West Bengal (/b?n'g??

l/; Bengali: Paschim Banga) is an Indian state located in the

eastern region of the country along the Bay of Bengal. With over 91 million
inhabitants (as of 2011), it is India's fourth-most populous state. West Bengal is
the fourteenth-largest Indian state, with an area of 88,752 km2 (34,267 sq mi). A
part of the ethno-linguistic Bengal region of the Indian subcontinent, it borders
Bangladesh in the east, and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also borders the
Indian states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim, and Assam. The state capital is
Kolkata (Calcutta), the seventh-largest city in India, and center of the third-
largest metropolitan area in the country. As for geography, West Bengal includes
the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region, and the
coastal Sundarbans. The main ethnic group are the Bengalis, with Bengali Hindus
forming the demographic majority.
The area's early history featured a succession of Indian empires, internal
squabbling, and a tussle between Hinduism and Buddhism for dominance. Ancient
Bengal was the site of several major Janapadas (kingdoms), while the earliest
cities date back to the Vedic period. The region was part of several ancient pan-
Indian empires, including the Mauryans and Guptas. It was also a bastion of
regional kingdoms. The citadel of Gauda served as the capital of the Gauda Kingdom,
the Buddhist Pala Empire (eighth to 11th century) and Hindu Sena Empire (11th�12th
century). From the 13th century onward, the region was ruled by several sultans,
powerful Hindu states, and Baro-Bhuyan landlords, until the beginning of British
rule in the 18th century. The British East India Company cemented their hold on the
region following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, and Calcutta served for many years
as the capital of British India. The early and prolonged exposure to British
administration resulted in an expansion of Western education, culminating in
developments in science, institutional education, and social reforms in the region,
including what became known as the Bengali Renaissance. A hotbed of the Indian
independence movement through the early 20th century, Bengal was divided during
India's independence in 1947 along religious lines into two separate entities: West
Bengal, a state of India, and East Bengal, a province of Pakistan which later
became independent Bangladesh. Between 1977 and 2011 the state was administered by
the world's longest elected Communist government.