Bengala Occidental

"Bengala Occidental (en bengalí: , en nepalí, , trasliterado: Pochim Bongo) es un estado en la zona este de la India. Tiene frontera con Nepal, Bangladés y Bután así como con los estados indios de Sikkim, Assam, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar y con la bahía de Bengala. El estado tiene una superficie total de 88.752 km² y su población según el censo del año 2001 era de 80.221.171 habitantes. La capital está situada en la ciudad de Calcuta. El idioma principal es el bengalí. El clima en Bengala Occidental es tropical. Las tierras son mayoritariamente llanuras, a excepción de la zona norte que se encuentra en las estribaciones de la cordillera del Himalaya. Darjeeling, en el norte, es famoso por sus tés de alta calidad. La región también es famosa por el tigre de Bengala (Panthera tigris tigris). En la región nació el Premio Nobel de Literatura Rabindranath Tagore así como el músico Ravi Shankar."

"West Bengal (/wst bl/; Bengali pronunciation: [ptimb]) is an Indian state, located in East India on the Bay of Bengal. It is India's fourth-most populous state, with over 91 million inhabitants. It has a total area of 34,267 sq mi (88,750 km2), making it similar in size to Serbia. A part of the ethno-linguistic Bengal region, it borders Bangladesh in the east and Nepal and Bhutan in the north. It also has borders with five Indian states, including Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Sikkim and Assam. The state capital is Kolkata (Calcutta), the third-largest city in India. The geography of West Bengal includes the Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in its extreme north, the Ganges delta, the Rarh region and the coastal Sundarbans. The main ethnic group are the Bengali people, with Bengali Hindus forming the demographic majority. Ancient Bengal was the site of several major janapadas, including Vanga, Radha, Pundra and Suhma. In the 2nd century BC, the region was conquered by the emperor Ashoka. In the 4th century AD, it was absorbed into the Gupta Empire. From the 13th century onward, the region was ruled by several sultans, powerful Hindu states and Baro-Bhuyan landlords, until the beginning of British rule in the 18th century. The British East India Company cemented their hold on the region following the Battle of Plassey in 1757, and Calcutta served for many years as the capital of British India. The early and prolonged exposure to British administration resulted in expansion of Western education, culminating in development in science, institutional education, and social reforms of the region, including what became known as the Bengal Renaissance. A hotbed of the Indian independence movement through the early 20th century, Bengal was divided during India's independence in 1947 along religious lines into two separate entities: West Bengala state of Indiaand East Bengala part of the newly-created Pakistanlater becoming Bangladesh in 1971. Between 1977 and 2011, the state was administered by the world's longest elected Communist government. A major agricultural producer, West Bengal is the sixth-largest contributor to India's net domestic product. It is noted for its cultural activities and the presence of cultural and educational institutions; the state capital Kolkata is known as the "cultural capital of India". The state's cultural heritage, besides varied folk traditions, ranges from stalwarts in literature including Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore to scores of musicians, film-makers and artists. West Bengal is also distinct from most other Indian states in its appreciation and practice of playing Association football besides cricket, the national favourite sport."