Bengali people

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Bengalis
Total population	230,000,000
Regions with significant populations	Majority populations in Bangladesh, India (West Bengal) Significant populations in the following Indian states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Tripura Significant populations in the following countries: Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Canada, United States
Language	Bengali
Religion	Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity
Related ethnic groups	Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Austro-Asiatic, Tibeto-Burman, Proto-Australoid, Assamese, Bihari, Dravidian, Oriya, Tripuri

The Bengali people are the ethnic community from Bengal (divided between India and Bangladesh) in Indian subcontinent with a history going back more than two millennia. They speak Bengali (বাংলা Bangla), a language of the eastern branch of the Indo-European languages. In their native language, they are referred to as বাঙালী Bangali. They are Indo-Aryans closely related to the Oriya, Assamese, Biharis, and other East Indians, though they are also related to the Munda, Proto-Australoid, Tibeto-Burman, Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian peoples. As a result, Bengalis are a heterogeneous and considerably diverse ethnic group. They are mostly concentrated in Bangladesh and in the state of West Bengal in India. There are also a number of Bengali communities scattered in New Delhi and also in several states of India, such as Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharastra, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa,Tripura and the North-East Indian states, as well as in other countries including Pakistan, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Middle East, UK and USA.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early history 1.2 Middle ages 1.3 Renaissance 1.4 Independence Movement 2 Culture 3 See also 4 Notes

[edit] History

Main articles: History of Bengal and History of Bangladesh

[edit] Early history

Further information: Anga, Gangaridai, Magadha, Pundra Kingdom, Suhma Kingdom and Vanga Kingdom

Remnants of civilisation in the greater Bengal region date back 4,000 years,^[1][2] when the region was settled by Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic peoples. The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown, though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang that settled in the area around the year 1000 BCE.^[3] After the arrival of Indo-Aryans, the kingdom of Magadha was formed in 7th century BCE, consisting of the Bihar and Bengal regions. It was one of the four main kingdoms of India at the time of Buddha and was one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas. Under the Maurya dynasty founded by Chandragupta Maurya, the Magadha Empire extended over nearly all of South Asia, including parts of Persia and Afghanistan under Ashoka the Great in the 3rd century BCE. One of the earliest foreign references to Bengal is the mention of a land named Gangaridai by the Greeks around 100 BCE. The word is speculated to have come from Gangahrd (Land with the Ganges in its heart) in reference to an area in Bengal.^[4]

[edit] Middle ages

Further information: Pala Empire, Sena dynasty,

From the 3rd to the 6th centuries CE, the kingdom of Magadha served as the seat of the Gupta Empire. The first recorded independent king of Bengal was Shashanka, reigning around early 7th century.^[5] After a period of anarchy, the Buddhist Pala dynasty ruled the region for four hundred years, followed by a shorter reign of the Hindu Sena dynasty. Islam was introduced to Bengal in the twelfth century by Sufi missionaries. Subsequent Muslim conquests helped spread Islam throughout the region.^[6] Bakhtiar Khilji, a Turkic general of the Slave dynasty of Delhi Sultanate, defeated Lakshman Sen of the Sena dynasty and conquered large parts of Bengal. Consequently, the region was ruled by dynasties of sultans and feudal lords under the Delhi Sultanate for the next few hundred years. In the sixteenth century, Mughal general Islam Khan conquered Bengal. However, administration by governors appointed by the court of the Mughal Empire gave way to semi-independence of the area under the Nawabs of Murshidabad, who nominally respected the sovereignty of the Mughals in Delhi.

[edit] Renaissance

Main article: Bengal Renaissance

[edit] Independence Movement

Further information: Indian Independence movement

Bengalis also played a notable part in the independence movement. Many of the early proponents of the freedom struggle were educated Bengalis such as Chittranjan Das and S.N.Bannerjee; subsequently others such as Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chaki, Khudiram Bose and Rashbehari Bose were part of the more militant "extremists". Among the muslims, A. K. Fazlul Huq and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy were the most prominent Bengali leaders of British India's independence movement.

[edit] Culture

Main article: Bengali culture

The Bengalis are known for their artistic and cultural achievements. Noted Bengali authors, playwrights, music composers, painters and film-makers have played a significant role in the evolution and development of Indian artistic expression. The Bengal renaissance of the 19th century was brought about when the British introduced Western education and ideas. Among the various Indian cultures, the Bengalis were relatively quick to adapt to the British rule and actually use its principles (such as the judiciary and the legislature) in the subsequent political struggle for independence. The Bengali renaissance contained the seeds of a nascent Political Indian Nationalism and was the precursor in many ways to modern Indian artistic and cultural expression. The Bengali poet and novelist, Rabindranath Tagore became the first Nobel laureate from Asia when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.

[edit] See also

• List of Bengalis
• List of Bangladeshis
• List of people from West Bengal

[edit] Notes