WEST BENGAL BACKGROUND
- FROM
THE 3RD CENTURY BC THE BROADER REGION OF BENGAL FORMED PART OF ASHOKA’S
EMPIRE. IN THE 4TH CENTURY BC IT WAS ABSORBED INTO THE GUPTA EMPIRE.
- FROM THE
13TH CENTURY IT WAS UNDER MUSLIM RULE UNTIL IT CAME UNDER THE BRITISH IN THE
18TH CENTURY.
- AT INDIAN INDEPENDENCE IN 1947, BENGAL WAS PARTITIONED, THE
EASTERN SECTOR BECOMING EAST PAKISTAN (LATER BANGLADESH) AND
THE WESTERN SECTOR BECOMING INDIA’S WEST BENGAL.
- ALTHOUGH IN AREA WEST BENGAL
RANKS AS ONE OF THE SMALLER STATES OF INDIA, IT IS ONE OF THE LARGEST IN
POPULATION WITH OVER 91 MILLION PEOPLE.
