BANGLADESH/History
Early history. Ancient Hindu epics indicate that thousands of years ago, tribal people inhabited a kingdom called Vanga in the region that is now Bangladesh. Before about the 200's B.C., the region formed part of the Maurya Empire. This empire broke up about 185 B.C., and local kings then ruled Bengal. From about A.D. 320 to 500, the region was part of the Gupta Empire. See MAURYA EMPIRE; GUPTA DYNASTY.
Buddhist rulers gained control of eastern Bengal in the mid-700's. Buddhist culture spread throughout the region. After about 300 years of Buddhist rule, Hindu kings came to power. Beginning in the 1200's, Turkish Muslims who had conquered northern India extended their control into eastern Bengal. Independent Muslim rulers governed parts of Bengal until 1576, when the Mughal emperor Akbar conquered the region.
Mughal rule. Bengal became part of the Mughal Empire, which spread across most of what is now Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan. Muslim art and architecture flourished. By about the 1600's, most of the people of eastern Bengal had been converted to Islam.
The Mughal emperors appointed governors called nawabs to rule the provinces of the empire. In the early 1700's, the empire began to break up, partly because powerful Hindu groups in central and western India rebelled against Muslim rule. At the same time, Bengal and other provinces became increasingly independent as the nawabs took more power for themselves.
The growth of European influence. During the 1500's, British, Dutch, French, and Portuguese traders competed for control of the profitable trade between the East Indies and Europe. By the 1600's, European trade settlements had been established in Bengal. At first, the Europeans met strong resistance from the provincial nawabs, who demanded taxes in return for trade privileges. But after the Mughal Empire began to weaken in the 1700's, the Europeans increased their influence. Ambitious Mughal nawabs, nobles, and generals competed for power. The Europeans took sides in many of these conflicts, offering their support in return for monopoly trade privileges and other rewards.
The East India Company was chartered by the English government in 1600 to develop trade with India and the Far East. By the mid-1700's, the company had become the strongest trading power in Bengal. In 1757, company forces led by Robert Clive defeated the nawab of Bengal in the Battle of Plassey. Clive put a puppet nawab in office, but the East India Company actually ruled Bengal. See EAST INDIA COMPANY.
Corrupt company officials made huge profits on jute production in eastern Bengal, but they did little to improve the welfare of the people. Opposition to the company spread, and led the Indian Revolt in 1857. The revolt failed, but it caused the British government to take over the company in 1858.
British India. Bengal became a province of British India. Under British rule, industrial development and educational reforms advanced rapidly in western Bengal, where most of the people were Hindus. But eastern Bengal, where most of the people were Muslims, remained backward and agricultural.
In 1905, the viceroy (governor) of British India divided Bengal into two parts--West Bengal and East Bengal. |
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