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Bengal in AsiaGeographical distribution of the Bengali language
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Bengalis
Bengali history
Vanga Kingdom
Gangaridai
Gauda Kingdom
Pala Empire
Bengal Sultanate
Bengal Subah
Bengal Presidency
Partition of Bengal (1905)
Eastern Bengal and Assam
Partition of Bengal (1947)
East Bengal
East Pakistan
Names of Bengal
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Bengal
Bangladesh
West Bengal
Tripura
Barak Valley
Assam
Bengali people
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Bengal[a] (Bengali: বঙ্গ, romanized: Bôṅgo, pronounced[ˈbɔŋgo]ⓘ) or endonym Bangla (Bengali: বাংলা, romanized: Bāṅlā, pronounced[ˈbaŋlaˑ]ⓘ) is a historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in 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 Indian states of Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattishgarh and Tripura as well as the union territory of Andaman and Nicobar islands have a sizeable Bengali population. A large Bengali diaspora exists across the world. Bengali is the sixth-most spoken language in the world.
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 7th century. The Pala Empire was founded in Bengal during the 8th century. The Sena dynasty and Deva 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] Bengal Subah 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 East India Company. The company's Bengal Presidency grew into the largest administrative unit of British India with Calcutta as the capital of both Bengal and India until 1911. As a result of the 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.
Bengali culture, particularly its literature, music, art and cinema, are well known in South Asia and beyond. The region is also notable for its economic and social scientists, which includes several Nobel laureates. Once home to the city with the highest per capita income level in British India,[9][10] the region is today a leader in South Asia in terms of gender parity, the gender pay gap and other indices of human development.[11][12][13][14][15]
^"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". Encyclopaedia Britannica.
^"The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760".
^"Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica".
^"Know your history". 27 November 2022.
^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."
^"Looking ahead retrospectively: A Bangladeshi perspective | ORF".
^"Reviving the Bengal Presidency template of connectivity". 8 October 2018.
^"Why West Bengal is like Canada, and Bihar like Swaziland". 25 December 2014.
^"Bangladesh ahead of India in social indicators: Amartya". 23 February 2015.
^"Bangladesh is better off than India, not a poor, backward neighbour anymore". 11 October 2018.
^"New directions for human development in Bangladesh".
^"Bangladesh marches ahead of India in Global Gender Gap Index". The Times of India.
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rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols. Bengal (Bengali: বঙ্গ, romanized: Bôṅgo, pronounced [ˈbɔŋgo] ) or endonym Bangla...
West Bengal (/bɛnˈɡɔːl/, Bengali: Poshchim Bongo, pronounced [ˈpoʃtʃim ˈbɔŋɡo] , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along...
The Bengal cat is a breed of hybrid cat created from crossing of an Asian leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), with domestic cats, especially the spotted...
The Bengal tiger is a population of the Panthera tigris tigris subspecies and the nominate tiger subspecies. It ranks among the biggest wild cats alive...
of Bengal. The official language of Bangladesh is Bengali. Bangladesh forms the sovereign part of the historic and ethnolinguistic region of Bengal, which...
until 2001) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, 80 km (50 mi) west of...
The 2024 Indian general election in West Bengal will be held in all 7 phases from 19 April to 1 June to elect 42 members of the 18th Lok Sabha, with the...
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal and later Bengal Province, was a province of British India and the largest...
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically, it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese peninsula...
of Bengal (now independent Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal) including: Bengal famine may refer to: Great Bengal famine of 1770 Bengal famine...
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member...
of present-day Pakistan Bengal included parts of present-day Bangladesh; During the partition of Bengal (1905-13), East Bengal was created as a Lieutenant-Governorship...
East Bengal Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (Bengali pronunciation: [ˈi:st ˌbenˈɡɔːl]), is an Indian professional multi-sports club based in...
Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal to elect the members of West Bengal Legislative Assembly . The election took place in five...
East Bengal Football Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal (Bengali pronunciation: [ˈi:st ˌbenˈɡɔːl]), is an Indian professional football club based...
Bengal Brigade is a 1954 American adventure war film directed by Laslo Benedek and starring Rock Hudson, Arlene Dahl and Ursula Thiess. The film was produced...
the Bengal region of South Asia. The current population is divided between the sovereign country Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura...
The Bengal famine of 1943 was an anthropogenic famine in the Bengal province of British India (present-day Bangladesh, West Bengal and eastern India) during...
The West Bengal Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located in the B. B. D. Bagh area of Kolkata...
East Bengal (Bengali: পূর্ব বাংলা/পূর্ববঙ্গ Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo) was a non-contiguous province of the Dominion of Pakistan. Geographically eastern...
Bangla (বাংলা, Bāṅlā, [ˈbaŋlaˑ] ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. With approximately 240 million native speakers and...
The Government of West Bengal (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ সরকার), also known as the West Bengal Government, is the principal administrative authority of the...
Mughal invasion of Bengal was an invasion of the Sultanate of Bengal, then ruled by the Afghan Karrani dynasty, by the Mughal Empire in 1572–1576. After...
The Bengal Subah, also referred to as Mughal Bengal, was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire encompassing much of the Bengal region, which includes...
The Governor of Bengal was the head of the executive government of the Bengal Presidency from 1834 to 1854 and again from 1912 to 1947. The office was...
Rose bengal (4,5,6,7-tetrachloro-2',4',5',7'-tetraiodofluorescein) is a stain. Rose bengal belongs to the class of organic compounds called xanthenes...
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