British Rule

Scarcely five years into the Company’s rule, the catastrophic Bengal famine of 1770, one of the greatest famines of history occurred. Up to a third of the population died in 1770 and subsequent years.

The Indian Mutiny of 1857 replaced rule by the Company with the direct control of Bengal by the British crown.

A centre of rice cultivation as well as fine cotton called muslin and the world’s main source of jute fibre, Bengal, from the 1850s became one of India’s principal centres of industry, concentrated in the capital Kolkata (known as Calcutta under the British, always called ‘Kolkata’ in the native tongue of Bengali) and its emerging cluster of suburbs.

Most of the population nevertheless remained dependent on agriculture, and despite its leading role in Indian political and intellectual activity, the province included some very undeveloped districts, especially in the east. In 1877, when Victoria took the title of “Empress of India”, the British declared Calcutta the capital of the British Raj.

India’s most populous province (and one of the most active provinces in freedom fighting), in 1905 Bengal was divided by the British rulers for administrative purposes into an overwhelmingly Hindu west (including present-day Bihar and Orissa) and a predominantly Muslim east (including Assam) (1905 Partition of Bengal).

Hindu - Muslim conflict became stronger through this partition. While Hindu Indians disagreed with the partition saying it was a way of dividing a Bengal which is united by language and history, Muslims supported it by saying it was a big step forward for Muslim society where Muslims will be majority and they can freely practice their religion as well as their culture. But owing to strong Hindu agitation, the British reunited east and West Bengal in 1912, and made Bihar and Orissa a separate province.

Another major famine occurred during the second world war, the Bengal famine of 1943, in which an estimated 3 million people died.

Independence

As partition of British India into Hindu and Muslim dominions approached in 1947, Bengal again split into the state of West Bengal of secular India and a Muslim region of East Bengal under Pakistan (later renamed East Pakistan in 1958)( 1947 Partition of Bengal). East Pakistan (East Bengal) later rebelled against Pakistani military rule to become independent republic of Bangladesh, literally “Land of Bengal”, after a war of independence against the Pakistani army in 1971. The western part of Bengal, now the state of West Bengal, remains a part of India. However, culturally and sociologically, the two segments of Bengal share considerably more than just a single language.

Bengal experienced two devastating famines costing millions of lives in 1770 and 1943. Bengal (both W.Bengal and Bangladesh) is among the most densely populated regions of the world.

Rulers of Bengal

Pala Dynasty
Gopala I c. 750-c. 770
Dharmapala c. 770-c. 810
Devapala c. 810-c. 850
Vigrahapala I c. 850-c. 875
Narayanapala c. 875-c. 908
Rajyapala c. 908-c. 935
Gopala II c. 935-c. 952
Vigrahapala II c. 952-c. 988
Mahipala I c. 988-c. 1038
Nayapala c. 1038-c. 1055
Vigrahapala III c. 1055-c. 1070
Mahipala II c. 1070-c. 1075
Shurapala c. 1075-c. 1077
Ramapala c. 1077-c. 1120
Kumarapala c. 1120-c. 1125
Gopala III c. 1125-c. 1144
Madanapala c. 1144-c. 1161

Sena Dynasty
Ballal Sen c. 1161-c. 1178
Lakshman Sen c. 1178-c. 1205
Vishwrup Sen c. 1205-c. 1220
Keshavar Sen c. 1220-c. 1250