Bengal: Did you mean...?

Vishnu with Lakshmi and Saravati, phyllite sculpture from West Bengal, India, 12th century. The Hindu god Vishnu, the preserver of the universe, is flanked by two female figures. His sister Sarasvati, the patron goddess of knowledge and...

A c. 1760 map showing the positions at the battle of Plassey in Bengal, India, 23 June 1757. Robert Clive’s East India Company army defeated a larger force of the Nawab of Bengal.

The English East India Company (EIC) was founded in 1600, and it came to control both trade and territories in India, as well as a trade monopoly with China. Goods the EIC traded included spices, cotton cloth, tea, and opium, all in such...

As the 15th century ended, Europeans were still mostly in the dark about the Eastern world. Early travelers like Marco Polo had given the West tidbits of information, but these accounts were too highly colored and fragmentary to provide a...

A map illustrating the scope and geopolitical context of the Sepoy Mutiny (from Persian sepāhī, for soldier) of 1857 in India. Originating in the state of Uttar Pradesh, the mutiny soon escalated from a revolt of the East India Company's...

An 1818 painting by Benjamin West showing Robert Clive (1725-1774), Governor General of Bengal and representative of the East India Company, meeting the Mughal emperor Shah Alam in 1765 to gain tax collecting rights. (British Library, London...

A silk scroll painting by Shen Du depicting a giraffe given in tribute by King Saif Al-Din Hamzah Shah of Bengal to the Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-1424 CE) of China's Ming Dynasty. The tribute was one of the many collected by Admiral Zheng He...

An 11th century CE slate relief of a dancing Ganesha from North Bengal, India. (Asian Art Museum of Berlin)

A c. 1760 painting showing Robert Clive (1725-1774) and Mir Jafar, future nawab of Bengal, after the battle of Plassey, 23 June, 1757. (National Portrait Gallery, London)

The course of the River Ganges. Beginning in the Himalaya it runs for 2,700 km to the Bay of Bengal.