This presentation based on History of Bengal (Ancient to Modern Period) Presented by S M Mahbub-Ul Alam, Shahe Alam, Brindaban Halder and Mostfizur Rahman Student, MBA in Aviation Management Operations, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Aviation and Aerospace University Dhaka, Bangladesh

1. Presentation on
History of Bengal
• Land Formation
• Early Settlement
• Identity
• Ethnicity Development
Presented by:
Shahe Alam # 19002618
S M Mahbub-Ul Alam # 19002616
Brindaban Halder # 19002604
Mostfizur Rahman # 19002608
Presentation by Group 1

2. Presentation Segment
Part – 1
Land Formation by Shahe Alam
Early Settlement by S M Mahbub-Ul Alam
Identity by Brindaban Halder &
Ethnicity Development by Ethnicity Development
Part – 2
Sort Film: Indo-Bengal History (Ancient to Modern Period)
(Duration: 5 mins)
Final Part – Feedback….????

3. Part-1

4. Ancient Bengal

5. Ancient Bengal

6. Ancient Bengal
•Geography conveys a chronological sense of space, location
and distance, but also reveals information on territorial
evolution of a nation or state
• Used to be called Bangala, and later Bengal
• First reference to Bengal has been made in the early Vedic
literature
• Known as Vanga an area covering the whole of the lower
Ganges.
•The neighboring political and geographical units were known as
Pundra, Prachya, Videha and Kirata.
•During the advance of the Aryans into the northwestern India
(c 1500-800 BC), most of Vanga was under forest and was
inhabited.

7. Bengal during Buddhist Period c
321 – 181 BC

8. Bengal during Buddhist Period
•Prachya, a macro-region merged into a number of political units,
such as, Anga, Pundra, Sumha and notably Vanga, with a new
development to political prominence of Pragjyotisa in the
northeast along the Lohita river.
•A major part of Anga, Pundra and a part of Vanga was
conquered by Magadha (545 BC).
•During the subsequent Mauryan period (321 - 181 BC), Vanga
further gained geopolitical prominence over Anga, Pundra and
Pragjyotisa.

9. Bengal During Shasanka
c 500 to 700 AD

10. Bengal During Shasanka
c 500 to 700 AD
• Gained enormous political prominence in the south-west of
Bengal (present day Orissa) and Varmans in the north-east of
Bengal (Kamarupa in Assam)
•Bhaskarvarman of Kamrup feared the expansionist policies of
Shashanka when the latter intruded into the Gaudas.
• Bhaskarvarman made alliance with Harsavardhana and ruled
over northern India.
•This period was associated with cultural change caused by the
spread of Buddhism in Bengal and the political eminence of the
Guptas in north India.

11. Bengal during Pala
C700 – 925 AD

12. Bengal during Pala
• This period (c 700 to 925 AD) witnessed the highest
development of Buddhism and Buddhist culture across Asia and
also in Bengal.
• As seen in the previous periods, the various kingdoms in Bengal
have had a series of ups and downs because of the political
rivalries and local wars that continued up to the later Gupta
period
• Gopala, founder of the Pala dynasty, was elected by the local
chieftains as the king of Vanga or Bangala in 756 AD
•He consolidated his position in Vanga that extended as far as
western Magadha.
•It included harikela and Pundravardhana in the north,
Kamarupa in the east and Utkala in the southwest.

13. Bengal during Sena (1000 -1200 AD)

14. Bengal during Sena (1000 -1200 AD)
• The Palas ruled over Bangala with intermittent feuds with
Chandellas, Colas, Chalukyas and Kalachuris till the rule of
Mahipala (995-1043) and Ramapala (1082-1124).
• The last days of the Palas were characterised by internal revolt
and factionalism that weakened this vast kingdom.
• Senas, strict Brahmanic Hinduism, established control over
much of Magadha, Vanga, Pundra and Samatata, and ruled this
region during the period from 1000 to 1200 AD.
• The flourishing Buddhism in Bengal suffered virtual destruction
in the hands of the Senas.

15. Bengal Under Turko Afgan

16. Bengal Under Turko Afgan
•In 1204, the Senas succumbed to the invasion
of Ikhtiyaruddin Khalji.
• On the onslaught of the adventurer, the Sena
king Laksmanasena fled to Vikramapura in
Vanga.
• A new political map of Bangala started to
emerge with the beginning of the Muslim rule
particularly under the sultans.

17. Bengal under Mughal

18. Bengal under Mughal

19. Bengal under Mughal
• The Mughals penetrated into Bangala rather
late, that is after the death of Akbar.
• Bangala was extended as far as Kooch Bihar to
the east in 1612.
• The western boundary was rather indistinct
and often merged with the western boundary
of Bihar-Jharkand and to the south with
northern Orissa.

20. Bengal during Colonial Rule

21. Bengal during Colonial Rule
• British surveyor, James Rennell (1784), labeled
Bangala as Bengal.
• It extended as far as Banaras to the west near the
border of Oudh and Bihar to lower Assam and
Sylhet in the east.
• And from the border with Nepal and Bhutan in
the north of Midnapore bordering northern Orissa
and the Bay of Bengal in the south.

23. Beginning of British Rule
• The Sepoy Revolt of 1857 brought the rule of the East India
Company to an end.
• Then British imperial rule led to a series of territorial and
boundary changes known as Partition of Bengal in 1905.
• The nationalist opposition to the partition of Bengal
compelled the British to annul the partition in 1912.
•Now the province of Bengal formed an area predominantly
of Bangla speaking population, and Assam was declared a
separate province.
•Bihar and Orissa were also separated from Bengal.

24. End of British Rule
• The internal contradictions was resolved by the
partition of Bengal on 14 August 1947.
• The partition settlement, known as Radcliffe
Award, was mainly based on communal
habitations.
•The Muslim majority districts devolved on
Pakistan on 14 August 1947.

25. Emergence of Bangladesh

26. Settlement in Bengal
(Early Period)
• Human settlements in Bengal have an
antiquated history.
• The present vegetation cover and the
landscape indicate several millennia of
human activity and interference, and
they have derived their character from
the pattern of human settlements and
agriculture.
• The land elevation pattern of Bengal
acted as an important factor in the
initial stage of settlement
development in the area, since the
greater part of the riverine, wet and
low-lying plains must originally have
consisted of forest and marshes and
were infested with killer animals
throughout the prehistoric period.
• As late as the Mughal period, much of
the Gangetic plain was under forest,
and human occupation was quite slow
to penetrate into such lands.

27. Early Settlement
• The evidence of the existence of
human habitation in the lower and
upper Palaeolithic age has been
discovered in the Chhotanagpur
plateau, Rajmahal Hills and the
Himalayan-Shillong system. These
places are adjacent to Bengal. The
evidence of early human occupation
in Bangladesh dating back to the
Pleistocene Age has been discovered
in Comilla and the Chittagong Hill
Tracts. The Lalmai Hills of Comilla
are part of Pleistocene Terrace and
the Chittagong Hill Districts are of
Tertiary Age.
• With the development of agriculture
in the area, the river system, the
most characteristic physical feature
of Bengal played a dominating role in
the development and expansion of
settlement.

28. Early Settlement
• Major pockets of human settlement
existed along the fertile valleys of
agricultural value.
• There is evidence of some sporadic
settlement in the Gangetic plain in a
number of river valleys throughout the
ancient period.
• River valleys along the natural levees
have the most agricultural potential
because of the regular renewal of soil.
Expansion of human settlement and its
distribution pattern in Bengal followed
the navigable river channels
• Rivers were the main modes of
communication. Some renowned
commercial and port cities like Gange
and Tamralipti were located on the bank
of the river Ganges and the Bhagirathi
respectively. The sudden shift of the
course of rivers and drying up of river
channels caused the death or decline of
many settlements.

29. Early Settlement
• The movement of the Palaeolithic people from northern India towards the east
took place over the “Bengal delta to Burma, Indo-China, the Malay Peninsula,
Indonesia, the Pacific islands and even to northern Australia”.
• This happened with the lowering of temperature all over the world following the
southward advancement of the ice sheet during the Pleistocene period.

30. Early Settlement
• During this southward movement
some might have settled on the
elevated areas of the Bengal
Basin since the wooded low-lying
hills of the north would probably
have been much easier to clear
than the marshy jungles of the
plains.
• Similarity of archaeological
findings of the upper Palaeolithic
culture of Kalimpong with those
of China and southeast Asia
suggest that some people may
have moved into this part from
Tibet and the adjoining areas of
China.
• Settlements have been most
unstable as a result of channel
shifting of the Ganges-
Brahmaputra systems.

31. Early Settlement
• Bengal was divided into a
number of natural divisions
caused by numerous rivers
and levels of land. As such,
the broad river interfluves
perpetuated many
independent kingdoms and
settlements.
• By the 4th century AD most
of the forested plain land of
the country was cleared off
and by the 5th to 6th
centuries settlement
expanded in the fertile
lowlands of the Sundarbans,
Khulna and Bakerganj. But
these were abandoned
during the 12th-13th
centuries because of the
shifting of the river channels
and also epidemics.

32. Early Settlement
• As indicated earlier, initially Bengal was
an isolated and sparsely settled
landmass.
• The Ganges was the dividing line
between the north and south Bengal
delta.
• The Brahmaputra, likewise, used to
flow along its older course, east of the
present channel (until the late 18th
century), and the Barind was linked
with the Madhupur Tract. The
Karatoya was a big river flowing
directly into the Bay of Bengal.

33. Early Settlement
• Periplus (68 AD) noted that
Karatoya was a mighty river
with busy marine traffic. The
Punarbhaba and Karatoya
served as the routes for the Silk
and Muslin trade between
Bengal and China. In the
southern deltaic part of the
country, the lower Ganges and
its distributaries played a
significant role in the
development of human
occupancy in subsequent
periods. With the emergence of
the Padma as the main course
of the Ganges, the agricultural
and accessibility potentials of
this part of the country
increased and encouraged
people to settle there.

34. Early Settlement
• There were 16 Maha Janapadas
(mega-settlements) in the whole
of India from the 6th to the 4th
centuries BC.
• Banga and Pundravardhana
(along with Anga, Kalinga and
Sumba) were the two areas that
had their locations in the Bengal
area.
• At the beginning of British rule,
about 40% to 50% of the total
area of Bangladesh was settled,
the rest was mainly under forest
cover and marshes. The economic
and political interests of the
colonial power have had a
significant impact on interregional
population transfer and
settlement expansion.

35. IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY
DEVELOPMENT
• Before the entry of the Aryans into the northwestern
part of this subcontinent (about 1000 BC), a number of
population groups were living in the Bengal Basin,
including the areas now forming Bangladesh.
• The predominant ethno linguistic group is the Bengali
people, who speak the Indo-Aryan Bengali language.
• Outside Bengal proper, the Indian territories
of Jharkhand, Bihar and the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands are also home to significant communities of
Bengal.

36. IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY
DEVELOPMENT
• By 500 BCE, Bengal region witnessed the rise of several powerful
states against whom the Aryan states of the Upper Ganges
launched military campaigns
• Krishna raised his status as a warrior by defeating the kings of
Vangas and Pundras. Bhimsena, subdued all the local princes of
Bengal.
• All these epic stories are indicative of the change of impression of
the Aryans about the peoples of Bengal and also of the beginning of
the influence of the Aryan culture on the indigenous societies.
• The Aryans occupying the upper Ganges Basin came in contact with
a population group whom they called the 'Nishadas', meaning wild
people. Presumably, they were the aborigines of the area now
forming Bangladesh.

37. IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY
DEVELOPMENT
• A number of population groups were living in Bengal,
the most notable being the pundra, the Vanga and the
Suhma. The Pundra and the Vanga were the earliest
ancestors of the people settling in Bengal.
• The rivers also offered fertile soil for farming and were
the main means of communication, facilitating trade
and commerce.
• The major rivers and their sub-basins separated
different population groups, and thereby the human
settlement units from each other.

38. IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY
DEVELOPMENT
• The vast majority of the population is ethnically
Bengali, an Indo-Aryan ethnic group that is a
mosaic of peoples who have crossed through the
region. About 98% of people in Bangladesh
identify with this ethnicity, making them a strong
cultural and political majority.
• As such they were the first to be resettled. In this
way much of Bengal was being populated and
brought under agriculture by the 1870s

39. IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY DEVELOPMENT
• Chandradwipa (southern Bangladesh)
• Dandabhukti (southern West Bengal)
• Gauda (parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh)
• Harikela (north-eastern Bangladesh)
• Kanyakubja (Kanauj)
• Kamrupa (Assam)
• Karna Subarna (part of West Bengal)
• Lukhnauti (North Bengal and Bihar)
• Navyabakashika (central and southern Bangladesh)
• Pundra Vardhana (now northern Bangladesh)
• Rarh (southern areas of West Bengal)
• Samatata (eastern Bangladesh)
• Subarnabithi (central Bangladesh)
• Summha Desa (south-western West Bengal)
• Vanga (central Bangladesh)
• Vangala (southern Bangladesh)
• Varendra (northern Bangladesh

40. IDENTITY AND ETHNICITY
DEVELOPMENT
• Human settlement in Bengal can be traced back 20,000 years.
Remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,300 years.
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. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural
arteries for communication and transportation. 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. From 600 BCE, the second wave
of urbanization engulfed the north Indian subcontinent, as part of
the Northern Black Polished Ware culture.

41. Part-2
Sort Film
Indo-Bengal History
(Ancient to Modern Period)
Duration: 5 mins

42. Indo-Bengal History
(Ancient to Modern Period)

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