Under the British rule, the state of Bengal covered a vast area, and included the present day states of Bihar, Orissa and the country of Bangladesh. In 1947, when India became independent, Bengal was partitioned between India and Pakistan, with Pakistan's share being called East Pakistan and India's share called West Bengal.

West Bengal is one of the most culturally rich and diverse states of India. The state rose to prominence after the British established a trading post at Casim Bazaar in the 17th century and then started the expansion of their colonial empire in India. This proximity with the Britishers meant that Bengal was one of the first places to be exposed to western influences and the English language. Hence a number of early modern Indian social thinkers and intellectuals come from this State. Three of India's Nobel Prize winners are from Bengal. Rabindranath Tagore is undoubtedy one of the most well known Bengali icon. A great social thinker, writer and novelist, Tagore was awarded the Nobel prize for his book of poems 'Gitanjali' and was the first Asian to have been given that honour. His school at Bolpur, called the Santiniketan was formed in 1901 has now expanded into the Viswabharati University. Tagore also wrote and composed over two thousand songs of which 'Jana Gana Mana' written as 'Bharat Bhagya Vidhata' is now our national anthem. West Bengal is one of the few states in India which are ruled by the Communist party. Mr Jyoti Basu the Chief Minister of the state holds the record for being the longest serving democratically elected Chief Minister in the world. His leftist government has won every single state election since 1977. The Sundarbans mangrove sanctuary in the south of West Bengal is famous for its Royal Bengal Tigers. The park covers a vast stretch of mangrove swamp, forested islands and small rivers near the Bay of Bengal and was declared a national park in 1984. You can find the largest tiger population of any national park in the Sunderbans. More than 400 tigers were recorded during the mid-1980s! West Bengal is the only state of India where you can find the Sea, the mountain and the plains. Darjeeling in West Bengal is often referred to as the "Queen of the Mountains". The hills here include the higher reaches of the Himalayas, where the forests of Darjeeling district and the Singhalila National Park share the border with Nepal. The area is a natural habitat for the endangered Red Panda. Land of culture The Dhrupad school of Indian Classical music was founded in Bengal during 16/17th century. Today Calcutta's most famous classical musician is beyond doubt the sitar maestro, Ravi Shankar, who lived in the United States during the 1960s and 70s and introduced Indian classical music to western audiences in a big way. His daughter Anouksha also seems to be following in her father's footsteps. Uday Shankar, elder brother of Ravi Shankar and the partner of the famous ballerina, Anna Pavlova is Bengal's most well known modern dancer. Uday Shankar introduced the concept of fusion of western ballet with India's many classical and folk dance forms long before Hindi films thought of it. The Chhou is unique form of masked dance which comes from Bengal. The dancer impersonates a god, animal, bird, hunter, flower. Chhou masks have human features slightly modified to suggest what they are portraying. The dancer's body communicates the total emotional and psychological tensions of a character. No song is sung, instrumental music ( bamboo flute, drums ) being the only accompaniment. One of the famous Chhou performers is Dhunda Mahato (Dhananjay Mahato). Even before modern theater arrived in Calcutta, Bengal had its own theatrical tradition in the jatra, an open-air theater. The jatra was revived during the Independence movement and used as an effective tool to reach the masses.