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Later Roman accounts noted maritime trade routes with Bengal and a Roman amphora has been found in Purba Medinipur district , made in Aelana present day Aqaba in Jordan between the 4th and 7th centuries AD.
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 [58] The legacy of Magadha includes the concept of zero , the invention of Chess [59] and the theory of solar and lunar eclipses and the Earth orbiting the Sun. 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. 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 Islam first appeared in Bengal during Pala rule, as a result of increased trade between Bengal and the Middle East.
Muslim conquests of the Indian subcontinent absorbed Bengal in 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 , 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.
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. Under Mughal rule , Bengal was a center of the worldwide muslin , silk and pearl trades.
In terms of shipbuilding tonnage during the 16th—18th centuries, the annual output of Bengal alone totaled around 2,, tons, larger than the combined output of the Dutch ,—, tons , the British , tons , and North America 23, tons. 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 , but were later expelled by the Mughals in 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 In Bengal effective political and military power was transferred from the old regime to the British East India Company around — Calcutta was named the capital of British India in The presidency was run by a military-civil administration, including the Bengal Army , and had the world's sixth earliest railway network.
Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule notably the Great Bengal famine of and Bengal famine of The failure of the rebellion led to the abolishment of the Mughal Court and direct rule by the British Raj. The late 19th and early 20th century Bengal Renaissance had a great impact on the cultural and economic life of Bengal. Between and , an abortive attempt was made to divide the province of Bengal into two zones, that included the short-lived province of Eastern Bengal and Assam based in Dacca and Shillong.
In , , people were killed in Bengal by the Great Bangladesh cyclone. Bengal was also central in the rising political awareness of the Muslim population—the All-India Muslim League was established in Dhaka in The Muslim homeland movement pushed for a sovereign state in eastern British India with the Lahore Resolution in Hindu nationalism was also strong in Bengal, which was home to groups like the Hindu Mahasabha.
In spite of a last-ditch effort to form a United Bengal , [69] when India gained independence in , Bengal was partitioned along religious lines. The circumstances of partition were bloody, with widespread religious riots in Bengal. The Bhola cyclone took the lives of , people in Bengal, making it one of the deadliest recorded cyclones.
West Bengal became one of India's most populous states. Calcutta, the former capital of the British Raj, became the state capital of West Bengal and continued to be India's largest city until the late 20th century, when severe power shortages, strikes and a violent Marxist-Naxalite movement damaged much of the state's infrastructure in the s and 70s, leading to a period of economic stagnation. West Bengal politics underwent a major change when the Left Front won the assembly election, defeating the incumbent Indian National Congress. The princely state of Hill Tippera , that was under the suzerainty of British India , was ruled by a Bengali-speaking monarchy.
By the s, the region had a Bengali majority population due to the influx of Hindus from East Pakistan after partition. It became a Union Territory of India in November It was granted full statehood with an elected legislature in July An insurgency by indigenous people affected the state for several years. The Left Front ruled the state between and , followed by a stint of Indian National Congress rule until , and then a return to the Communists.
The Barak Valley joined the union of India after its partition from Sylhet in and has been a part of the state of Assam. One of the most significant events in the region's history was the language movement in , in which the killing of agitators by state police led to Bengali being recognized as one of the official languages of Assam.
The issue of Bengali settlement in the state has been a contentious part of the Assam conflict. In , the Government of the Dominion of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengali-speaking majority of East Bengal. Facing rising sectarian tensions and mass discontent with the new law, the government outlawed public meetings and rallies.
The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 February The movement reached its climax when several student demonstrators were shot dead by police firing. As a result of the movement, Pakistan government in included Bengali as national lanuage along with Urdu. East Bengal , which was later renamed to East Pakistan in , was home to Pakistan's demographic majority and played an instrumental role in the founding of the new state.
The State of Pakistan was subjected to years of military rule due to fears of Bengali political supremacy under democracy. Elected Bengali-led governments at the federal and provincial levels, which were led by statesmen such as A.
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Fazlul Huq and H. Suhrawardy , were deposed. After the national election, Rahman's party, the Awami League , had emerged as the largest party in Pakistan's parliament. The erstwhile Pakistani military junta refused to accept election results which triggered civil disobedience across East Pakistan.
The Pakistani military responded by launching a genocide that caused the Bangladesh Liberation War in The first Government of Bangladesh and the Mukti Bahini waged a guerrilla campaign with support from neighboring India, which hosted millions of war refugees. Global support for the independence of East Pakistan increased due to the conflict's humanitarian crisis, with the Indian Armed Forces intervening in support of the Bangladesh Forces in the final two weeks of the war and ensuring Pakistan's surrender. After independence, Bangladesh adopted a secular democracy under its new constitution in Awami League premier Sheikh Mujibur Rahman became the country's strongman and implemented many socialist policies.
A one party state was enacted in Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was assassinated later that year during a military coup that ushered in sixteen years of military dictatorships and presidential governments. The liberation war commander Ziaur Rahman emerged as Bangladesh's leader in the late s.
He reoriented the country's foreign policy towards the West and restored free markets and the multiparty polity. President Zia was assassinated in during a failed military coup. He was eventually succeeded by his army chief Hussain Muhammad Ershad. Lasting for nine years, Ershad's rule witnessed continued pro-free market reforms and the devolution of some authority to local government. A popular uprising restored parliamentary democracy in Since then, Bangladesh has largely alternated between the premierships of Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League and Khaleda Zia of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party , as well as technocratic caretaker governments.
Emergency rule was imposed by the military in and after widespread street violence between the League and BNP. The restoration of democratic government in was followed by the initiation of the International Crimes Tribunal to prosecute surviving colloborators of the genocide. Today, the country is an emerging economy , listed as one of the Next Eleven and experiencing growing industrial development, but continues to face political, economic and social challenges. Bengal has been an independent territory during several periods in history, while at other times, it has been part of larger empires.
Bengal has also been a regional empire, ruling over neighboring regions like Bihar , Orissa , Arakan , and parts of North India, Assam and Nepal. Gangaridai in Ptolemy's map , 1st century. Colonial Eastern Bengal and Assam , early 20th century.
Politically, the region is divided between the People's Republic of Bangladesh , an independent state , and the eastern provinces of the Republic of India , including West Bengal , Assam and Tripura. Politically both Bangladesh and Indian Bengal are socialist, with left wing parties dominating the region's politics. 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 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, Islam is recognized as the state religion ; while Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and people of all other denomiations are stated to enjoy equal rights.
Between and , Bangladesh had a presidential system of government. Since the s, it was administered by non-political technocratic caretaker governments on four occasions, the last being under military-backed emergency rule in and Bangladesh is a prominent member of the United Nations , being the largest contributor of peacekeeping forces in the world and a key promoter of multilateral diplomacy. A developing country with high levels of poverty, Bangladesh has achieved significant strides in human development compared to its neighbors. West Bengal , Tripura and Assam home to the Barak Valley are provincial states 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.