Bengal Presidency

Coordinates: 22°33′58″N 88°20′47″E / 22.5660°N 88.3464°E / 22.5660; 88.3464
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Presidency of Fort William in Bengal
(1699–1935)[1]
Province of Bengal
(1935–1947)[2]
1699–1947
Flag of Bengal Presidency
Flag
Sir Frederick Burrows
H. S. Suhrawardy
LegislatureLegislature of Bengal
• 
Division of Bengal during the Partition of India
1947
Population
• 1770
30,000,000[4]
CurrencyIndian rupee, Pound sterling, Straits dollar
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Bengal Subah
Konbaung Dynasty
Dutch Malacca
Kedah Sultanate
Dutch Bengal
French India
Danish India
Ahom Kingdom
Dimasa Kingdom
Matak Kingdom
Jaintia Kingdom
1853:
Punjab Province
1861:
Ajmer-Merwara Province
1862:
Burma Province
1867:
Straits Settlements
1871:
Central Provinces
1874:
North-East Frontier
1887:
North-Western Provinces and Oudh
1905:
Eastern Bengal and Assam
1912:
Bihar and Orissa Province
1947:
East Bengal
West Bengal
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The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal and later Bengal Province, was a

capital of India
until 1911.

The Bengal Presidency emerged from trading posts established in the

East India Company Act 1813
transferred sovereignty of the Company's territories to the Crown.

In 1836, the upper territories of the Bengal Presidency were organised into the Agra Division or North-Western Provinces and administered by a lieutenant-governor within the Presidency. The lower territories were organised into the Bengal Division and put in charge of lieutenant-governor as well in 1853. The office of the governor of the Presidency was abolished and the Presidency existed as only a nominal entity under the dual government of the two lieutenant-governors at

Bengali Renaissance.[7] as well as education, politics, law, science and the arts. It was home to the largest city in India and the second-largest city in the British Empire.[8]

At its territorial height in the mid nineteenth century, the Bengal Presidency extended from the

Bihar and Orissa
became a separate province.

In 1862, the

Partition of British India in 1947 resulted in the second partition of Bengal on religious grounds into East Bengal
(present-day Bangladesh) and West Bengal.

History

Background

Jahangir first permitted the East India Company (EIC) to trade in Bengal

In 1599, a

Queen Elizabeth I to allow the creation of a trading company in London for the purposes of trade with the East Indies. The governance of the company was placed in the hands of a governor and a 24-member Court of Directors. The corporation became known as the Honourable East India Company (HEIC). It became the most powerful corporation of its time, with control over half of world trade. Edmund Burke described the company as "a state in the guise of a merchant".[15] It was described as a "state within a state", and even "an empire within an empire".[16] The company was given a monopoly for British trade in the Indian Ocean.[17]

In 1608,

Jagat Seth. The Nawabs began entering into treaties with numerous European companies, including the French East India Company, the Dutch East India Company, and the Danish East India Company
.

The Mughal court in Delhi was weakened by

Orrisa and paid Rs. 1.2 million annually as the chauth.[21] The Nawab of Bengal also paid Rs. 3.2 million to the Marathas, towards the arrears of chauth for the preceding years.[22]

In June 1756 the company's factories at Cossimbazar[23] and Calcutta were besieged and captured by the forces of the Nawab of Bengal, with the company's goods, treasure and weapons seized.[24][unreliable source?] Calcutta being renamed Alinagar in honour of the Siraj ud-Daulah's predecessor. A Company force, led by Watson and Robert Clive, recaptured Fort William in January 1757, with the Nawab, Siraj ud-Daulah, agreeing the Treaty of Alinagar, reestablishing the company's right to trade in Bengal, and fortify Fort William. In parallel Robert Clive conspired with Jagat Seth, Omichand and Mir Jafar to install the latter on the musnud of Bengal, a plan that they would implement in June 1757.[25]

The East India Company's victories at the

trust for the British Crown.[27]
The company also issued coins in the name of the nominal Mughal Emperor (who was exiled in 1857).

Administrative changes and the Permanent Settlement

See also: Cornwallis in India
Siraj-ud-Daulah
The Impeachment of Warren Hastings

Under

Lord Cornwallis, then Governor-General, he ascertained and defined the rights of the landholders over the soil. These landholders under the previous system had started, for the most part, as collectors of the revenues, and gradually acquired certain prescriptive rights as quasi-proprietors of the estates entrusted to them by the government. In 1793 Lord Cornwallis declared their rights perpetual, and gave over the land of Bengal to the previous quasi-proprietors or zamindars, on condition of the payment of a fixed land tax. This piece of legislation is known as the Permanent Settlement
of the Land Revenue. It was designed to "introduce" ideas of property rights to India, and stimulate a market in land. The former aim misunderstood the nature of landholding in India, and the latter was an abject failure.

The Cornwallis Code, while defining the rights of the proprietors, failed to give adequate recognition to the rights of the under-tenants and the cultivators. This remained a serious problem for the duration of British Rule, as throughout the Bengal Presidency ryots (peasants) found themselves oppressed by rack-renting landlords, who knew that every rupee they could squeeze from their tenants over and above the fixed revenue demanded from the Government represented pure profit. Furthermore, the Permanent Settlement took no account of inflation, meaning that the value of the revenue to Government declined year by year, whilst the heavy burden on the peasantry grew no less. This was compounded in the early 19th century by compulsory schemes for the cultivation of opium and indigo, the former by the state, and the latter by British planters. Peasants were forced to grow a certain area of these crops, which were then purchased at below market rates for export. This added greatly to rural poverty.

Government of India Acts of 1833 and 1853

In 1833, the British Parliament enacted the

Lord Curzon
, the Viceroy.

Straits Settlements

Johnston's Pier, Singapore, c. 1900

In 1830, the British Straits Settlements on the coast of the

Malacca Straits was made a residency of the Presidency of Bengal in Calcutta. The area included the erstwhile Prince of Wales Island and Province Wellesley, as well as the ports of Malacca and Singapore.[12]

Under the administration of the East India Company, the Settlements were used as

penal settlements for Indian civilian and military prisoners,[29] earning them the title of the "Botany Bays of India".[30]: 29  The years 1852 and 1853 saw minor uprisings by convicts in Singapore and Penang.[31]: 91  Upset with East India Company rule, in 1857 the European population of the Settlements sent a petition to the British Parliament[32]
asking for direct rule.

Victorian Era

In 1859, under the terms of the Queen's Proclamation issued by Queen Victoria, the Bengal Presidency, along with the rest of British India, came under the direct rule of the British Crown.[33]

1905 Partition of Bengal

Main articles: Partition of Bengal (1905) and Eastern Bengal and Assam
Lord Curzon, who announced the creation of Eastern Bengal and Assam
on 16 October 1905.

The partition of the large province of Bengal, which was decided upon by Lord Curzon, and Cayan Uddin Ahmet, the Chief Secretary of Bengal carried into execution in October 1905. The

Korea, Surguja, Udaipur and Jashpur State, were transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces; and Sambalpur State and the five Oriya states of Bamra, Rairakhol, Sonepur, Patna and Kalahandi were transferred from the Central Provinces
to Bengal.

The remaining province of Bengal then consisted of the thirty-three districts of

Chhota Nagpur
were not part of Bengal, but British relations with them were managed by its government.

The Indian Councils Act 1909 expanded the legislative councils of Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam provinces to include up to 50 nominated and elected members, in addition to three ex officio members from the executive council.[34]

Bengal's legislative council included 22 nominated members, of which not more than 17 could be officials, and two nominated experts. Of the 26 elected members, one was elected by the

Corporation of Calcutta, six by municipalities, six by district boards, one by the University of Calcutta, five by landholders, four by Muslims, two by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, and one by the Calcutta Trades Association. Eastern Bengal and Assam's legislative council included 22 nominated members, of which not more than 17 be officials and one representing Indian commerce, and two nominated experts. Of the 18 elected members, three were elected by municipalities, five by district and local boards, two by landowners, four by Muslims, two by the tea interest, one by the jute interest, and one by the Commissioners of the Port of Chittagong.[35]

The partition of Bengal proved highly controversial, as it resulted in a largely Hindu West Bengal and a largely Muslim East. Serious popular agitation followed the step, partly on the grounds that this was part of a cynical policy of divide and rule, and partly that the Bengali population, the centre of whose interests and prosperity was Calcutta, would now be divided under two governments, instead of being concentrated and numerically dominant under the one, while the bulk would be in the new division. In 1906–1909 the unrest developed to a considerable extent, requiring special attention from the Indian and Home governments, and this led to the decision being reversed in 1911.

Reorganisation of Bengal, 1912

In 1911, King-Emperor George V announced the annulment of the first partition of Bengal and the transfer of India's capital from Calcutta to New Delhi

At the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, Emperor George V announced the transfer of the seat of the Government of India from Calcutta to Delhi, the reunification of the five predominantly Bengali-speaking divisions into a unified province of Bengal under a Governor, the creation of a new province of Bihar and Orissa under a lieutenant-governor, and that Assam Province would be reconstituted under a chief commissioner. On 21 March 1912 Thomas Gibson-Carmichael was appointed Governor of Bengal. On 22 March the provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and Assam were constituted.[36]

The Government of India Act 1919 increased the number of nominated and elected members of the legislative council from 50 to 125, and the franchise was expanded.[37] Bihar and Orissa became separate provinces in 1936. Bengal remained in its 1912 boundaries until Independence in 1947, when it was again partitioned between the dominions of India and Pakistan.

1947 Partition of Bengal

On 8 May 1947, Viceroy

Sylhet referendum gave a mandate for the District of Sylhet
to be re-united into Bengal. However, Hindu nationalist leaders in West Bengal and conservative East Bengali Muslim leaders were against the prospect.

On 20 June 1947, the Bengal Legislative Assembly met to vote on partition plans. At the preliminary joint session, the assembly decided by 126 votes to 90 that if it remained united it should join the new Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Later, a separate meeting of legislators from West Bengal decided by 58 votes to 21 that the province should be partitioned and that West Bengal should join the existing Constituent Assembly of India. In another separate meeting of legislators from East Bengal, it was decided by 106 votes to 35 that the province should not be partitioned and 107 votes to 34 that East Bengal should join Pakistan in the event of partition.[39] There was no vote held on the proposal for an independent United Bengal.

Government

See also: List of governors of Bengal Presidency and Legislatures of British India
Fort William, 1828

Initially, Bengal was under the administration of the East India Company, which appointed chief agents/presidents/governors/lieutenant governors in Fort William. The governor of Bengal was concurrently the governor-general of India for many years. The East India Company maintained control with its private armies and administrative machinery. Nevertheless, the East India Company was a quasi-official entity, having received a

Viceroy of India was based in the Bengal Presidency until 1911. The Secretary of State for India was also an important official. The Bengal Civil Service managed the provincial government. Modern scholars decry the colonial system as bureaucratic authoritarianism.[40]

Executive councils

Established by

Charter Act of 1833, the Governor-General in Council
was subordinate to the Court of Directors of the East India Company and the British Crown. The Governor-General in Council in Fort William enacted legislation, such as the prohibition of Persian as an official language under Act no. XXIX of 1837 passed by the President of the Council of India in Council on 20 November 1837.

Judiciary

Calcutta High Court, 1860s

The

magistrates. In 1829, magisterial power was given to all Collectors and Revenue Officers. The controversy regarding the lack of separation of powers continued until 1921.[41]

Bengal Legislative Council (1862–1947)

Main article: Bengal Legislative Council
See also:
Legislative Council of Eastern Bengal and Assam
The Legislative Council met in Calcutta Town Hall

The British government began to appoint legislative councils under the

upper chamber
of the Bengali legislature.

Dyarchy (1920–1937)

British India's

dyarchy, whereby certain responsibilities such as agriculture, health, education, and local government, were transferred to elected ministers. However, the important portfolios like finance, police and irrigation were reserved with members of the Governor's Executive Council. Some of the prominent ministers were Surendranath Banerjee (Local Self-government and Public Health 1921–1923), Sir Provash Chunder Mitter (Education 1921–1924, Local Self-government, Public Health, Agriculture and Public Works 1927–1928), Nawab Saiyid Nawab Ali Chaudhuri (Agriculture and Public Works) and A. K. Fazlul Huq (Education 1924). Bhupendra Nath Bose and Sir Abdur Rahim were Executive Members in the Governor's Council.[42]

Bengal Legislative Assembly (1935–1947)

Main article: Bengal Legislative Assembly

The Government of India Act 1935 established the Bengal Legislative Assembly as the lower chamber of the Bengali legislature. It was a 250-seat assembly where most members were elected by either the General Electorate or the Muslim Electorate (under the Communal Award). Other members were nominated. The separate electorate dividing Muslims from the general electorate was deeply controversial. The Prime Minister of Bengal was a member of the assembly.

The first elected cabinet of Bengal led by A. K. Fazlul Huq in 1937

In the

Viceroy's Defence Council in support of Allied war efforts. In a letter to Governor John Herbert, Huq called for the resurrection of a Bengal Army. He wrote "I want you to consent to the formation of a Bengali Army of a hundred thousand young Bengalis consisting of Hindu and Muslim youths on a fifty-fifty basis. There is an insistent demand for such a step being taken at once, and the people of Bengal will not be satisfied with any excuses. It is a national demand which must be immediately conceded".[46] Huq supported the adoption of the Lahore Resolution
in 1940. He envisaged Bengal as one of the "independent states" outlined by the resolution.

The first Huq cabinet dissolved after the BPML withdrew from his government. Huq then formed a second coalition with the

Governor's rule. After the end of World War II, elections were held in 1946 in which the BPML won an overwhelming majority of 113 seats in the 250-seat assembly. A government under Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was formed.[47] Prime Minister Suhrawardy continued with the policy of power-sharing between Hindus and Muslims. He also advocated a plan for a Bengali sovereign state with a multiconfessionalist political system. The breakdown of Hindu-Muslim unity across India eventually upended Bengali power-sharing. Religious violence, including the Noakhali riots and Direct Action Day
riots, contributed to the polarization. When the Bengal Assembly met to vote on Partition, most West Bengali legislators held a separate meeting and resolved to partition the province and join the Indian union. Most East Bengali legislators favored an undivided Bengal.

The Bengal Assembly was divided into the

East Bengal Legislative Assembly
during the Partition of British India.

Civil liberties

English common law was applied to Bengal. Local legislation was enacted by the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly. Case law was also an important source of law. Many laws enacted in British Bengal are still in use today, including the Indian Penal Code. In 1919, the Rowlatt Act extended wartime powers under the Defence of India Act 1915, including arbitrary arrests and trial without juries. Press freedom was muzzled by the Indian Press Act 1910. The Seditious Meetings Act 1908 curtailed freedom of assembly. Regulation III of 1818 was also considered draconian. King George V granted a royal amnesty to free political prisoners. Some draconian laws were repealed, including the Rowlatt Act.[48] Despite being a common law jurisdiction, British India did not enjoy the same level of protection for civil liberties as in the United Kingdom. It was only after independence in 1947 and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
in 1948, that human rights were clearly enshrined in law.

Princely states

The 13th Dalai Lama in Calcutta in 1910

Hill Tipperah
.

Himalayan kingdoms

Bengal was strategically important for the Himalayan regions of Nepal,

Qing China
's supremacy over Tibet.

Foreign relations

Tomb of Jonathan Henry Lovett (1779–1805), who acted as Bengali ambassador to Qajar Persia.

The United States of America began sending envoys to Fort William in the 18th century. President

Consulate General
was established during formal British rule. A consular agency for Chittagong was created in the 1860s. Many other countries also set up consulates in Calcutta.

Education

Statue of Lord William Bentinck in Calcutta Victoria Memorial. As Governor-General, Bentinck made English the medium of instruction in schools and phased out Persian.
Raja Ram Mohun Roy
, a native reformer and educationist

British rule saw the establishment of

liberal arts colleges
in many districts of Bengal. There were only two full-fledged universities in Bengal during British rule, including the University of Calcutta and the University of Dacca. Both universities were represented in the Bengal Legislative Assembly under the Government of India Act 1935.

Primary education was mandatory under the Compulsory Education Acts.

Chittagong Collegiate School in Chittagong. European missionaries, Hindu philanthropists and Muslim aristocrats were influential promoters of education. Ethnic minorities maintained their own institutions, such as the Armenian Pogose School
.

Each district of Bengal had a

Lord Northbrook. Other libraries built include the Victoria Public Library, Natore (1901), the Sirajganj Public Library (1882), the Rajshahi Public Library (1884), the Comilla Birchandra Library (1885), the Shah Makhdum Institute Public Library, Rajshahi (1891), the Noakhali Town Hall Public Library (1896), the Prize Memorial Library, Sylhet (1897), the Chittagong Municipality Public Library (1904) and the Varendra Research Library (1910). In 1925, the Great Bengal Library Association was established.[51]

Europeans played an important role in modernizing the Bengali language. The first book on Bengali grammar was compiled by a Portuguese missionary.[52] English was the official language. The use of Persian as an official language was discontinued by Act no. XXIX of 1837 passed by the President of the Council of India in Council on 20 November 1837. However, Persian continued to be taught in some institutions. Several institutions had Sanskrit and Arabic faculties.[53] The following includes a partial list of notable colleges, universities and learned societies in the Bengal Presidency.

Economy

Calcutta Port, 1885
Labourers at a jute mill in the Port of Narayanganj, 1906

In Bengal, the British inherited from the Mughals the biggest revenue earnings in the Indian subcontinent. For example, the revenue of pre-colonial Dhaka alone was 1 million rupees in the 18th century (a high amount in that era).

Indian Mutiny in 1857. In 1858, the British government gained direct control of Indian administration. Bengal was plugged into the market-driven economy and trade networks of the British Empire
.

Silver rupee coins from the Bengal Presidency, struck in the name of Shah Alam II, minted in Calcutta.

The Bengal Presidency had the largest gross domestic product in British India.[57] The first British colonial banks in the Indian subcontinent were founded in Bengal. These included the General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (1733); Bank of Hindostan (1770), Bank of Bengal (1784); and the General Bank of India (1786). Other banks in Bengal included the Bank of Calcutta (1806), Union Bank (1829); Government Savings Bank (1833); The Bank of Mirzapore (c. 1835); Dacca Bank (1846); Kurigram Bank (1887), Kumarkhali Bank (1896), Mahaluxmi Bank, Chittagong (1910), Dinajpur Bank (1914), Comilla Banking Corporation (1914), Bengal Central Bank (1918), and Comilla Union Bank (1922).[58] Loan offices were established in Faridpur (1865), Bogra (1872), Barisal (1873), Mymensingh (1873), Nasirabad (1875), Jessore (1876), Munshiganj (1876), Dacca (1878), Sylhet (1881), Pabna (1882), Kishoreganj (1883), Noakhali (1885), Khulna (1887), Madaripur (1887), Tangail (1887), Nilphamari (1894) and Rangpur (1894).[58]

The earliest records of securities dealings are the loan securities of the

Burn Standard Company and Andrew Yule and Company
. Some of these enterprises were nationalized after the Partition of India.

Lord Dalhousie
is credited for developing railways, telegraph and postal services

Agricultural products included rice, sugarcane and vegetables. The main cash crops were

Burma Campaign
.

The

Atlantic.[65] Calcutta was also an important naval base in World War II
and was bombed by the Japanese.

townhouses
built for wealthy textile merchants.

Tea became a major export of Bengal. Northwestern Bengal became the center of Darjeeling tea cultivation in the foothills of the Himalayas. Darjeeling tea became one of the most reputed tea varieties in the world. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway was constructed in the tea plantation zone.[67] In eastern Bengal, the Sylhet and Chittagong hilly regions became hubs of tea production. Assam tea was produced in the northeastern part of the Bengal Presidency.

Aside from the British, the chief beneficiaries of the colonial economy were the Zamindars (landed gentry). The Permanent Settlement enforced a system in which peasants were indebted to the Zamindars. The peasants rented land from the Zamindars and became tenant farmers. Strong control of land by the Zamindars meant the British had few headaches in exploiting trade and business. However, Bengal received little attention for industrialization due to the entrenched peasant-zamindar relationship under the Permanent Settlement.[68] The Zamindars of Bengal built mansions, lodges, modern bungalows, townhouses, and palaces on their estates. Some of the largest mansions include the Hazarduari Palace in Murshidabad, the Ahsan Manzil on the Nawab of Dhaka's estate, the Marble Palace in Calcutta, and the Cooch Behar Palace.

Infrastructure and transport

Railways

The certificate of a shareholder in the Bengal Provincial Railway Company Limited

After the invention of railways in Britain, British India became the first region in Asia to have a railway. The

sal tree wood were imported from Nepal to design the sleepers.[69][70] In 1862, railways were introduced to eastern Bengal with the Eastern Bengal Railway. The first line connected Calcutta and Kushtia. By 1865, the railway was extended to Rajbari on the banks of the Padma River. By 1902, the railway was extended to Assam. The Assam Bengal Railway was established to serve the northeastern part of the Bengal Presidency, with its terminus in Chittagong.[71]

The

Oudh region with Calcutta. Several railway bridges, such as the Hardinge Bridge, were built over rivers in Bengal. In 1999, UNESCO recognized the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway as a World Heritage Site
.

Roads and highways

In the 1830s the East India Company began to rebuild the ancient Grand Trunk Road into a paved highway. The company required the road for commercial and administrative purposes. It linked Calcutta to Peshawar in the North-West Frontier Province. For the project, the company founded a college to train and employ local surveyors, engineers, and overseers.[72][73] In the east, the road extended to Sonargaon, Comilla and Chittagong. After the first partition of Bengal in 1905, newly built highways connected the inaccessible areas of Assam and the Chittagong Hill Tracts. All district towns were connected by an inter-district road network.[74]

Waterways

The Viceroy of India arrives in the Port of Dhaka in 1908

A ghat in Bengal refers to a

Port of Calcutta, the Port of Dhaka, the Port of Narayanganj and Goalundo Ghat
.

After the first partition of Bengal in 1905, a number of new ferry services were introduced connecting Chittagong, Dhaka, Bogra, Dinajpur, Rangpur, Jalpaiguri, Maldah and Rajshahi. This improved communication network boosted trade and commerce.[74]

Aviation

See also: History of aviation in Bangladesh
Chittagong Airfield

An early attempt at manned flight in Bengal was by a young female

Buriganga. But a gusting wind carried her off to the gardens of Shahbag, where her balloon became stuck in a tree. During her rescue from the tree she fell and died two days later. Jennette is interred in the Christian graveyard at Narinda in Old Dhaka.[75]

An airfield opened next to a

Burma Campaign. Aircraft of the United States Army Air Forces
were also stationed in Bengal.

The following includes a partial list of airports and airfields established during British rule in Bengal. Airfields were used by Allied Forces during World War II.

Military

Bengal Horse Artillery, 1860
Bengal Sappers in Kabul, 1879

The

sowars who previously formed the cavalry of the Mughal army.[86][87][88] The Gurkhas were also recruited under the Bengal Army. In 1895, the Bengal Army was merged into the British Indian Army
. The British Indian Army had a Bengal Command between 1895 and 1908.

Major military engagements affecting British Bengal included the

Commonwealth War Cemetery, Chittagong and Mainamati War Cemetery, which are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
.

Famines and other natural disasters

Main article: British Raj § Famines, epidemics, public health
The Bengal famine of 1943

Colonial India as well as the Bengal Presidency suffered from the

British Parliament to gradually remove the monopoly of the East India Company, curtail the company's powers and eventually replace it with crown rule. Warren Hastings, Governor of Bengal, was censured for the abuses of the company. Ironically, Hastings had set about to reform the company's practices and was later acquitted of any wrongdoing.[citation needed] During the trial of Hastings, Edmund Burke delivered a scathing indictment of malpractice by the company, condemning it for "injustice and treachery against the faith of nations". Burke stated:[89]

With various instances of extortion and other deeds of maladministration ... With impoverishing and depopulating the whole country ... with a wanton and unjust, and pernicious, exercise of his powers ... in overturning the ancient establishments of the country ... With cruelties unheard of and devastations almost without name ... Crimes which have their rise in the wicked dispositions of men – in avarice, rapacity, pride, cruelty, malignity, haughtiness, insolence, ferocity, treachery, cruelty, malignity of temper – in short, nothing that does not argue a total extinction of all moral principle, that does not manifest an inveterate blackness of heart, a heart blackened to the very blackest, a heart corrupted, gangrened to the core ... We have brought before you the head [Hastings] ... one in whom all the frauds, all the peculations, all the violence, all the tyranny in India are embodied.

In 1876, about 200,000 Bengalis were killed in Barisal as a result of the 1876 Bengal cyclone.[90]

The Bengal Presidency endured a vast famine between

1873 and 1874. The Bengal famine of 1943 killed an estimated 3 million people during World War II. People died of starvation, malaria, or other diseases aggravated by malnutrition, population displacement, and lack of healthcare. Britain's wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill has been held responsible for the famine by prominent Indians, including politician Shashi Tharoor.[91][92] When British civil servants sent letters to London regarding the famine situation, Churchill once responded by saying "Why hasn't Gandhi died yet?".[93][91] Many scholars, however, argue that it is an exaggeration to blame him for the wartime hunger crisis. The real cause was the fall of Burma to the Japanese, which cut off India's major supply of rice imports when domestic sources fell short, which they did in Eastern Bengal following a devastating cyclone in mid-October 1942.[94] Lizzie Collingham holds the massive global dislocations of supplies caused by World War II virtually guaranteed that hunger would occur somewhere in the world, yet Churchill's racism toward the Indians decided the exact location where famine would fall.[95]

Culture

Literary development

Rabindranath Tagore (while in London in 1879) and Kazi Nazrul Islam (while in the British Indian Army in 1917–1920)

The English language replaced Persian as the official language of administration. The use of Persian was prohibited by Act no. XXIX of 1837 passed by the President of the Council of India in Council on 20 November 1837,[53][96] bringing an end to six centuries of Indo-Persian culture in Bengal. The Bengali language received increased attention. European missionaries produced the first modern books on Bengali grammar. In pre-colonial times, Hindus and Muslims would be highly attached to their liturgical languages, including Sanskrit and Arabic. Under British rule, the use of Bengali widened and it was strengthened as the lingua franca of the native population. Novels began to be written in Bengali. The literary polymath Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. The cultural activist Kazi Nazrul Islam gained popularity as British India's Rebel Poet. Jagadish Chandra Bose pioneered Bengali science fiction. Begum Rokeya, author of Sultana's Dream, became an early feminist science fiction author.

Media

The frontpage of Hicky's Bengal Gazette on 29 January 1780

Numerous newspapers were published in British Bengal since the 18th century. Many were in English.

Dacca News and The Bengal Times. Radio channels began transmitting in 1927.[98]

Visual arts

The Company style of Mughal miniatures
Johann Zoffany of Governor-General Warren Hastings and his wife Marian at their garden in Alipore

The Company School of Painting in Calcutta, Murshidabad, and Patna saw Mughal miniatures absorb images of British colonial officials in place of Mughal officials.

Bengal school of painting evolved in the province. European sculptures were widely imported by wealthy Zamindars. In the 1940s, Zainul Abedin
emerged as a modernist painter depicting poverty and the Bengal famine.

Calcutta Time

Calcutta Time was the time zone of the Bengal Presidency. It was established in 1884. It was one of the two time zones of British India. In the latter part of the 19th century, Calcutta Time was the most prevalent time used in the Indian part of the British Empire with records of astronomical and geological events recorded in it.[100][101]

Cinema

Alibaba, a 1939 Bengali film based on the
Arabian Nights

The

Star Theater, Minerva Theater
, and Classic Theater in Calcutta.

The

talkies
.

In 1927–28, the

Dhaka Nawab Family produced a short film named Sukumary (The Good Girl).[103] After the success of Sukumary, the Nawab's family went for a bigger venture.[104] To make a full-length silent film, a temporary studio was made in the gardens of the family's estate, and they produced a full-length silent film titled The Last Kiss, released in 1931.[105][106]
The "East Bengal Cinematograph Society" was later established in Dacca.

Sports

Viceroy's Cup Day at the Calcutta Race Course

racecourse was also set up in Ramna by the Dacca Club.[107] The Bengal Public Gaming (Amendment) Act (Act No. IV of 1913) excluded horse racing from the gambling law.[108]

Bengal renaissance

Main article:
Bengali Renaissance

The Bengal renaissance refers to social reform movements during the 19th and early 20th centuries in the region of Bengal in

Bengali Muslim society, including the emergence of Mir Mosharraf Hossain as the first Muslim novelist of Bengal; Kazi Nazrul Islam as a celebrated poet who merged Bengali and Hindustani influences; Begum Rokeya and Nawab Faizunnesa as feminist educators; Kaykobad as an epic poet; and members of the Freedom of Intellect Movement
.

Bengal played a major role in the

Pakistan movement
. The earliest organized anti-colonial groups appeared in Bengal. The region produced many of the subcontinent's political leaders during the early 20th century. Political parties and rebel groups were formed across the region.

Architecture

Civic architecture began following European styles after the advent of the East India Company's authority. The

Art deco influences began in the 1930s. Wealthy Bengali families (especially zamindar
estates) employed European firms to design houses and palaces.

Society

Bengali society remained deeply conservative during the colonial period with the exception of social reform movements. Historians have argued that the British used a policy of divide and rule among Hindus and Muslims. This meant favoring Hindus over Muslims and vice versa in certain sectors. For example, after the Permanent Settlement, Hindu merchants such as the Tagore family were awarded large land grants that previously belonged to the Mughal aristocracy. In Calcutta, where Hindus formed a majority, wealthy Muslims were often given favors over Hindus. One aspect that benefitted the Hindu community was increased literacy rates. Many Muslims, however, remained alienated from English education after the abolition of Persian. Bengali society continued to experience religious nationalism which led to the partition of Bengal in 1947.[citation needed]

British Bengali cities included a cosmopolitan population, including Armenians and Jews.

Bengal Club, Calcutta Club, Dacca Club, Chittagong Club, Tollygunge Club and Saturday Club.[citation needed
]

See also

References

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Works cited

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bengal". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

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