonial period, particularly in terms of jute processing. East Pakistan soon developed its industrial base, including the world's largest jute mill. In 1972, the newly independent government of Bangladesh nationalized 580 industrial plants. These industries were later privatized in the late 1970s as Bangladesh moved towards a market-oriented economy. Liberal reforms in 1991 paved the way for a major expansion of Bangladesh's private sector industry, including in telecoms, natural gas, textiles, pharmaceuticals, ceramics, steel and shipbuilding. In 2022, Bangladesh was the second largest economy in South Asia after India.[103][104]

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.[105] Three Bengali economists have been Nobel laureates, including Amartya Sen and Abhijit Banerjee who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and Muhammad Yunus who won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Stock markets

Ports and harbours

Chambers of commerce

Intra-Bengal trade

Bangladesh and India are the largest trading partners in South Asia, with two-way trade valued at an estimated US$16 billion.[106] Most of this trade relationship is centered on some of the world's busiest land ports on the Bangladesh-India border. The Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Initiative seeks to boost trade through a Regional Motor Vehicles Agreement.[107]

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of Bangladesh, Demographics of West Bengal, and Languages of 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 1] According to provisional results of 2011 Bangladesh census, the population of Bangladesh was 149,772,364;[108] 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.[109] "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.[110][111]

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.[112]

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.[citation needed]

Bengal region religious diversity as per 2011 census[113][114][115]
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 (officially called "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).[112]

Life expectancy is around 72.49 years for Bangladesh[116] and 70.2 for West Bengal.[117][118] In terms of literacy, West Bengal leads with 77% literacy rate,[110] in Bangladesh the rate is approximately 72.9%.[119][note 2] The level of poverty in West Bengal is at 19.98%, while in Bangladesh it stands at 12.9%[120][121][122]

West Bengal has one of the lowest total fertility rates in India. West Bengal's TFR of 1.6 roughly equals that of Canada.[123]

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.[124]

Major cities

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.[125] 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.[126] 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.[127] Hindu nationalists adopted a modified Bharat Mata as a national personification of India.[128] 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.[129][130] It included sculptures and paintings.[131]

Islamic Bengal was noted for its production of the finest cotton fabrics and saris, notably the Jamdani, which received warrants from the Mughal court.[132] 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.[133] Zainul Abedin was the pioneer of modern Bangladeshi art. The country has a thriving and internationally acclaimed contemporary art scene.[134]

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.[135] 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.[136]

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.[137][138]

Sciences

Main article: Science and technology in Bangladesh
 
Bose Corporation was founded by the Bengali-American engineer Amar Bose
 
A sculpture of the Bengali-American engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan at 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.[26][139] 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.[140] IEEE named him one of the fathers of radio science.[141] 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.[142][143][144] 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.[145] 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.[146] 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".[147]

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.[148] The 19th century mystic poet Lalon Shah is the most celebrated practitioner of the tradition.[149] 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".[150] 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.[151][152] The British Royal Navy later utilised Bengali shipyards in the 19th century, including for the Battle of Trafalgar.

Attire

 
A bride in a Bangladeshi wedding

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

For Bengali Hindus, the major religious festivals include Durga Puja, Janmashtami and Rath Yatra. For Bengali Muslims, the major religious festivals are Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Milad un Nabi, Muharram, and Shab-e-Barat. In honour of Bengali Buddhists and Bengali Christians, both Buddha's Birthday and Christmas are public holidays in the region. The Bengali New Year is the main secular festival of Bengali culture celebrated by people regardless of religious and social backgrounds. Other Bengali festivals include the first day of spring and the Nabanna harvest festival in autumn.

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.[153] West Bengal had 559 published newspapers in 2005,[154] of which 430 were in Bengali.[154] 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.[155]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ CRI do not give a breakdown by gender or state the age bracket for the data

References

[22][96]

  1. ^ "Bengal". The Chambers Dictionary (9th ed.). Chambers. 2003. ISBN 0-550-10105-5.
  2. ^ . Archived from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  3. ^ "Vanga | ancient kingdom, India | Britannica".
  4. ^ "The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760".
  5. ^ "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
  6. ^ "Know your history". 27 November 2022.
  7. ^ a b David Lewis (31 October 2011). Bangladesh: Politics, Economy and Civil Society. Cambridge University Press. pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-1-139-50257-3.
  8. ^ Perween Hasan (2007). Sultans and Mosques: The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh. I.B.Tauris. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-1-84511-381-0. "[Husayn Shah pushed] its western frontier past Bihar up to Saran in Jaunpur ... when Sultan Husayn Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur fled to Bengal after being defeated in battle by Sultan Sikandar Lodhi of Delhi, the latter attacked Bengal in pursuit of the Jaunpur ruler. Unable to make any gains, Sikandar Lodhi returned home after concluding a peace treaty with the Bengal sultan."
  9. ^ Rahman, Urmi (2014). Bangladesh – Culture Smart!: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture. Kuperard. pp. 26–. ISBN 978-1-85733-696-2.
  10. ^ a b "Vanga". Encyclopædia Britannica. from the original on 30 July 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  11. ^ Sengupta, Nitish K. (2011). Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib. Penguin Books India. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-14-341678-4. Also, we have the reference to 'Vangalam' in an inscription in the Vrihadeshwara temple at Tanjore in south India as one among the countries overrun by the Cholas. This is perhaps the earliest reference to Bengal as such.
  12. ^ SenGupta, Amitabh (2012). Scroll Paintings of Bengal: Art in the Village. AuthorHouse UK. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-4678-9663-4.
  13. ^ "Bangladesh: early history, 1000 B.C.–A.D. 1202". Bangladesh: A country study. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress. September 1988. from the original on 7 December 2013. Retrieved 1 December 2014. Historians believe that Bengal, the area comprising present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, was settled in about 1000 B.C. by Dravidian-speaking peoples who were later known as the Bang. Their homeland bore various titles that reflected earlier tribal names, such as Vanga, Banga, Bangala, Bangal, and Bengal.
  14. ^ Keay, John (2000). India: A History. Atlantic Monthly Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-87113-800-2. In C1020 ... launched Rajendra's great northern escapade ... peoples he defeated have been tentatively identified ... 'Vangala-desa where the rain water never stopped' sounds like a fair description of Bengal in the monsoon.
  15. ^ Allan, J.; Haig, T. Wolseley; Dodwell, H. H. (1934). Dodwell, H. H. (ed.). The Cambridge Shorter History of India. Cambridge University Press. p. 145.
  16. ^ Sen, Sailendra Nath (1999) [First published 1988]. Ancient Indian History and Civilization. New Age International. p. 281. ISBN 978-81-224-1198-0.
  17. ^ Hasan, Perween (2007). Sultans and Mosques: The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh. I.B.Tauris. pp. 13–. ISBN 978-1-84511-381-0.
  18. ^ Lach, Donald F.; Kley, Edwin J. Van (1998). Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance. Book 3: Southeast Asia. University of Chicago Press. pp. 1124–. ISBN 978-0-226-46768-9.
  19. ^ "Prehistory - Banglapedia".
  20. ^ "Wari-Bateshwar: In search of origins". 18 August 2008.
  21. ^ "The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760".
  22. ^ a b c Eaton, R. M. (1996). The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-20507-9. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  23. ^ a b "Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org.
  24. ^ "Punch Marked Coins - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org.
  25. ^ "About Taka Museum". www.bb.org.bd.
  26. ^ a b Murray, H. J. R. (1913). A History of Chess. Benjamin Press (originally published by Oxford University Press). ISBN 978-0-936317-01-4. OCLC 13472872.
  27. ^ Chowdhury, AM. "Gangaridai". Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. from the original on 2 June 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  28. ^ "A Family's Passion - Archaeology Magazine". www.archaeology.org.
  29. ^ Mizanur Rahman; et al. "Wari-Bateshwar and Vikrampura: 2 Successful Case Studies in Bangladesh 3 Archaeobotany" (PDF). discovery.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  30. ^ Hossain, Emran (19 March 2008). "Wari-Bateshwar one of earliest kingdoms". The Daily Star.
  31. ^ Sarkar, Sebanti, "https://scroll.in/magazine/868330/in-rural-bengal-an-indefatigable-relic-hunter-has-uncovered-a-hidden-chapter-of-history 20 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine." Retrieved 4 August 2018
  32. ^ "Matsyanyayam - Banglapedia".
  33. ^ "Hiuen-Tsang - Banglapedia".
  34. ^ "Coins – Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org.
  35. ^ "Microsoft Word - 4_H_942 Revised_ Monir m.doc" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 6 February 2022.
  36. ^ https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft067n99v9&chunk.id=ch02&toc.depth=1&toc.id=ch02&brand=ucpress "By the time Muhammad Bakhtiyar conquered northwestern Bengal in 1204"
  37. ^ a b "The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760".
  38. ^ "Iliyas Shah - Banglapedia".
  39. ^ "Iliyas Shah - Banglapedia".
  40. ^ Nitish K. Sengupta (2011). Land of Two Rivers: A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib. Penguin Books India. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-14-341678-4.
  41. ^ Chowdhury, Mohammed Ali (25 November 2004). Bengal-Arakan Relations, 1430-1666 A.D. Firma K.L.M. ISBN 9788171021185 – via Google Books.
  42. ^ Perween Hasan (2007). Sultans and Mosques: The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh. I.B.Tauris. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-1-84511-381-0. [Husayn Shah pushed] its western frontier past Bihar up to Saran in Jaunpur ... when Sultan Husayn Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur fled to Bengal after being defeated in battle by Sultan Sikandar Lodhi of Delhi, the latter attacked Bengal in pursuit of the Jaunpur ruler. Unable to make any gains, Sikandar Lodhi returned home after concluding a peace treaty with the Bengal sultan.
  43. ^ Irfan Habib (2011). Economic History of Medieval India, 1200-1500. Pearson Education India. p. 185. ISBN 978-81-317-2791-1.
  44. ^ Boomgaard, P. (1 January 2008). Linking Destinies: Trade, Towns and Kin in Asian History. BRILL. ISBN 9789004253995. from the original on 6 January 2017. Retrieved 23 August 2016 – via Google Books.
  45. ^ "Ghiyasia Madrasa - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org.
  46. ^ A Collection of Treaties and Engagements with the Native Princes and States of Asia: Concluded on Behalf of the East India Company by the British Governments in India, Viz. by the Government of Bengal Etc. : Also Copies of Sunnuds Or Grants of Certain Privileges and Imunities to the East India Company by the Mogul and Other Native Princes of Hindustan. United East-India Company. 1812. p. 28. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  47. ^ a b Ahmed, F. S. (2011). A Comprehensive History of Medieval India: Twelfth to the Mid-Eighteenth Century. Pearson. ISBN 9788131732021. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  48. ^ "Murshidabad". Banglapedia.
  49. ^ Richard Maxwell Eaton (1996), The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760, page 202, University of California Press
  50. ^ 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
  51. ^ John F. Richards (1995), The Mughal Empire, page 202, Cambridge University Press
  52. ^ Giorgio Riello, Tirthankar Roy (2009). How India Clothed the World: The World of South Asian Textiles, 1500–1850. Brill Publishers. p. 174. ISBN 9789047429975.
  53. ^ a b Ray, Indrajit (2011). Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution (1757–1857). Routledge. p. 174. ISBN 978-1-136-82552-1.
  54. ^ Baten, Jörg (2016). A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present. Cambridge University Press. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-107-50718-0.
  55. ^ 5 of the worst atrocities carried out by the British Empire. The Independent. 19 January 2016.
  56. ^ Churchill's policies contributed to 1943 Bengal famine – study. The Guardian. 29 March 2019.
  57. ^ a b Ray, Indrajit (2011). Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution (1757–1857). Routledge. pp. 7–10. ISBN 978-1-136-82552-1.
  58. ^ "Cornwallis Code". Encyclopædia Britannica. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  59. ^ Shombit Sengupta, Bengals plunder gifted the British Industrial Revolution, The Financial Express, 8 February 2010
  60. ^ 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.
  61. ^ 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.
  62. ^ Amartya Sen (1981). Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-19-828463-5.
  63. ^ Fredrik Albritton Jonsson (18 June 2013). Enlightenment's Frontier: The Scottish Highlands and the Origins of Environmentalism. Yale University Press. pp. 167–170. ISBN 978-0-300-16374-2.
  64. ^ a b "The Straits Settlements becomes a residency - Singapore History". Eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  65. ^ Chowdhury, Masud Hasan. "Cyclone". Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  66. ^ The "Gandhians" of Bengal: Nationalism, Social Reconstruction and Cultural Orientations 1920-1942. p. 19. Malaria was endemic in rural areas during the 19th century, particularly in western Bengal. This was ... The famine of 1769-70 resulted in about ten million deaths, while 50 million died of malaria, plague and famine between 1895 and 19206.
  67. ^ Baxter, Craig (1997). Bangladesh: From a Nation to a State. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. pp. 39–40. ISBN 0-8133-2854-3.
  68. ^ Chitta Ranjan Misra. . Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Archived from the original on 5 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  69. ^ a b Harun-or-Rashid. "Partition of Bengal, 1947". Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  70. ^ Suranjan Das. . Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. Archived from the original on 1 August 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  71. ^ "Why did British prime minister Attlee think Bengal was going to be an independent country in 1947?".
  72. ^ "UK PM Attlee believed Bengal may opt to be a separate country". 28 December 2018.
  73. ^ Soumyendra Nath Mukherjee (1987). Sir William Jones: A Study in Eighteenth-century British Attitudes to India. Cambridge University Press. p. 230. ISBN 978-0-86131-581-9. from the original on 31 January 2018. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  74. ^ Ali, A (1996). "Vulnerability of Bangladesh to climate change and sea level rise through tropical cyclones and storm surges". Water, Air, & Soil Pollution. 92 (1–2): 171–179. Bibcode:1996WASP...92..171A. doi:10.1007/BF00175563. S2CID 93611792.
  75. ^ Summit Elevations: Frequent Internet Errors. 25 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 13 April 2006.
  76. ^ IUCN (1997). "Sundarban wildlife sanctuaries Bangladesh". World Heritage Nomination-IUCN Technical Evaluation.
  77. ^ "Statistical Facts about India". indianmirror.com. from the original on 26 October 2006. Retrieved 26 October 2006.
  78. ^ . Youth Hostels Association of India: West Bengal State Branch. Archived from the original on 24 October 2006. Retrieved 26 October 2006.
  79. ^ Chowdhury, U. K.; Biswas, B. K.; Chowdhury, T. R.; et al. (May 2000). . Environmental Health Perspectives. 108 (4): 393–397. doi:10.2307/3454378. JSTOR 3454378. PMC 1638054. PMID 10811564. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  80. ^ Lethbridge, E. (1874). An Easy Introduction to the History and Geography of Bengal: For the Junior Classes in Schools. Thacker. p. 5. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  81. ^ a b Akhter, Nasrin (2012). "Sarkar". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  82. ^ Das, Tulshi Kumar (2000). Social Structure and Cultural Practices in Slums: A Study of Slums in Dhaka City. ISBN 9788172111106.
  83. ^ David Christiana (1 September 2007). (PDF). Southwest Hydrology. p. 32. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2008.
  84. ^ Puri, Sunil (2007). Agroforestry: Systems and Practices. ISBN 9788189422622.
  85. ^ Reddy, Angadi Ranga (2009). Gandhi and globalisation. ISBN 9788183242967.
  86. ^ Andaya, B. W.; Andaya, L. Y. (2015). A History of Early Modern Southeast Asia, 1400–1830. Cambridge University Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-521-88992-6. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  87. ^ Singh, A. K. (2006). Modern World System and Indian Proto-industrialization: Bengal 1650–1800. Vol. 1. Northern Book Centre. p. 225. ISBN 9788172112011. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  88. ^ Banu, U. A. B. Razia Akter (1992). Islam in Bangladesh. Brill. p. 6. ISBN 978-90-04-09497-0. Retrieved 7 January 2017. in Samatata (South-east Bengal) where the Buddhist Khadaga dynasty ruled throughout the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries AD.
  89. ^ Rashid, M Harunar (2012). "Harikela". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  90. ^ "Chittagong to bridge S Asian nations". The Daily Star. 17 March 2012. from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  91. ^ "World's longest natural sea beach under threat". BBC News. 28 December 2012. from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  92. ^ . Dhaka Tribune. BSS. 4 October 2015. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 13 August 2016.
  93. ^ "Bengal | region, Asia | Britannica".
  94. ^ "Address by External Affairs Minister Shri Natwar Singh at India-Bangladesh Dialogue Organised by Centre for Policy Dialogue and India International Centre". Speeches. Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi. 7 August 2005. from the original on 5 May 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
  95. ^ Chattopadhyay, S. S. (June 2007). . Frontline. Vol. 24, no. 11. Archived from the original on 17 April 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2008.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  96. ^ a b c Lawrence B. Lesser. "Historical Perspective". A Country Study: Bangladesh (James Heitzman and Robert Worden, editors). Library of Congress Federal Research Division (September 1988). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.About the Country Studies / Area Handbooks Program: Country Studies – Federal Research Division, Library of Congress
  97. ^ Kamrunnesa Islam (1996). Economic History of Bengal (PhD thesis). SOAS, University of London. doi:10.25501/SOAS.00029147.
  98. ^ Ian Blanchard (2005). Mining, Metallurgy and Minting in the Middle Ages: Continuing Afo-European supremacy, 1250-1450. Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 1264. ISBN 978-3-515-08704-9.
  99. ^ "Coins - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  100. ^ "Currency System - Banglapedia". en.banglapedia.org. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  101. ^ "Mint Towns - Banglapedia".
  102. ^ "Railway - Banglapedia".
  103. ^ "Bangladesh ranked 41st largest economy in 2019 all over the world". Thedailystar.net. 8 January 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  104. ^ Sayeed Iftekhar Ahmed (18 March 2022). "Where do Bangladesh and Pakistan stand after 50 years of separation?". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  105. ^ . importantindia.com. 21 January 2014. Archived from the original on 29 November 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  106. ^ "Delhi-Dhaka trade becoming one-sided, need to balance it, says Bangladesh FM on India visit". 21 June 2022.
  107. ^ "Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement Initiative".
  108. ^ (PDF). Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, Statistics Division, Ministry of Planning, Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh. July 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  109. ^ "Area, population, decennial growth rate and density for 2001 and 2011 at a glance for West Bengal and the districts: provisional population totals paper 1 of 2011: West Bengal". Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. from the original on 7 January 2012. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  110. ^ a b "Provisional Population Totals: West Bengal". Census of India, 2001. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. from the original on 14 May 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2006.
  111. ^ World Bank Development Indicators Database, 2006.
  112. ^ a b "Bangladesh". Ethnologue. from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  113. ^ Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (2011). (PDF). Bangladesh Government. p. xiii. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2015. Population By Religion (%) Muslim 90.39 Hindu 8.54 Buddhist 0.60 Christian 0.37 Others 0.14
  114. ^ Data Archived 4 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Census – Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
  115. ^ "Census of India Website : Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India". Censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
  116. ^ "Bangladesh". The World Factbook (2023 ed.). Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 31 October 2009. (Archived 2009 edition)
  117. ^ "Contents 2010–14" (PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. (PDF) from the original on 13 November 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  118. ^ "Abridged Life Tables- 2010–14" (PDF). Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. p. 5. (PDF) from the original on 10 January 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2017.
  119. ^ CRI=Center Research and Information (2014). Bangladesh Education for All. CRI Publication. p. 138. ISBN 978-0-7566-9859-1. from the original on 14 August 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
  120. ^ . Reserve Bank of India, Government of India. 2013. Archived from the original on 7 April 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  121. ^ Misha, Farzana; Sulaiman, Munshi. "Bangladesh Priorities: Poverty, Sulaiman and Misha | Copenhagen Consensus Center". copenhagenconsensus.com. Copenhagen Consensus. from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  122. ^ "Statistics". UNICEF. 18 December 2013. from the original on 19 December 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
  123. ^ "Why West Bengal is like Canada, and Bihar like Swaziland". Mint. 25 December 2014. from the original on 24 July 2016. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  124. ^ "Wandering Gaia". "The Give and Take of the Ganges" WordPress.com. from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 13 April 2009.
  125. ^ "Bengali language". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  126. ^ "Scheduled Languages in Descending Order of Speakers' Strength - 2011" (PDF). censusindia.gov.in. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  127. ^ Symbols of Water and Woman on Selected Examples of Modern Bengali Literature in the Context of Mythological Tradition 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  128. ^ Roche, Elizabeth (17 March 2016). "The origins of Bharat Mata". LiveMint. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  129. ^ Bagchi, J. (1993). The History and Culture of the Pālas of Bengal and Bihar, Cir. 750 A.D.-cir. 1200 A.D. Abhinav Publications. p. 127. ISBN 9788170173014. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  130. ^ Huntington, S. L. (1984). The "Påala-Sena" Schools of Sculpture. E.J. Brill. p. 4. ISBN 9789004068568. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  131. ^ "Pala art". Encyclopædia Britannica. from the original on 3 October 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  132. ^ "In Search of Bangladeshi Islamic Art | The Metropolitan Museum of Art". metmuseum.org. from the original on 12 August 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  133. ^ Mitter, P. (1994). Art and Nationalism in Colonial India, 1850–1922: Occidental Orientations. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44354-8. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  134. ^ Yee, Amy (13 March 2014). "In Bangladesh, a Vibrant Contemporary Scene". The New York Times. from the original on 21 August 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  135. ^ "Bait Ur Rouf Mosque | Aga Khan Development Network". akdn.org. from the original on 19 November 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  136. ^ Oxford English Dictionary, "bungalow"; Online Etymology Dictionary 6 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  137. ^ "WORLDVIEW". worldviewcities.org. from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  138. ^ "WORLDVIEW". worldviewcities.org. from the original on 2 January 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  139. ^ Thomas Khoshy, Elementary Number Theory with Applications, Academic Press, 2002, p. 567. ISBN 0-12-421171-2.
  140. ^ Chatterjee, Santimay and Chatterjee, Enakshi, Satyendranath Bose, 2002 reprint, p. 5, National Book Trust, ISBN 81-237-0492-5
  141. ^ Sen, A. K. (1997). "Sir J. C. Bose and radio science". Microwave Symposium Digest. IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium. Denver, CO: IEEE. pp. 557–560. doi:10.1109/MWSYM.1997.602854. ISBN 0-7803-3814-6.
  142. ^ Dr Subodh Mahanti. "Satyendra Nath Bose, The Creator of Quantum Statistics". Vigyan Prasar. from the original on 12 July 2016.
  143. ^ Wali, Kameshwar C (2009). Satyendra Nath Bose: his life and times. Singapore: World Scientific. pp. xvii, xviii, xx (Foreword). ISBN 978-981-279-070-5.
  144. ^ J J O'Connor and E F Robertson (October 2003). "Satyendranath Bose". The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive. from the original on 16 January 2017.
  145. ^ Kean, Sam (2017). "A forgotten star". Distillations. 3 (1): 4–5. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  146. ^ Desikan, Shubashree (5 March 2015). "No Big Bang, the universe was there all along: studies". The Hindu. from the original on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  147. ^ Pulakkat, Hari (19 December 2013). "How many of us know about Breakthrough Prize winner, Ashoke Sen?". The Economic Times.
  148. ^ "The Bauls of Bengal". Folk Music. BengalOnline. from the original on 19 January 2003. Retrieved 26 October 2006.
  149. ^ Banik, Nandadulal. "Anirvan". Banglapedia. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2015.
  150. ^ Gertjan de Graaf, Abdul Latif. (PDF). Aqua KE Government. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2006. Retrieved 22 October 2006.
  151. ^ Hossain, Khandakar Akhter (2012). "Shipbuilding Industry". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  152. ^ . New Age. Archived from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
  153. ^ "Bangladesh profile – Media". BBC News. from the original on 31 July 2018. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  154. ^ a b . Registrar of Newspapers for India. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2006.
  155. ^ "Bangladesh dominate Indo-Bangla Games, clinch 45 gold medals". Thaindian News. Indian-Asian News Service. 26 February 2008. from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2008.

External links

 
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bengal.

March 17, 2023
bengal, other, uses, disambiguation, this, article, contains, text, without, proper, rendering, support, question, marks, boxes, other, symbols, ɔː, gawl, বঙ, romanized, bānglā, bôngô, pronounced, ˈbɔŋgo, listen, historical, geographical, ethnolinguistic, cult. For other uses see Bengal disambiguation This article contains Bengali text Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols Bengal b ɛ n ˈ ɡ ɔː l ben GAWL 1 2 Bengali ব ল বঙ গ romanized Bangla Bongo pronounced ˈbɔŋgo listen is a historical geographical ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal The region of Bengal proper is divided between modern day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal The administrative jurisdiction of Bengal historically extended beyond the territory of Bengal proper Bengal ceased to be a single unit after the partition of India in 1947 Bengal The Bengali speaking zone The Bay of Bengal Various Indo Aryan Dravidian Austric and other peoples inhabited the region since antiquity The ancient Vanga Kingdom is widely regarded as the namesake of the Bengal region 3 The Bengali calendar dates back to the reign of Shashanka in the 4th century The Pala Empire was founded in Bengal during the 8th century The Sena dynasty ruled between the 11th and 13th centuries By the 14th century Bengal was absorbed by Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent An independent Bengal Sultanate was formed and became the eastern frontier of the Islamic world 4 5 6 During this period Bengal s rule and influence spread to Assam Arakan Tripura Bihar and Orissa 7 8 Mughal Bengal later emerged as a prosperous part of the Mughal Empire The last independent Nawab of Bengal was defeated in 1757 at the Battle of Plassey by the British Empire s East India Company The company s Bengal Presidency grew into the largest administrative unit of British India with Calcutta as the capital of India At its peak the presidency stretched from Burma Penang Singapore and Malacca in the east to The Punjab and Ceded and Conquered Provinces in the west Bengal was gradually re organized by the early 20th century As a result of first partition of Bengal a short lived province called Eastern Bengal and Assam existed between 1905 and 1911 with its capital in the former Mughal capital Dhaka Following the Sylhet referendum and votes by the Bengal Legislative Council and Bengal Legislative Assembly the region was again divided along religious lines in 1947 Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Antiquity 2 2 Sultanate period 2 3 Mughal period 2 4 Colonial era 1757 1947 2 5 Partition of Bengal 1947 3 Geography 3 1 Historical political and cultural geography 3 2 Geographic distinctions 3 2 1 North Bengal 3 2 2 Northeast Bengal 3 2 3 Central Bengal 3 2 4 South Bengal 3 2 5 Southeast Bengal 3 3 Places of interest 4 Flora and fauna 5 Politics 5 1 Bangladeshi Republic 5 2 Indian Bengal 5 3 Crossborder relations 6 Economy 6 1 Stock markets 6 2 Ports and harbours 6 3 Chambers of commerce 6 4 Intra Bengal trade 7 Demographics 7 1 Major cities 8 Culture 8 1 Language 8 2 Currency 8 3 Literature 8 4 Personification 8 5 Art 8 6 Architecture 8 7 Sciences 8 8 Music 8 9 Cuisine 8 10 Boats 8 11 Attire 8 12 Festivals 8 13 Media 8 14 Sports 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 External linksEtymologyMain article Names of Bengal The name of Bengal is derived from the ancient kingdom of Banga pronounced Bongo 9 10 the earliest records of which date back to the Mahabharata epic in the first millennium BCE 10 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 11 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 12 self published source 13 The term Vangaladesa is used to describe the region in 11th century South Indian records 14 15 16 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 17 The Portuguese referred to the region as Bengala in the Age of Discovery 18 HistoryMain article History of Bengal Antiquity See also Vanga Kingdom Gauda Kingdom Samatata and Pala Empire Art of the Pala period from Dinajpur 11th century Ancient Bengal was reputed for its war elephants Punch marked coin of the Vanga Kingdom 400 300 BCE Atisa of Bikrampur Neolithic sites have been found in several parts of the region 19 In the second millennium BCE rice cultivating communities dotted the region By the eleventh century BCE people in Bengal lived in systematically aligned homes produced copper objects and crafted black and red pottery Remnants of Copper Age settlements are located in the region 20 At the advent of the Iron Age people in Bengal adopted iron based weapons tools and irrigation equipment 21 From 600 BCE the second wave of urbanisation engulfed the north Indian subcontinent as part of the Northern Black Polished Ware culture Cities in Mahasthangarh Chandraketugarh and Wari Bateshwar emerged The Ganges Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation 22 Estuaries on the Bay of Bengal allowed for maritime trade with distand lands in Southeast Asia and elsewhere 22 The ancient geopolitical divisions of Bengal included Varendra Suhma Anga Vanga Samatata and Harikela These regions were often independent or under the rule of larger empires The Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription indicates that Bengal was ruled by the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century BCE 23 The inscription was an administrative order instructing relief for a distressed segment of the population 23 Punch marked coins found in the region indicate that coins were used as currency during the Iron Age 24 25 The namesake of Bengal is the ancient Vanga Kingdom which was reputed as a naval power with overseas colonies A prince from Bengal named Vijaya founded the first kingdom in Sri Lanka The two most prominent pan Indian empires of this period included the Mauryans and the Gupta Empire The region was a center of artistic political social spiritual and scientific thinking including the invention of chess Indian numerals and the concept of zero 26 The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai 27 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 including a cavalry of war elephants Later Roman accounts noted maritime trade routes with Bengal 1st century Roman coins with images of Hercules were found in the region and point to trade links with Roman Egypt through the Red Sea 28 The Wari Bateshwar ruins are believed to be the emporium trading center of Sounagoura mentioned by Roman geographer Claudius Ptolemy 29 30 A Roman amphora was found in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal which was made in Aelana present day Aqaba Jordan between the 4th and 7th centuries AD 31 The first unified Bengali polity can be traced to the reign of Shashanka The origins of the Bengali calendar can be traced to his reign Shashanka founded the Gauda Kingdom After Shashanka s death Bengal experienced a period of civil war known as Matsyanyayam 32 The ancient city of Gauda later gave birth to the Pala Empire The first Pala emperor Gopala I was chosen by an assembly of chieftains in Gauda The Pala kingdom grew into one of the largest empires in the Indian subcontinent The Pala period saw advances in linguistics sculpture painting and education The empire achieved its greatest territorial extent under Dharmapala and Devapala The Palas vied for control of Kannauj with the rival Gurjara Pratihara and Rashtrakuta dynasties Pala influence also extended to Tibet and Sumatra due to the travels and preachings of Atisa The university of Nalanda was established by the Palas They also built the Somapura Mahavihara which was the largest monastic institution in the subcontinent The rule of the Palas eventually disintegrated The Chandra dynasty ruled southeastern Bengal and Arakan The Varman dynasty ruled parts of northeastern Bengal and Assam The Sena dynasty emerged as the main successor of the Palas by the 11th century The Senas were a resurgent Hindu dynasty which ruled much of Bengal The smaller Deva dynasty also ruled parts of the region Ancient Chinese visitors like Xuanzang provided elaborate accounts of Bengal s cities and monastic institutions 33 Muslim trade with Bengal flourished after the fall of the Sasanian Empire and the Arab takeover of Persian trade routes Much of this trade occurred with southeastern Bengal in areas east of the Meghna River Bengal was probably used as a transit route to China by the earliest Muslims Abbasid coins have been discovered in the archaeological ruins of Paharpur and Mainamati 34 A collection of Sasanian Umayyad and Abbasid coins are preserved in the Bangladesh National Museum 35 Ancient Bengal Artefact found in Chandraketugarh Ruins of Paharpur Mahasthangarh MainamatiSultanate period See also Bengal Sultanate Coin featuring a horseman issued by the Delhi Sultanate celebrating the Muslim conquest of Lakhnauti Chinese manuscript showing an African giraffe gifted to China by the Sultan of Bengal on 20 September 1414 The Bengal Sultanate was an empire with widespread maritime and mercantile links In 1204 the Ghurid general Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji began the Islamic conquest of Bengal 36 The fall of Lakhnauti was recounted by historians circa 1243 Lakhnauti was the capital of the Sena dynasty According to historical accounts Ghurid cavalry swept across the Gangetic plains towards Bengal They entered the Bengali capital disguised as horse traders Once inside the royal compound Bakhtiyar and his horsemen swiftly overpowered the guards of the Sena king who had just sat down to eat a meal The king then hastily fled to the forest with his followers 37 The overthrow of the Sena king has been described as a coup d etat which inaugurated an era lasting over five centuries during which most of Bengal was dominated by rulers professing the Islamic faith In itself this was not exceptional since from about this time until the eighteenth century Muslim sovereigns ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent What was exceptional however was that among India s interior provinces only in Bengal a region approximately the size of England and Scotland combined did a majority of the indigenous population adopt the religion of the ruling class Islam 37 Bengal became a province of the Delhi Sultanate A coin featuring a horseman was issued to celebrate the Muslim conquest of Lakhnauti with inscriptions in Sanskrit and Arabic An abortive Islamic invasion of Tibet was also mounted by Bakhtiyar Bengal was under the formal rule of the Delhi Sultanate for approximately 150 years Delhi struggled to consolidate control over Bengal Rebel governors often sought to assert autonomy or independence Sultan Iltutmish re established control over Bengal in 1225 after suppressing the rebels Due to the considerable overland distance Delhi s authority in Bengal was relatively weak It was left to local governors to expand territory and bring new areas under Muslim rule such as through the Conquest of Sylhet in 1303 In 1338 new rebellions sprung up in Bengal s three main towns Governors in Lakhnauti Satgaon and Sonargaon declared independence from Delhi This allowed the ruler of Sonargaon Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah to annex Chittagong to the Islamic administration By 1352 the ruler of Satgaon Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah unified the region into an independent state Ilyas Shah established his capital in Pandua 38 The new breakaway state emerged as the Bengal Sultanate which developed into a territorial mercantile and maritime empire At the time the Islamic world stretched from Muslim Spain in the west to Bengal in the east The initial raids of Ilyas Shah saw the first Muslim army enter Nepal and stretched from Varanasi in the west to Orissa in the south to Assam in the east 39 The Delhi army continued to fend off the new Bengali army The Bengal Delhi War ended in 1359 when Delhi recognized the independence of Bengal Ilyas Shah s son Sikandar Shah defeated Delhi Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq during the Siege of Ekdala Fort A subsequent peace treaty recognized Bengal s independence and Sikandar Shah was gifted a golden crown by the Sultan of Delhi 40 The ruler of Arakan sought refuge in Bengal during the reign of Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah later helped the Arakanese king to regain control of his throne in exchange for becoming a tributary state of the Bengal Sultanate Bengali influence in Arakan persisted for 300 years 41 Bengal also helped the king of Tripura to regain control of his throne in exchange for becoming a tributary state The ruler of the Jaunpur Sultanate also sought refuge in Bengal 42 The vassal states of Bengal included Arakan Tripura Chandradwip and Pratapgarh At its peak the Bengal Sultanate s territory included parts of Arakan Assam Bihar Orissa and Tripura 7 The Bengal Sultanate experienced its greatest military success under Alauddin Hussain Shah who was proclaimed as the conqueror of Assam after his forces led by Shah Ismail Ghazi overthrew the Khen dynasty and annexed large parts of Assam In maritime trade the Bengal Sultanate benefited from Indian Ocean trade networks and emerged as a hub of re exports A giraffe was brought by African envoys from Malindi to Bengal s court and was later gifted to Imperial China Ship owing merchants acted as envoys of the Sultan while travelling to different regions in Asia and Africa Many rich Bengali merchants lived in Malacca 43 Bengali ships transported embassies from Brunei Aceh and Malacca to China Bengal and the Maldives had a vast trade in shell currency 44 The Sultan of Bengal donated funds to build schools in the Hejaz region of Arabia 45 The five dynastic periods of the Bengal Sultanate spanned from the Ilyas Shahi dynasty to a period of rule by Bengali converts to the Hussain Shahi dynasty to a period of rule by Abyssinian usurpers an interruption by the Suri dynasty and ended with the Karrani dynasty The Battle of Raj Mahal and the capture of Daud Khan Karrani marked the end of the Bengal Sultanate during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar In the late 16th century a confederation called the Baro Bhuyan resisted Mughal invasions in eastern Bengal The Baro Bhuyan included twelve Muslim and Hindu leaders of the Zamindars of Bengal They were led by Isa Khan a former prime minister of the Bengal Sultanate By the 17th century the Mughals were able to fully absorb the region to their empire Sultanate period Adina Mosque Mosque in the 15th century Bengal style by Sita Ram Pathrail Mosque Eklakhi MausoleumMughal period See also Bengal Subah Mughal painting showing Emperor Akbar offering prayers after the conquest of Bengal Art of the Sundarbans showing a Ghazi riding a Bengal tiger Art of Murshidabad An ivory elephant tusk crafted into a model of the Royal Peacock Barge of the Nawab of Bengal Mughal Bengal had the richest elite and was the wealthiest region 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 46 A new provincial capital was built in Dhaka Members of the imperial family were appointed to positions in Mughal Bengal including the position of governor subedar Dhaka became a center of palace intrigue and politics Some of the most prominent governors included Rajput general Man Singh I Emperor Shah Jahan s son Prince Shah Shuja Emperor Aurangzeb s son and later Mughal emperor Azam Shah and the influential aristocrat Shaista Khan During the tenure of Shaista Khan the Portuguese and Arakanese were expelled from the port of Chittagong in 1666 Bengal became the eastern frontier of the Mughal administration By the 18th century Bengal became home to a semi independent aristocracy led by the Nawabs of Bengal 47 Bengal premier Murshid Quli Khan managed to curtail the influence of the governor due to his rivalry with Prince Azam Shah Khan controlled Bengal s finances since he was in charge of the treasury He shifted the provincial capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad In 1717 the Mughal court in Delhi recognized the hereditary monarchy of the Nawab of Bengal The ruler was officially titled as the Nawab of Bengal Bihar and Orissa as the Nawab ruled over the three regions in the eastern subcontinent The Nawabs began issuing their own coins but continued to pledge nominal allegiance to the Mughal emperor The wealth of Bengal was vital for the Mughal court because Delhi received its biggest share of revenue from the Nawab s court The Nawabs presided over a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity including an era of growing organization in textiles banking a military industrial complex the production of fine quality handicrafts and other trades A process of proto industrialisation was underway Under the Nawabs the streets of Bengali cities were filled with brokers workers peons naibs wakils and ordinary traders 48 The Nawab s state was a major exporter of Bengal muslin silk gunpowder and saltpetre The Nawabs also permitted European trading companies to operate in Bengal including the British East India Company the French East India Company the Danish East India Company the Austrian East India Company the Ostend Company and the Dutch East India Company The Nawabs were also suspicious of the growing influence of these companies 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 49 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 50 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 51 cotton cloth was exported to the Americas and the Indian Ocean 52 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 53 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 47 Mughal Bengal Lukachari Gateway Lalbagh Fort Ruins of Katra Masjid Nimtali archColonial era 1757 1947 Main article Bengal Presidency Victoria Memorial in Calcutta The Battle of Plassey in 1757 ushered British rule The Bengal Presidency at its greatest extent between 1858 and 1867 In Bengal effective political and military power was transferred from the old regime to the British East India Company around 1757 65 54 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 The Governor of Bengal was concurrently the Viceroy of India for many years Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule notably the Great Bengal famine of 1770 and Bengal famine of 1943 55 56 Under British rule Bengal experienced the deindustrialisation of its pre colonial economy 57 Company policies led to the deindustrialisation of Bengal s textile industry 58 The capital amassed by the East India Company in Bengal was invested in the emerging Industrial Revolution in Great Britain in industries such as textile manufacturing 57 59 Economic mismanagement alongside drought and a smallpox epidemic directly led to the Great Bengal famine of 1770 which is estimated to have caused the deaths of between 1 million and 10 million people 60 61 62 63 In 1862 the Bengal Legislative Council was set up as the first modern legislature in India Elected representation was gradually introduced during the early 20th century including with the Morley Minto reforms and the system of dyarchy In 1937 the council became the upper chamber of the Bengali legislature while the Bengal Legislative Assembly was created Between 1937 and 1947 the chief executive of the government was the Prime Minister of Bengal The Bengal Presidency was the largest administrative unit in the British Empire At its height it covered large parts of present day India Pakistan Bangladesh Burma Malaysia and Singapore In 1830 the British Straits Settlements on the coast of the Malacca Straits was made a residency of Bengal The area included the erstwhile Prince of Wales Island Province Wellesley Malacca and Singapore 64 In 1867 Penang Singapore and Malacca were separated from Bengal into the Straits Settlements 64 British Burma became a province of India and a later a Crown Colony in itself Western areas including the Ceded and Conquered Provinces and The Punjab were further reorganized Northeastern areas became Colonial Assam In 1876 about 200 000 people were killed in Bengal by the Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 in the Barisal region 65 About 50 million were killed in Bengal due to massive plague outbreaks and famines which happened in 1895 to 1920 mostly in western Bengal 66 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 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 where the All India Muslim League was founded 67 In 1911 the Bengali poet and polymath Rabindranath Tagore became Asia s first Nobel laureate when he won the Nobel Prize in Literature 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 68 when India gained independence in 1947 Bengal was partitioned along religious lines 69 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 69 70 Colonial Bengal Chittagong circa 1703 Hugli Chuchura 1787 Victoria Memorial and St Paul s Cathedral Kolkata Dhaka in 1861Partition of Bengal 1947 The Kotwali Gate marks the border between West Bengal and Bangladesh on the Chapai Nawabganj Malda sideMain article Partition of Bengal 1947 See also United Bengal History of Bangladesh and History of West Bengal On 27 April 1947 the last Prime Minister of Bengal Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy held a press conference in New Delhi where he outlined his vision for a independent Bengal Suhrawardy said Let us pause for a moment to consider what Bengal can be if it remains united It will be a great country indeed the richest and the most prosperous in India capable of giving to its people a high standard of living where a great people will be able to rise to the fullest height of their stature a land that will truly be plentiful It will be rich in agriculture rich in industry and commerce and in course of time it will be one of the powerful and progressive states of the world If Bengal remains united this will be no dream no fantasy 71 On 2 June 1947 British Prime Minister Clement Attlee told the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom that there was a distinct possibility Bengal might decide against partition and against joining either Hindustan or Pakistan 72 On 3 June 1947 the Mountbatten Plan outlined the partition of British India On 20 June the Bengal Legislative Assembly met to decide on the partition of Bengal At the preliminary joint meeting it was decided 120 votes to 90 that if the province remained united it should join the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan At a separate meeting of legislators from West Bengal it was decided 58 votes to 21 that the province should be partitioned and West Bengal should join the Constituent Assembly of India At another meeting of legislators from East Bengal it was decided 106 votes to 35 that the province should not be partitioned and 107 votes to 34 that East Bengal should join the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan if Bengal was partitioned 73 On 6 July the Sylhet district of Assam voted in a referendum to join East Bengal The English barrister Cyril Radcliffe was instructed to draw the borders of Pakistan and India The Radcliffe Line created the boundary between the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan which later became the Bangladesh India border The Radcliffe Line awarded two thirds of Bengal as the eastern wing of Pakistan although the historic Bengali capitals of Gaur Pandua Murshidabad and Calcutta fell on the Indian side close to the border with Pakistan Dhaka s status as a capital was also restored 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 region 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 74 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 75 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 76 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 77 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 78 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 79 The water causes arsenicosis skin cancer and various other complications in the body Fertile Plains of Bengal Plains during the dry season Cultivated plots of land Paddy field Jute field Mustard and sugarcane field Rivers and canalsHistorical political and cultural geography Vanga and Pundra in the Late Vedic period Vanga and Pundra in the mahajanapada period Gangaridai in Ptolemy s map 1st century The Gauda Kingdom 4th century Samatata 4th century The Pala Empire in 800 The Bengal Sultanate in 1525 Mughal Bengal in 1776 by James Rennell The Bengal Presidency in 1858 Eastern Bengal and Assam in 1907 Province of Bengal 1931 Bangladesh West Bengal Geographical distribution of the Bengali language in South Asia Bengali dialectsGeographic distinctions North Bengal View of the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region and Kangchenjunga from the plains of north 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 Madhabkunda waterfall in Moulvibazar Sylhet Waterfalls are a common sight in the highlands of eastern Bangladesh Northeast Bengal 80 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 81 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 81 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 82 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 83 84 85 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 86 87 88 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 89 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 90 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 91 St Martin s Island off the coast of Chittagong Division is home to the sole coral reef in Bengal Flora and faunaThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed January 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message A 2015 census of Sundarbans Bengal tigers found 106 in Bangladesh and 76 in West Bengal 92 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 PoliticsToday the region of Bengal proper is divided between the sovereign state of the People s Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal 93 The Bengali speaking Barak Valley forms part of the Indian state of Assam The Indian state of Tripura has a Bengali speaking majority and was formerly the princely state of Hill Tipperah In the Bay of Bengal St Martin s Island is governed by Bangladesh while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has a plurality of Bengali speakers and is governed by India s federal government as a union territory Bangladeshi Republic Main article Bangladesh Bangabhaban the House of Bengal is the presidential palace 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 A meeting between the naval commanders of India and Bangladesh 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 94 India has since fenced the border which has been criticised by Bangladesh 95 EconomyMain articles Economy of Bangladesh and Economy of West Bengal City Centre Bangladesh 2021 Dutch Bengal Elephant being loaded onto a ship 1858 Calcutta Port 1903 The 42 is the tallest building in the region as of 2022 Chittagong has the busiest port on the Bay of Bengal The Ganges Delta provided advantages of fertile soil ample water and an abundance of fish wildlife and fruit 96 Living standards for Bengal s elite were relatively better than other parts of the Indian subcontinent 96 Between 400 and 1200 Bengal had a well developed economy in terms of land ownership agriculture livestock shipping trade commerce taxation and banking 97 The apparent vibrancy of the Bengal economy in the beginning of the 15th century is attributed to the end of tribute payments to the Delhi Sultanate which ceased after the creation of the Bengal Sultanate and stopped the outflow of wealth Ma Huan s travelogue recorded a booming shipbuilding industry and significant international trade in Bengal In 1338 Ibn Battuta noticed that the silver taka was the most popular currency in the region instead of the Islamic dinar 98 In 1415 members of Admiral Zheng He s entourage also noticed the dominance of the taka The currency was the most important symbol of sovereignty for the Sultan of Bengal The Sultanate of Bengal established an estimated 27 mints in provincial capitals across the kingdom 99 100 These provincial capitals were known as Mint Towns 101 These Mint Towns formed an integral aspect of governance and administration in Bengal The taka continued to be issued in Mughal Bengal which inherited the sultanate s legacy As Bengal became more prosperous and integrated into the world economy under Mughal rule the taka replaced shell currency in rural areas and became the standardized legal tender It was also used in commerce with the Dutch East India Company the French East India Company the Danish East India Company and the British East India Company Under Mughal rule Bengal was the center of the worldwide muslin trade The muslin trade in Bengal was patronized by the Mughal imperial court Muslin from Bengal was worn by aristocratic ladies in courts as far away as Europe Persia and Central Asia The treasury of the Nawab of Bengal was the biggest source of revenue for the imperial Mughal court in Delhi Bengal had a large shipbuilding industry The shipbuilding output of Bengal during the 16th and 17th centuries stood at 223 250 tons annually which was higher than the volume of shipbuilding in the nineteen colonies of North America between 1769 to 1771 53 Historically Bengal has been the industrial leader of the subcontinent Mughal Bengal saw the emergence of a proto industrial economy backed up by textiles and gunpowder The organized early modern economy flourished till the beginning of British rule in the mid 18th century when the region underwent radical and revolutionary changes in government trade and regulation The British displaced the indigenous ruling class and transferred much of the region s wealth back to the colonial metropole in Britain In the 19th century the British began investing in railways and limited industrialization However the Bengali economy was dominated by trade in raw materials during much of the colonial period particularly the jute trade 102 The partition of India changed the economic geography of the region Calcutta in West Bengal inherited a thriving industrial base from the colonial period particularly in terms of jute processing East Pakistan soon developed its industrial base including the world s largest jute mill In 1972 the newly independent government of Bangladesh nationalized 580 industrial plants These industries were later privatized in the late 1970s as Bangladesh moved towards a market oriented economy Liberal reforms in 1991 paved the way for a major expansion of Bangladesh s private sector industry including in telecoms natural gas textiles pharmaceuticals ceramics steel and shipbuilding In 2022 Bangladesh was the second largest economy in South Asia after India 103 104 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 105 Three Bengali economists have been Nobel laureates including Amartya Sen and Abhijit Banerjee who won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics and Muhammad Yunus who won the Nobel Peace Prize Stock markets Dhaka Stock Exchange Chittagong Stock Exchange Calcutta Stock ExchangePorts and harbours Port of Chittagong Port of Kolkata Port of Mongla Haldia Port Port of Payra Port of Pangaon Port of Narayanganj Port of Ashuganj Port of Barisal Matarbari Port Land port of Benapole PetrapoleChambers of commerce Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry Bengal National Chamber of Commerce amp Industry Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry FBCCI Chittagong Chamber of Commerce amp Industry Dhaka Chamber of Commerce amp Industry DCCI Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry MCCI Intra Bengal trade Bangladesh and India are the largest trading partners in South Asia with two way trade valued at an estimated US 16 billion 106 Most of this trade relationship is centered on some of the world s busiest land ports on the Bangladesh India border The Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal Initiative seeks to boost trade through a Regional Motor Vehicles Agreement 107 DemographicsMain articles Demographics of Bangladesh Demographics of West Bengal and Languages of 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 1 According to provisional results of 2011 Bangladesh census the population of Bangladesh was 149 772 364 108 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 91 347 736 109 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 110 111 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 112 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 citation needed Bengal region religious diversity as per 2011 census 113 114 115 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 officially called 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 112 Life expectancy is around 72 49 years for Bangladesh 116 and 70 2 for West Bengal 117 118 In terms of literacy West Bengal leads with 77 literacy rate 110 in Bangladesh the rate is approximately 72 9 119 note 2 The level of poverty in West Bengal is at 19 98 while in Bangladesh it stands at 12 9 120 121 122 West Bengal has one of the lowest total fertility rates in India West Bengal s TFR of 1 6 roughly equals that of Canada 123 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 124 Major cities Dhaka Kolkata Chattogram Khulna Rajshahi Asansol Rangpur Sylhet Barisal Siliguri Darjeeling Cox s Bazar Durgapur Murshidabad Comilla Jessore Faridpur Bogra Mymensingh Major Cities in the Region Dhaka Kolkata Chittagong Sylhet Darjeeling Rangpur BarisalCultureMain 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 125 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 126 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 127 Hindu nationalists adopted a modified Bharat Mata as a national personification of India 128 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 129 130 It included sculptures and paintings 131 Islamic Bengal was noted for its production of the finest cotton fabrics and saris notably the Jamdani which received warrants from the Mughal court 132 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 133 Zainul Abedin was the pioneer of modern Bangladeshi art The country has a thriving and internationally acclaimed contemporary art scene 134 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 135 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 136 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 137 138 Sciences Main article Science and technology in Bangladesh Bose Corporation was founded by the Bengali American engineer Amar Bose A sculpture of the Bengali American engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan at 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 26 139 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 140 IEEE named him one of the fathers of radio science 141 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 142 143 144 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 145 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 146 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 147 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 148 The 19th century mystic poet Lalon Shah is the most celebrated practitioner of the tradition 149 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 150 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 151 152 The British Royal Navy later utilised Bengali shipyards in the 19th century including for the Battle of Trafalgar Attire Bengali Hindu wedding A bride in a Bangladeshi wedding 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 Mangal Shobhajatra parade during the Bengali New Year For Bengali Hindus the major religious festivals include Durga Puja Janmashtami and Rath Yatra For Bengali Muslims the major religious festivals are Eid al Fitr Eid al Adha Milad un Nabi Muharram and Shab e Barat In honour of Bengali Buddhists and Bengali Christians both Buddha s Birthday and Christmas are public holidays in the region The Bengali New Year is the main secular festival of Bengali culture celebrated by people regardless of religious and social backgrounds Other Bengali festivals include the first day of spring and the Nabanna harvest festival in autumn 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 153 West Bengal had 559 published newspapers in 2005 154 of which 430 were in Bengali 154 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 155 See alsoBengali Renaissance Bengalis Greater Bengal East India Hindi Belt List of Bengalis North East India PunjabNotes 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 CRI do not give a breakdown by gender or state the age bracket for the dataReferences 22 96 Bengal The Chambers Dictionary 9th ed Chambers 2003 ISBN 0 550 10105 5 Oxford Dictionaries Archived from the original on 29 August 2017 Retrieved 22 February 2017 Vanga ancient kingdom India Britannica The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204 1760 Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica Know your history 27 November 2022 a b David Lewis 31 October 2011 Bangladesh Politics Economy and Civil Society Cambridge University Press pp 44 45 ISBN 978 1 139 50257 3 Perween Hasan 2007 Sultans and Mosques The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh I B Tauris pp 16 17 ISBN 978 1 84511 381 0 Husayn Shah pushed its western frontier past Bihar up to Saran in Jaunpur when Sultan Husayn Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur fled to Bengal after being defeated in battle by Sultan Sikandar Lodhi of Delhi the latter attacked Bengal in pursuit of the Jaunpur ruler Unable to make any gains Sikandar Lodhi returned home after concluding a peace treaty with the Bengal sultan Rahman Urmi 2014 Bangladesh Culture Smart The Essential Guide to Customs amp Culture Kuperard pp 26 ISBN 978 1 85733 696 2 a b Vanga Encyclopaedia Britannica Archived from the original on 30 July 2016 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Sengupta Nitish K 2011 Land of Two Rivers A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib Penguin Books India p 10 ISBN 978 0 14 341678 4 Also we have the reference to Vangalam in an inscription in the Vrihadeshwara temple at Tanjore in south India as one among the countries overrun by the Cholas This is perhaps the earliest reference to Bengal as such SenGupta Amitabh 2012 Scroll Paintings of Bengal Art in the Village AuthorHouse UK p 14 ISBN 978 1 4678 9663 4 Bangladesh early history 1000 B C A D 1202 Bangladesh A country study Washington D C Library of Congress September 1988 Archived from the original on 7 December 2013 Retrieved 1 December 2014 Historians believe that Bengal the area comprising present day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal was settled in about 1000 B C by Dravidian speaking peoples who were later known as the Bang Their homeland bore various titles that reflected earlier tribal names such as Vanga Banga Bangala Bangal and Bengal Keay John 2000 India A History Atlantic Monthly Press p 220 ISBN 978 0 87113 800 2 In C1020 launched Rajendra s great northern escapade peoples he defeated have been tentatively identified Vangala desa where the rain water never stopped sounds like a fair description of Bengal in the monsoon Allan J Haig T Wolseley Dodwell H H 1934 Dodwell H H ed The Cambridge Shorter History of India Cambridge University Press p 145 Sen Sailendra Nath 1999 First published 1988 Ancient Indian History and Civilization New Age International p 281 ISBN 978 81 224 1198 0 Hasan Perween 2007 Sultans and Mosques The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh I B Tauris pp 13 ISBN 978 1 84511 381 0 Lach Donald F Kley Edwin J Van 1998 Asia in the Making of Europe Volume III A Century of Advance Book 3 Southeast Asia University of Chicago Press pp 1124 ISBN 978 0 226 46768 9 Prehistory Banglapedia Wari Bateshwar In search of origins 18 August 2008 The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204 1760 a b c Eaton R M 1996 The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204 1760 University of California Press ISBN 978 0 520 20507 9 Retrieved 7 January 2017 a b Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription Banglapedia en banglapedia org Punch Marked Coins Banglapedia en banglapedia org About Taka Museum www bb org bd a b Murray H J R 1913 A History of Chess Benjamin Press originally published by Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 936317 01 4 OCLC 13472872 Chowdhury AM Gangaridai Banglapedia Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Archived from the original on 2 June 2015 Retrieved 5 August 2015 A Family s Passion Archaeology Magazine www archaeology org Mizanur Rahman et al Wari Bateshwar and Vikrampura 2 Successful Case Studies in Bangladesh 3 Archaeobotany PDF discovery ucl ac uk Retrieved 6 March 2023 Hossain Emran 19 March 2008 Wari Bateshwar one of earliest kingdoms The Daily Star Sarkar Sebanti https scroll in magazine 868330 in rural bengal an indefatigable relic hunter has uncovered a hidden chapter of history Archived 20 February 2018 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 4 August 2018 Matsyanyayam Banglapedia Hiuen Tsang Banglapedia Coins Banglapedia en banglapedia org Microsoft Word 4 H 942 Revised Monir m doc PDF Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Retrieved 6 February 2022 https publishing cdlib org ucpressebooks view docId ft067n99v9 amp chunk id ch02 amp toc depth 1 amp toc id ch02 amp brand ucpress By the time Muhammad Bakhtiyar conquered northwestern Bengal in 1204 a b The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204 1760 Iliyas Shah Banglapedia Iliyas Shah Banglapedia Nitish K Sengupta 2011 Land of Two Rivers A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib Penguin Books India p 73 ISBN 978 0 14 341678 4 Chowdhury Mohammed Ali 25 November 2004 Bengal Arakan Relations 1430 1666 A D Firma K L M ISBN 9788171021185 via Google Books Perween Hasan 2007 Sultans and Mosques The Early Muslim Architecture of Bangladesh I B Tauris pp 16 17 ISBN 978 1 84511 381 0 Husayn Shah pushed its western frontier past Bihar up to Saran in Jaunpur when Sultan Husayn Shah Sharqi of Jaunpur fled to Bengal after being defeated in battle by Sultan Sikandar Lodhi of Delhi the latter attacked Bengal in pursuit of the Jaunpur ruler Unable to make any gains Sikandar Lodhi returned home after concluding a peace treaty with the Bengal sultan Irfan Habib 2011 Economic History of Medieval India 1200 1500 Pearson Education India p 185 ISBN 978 81 317 2791 1 Boomgaard P 1 January 2008 Linking Destinies Trade Towns and Kin in Asian History BRILL ISBN 9789004253995 Archived from the original on 6 January 2017 Retrieved 23 August 2016 via Google Books Ghiyasia Madrasa Banglapedia en banglapedia org A Collection of Treaties and Engagements with the Native Princes and States of Asia Concluded on Behalf of the East India Company by the British Governments in India Viz by the Government of Bengal Etc Also Copies of Sunnuds Or Grants of Certain Privileges and Imunities to the East India Company by the Mogul and Other Native Princes of Hindustan United East India Company 1812 p 28 Retrieved 23 August 2013 a b Ahmed F S 2011 A Comprehensive History of Medieval India Twelfth to the Mid Eighteenth Century Pearson ISBN 9788131732021 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Murshidabad Banglapedia Richard Maxwell Eaton 1996 The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier 1204 1760 page 202 University of California Press 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 John F Richards 1995 The Mughal Empire page 202 Cambridge University Press Giorgio Riello Tirthankar Roy 2009 How India Clothed the World The World of South Asian Textiles 1500 1850 Brill Publishers p 174 ISBN 9789047429975 a b Ray Indrajit 2011 Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution 1757 1857 Routledge p 174 ISBN 978 1 136 82552 1 Baten Jorg 2016 A History of the Global Economy From 1500 to the Present Cambridge University Press p 251 ISBN 978 1 107 50718 0 5 of the worst atrocities carried out by the British Empire The Independent 19 January 2016 Churchill s policies contributed to 1943 Bengal famine study The Guardian 29 March 2019 a b Ray Indrajit 2011 Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution 1757 1857 Routledge pp 7 10 ISBN 978 1 136 82552 1 Cornwallis Code Encyclopaedia Britannica 4 February 2009 Retrieved 24 February 2017 Shombit Sengupta Bengals plunder gifted the British Industrial Revolution The Financial Express 8 February 2010 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 Datta Rajat 2000 Society economy and the market commercialization in rural Bengal c 1760 1800 New Delhi Manohar Publishers amp Distributors pp 262 266 ISBN 81 7304 341 8 OCLC 44927255 Amartya Sen 1981 Poverty and Famines An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation Oxford University Press p 39 ISBN 978 0 19 828463 5 Fredrik Albritton Jonsson 18 June 2013 Enlightenment s Frontier The Scottish Highlands and the Origins of Environmentalism Yale University Press pp 167 170 ISBN 978 0 300 16374 2 a b The Straits Settlements becomes a residency Singapore History Eresources nlb gov sg Retrieved 30 March 2020 Chowdhury Masud Hasan Cyclone Banglapedia Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Archived from the original on 19 January 2016 Retrieved 6 August 2015 The Gandhians of Bengal Nationalism Social Reconstruction and Cultural Orientations 1920 1942 p 19 Malaria was endemic in rural areas during the 19th century particularly in western Bengal This was The famine of 1769 70 resulted in about ten million deaths while 50 million died of malaria plague and famine between 1895 and 19206 Baxter Craig 1997 Bangladesh From a Nation to a State Boulder CO Westview Press pp 39 40 ISBN 0 8133 2854 3 Chitta Ranjan Misra United Independent Bengal Movement Banglapedia Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Archived from the original on 5 August 2015 Retrieved 5 August 2015 a b Harun or Rashid Partition of Bengal 1947 Banglapedia Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Archived from the original on 2 July 2015 Retrieved 5 August 2015 Suranjan Das Calcutta Riot 1946 Banglapedia Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Archived from the original on 1 August 2015 Retrieved 5 August 2015 Why did British prime minister Attlee think Bengal was going to be an independent country in 1947 UK PM Attlee believed Bengal may opt to be a separate country 28 December 2018 Soumyendra Nath Mukherjee 1987 Sir William Jones A Study in Eighteenth century British Attitudes to India Cambridge University Press p 230 ISBN 978 0 86131 581 9 Archived from the original on 31 January 2018 Retrieved 30 July 2017 Ali A 1996 Vulnerability of Bangladesh to climate change and sea level rise through tropical cyclones and storm surges Water Air amp Soil Pollution 92 1 2 171 179 Bibcode 1996WASP 92 171A doi 10 1007 BF00175563 S2CID 93611792 Summit Elevations Frequent Internet Errors Archived 25 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 13 April 2006 IUCN 1997 Sundarban wildlife sanctuaries Bangladesh World Heritage Nomination IUCN Technical Evaluation Statistical Facts about India indianmirror com Archived from the original on 26 October 2006 Retrieved 26 October 2006 National Himalayan Sandakphu Gurdum Trekking Expedition 2006 Youth Hostels Association of India West Bengal State Branch Archived from the original on 24 October 2006 Retrieved 26 October 2006 Chowdhury U K Biswas B K Chowdhury T R et al May 2000 Groundwater arsenic contamination in Bangladesh and West Bengal India Environmental Health Perspectives 108 4 393 397 doi 10 2307 3454378 JSTOR 3454378 PMC 1638054 PMID 10811564 Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Lethbridge E 1874 An Easy Introduction to the History and Geography of Bengal For the Junior Classes in Schools Thacker p 5 Retrieved 7 January 2017 a b Akhter Nasrin 2012 Sarkar In Islam Sirajul Jamal Ahmed A eds Banglapedia National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh Second ed Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Das Tulshi Kumar 2000 Social Structure and Cultural Practices in Slums A Study of Slums in Dhaka City ISBN 9788172111106 David Christiana 1 September 2007 Arsenic Mitigation in West Bengal India New Hope for Millions PDF Southwest Hydrology p 32 Archived from the original PDF on 5 March 2016 Retrieved 20 December 2008 Puri Sunil 2007 Agroforestry Systems and Practices ISBN 9788189422622 Reddy Angadi Ranga 2009 Gandhi and globalisation ISBN 9788183242967 Andaya B W Andaya L Y 2015 A History of Early Modern Southeast Asia 1400 1830 Cambridge University Press p 220 ISBN 978 0 521 88992 6 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Singh A K 2006 Modern World System and Indian Proto industrialization Bengal 1650 1800 Vol 1 Northern Book Centre p 225 ISBN 9788172112011 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Banu U A B Razia Akter 1992 Islam in Bangladesh Brill p 6 ISBN 978 90 04 09497 0 Retrieved 7 January 2017 in Samatata South east Bengal where the Buddhist Khadaga dynasty ruled throughout the fifth sixth and seventh centuries AD Rashid M Harunar 2012 Harikela In Islam Sirajul Jamal Ahmed A eds Banglapedia National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh Second ed Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Chittagong to bridge S Asian nations The Daily Star 17 March 2012 Archived from the original on 13 August 2016 Retrieved 12 August 2016 World s longest natural sea beach under threat BBC News 28 December 2012 Archived from the original on 13 January 2017 Retrieved 21 June 2018 Bangladesh finds 106 tigers in Sundarbans India 76 Dhaka Tribune BSS 4 October 2015 Archived from the original on 11 September 2016 Retrieved 13 August 2016 Bengal region Asia Britannica Address by External Affairs Minister Shri Natwar Singh at India Bangladesh Dialogue Organised by Centre for Policy Dialogue and India International Centre Speeches Ministry of External Affairs New Delhi 7 August 2005 Archived from the original on 5 May 2016 Retrieved 28 April 2016 Chattopadhyay S S June 2007 Constant traffic Frontline Vol 24 no 11 Archived from the original on 17 April 2008 Retrieved 26 February 2008 a href Template Cite magazine html title Template Cite magazine cite magazine a CS1 maint unfit URL link a b c Lawrence B Lesser Historical Perspective A Country Study Bangladesh James Heitzman and Robert Worden editors Library of Congress Federal Research Division September 1988 This article incorporates text from this source which is in the public domain About the Country Studies Area Handbooks Program Country Studies Federal Research Division Library of Congress Kamrunnesa Islam 1996 Economic History of Bengal PhD thesis SOAS University of London doi 10 25501 SOAS 00029147 Ian Blanchard 2005 Mining Metallurgy and Minting in the Middle Ages Continuing Afo European supremacy 1250 1450 Franz Steiner Verlag p 1264 ISBN 978 3 515 08704 9 Coins Banglapedia en banglapedia org Retrieved 14 February 2017 Currency System Banglapedia en banglapedia org Retrieved 14 February 2017 Mint Towns Banglapedia Railway Banglapedia Bangladesh ranked 41st largest economy in 2019 all over the world Thedailystar net 8 January 2019 Retrieved 2 October 2022 Sayeed Iftekhar Ahmed 18 March 2022 Where do Bangladesh and Pakistan stand after 50 years of separation Scroll in Retrieved 2 October 2022 7 Major Rice Producing States in India Important India importantindia com 21 January 2014 Archived from the original on 29 November 2016 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Delhi Dhaka trade becoming one sided need to balance it says Bangladesh FM on India visit 21 June 2022 Bangladesh Bhutan India and Nepal Motor Vehicles Agreement Initiative 2011 Population amp Housing Census Preliminary Results PDF Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Statistics Division Ministry of Planning Government of the People s Republic of Bangladesh July 2011 Archived from the original PDF on 15 January 2013 Retrieved 17 November 2013 Area population decennial growth rate and density for 2001 and 2011 at a glance for West Bengal and the districts provisional population totals paper 1 of 2011 West Bengal Registrar General amp Census Commissioner India Archived from the original on 7 January 2012 Retrieved 26 January 2012 a b Provisional Population Totals West Bengal Census of India 2001 Office of the Registrar General amp Census Commissioner India Archived from the original on 14 May 2007 Retrieved 26 August 2006 World Bank Development Indicators Database 2006 a b Bangladesh Ethnologue Archived from the original on 26 June 2015 Retrieved 26 June 2015 Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics 2011 Population amp Housing Census PDF Bangladesh Government p xiii Archived from the original PDF on 3 September 2017 Retrieved 17 April 2015 Population By Religion Muslim 90 39 Hindu 8 54 Buddhist 0 60 Christian 0 37 Others 0 14 Data Archived 4 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine Census Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Census of India Website Office of the Registrar General amp Census Commissioner India Censusindia gov in Retrieved 17 July 2021 Bangladesh The World Factbook 2023 ed Central Intelligence Agency Retrieved 31 October 2009 Archived 2009 edition Contents 2010 14 PDF Office of the Registrar General amp Census Commissioner India Archived PDF from the original on 13 November 2016 Retrieved 12 January 2017 Abridged Life Tables 2010 14 PDF Office of the Registrar General amp Census Commissioner India p 5 Archived PDF from the original on 10 January 2017 Retrieved 12 January 2017 CRI Center Research and Information 2014 Bangladesh Education for All CRI Publication p 138 ISBN 978 0 7566 9859 1 Archived from the original on 14 August 2017 Retrieved 6 May 2017 Table 162 Number and Percentage of Population Below Poverty Line Reserve Bank of India Government of India 2013 Archived from the original on 7 April 2014 Retrieved 20 April 2014 Misha Farzana Sulaiman Munshi Bangladesh Priorities Poverty Sulaiman and Misha Copenhagen Consensus Center copenhagenconsensus com Copenhagen Consensus Archived from the original on 16 April 2016 Retrieved 7 April 2016 Statistics UNICEF 18 December 2013 Archived from the original on 19 December 2015 Retrieved 2 March 2007 Why West Bengal is like Canada and Bihar like Swaziland Mint 25 December 2014 Archived from the original on 24 July 2016 Retrieved 7 September 2017 Wandering Gaia The Give and Take of the Ganges WordPress com Archived from the original on 10 April 2009 Retrieved 13 April 2009 Bengali language Encyclopaedia Britannica Retrieved 7 January 2017 Scheduled Languages in Descending Order of Speakers Strength 2011 PDF censusindia gov in Archived PDF from the original on 9 October 2022 Retrieved 10 April 2020 Symbols of Water and Woman on Selected Examples of Modern Bengali Literature in the Context of Mythological Tradition Archived 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine Roche Elizabeth 17 March 2016 The origins of Bharat Mata LiveMint Retrieved 18 November 2019 Bagchi J 1993 The History and Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar Cir 750 A D cir 1200 A D Abhinav Publications p 127 ISBN 9788170173014 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Huntington S L 1984 The Paala Sena Schools of Sculpture E J Brill p 4 ISBN 9789004068568 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Pala art Encyclopaedia Britannica Archived from the original on 3 October 2016 Retrieved 7 January 2017 In Search of Bangladeshi Islamic Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art metmuseum org Archived from the original on 12 August 2016 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Mitter P 1994 Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850 1922 Occidental Orientations Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 44354 8 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Yee Amy 13 March 2014 In Bangladesh a Vibrant Contemporary Scene The New York Times Archived from the original on 21 August 2017 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Bait Ur Rouf Mosque Aga Khan Development Network akdn org Archived from the original on 19 November 2016 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Oxford English Dictionary bungalow Online Etymology Dictionary Archived 6 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine WORLDVIEW worldviewcities org Archived from the original on 30 December 2016 Retrieved 7 January 2017 WORLDVIEW worldviewcities org Archived from the original on 2 January 2017 Retrieved 7 January 2017 Thomas Khoshy Elementary Number Theory with Applications Academic Press 2002 p 567 ISBN 0 12 421171 2 Chatterjee Santimay and Chatterjee Enakshi Satyendranath Bose 2002 reprint p 5 National Book Trust ISBN 81 237 0492 5 Sen A K 1997 Sir J C Bose and radio science Microwave Symposium Digest IEEE MTT S International Microwave Symposium Denver CO IEEE pp 557 560 doi 10 1109 MWSYM 1997 602854 ISBN 0 7803 3814 6 Dr Subodh Mahanti Satyendra Nath Bose The Creator of Quantum Statistics Vigyan Prasar Archived from the original on 12 July 2016 Wali Kameshwar C 2009 Satyendra Nath Bose his life and times Singapore World Scientific pp xvii xviii xx Foreword ISBN 978 981 279 070 5 J J O Connor and E F Robertson October 2003 Satyendranath Bose The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive Archived from the original on 16 January 2017 Kean Sam 2017 A forgotten star Distillations 3 1 4 5 Retrieved 22 March 2018 Desikan Shubashree 5 March 2015 No Big Bang the universe was there all along studies The Hindu Archived from the original on 21 June 2017 Retrieved 2 January 2018 Pulakkat Hari 19 December 2013 How many of us know about Breakthrough Prize winner Ashoke Sen The Economic Times The Bauls of Bengal Folk Music BengalOnline Archived from the original on 19 January 2003 Retrieved 26 October 2006 Banik Nandadulal Anirvan Banglapedia Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Archived from the original on 3 February 2016 Retrieved 5 August 2015 Gertjan de Graaf Abdul Latif Development of freshwater fish farming and poverty alleviation A case study from Bangladesh PDF Aqua KE Government Archived from the original PDF on 1 November 2006 Retrieved 22 October 2006 Hossain Khandakar Akhter 2012 Shipbuilding Industry In Islam Sirajul Jamal Ahmed A eds Banglapedia National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh Second ed Asiatic Society of Bangladesh Prospects of shipbuilding industry in Bangladesh New Age Archived from the original on 17 December 2013 Retrieved 30 July 2015 Bangladesh profile Media BBC News Archived from the original on 31 July 2018 Retrieved 21 June 2018 a b General Review Registrar of Newspapers for India Archived from the original on 27 September 2007 Retrieved 1 September 2006 Bangladesh dominate Indo Bangla Games clinch 45 gold medals Thaindian News Indian Asian News Service 26 February 2008 Archived from the original on 10 February 2009 Retrieved 27 February 2008 External links Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bengal Bangladesh at Curlie West Bengal at Curlie Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bengal amp oldid 1144040889, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.