Southeast Bengal[edit]

Main article: Greater Chittagong

Cox's Bazar has the longest uninterrupted sea beach in the world

Southeast Bengal[51][52][53] refers to the hilly and coastal Bengali-speaking areas of Chittagong

Division in southeastern Bangladesh and the Indian state of Tripura. 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.[54] 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 dialect 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, Tripuri 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.[55]

Places of interest[edit]
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.[56] St. Martin's Island,
off the coast of Chittagong Division, is home to the sole coral reef in Bengal.

Flora and fauna[edit]

A 2015 census of Sundarbans Bengal tigers found 106 in Bangladesh and 76 in West Bengal. [57]

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, jack fruit, betel nut and date
palm. Rice, jute, mustard and sugarcane plantations are a common sight. Water
bodies and wetlands provide a habitat for many aquatic plants in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta.
The northern part of the region features Himalayan foothills (Dooars) with densely wooded Sal and
other tropical evergreen trees. Above an elevation of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), the forest becomes
predominantly subtropical, with a predominance of temperate-forest trees such
as oaks, conifers and rhododendrons. Sal woodland is also found across central Bangladesh,
particularly in the Bhawal National Park. The Lawachara National Park is a rainforest in northeastern
Bangladesh. The Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh is noted for its high degree
of biodiversity.
The littoral Sundarbans in the southwestern part of Bengal is the largest mangrove forest in the
world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The region has over 89 species of mammals, 628
species of birds and numerous species of fish. For Bangladesh, the water lily, the oriental magpie-
robin, the hilsa and mango tree are national symbols. For West Bengal, the white-throated
kingfisher, the chatim tree and the night-flowering jasmine are state symbols. The Bengal tiger is
the national animal of Bangladesh and India. The fishing cat is the state animal of West Bengal.

History[edit]
Part of a series on the

History of Bengal

Ancient Geopolitical units[show]

Ancient and Classical dynasties[show]

Medieval and Early Modern periods[show]

European colonisation[show]

East Bengal (1947–1955)[show]

West Bengal (1947–present)[show]
 East Pakistan (1955–1971)[show]

Bangladesh (1971–present)[show]

Calendar[show]

Museums of antiquities[show]

Related[show]

 v
 t
 e
Main article: History of Bengal

Prehistory[edit]
Human settlement in Bengal can be traced back 20,000 years.[citation needed] Remnants of Copper
Age settlements date back 4,300 years.[58][59] Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second
millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region. By the 11th century BCE, the
people of the area lived in systemically-aligned housing, used human cemeteries and manufactured
copper ornaments and fine black and red pottery.[60] The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers
were natural arteries for communication and transportation. [60] Estuaries on the Bay of
Bengal allowed for maritime trade. The early Iron Age saw the development of metal
weaponry, coinage, permanent field agriculture and irrigation.[60] From 600 BCE, the second wave
of urbanisation engulfed the north Indian subcontinent, as part of the Northern Black Polished
Ware culture.

Antiquity[edit]
Hindu sculpture, 11th century

Ancient Bengal was divided between the regions

of Varendra, Suhma, Anga, Vanga, Samatata and Harikela. Early Indian literature described the
region as a thalassocracy, with colonies in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.[61] For example, the
first recorded king of Sri Lanka was a Bengali prince called Vijaya. The region was known to the
ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai.[62] The Greek ambassador Megasthenes chronicled its
military strength and dominance of the Ganges delta. The invasion army of Alexander the Great was
deterred by the accounts of Gangaridai's power in 325 BCE. Later Roman accounts noted maritime
trade routes with Bengal. A Roman amphora has been found in Purba Medinipur district of West
Bengal, made in Aelana (present day Aqaba in Jordan) between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.
[63]
 Another prominent kingdom in Ancient Bengal was Pundravardhana which was located in
Northern Bengal with its capital being located in modern-day Bogra, the kingdom was prominently
buddhist leaving behind historic Viharas such as Mahasthangarh.[64][65][66] In vedic mythology the royal
families of Magadha, Anga, Vanga, Suhma and Kalinga were all related and descended from one
King.[67]
Ancient Bengal was considered a part of Magadha region, which was the cradle of Indian arts and
sciences. Currently the Maghada region is divided into several states that are Bihar, Jharkhand and
Bengal (West Bengal and East Bengal)[67] The legacy of Magadha includes the concept of zero, the
invention of Chess[68] and the theory of solar and lunar eclipses and the Earth orbiting the Sun. [citation
needed]
 Sanskrit and derived Old Indo-Aryan dialects, was spoken across Bengal.[69] The Bengali
language evolved from Old Indo-Aryan Sanskrit dialects. The region was ruled
by Hindu, Buddhist and Jain dynasties, including
the Mauryans, Guptas, Varmans, Khadgas, Palas, Chandras and Senas among others. In the 9th
century, Arab Muslim traders frequented Bengali seaports and found the region to be a
thriving seafaring kingdom with well-developed coinage and banking. [60]

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

The Pala Empire was an imperial power in the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of
Bengal. They were followers of the Mahayana and Tantric schools of Buddhism. The empire was
founded with the election of Gopala as the emperor of Gauda in 750.[9] At its height in the early 9th
century, the Pala Empire was the dominant power in the northern subcontinent, with its territory
stretching across parts of modern-day eastern Pakistan, northern and
northeastern India, Nepal and Bangladesh.[9][10] The empire enjoyed relations with the Srivijaya
Empire, the Tibetan Empire, and the Arab Abbasid Caliphate. Islam first appeared in Bengal during
Pala rule, as a result of increased trade between Bengal and the Middle East. [11] The
resurgent Hindu Sena dynasty dethroned the Pala Empire in the 12th century, ending the reign of
the last major Buddhist imperial power in the subcontinent. [8][70]
Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent absorbed Bengal in 1204.[71][72] The region was annexed
by the Delhi Sultanate. Muslim rule introduced agrarian reform, a new calendar and Sufism. The
region saw the rise of important city states in Sonargaon, Satgaon and Lakhnauti. By 1352, Ilyas
Shah achieved the unification of an independent Bengal. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Bengal
Sultanate was a major diplomatic, economic and military power in the subcontinent. It developed the
subcontinent's relations with China, Egypt, the Timurid Empire and East Africa. In 1540, Sher Shah
Suri was crowned Emperor of the northern subcontinent in the Bengali capital Gaur.

Mughal era (1576–1757)[edit]

A woman in Dhaka clad in fine Bengali muslin, 18th century.

Main article: Bengal Subah

Further information: Muslin trade in Bengal and Mughal Empire
The Mughal Empire conquered Bengal in the 16th century. The Bengal Subah province in the
Mughal Empire was the wealthiest state in the subcontinent. Bengal's trade and wealth impressed
the Mughals so much that it was described as the Paradise of the Nations by the Mughal Emperors.
  The region was also notable for its powerful semi-independent aristocracy, including the Twelve
[73]

Bhuiyans and the Nawabs of Bengal.[74] It was visited by several world explorers, including Ibn

Battuta, Niccolo De Conti and Admiral Zheng He.
Under Mughal rule, Bengal was a center of the worldwide muslin and silk trades. During the Mughal
era, the most important center of cotton production was Bengal, particularly around its capital city of
Dhaka, leading to muslin being called "daka" in distant markets such as Central Asia.[18] 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.[15] 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,[16] cotto