A report on Bengalis, Bengali Buddhists and Bangladesh

The ancient political divisions of the Ganges delta.

Somapura Mahavihara from the Pala dynasty, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Parts of the Charyapada, a collection of ancient Buddhist hymns which mention the Bengalis, in display at the Rajshahi College Library.

The Mainamati Buddhist ruins in southeastern Bangladesh

Depiction of Gangaridai on a map by 11th-century polymath Ptolemy.

A Buddhist temple on Maheshkhali Island, Chittagong

Vanga Kingdom and erstwhile neighbours in ancient South Asia

Atiśa is recognised as one of the greatest figures of classical Buddhism, having inspired Buddhist thought from Tibet to Sumatra.

Dipankara Srijan, president of the Chittagong Buddhist Association, as leader of a delegation at the 6th Buddhist council in Rangoon.

Ghazi Pir is thought to have lived in the Sundarbans some time between the 12th to 13th century.

7th century buddhist monastery. Known as Somapura Mahavihara

15th-century Portuguese painting of "Bengalis".

The Pala Empire was an imperial power during the Late Classical period on the Indian subcontinent, which originated in the region of Bengal.

The Bengali artillery at the Battle of Plassey in 1757.

The Sixty Dome Mosque is the largest mosque in the UNESCO protected Mosque City of Bagerhat.

A painting by Shaikh Muhammad Amir of Karraya displaying a syce of Bengal holding two carriage horses.

Choto Sona Mosque, built during the reign of Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah

A Bengali woman in Dhaka clad in fine Bengali muslin, 18th century.

W.C. Bonnerjee, co-founder and first president of Indian National Congress.

Shipbuilding was a major industry in the Bengal Sultanate and later in Mughal Bengal

Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, the co-founder and inaugural president of the Awami League.

The Bibi Mariam Cannon (Lady Mary Cannon) was used by the Mughals to defend their bases.

Dean Mahomed is credited for introducing shampoo to the Europeans.

Lalbagh Fort was the residence of the Mughal viceroy Shaista Khan.

Large numbers of Bengalis have settled and established themselves in Banglatown.

Portuguese envoys (top left) at the imperial court of emperor Akbar. The Portuguese settlement in Chittagong flourished until the Mughals expelled the Portuguese in 1666.

I'tisam-ud-Din was the first educated Bengali and South Asian to have travelled to Europe.

Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, which led to the overthrow of the last independent Nawab of Bengal

Regional dialects form one of the determiners to the social stratification of Bengalis.

Founding conference of the All India Muslim League in Dhaka, 1906

Bengali schoolboys in the port city of Chittagong.

The Dominion of Pakistan in 1947, with East Bengal its eastern part

Women students of Dhaka University marching in defiance of the Section 144 prohibition on assembly during the Bengali Language Movement in early 1953

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (left) and Munier Chowdhury (centre) visiting Matiul Islam (right), an East Bengali student at Harvard during the late 1950s

A sculpture of the Nawab of Bengal's Royal Peacock Barge in Murshidabad.

Sheikh Mujib casting his ballot during a general election. He was given the popular title of Bangabandhu (Friend of Bengal) and is regarded as Bangladesh's founding leader.

Ziaur Rahman with members of the Dutch royal family in 1978

A Bengali man sporting a simple black sherwani.

Muhammad Yunus (center) celebrating the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 with his family in Oslo, Norway

Artistes from Purulia district of West Bengal performs Chhau dance

Rohingya refugees entering Bangladesh from Myanmar

Satyajit Ray, eminent film director who has made Bengali films popular all over the world

Gitanjali intro featuring its author Rabindranath Tagore

A Bengal tiger, the national animal, in the Sundarbans

The application of mehndi onto one's hand hosts a ceremony of itself during Bengali wedding seasons.

Bangabhaban, the official residence of the President of Bangladesh, was built in 1905 during the British Raj for use by the Viceroy of India and the Governor of Bengal.

A Bengali groom partaking in a supplication during his wedding.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during bilateral talks with Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the Prime Minister's Office in Dhaka

Qazi Azizul Haque is recognised for his contributions to the development of modern fingerprint biometrics, a discovery of worldwide importance.

Meghnad Saha, J C Bose, J C Ghosh, Snehamoy Dutt, S N Bose, D M Bose, N R Sen, J N Mukherjee, N C Nag

Map of Bangladesh UN Peacekeeping Force deployments

A sculpture honoring Fazlur Khan at the Willis Tower

First South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meeting in 1985 in Dhaka (l-r, top row: the presidents of Pakistan and the Maldives, the king of Bhutan, the president of Bangladesh, the prime minister of India, the king of Nepal and the president of Sri Lanka)

A lathi khela event taking place in Tangail.

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry meeting Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at her residence in Dhaka in April 2021

A Nouka Baich competition taking place in the monsoon season.

The Rapid Action Battalion has been sanctioned by the United States for human rights abuses

Mohammed Salim, the first South Asian footballer to play for a foreign club. Due to playing in bare feet, he is having them bandaged by Jimmy McMenemy in 1936.

Historical development of GDP per capita

Cricketer Shakib Al Hasan is currently crowned the world's best all-rounder in all formats for ODI cricket, and one of the greatest of all times.

Construction of Padma Bridge, the longest bridge on the Ganges, by China Major Bridge Engineering Co. Ltd. The bridge was designed by AECOM.

Hotels and office blocks in an upmarket neighborhood of Dhaka

Paddy fields dominate the country's farmland. Bangladesh is a top global producer of rice (3rd), potatoes (7th), tropical fruits (6th), jute (2nd), and farmed fish (5th).

A Boeing 777 of the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines

Coal and natural-gas fields in Bangladesh, 2011

In 2018, the first payload of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket was the Bangabandhu-1 satellite built by Thales Alenia Space

The Charyapada scrolls are the oldest surviving text of the Bengali language. The photograph was taken at the Rajshahi College Library

Chakma alphabets are indigenous to the Chittagong Hill Tracts

Eid prayers for Muslims at Barashalghar, Debidwar, Comilla

Bangladeshis celebrating Pahela Baishakh as a mark of the beginning of Bengali new year

Faculty of Sciences at the University of Dhaka; The Curzon Hall

A Bangladeshi nurse in Kutupalong Refugee Camp

Historical development of life expectancy in Bangladesh

A preserved cloth of historic Bengali fine muslin, which is now extinct

Muslim feminist Begum Rokeya and her husband in 1898

The 18th century terracotta Hindu Kantanagar Temple in Dinajpur

A Baul from Lalon Shah's shrine in Kushtia

Embroidery on Nakshi kantha (embroidered quilt), centuries-old Bengali art tradition

Traditional Bangladeshi Meal: Mustard seed Ilish Curry, Dhakai Biryani and Pitha

Bangladesh team on practice session at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium

Anwar Hossain playing Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal, in the 1967 film Nawab Sirajuddaulah

Beds of zamindars kept at the Bangladesh National Museum

Bengali Buddhists (বাঙালি বৌদ্ধ) are a religious subgroup of the Bengalis who adhere to or practice the religion of Buddhism.

- Bengali Buddhists

The current population is divided between the independent country Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and parts of Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur.

- Bengalis

Bengali Buddhist people mainly live in Bangladesh and Indian states West Bengal and Tripura.

- Bengali Buddhists

There also exist small numbers of Bengali Christians, a large number of whom are descendants of Portuguese voyagers, as well as Bengali Buddhists, the bulk of whom belong to the Bengali-speaking Baruas in Chittagong and Rakhine (who should not be confused with other Buddhists of Bangladesh that belong to different ethnic groups).

- Bengalis

Bengalis make up 98% of the total population of Bangladesh, and the large Muslim population of Bangladesh makes it the third-largest Muslim-majority country.

- Bangladesh

Of Bengalis, Muslims are the majority, followed by Hindus, Christians and Buddhists.

- Bangladesh