Bengal Subah
Bengal Subah (1576–1717) Bengal State (1717–1793) | |||||||||||||||||
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| 1576–1793 | |||||||||||||||||
Flag of Nawab of Bengal after 1717
Coat of arms
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Map of the Bengal Subah in 1733 under the Nawabs of Bengal | |||||||||||||||||
| Status | Subah/Province of the Mughal Empire | ||||||||||||||||
| Capital |
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| Common languages | |||||||||||||||||
| Religion |
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| Government |
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| Subahdars/Nawab Nazims (see below) | |||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Early modern period | ||||||||||||||||
• Battle of Raj Mahal | 12 July 1576 | ||||||||||||||||
• Baro Bhuiyan revolt | 1571–1611 | ||||||||||||||||
• Establishment of Jahangirnagar | 1608 | ||||||||||||||||
• Self-governance | 1717 | ||||||||||||||||
• Maratha invasions | April 1741–March 1751 | ||||||||||||||||
| 23 June 1757 | |||||||||||||||||
• Battle of Buxar | 22–23 October 1764 | ||||||||||||||||
• Treaty of Allahabad | 16 August 1765 | ||||||||||||||||
• Grant of administration and judiciary to Company | 1793 | ||||||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||||||
| 1600[11] | 233,930[9] km2 (90,320 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||
| c. 1781 | 386,470[10] km2 (149,220 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||||||
• 1600[11] | 12,919,000 (7th) | ||||||||||||||||
• 1700[12] | 15,789,000 (5th) | ||||||||||||||||
| 30,000,000 | |||||||||||||||||
| GDP (PPP) | estimate | ||||||||||||||||
• Total | 1600: $11.52 billion (7th)[14] 1700: $14.08 billion (9th)[15] | ||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Taka | ||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||||||||
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| History of Bengal |
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The Bengal Subah (Bengali: সুবাহ বাংলা, Persian: صوبه بنگاله), also referred to as Mughal Bengal and Bengal State (after 1717), was the largest subdivision of The Mughal Empire encompassing much of the Bengal region, which includes modern-day Bangladesh, the Indian state of West Bengal, and some parts of the present-day Indian states of Bihar (from 1733), Jharkhand and Odisha between the 16th and 18th centuries. The province was established following the dissolution of the Bengal Sultanate, a major trading nation in the world, when the region was absorbed into the Mughal Empire. Bengal was the wealthiest region in the Indian subcontinent.
The Bengal Subah has been variously described the "Paradise of Nations"[16] and the "Golden Age of Bengal".[17] It alone accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia.[18] The eastern part of Bengal was globally prominent in industries such as textile manufacturing and shipbuilding,[19] and it was a major exporter of silk and cotton textiles, steel, saltpeter, and agricultural and industrial produce in the world.[20] The region was also the basis of the Anglo-Bengal War.[21]
By the 18th century, Bengal emerged as a de-facto independent state,[22][23] under the rule of the Nawabs of Bengal, who acted on Mughal sovereignty. It started to undergo proto-industrialization, making significant contributions to the first Industrial Revolution,[24][25][26][27] especially industrial textile manufacturing. In 1757 and 1764, the British East India Company defeated the Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey and the Battle of Buxar, and Bengal came under British influence. It was deindustrialized[24][25][26][20] after being conquered by the Company. In 1765, Emperor Shah Alam II granted the office of the Diwani of Bengal (second-highest office in a province, included revenue rights) to the Company and the office of the Nizamat of Bengal (highest office, administrative and judicial rights) in 1793.[28] The Nawab of Bengal, who previously possessed both these offices, was now formally powerless and became a titular monarch.
- ^ Era, Mahmuda Iasmin (2023). The 'Swadeshi Jinish' from the 'Didima Company': An analysis of the connection between Thakurmar Jhuli by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder and nationalism in Bengal in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (Doctoral dissertation). Memorial University of Newfoundland. [1]
- ^ Akhtaruzzaman, Muhammad (2012). "Tandah". In Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir (eds.). Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. OL 30677644M. Retrieved 19 September 2025.
- ^ "Rajmahal – India". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "Dhaka – national capital, Bangladesh". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ Sarkar, Jadunath. The History of Bengal. Vol. II. Dhaka: University of Dhaka. p. 224. ISBN 978-81-7646-239-6.
The climax of the movement was reached after Murshid Quli Khan had established in Bengal what was practically a Shia dynasty, ever ready to welcome and honour the wandering talent and piety of the centre of that creed.
- ^ Rieck, Andreas (15 January 2016). The Shias of Pakistan: An Assertive and Beleaguered Minority. Oxford University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-19-061320-4.
From 1701 until the British conquest of 1757, Bengal was ruled by Shia governors appointed by the Mughals but de facto almost independent. Since that time huge imâmbârgâhs were built and estates designated as auqâf for the promotion of 'azâdârî by Iranian merchants and their descendants in Bengal towns like Murshidabad and Hoogly, which also attracted many Shia 'ulamâ' from both India and Iran.
- ^ Rizvi, Saiyid Athar Abbas (1986). A Socio-intellectual History of the Isnā 'Asharī Shī'īs in India: 16th to 19th century A.D. Vol. 2. Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers. pp. 45–47.
- ^ Rieck, Andreas (15 January 2016). The Shias of Pakistan: An Assertive and Beleaguered Minority. Oxford University Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-19-061320-4.
- ^ Habib, Irfan (1986). "Table I: Area and ʽJama of the Mughal Empire, c. 1601". An Atlas of the Mughal Empire: Political and Economic Maps with Detained Notes, Bibliography and Index. Oxford University Press. pp. xii–xiii. ISBN 978-0-19-560379-8.
- ^ Rennell, James (1781). A Bengal atlas: containing maps of the theatre of war and commerce on that side of Hindoostan. p. 29.
- ^ Avakov, Alexander V. (2017). Two Thousand Years of Economic Statistics, Volume 1: By Rank. Population, GDP at PPP, and GDP per Capita, Years 1 to 2014.
- ^ Avakov, Alexander V. (2017). Two Thousand Years of Economic Statistics, Volume 1: By Rank. Population, GDP at PPP, and GDP per Capita, Years 1 to 2014.
- ^ Janam Mukherjee (2015). Hungry Bengal: War, Famine and the End of Empire. Oxford University Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-19-020988-9. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
- ^ Alexander V. Avakov, Alexander V. (2017). Two Thousand Years of Economic Statistics, Volume 1: By Rank. Population, GDP at PPP, and GDP per Capita, Years 1 to 2014. p. 288.
- ^ Alexander V. Avakov, Alexander V. (2017). Two Thousand Years of Economic Statistics, Volume 1: By Rank. Population, GDP at PPP, and GDP per Capita, Years 1 to 2014. p. 291.
- ^ Steel, Tim (19 December 2014). "The paradise of nations". Op-ed. Dhaka Tribune. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
- ^ Islam, Sirajul (1992). History of Bangladesh, 1704–1971: Economic history. Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 978-984-512-337-2.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Prakashwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Indrajit Ray (2011). Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution (1757–1857). Routledge. pp. 57, 90, 174. ISBN 978-1-136-82552-1. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
starwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Vaughn, James M. (March 2018). "John Company Armed: The English East India Company, the Anglo-Mughal War and Absolutist Imperialism, c. 1675–1690". Britain and the World. 11 (1): 101–137. doi:10.3366/brw.2017.0283.
- ^ Era, Mahmuda Iasmin (2023). The 'Swadeshi Jinish' from the 'Didima Company': An analysis of the connection between Thakurmar Jhuli by Dakshinaranjan Mitra Majumder and nationalism in Bengal in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century (Doctoral dissertation). Memorial University of Newfoundland. [2]
- ^ Nitish K, Sengupta (2011). Land of Two Rivers A History of Bengal from the Mahabharata to Mujib. Penguin Books India. p. 16. ISBN 9780143416784.
- ^ a b Junie T. Tong (2016). Finance and Society in 21st Century China: Chinese Culture Versus Western Markets. CRC Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-317-13522-7.
- ^ a b John L. Esposito, ed. (2004). The Islamic World: Past and Present. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-19-516520-3. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ^ a b Indrajit Ray (2011). Bengal Industries and the British Industrial Revolution (1757–1857). Routledge. pp. 7–10. ISBN 978-1-136-82552-1. Archived from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
senguptawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ The Bengalis. p. 143.