The first division of Bengal (1905-1911) was an unsuccessful attempt to divide the historical and cultural region of Bengal by the British colonial authorities of India . On October 16, 1905, Lord Curzon , the British Viceroy of India, ordered the partition of Bengal . But due to the national liberation unrest that began, including under the influence of the Russian revolution of 1905, both Bengal, East and West, were again united into one administrative unit already in 1911 . The second division of Bengal came in 1947 , when India gained independence, and Bengal was again divided into two parts (on religious grounds). The eastern part of Bengal, where Muslims predominated, went to East Pakistan (later Bangladesh ), the western part to modern India with its center in the city of Calcutta .
Background
Bengal, which occupied the Ganges delta and located at the crossroads of river, sea and land routes, at the end of the 19th century was the most developed part of British India. As far as this was possible under the conditions of the British colonial oppression, the Bengalis , in spite of their separation on religious grounds, rather unifiedly began to defend the national interests of their region. The native language for Bengalis is Bengali . After the 15th century, Bengalis were religiously divided into two large groups - professing traditional Hinduism and Islam that came from outside. Only an insignificant part of Bengal Muslims belongs to the descendants of the ancient Muslim conquerors of Hindustan (Mughals, Arabs, Turks). Most of them (98%) were Hindus who converted over time to the more socially social Islam of Hindus, who did not want to put up with caste barriers . Trying to strengthen British rule in India, the British initiated a division, seeking to continue to use the religious differences of the people in line with their traditional divide and conquer policy . But at the beginning of the 20th century, the main task of both Hindus and Muslims was the overthrow of the British regime, and not the cutting out of national-religious districts. In 1911 , after the ongoing unrest of the swedish , the united Bengal was restored.
See also
- East Bengal and Assam
Links
- Bengal in 1905 and the beginning of the mass movement for unification (inaccessible link)