Bengal
Bengal names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Bengal a state of British India reconstituted in 1905 and
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a state of British India reconstituted in 1905 and 1912 from the former Bengal presidency and provinces. Area, 78,699 square miles; pop. about 50,000,000. Topography. As a whole Bengal consists of plains, there being few remarkable elevations, though it is surrounded with lofty mountains. It is intersected in all directions by rivers, mostly tributaries of its two great rivers, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, which annually, in June and July, inundate a large part of the region. The Sundarbans or Sundorbunds (from being covered with the sunder tree), that portion of the country through which the numerous branches of the Ganges seek the sea, about 150 miles from E. to W. and about 160 from N. to S., is traversed in all directions by water courses, and interspersed with numerous sheets of stagnant water. The country is subject to great extremes of heat. The most unhealthful period is the latter part of the rainy season. The mean temperature of the whole year varies between 80° F. in Orissa, and 74° F. in Assam, that of Calcutta being 79°. The heaviest rainfall occurs in eastern Bengal, the annual average amounting to over 100 inches. Productions. - Besides rice and other grains, which form, along with fruits, the principal food of the population, there may be noted among the agricultural products indigo, opium, cane sugar, tobacco, betel, cotton, and the jute and sunn plants. Tea is now extensively grown in some places, notably in Darjeeling district and Chittagong. Cinchona is cultivated in Darjeeling and Sikkim. The forests cover 12,000 square miles, the principal forest trees being the sal on the Himalaya slopes, sál and teak in Orissa. Wild animals are most numerous in the Sundarbans and Orissa, snakes being remarkably abundant in the latter district. The principal minerals are coal, iron, and salt. Coal is worked at Raniganj, in Bardwán district, where the seams are about 8 feet in thickness, and iron in the district of Bírbhúm, in the same division. Salt is obtained from the maritime districts of Orissa. The imports in 1919 were 64,04,52,684 rupees, and the exports 105,71,68,192 rupees. Manufactures. - The principal manufactures are cotton piece goods of various descriptions, jute fabrics, blanketing, and silks. Muslins of the most beautiful and delicate texture were formerly made at Dacca, but the manufacture is almost extinct. Sericulture is carried on more largely in Bengal than in any other part of India, and silk weaving is a leading industry in many of the districts. The commerce, both internal and external, is
Bengal BAY OF very large
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
BAY OF very large. The chief exports are opium, jute, indigo, oil seeds, tea, hides and skins, and rice. The foreign trade is chiefly with Great Britain, China, the Straits Settlements , France, the United States, and Ceylon. Language. The Bengali language is spoken by a majority of the population. It is like the numerous vernacular dialects spoken in northern India, apparently descended from the ancient classical language of the country , the Sanskrit. Its alphabet comprises 14 vowels and diphthongs, and 33 consonants. ground work of the Bengali language is altogether Sanskrit . The Education, etc. - The first rudiments of education are usually given in the primary schools that have been developed out of the native schools , and are now connected with government . There are also a number of secondary and superior schools established by government, including eight government colleges. The highest educational institution is the Calcutta University, the chief function of which is to examine and confer degrees. There were in 1918 48,303 educational institutions , with 1,892,951 scholars. The total expenditure for education in that year was £1,699,569. The population of Bengal beyond the capital, Calcutta , and its suburbs, is largely rural. History. The first of the East India Company's settlements in Bengal were made early in the 17th century. The rise of Calcutta dates from the end of the same century. The greater part of Bengal came into the hands of the East India Company in consequence of Clive's victory at Plassy in 1757, and was formally ceded to the company by the Nabob of Bengal in 1765. Chittagong had previously been ceded by the same prince, but its government under British administration was not organized till 1824. Orissa came into British hands in 1803. In 1858 the country passed to the crown, and since then the history of Bengal has been, on the whole, one of steady and peaceful progress.
Bengal a presidency of British India
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a presidency of British India. The name is applied to territory having widely varying boundaries, and inhabited by from 4,000,000 to 70,000,000 people according to the interpretation placed on the name. It is perhaps sufficient for the general reader to say that historical Bengal extends from the foothills of the Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal, and that it comprises the great plains of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, the choicest parts of India. See Calcutta ; Ganges ; Brahmaputra; Clive ; Cornwallis ; Hastings ; India ; Tiger ; Cobra ; Irrigation ; Opium
Bengal BAY OF, that portion of the Indian Ocean which
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
BAY OF, that portion of the Indian Ocean which lies between Hindustan and Farther India, or Burma, Siam, and Malacca, and may be regarded as extending S. to Ceylon and Sumatra. It receives the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Irrawadi. Calcutta, Rangoon, Madras are the most important towns on or near its coasts.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's counted about 50,000,000 people in 1921 and called the province's recent history "one of steady and peaceful progress"; within a generation came the 1943 famine, in which roughly three million died, and the 1947 partition that split Bengal between India and Pakistan. East Bengal became East Pakistan and then, after the war of 1971, the independent state of Bangladesh; the Indian remnant is West Bengal, whose capital Calcutta was officially renamed Kolkata in 2001. The two Bengals together now hold something over 270 million people, more than five times Collier's figure, and Bengali is among the half-dozen most widely spoken languages on earth. Of the export staples listed, the opium trade was wound up and the indigo trade destroyed by synthetic dyes, while Dacca — the "almost extinct" muslin town — is now Dhaka, a megacity built on ready-made garments.
Written for this edition, 2026.