History of Bangladesh – Ancient Period

The country Bangladesh was born in 1971. Therefore, the history of Bangladesh started from 1971. Before the creation of Bangladesh, it was a part of others and known as different names, such as, East Pakistan, East Bangla, Bengal etc. We included the history from ancient to present in brief.

The History of Bangladesh:

We are starting from beginning. We can know about the history of Bangladesh and our nation if we see the history of Bengal. The historic period of Bengal (Bangladesh and West Bengal) is usually classified into the Ancient, Medieval and Modern periods.

Ancient Period:

Part 1

No one can determine the exact time when people started living in this place. Some assume that people came and settled in Bengal (Bangladesh, West Bengal) ten thousand or more years ago. Those people were the non-Aryan ethnic groups – Nisadas or Austro-Asiatics or Austric who are now represented by the peoples known as Kola, Bhil, Santal, Shabara, Pulinda etc.

ancient bengal mapIn 2000 BC, the Aryan came to India and made a developed civilization.  After many days of this time they came to Bangla. Before the time of Aryan the history and the life style of the people of Bangla is unknown. Different groups of people settled in different areas in Bengal and the name of the areas were associated with the groups settled in that area. There were 16 ancient Janapadas, such as:  Vanga, Pundra, Radha, Gauda, Harikela, Samatata, Magadha etc.

  • Vanga: Vanga (also known as Banga) or Greater Bengal was a kingdom located in the eastern part of the Indian Subcontinent, comprising part of West Bengal, India and present-day modern Bangladesh.Mahasthangarh was the capital of Pundra kingdom
  • Pundra: Pundra was an eastern kingdom located in West Bengal, Bangladesh and Bihar. The kingdom was also known as Paundra, Paundraya, Purnia etc. One Pundra king challenged Vasudeva Krishna by imitating his attributes. He called himself Paundraka Vasudeva.
  • Radha: Radha A distinct geopolitical unit of ancient Bengal which probably included a large part of the modern Indian state of West Bengal.
  • Gauda: The geographical limit of the Gauda country is not mentioned, the fact that it is linked with Vanga and Pundra definitely indicates its location in eastern India.
  • Harikela: Harikela was a kingdom in ancient Bengal encompassing much of the eastern regions of the Indian Subcontinent. There are numerous references to the kingdom in historical texts as well as archeological artifacts including silver coinage.
  • Samatata: The Kingdom of Samatata was a kingdom in the earliest Bengal, which was located at the mouth of the Brahmaputra River in the south east side of Bengal. It was a vassal to the Gupta Empire.  Samatata was a distinct entity, well-known and well-recognised since Samudragupta’s time (4th century AD).
  • Magadha: Magadha was one of the sixteen Jnapadas. Magadha was established by Chandragupta Maurya, and it is spreaded over most of the south Asian area, Afghanistan and Persia under Ashoka the Great.

Ancient Bengal – Part 2

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