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Bangladesh

Created on: 6/11/2018 6:24:42 PM
Updated on: 6/11/2018 6:24:42 PM
Created by: Mainul Islam
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Early and medieval periods

 
Seal of the King Shashanka, who created the first separate political entity in a United Bengal, called the Gauda Kingdom

Stone Age tools found in Bangladesh indicate human habitation for over 20,000 years,[28] and remnants of Copper Age settlements date back 4,000 years.[28] Ancient Bengal was settled by Austroasiatics, Tibeto-Burmans, Dravidians and Indo-Aryans in consecutive waves of migration.[29][28] Archaeological evidence confirms that by the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities inhabited the region. By the 11th century people lived in systemically-aligned housing, buried their dead, and manufactured copper ornaments and black and red pottery.[30] The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation,[30] and estuaries on the Bay of Bengal permitted maritime trade. The early Iron Age saw the development of metal weaponry, coinage, agriculture and irrigation.[30] Major urban settlements formed during the late Iron Age, in the mid-first millennium BCE,[31] when the Northern Black Polished Ware culture developed.[32] In 1879, Alexander Cunningham identified Mahasthangarh as the capital of the Pundra Kingdom mentioned in the Rigveda.[33][34]

 
The Somapura Mahavihara grew up during the Pala Empire, which originated in the region of Bengal

Greek and Roman records of the ancient Gangaridai Kingdom, which (according to legend) deterred the invasion of Alexander the Great, are linked to the fort city in Wari-Bateshwar.[35] The site is also identified with the prosperous trading center of Souanagoura listed on Ptolemy's world map.[36] Roman geographers noted a large seaport in southeastern Bengal, corresponding to the present-day Chittagong region.[37]

Ancient Buddhist and Hindu states which ruled Bangladesh included the Vanga, Samatata and Pundra kingdoms, the Maurya and Gupta Empires, the Varman dynasty, Shashanka's kingdom, the Khadga and Candra dynasties, the Pala Empire, the Sena dynasty, the Harikela kingdom and the Deva dynasty. These states had well-developed currencies, banking, shipping, architecture and art, and the ancient universities of Bikrampur and Mainamati hosted scholars and students from other parts of Asia. Xuanzang of China was a noted scholar who resided at the Somapura Mahavihara (the largest monastery in ancient India), and Atisa traveled from Bengal to Tibet to preach Buddhism. The earliest form of the Bengali language began to the emerge during the eighth century.

Exterior of a low mosque with many domes and entrances
 
The 15th-century Sixty Dome Mosque built during the Bengal Sultanate is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Early Muslim explorers and missionaries arrived in Bengal late in the first millennium CE. The Islamic conquest of Bengal began with the 1204 invasion by Bakhtiar Khilji; after annexing Bengal to the Delhi Sultanate, Khilji waged a military campaign in Tibet. Bengal was ruled by the Delhi Sultanate for a century by governors from the Mamluk, Balban and Tughluq dynasties. During the 14th century, an independent Bengal Sultanate was established by rebel governors. The sultanate's ruling houses included the Ilyas Shahi, Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah, Hussain Shahi, Suri and Karrani dynasties, and the era saw the introduction of a distinct mosque architecture[38] and the tangka currency. The Arakan region was brought under Bengali hegemony. The Bengal Sultanate was visited by explorers Ibn Battuta, Admiral Zheng He and Niccolo De Conti. During the late 16th century, the Baro-Bhuyan (a confederation of Muslim and Hindu aristocrats) ruled eastern Bengal; its leader was the Mansad-e-Ala,[17] a title held by Isa Khan and his son Musa