Editing History of Bangladesh (section)

==Ancient period==
{{further|Gangaridai|Magadha|Pundravardhana|Varendra|Anga|Vanga Kingdom|Harikela|Samatata}}

===Prehistoric Bengal===
{{See also|South Asian Bronze Age}}
[[File:Wari-Boteshwar Excavation 053.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The ruins of [[Wari-Bateshwar ruins|Wari-Bateshwar]] in [[Narsingdi]] is believed to be from the [[Copper Age]]. Suggesting a thriving culture in ancient Bengal]]
[[File:Mahasthangar Museum Bogra Bangladesh (6).JPG|right|thumb|200px|An ancient inscription from the site of [[Mahasthangarh]]]]
 
It is believed that there were movements of Indo-Aryans, Dravidians and Mongoloids, including a people called Vanga, into Bengal.<ref name="Baxter 1997 12">{{cite book |last=Baxter |first=Craig|author-link = Craig Baxter |year=1997 |title=Bangladesh: From A Nation to a State |publisher=[[Westview Press]] |page=12 |isbn=978-0-813-33632-9 }}</ref>  There is weak evidence for a prehistoric human presence in the region.<ref name="Willem van Schendel 11">{{cite book|author=Willem van Schendel|title=A History of Bangladesh|date=12 February 2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780511997419|page=11}}</ref> There is scant evidence of a human presence during the Neolithic and Chalcolithic eras.<ref name="Baxter 1997 12"/> This could be because of the shifts in the rivers' courses.<ref name="Baxter 1997 12"/> The Bengali climate and geography is not suitable for tangible archaeological remains. Due to lack of stones the early humans in Bengal probably used materials such as wood and bamboo that could not survive in the environment. South Asian archaeologists have tended to focus on other parts of the subcontinent. Archaeologists interested in Bengal have focused on more recent history.<ref name="Willem van Schendel 11"/>

West Bengal holds the earliest evidence of settled agrarian societies.<ref>{{cite book|author=Willem van Schendel|title=A History of Bangladesh|date=12 February 2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780511997419|page=13}}</ref>

Agricultural success gave ground in the fifth century BCE for a stationary culture and the emergence of towns, cross-sea trade and the earliest polities. Archaeologists have uncovered a port at Wari-Bateshwar which traded with Ancient Rome and Southeast Asia. The archaeologists have discovered coinage, pottery, iron artefacts, bricked road and a fort in Wari-Bateshwar. The findings suggest that the area was an important administrative hub, which had industries such as iron smelting and valuable stone beads. The site shows widespread use of clay. The clay, and bricks, were used to build walls.<ref>{{cite book|author=Willem van Schendel|title=A History of Bangladesh|date=12 February 2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780511997419|page=15}}</ref> The most famous terracotta plaques, made by clay, are from Chandraketurgah and depicts deities and scenes of nature and ordinary life.<ref name="Willem van Schendel 17">{{cite book|author=Willem van Schendel|title=A History of Bangladesh|date=12 February 2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780511997419|page=17}}</ref> The early coinage discovered in War-Bateshwar and [[Chandraketugarh]] (West Bengal, India) depict boats.<ref name="Willem van Schendel 19">{{cite book|author=Willem van Schendel|title=A History of Bangladesh|date=12 February 2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780511997419|page=19}}</ref>

Archaeological excavations in Bangladesh revealed evidences of the [[Northern Black Polished Ware]] (NBPW or NBP) culture of the [[Indian Subcontinent]] (c. 700–200&nbsp;BC), which was an [[Iron Age]] culture developed beginning around 700&nbsp;BC and peaked from c. 500–300&nbsp;BC, coinciding with the emergence of 16 great states or [[mahajanapadas]] in Northern India, and the subsequent rise of the [[Mauryan Empire]].{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

Well developed towns had emerged by 300 BCE such as Tamralipti (present-day [[Tamluk]], West Bengal, India), Mahasthan and Mainamati.<ref name="Willem van Schendel 16">{{cite book|author=Willem van Schendel|title=A History of Bangladesh|date=12 February 2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780511997419|page=16}}</ref> Instead of the seaside, main towns sprang up by the riversides.<ref name="Baxter 1997 13">{{cite book |last=Baxter |first=Craig |year=1997 |title=Bangladesh: From A Nation to a State |publisher=[[Westview Press]] |page=13 |isbn=978-0-813-33632-9 }}</ref> Mahasthan contains the earliest piece of writing in Bangladesh, a stone inscription. It indicates that the site was an important town in the Maurya empire. Mahasthan is believed to have then been a provincial centre.<ref name="Willem van Schendel 16"/> The inscription, in Prakrit, apparently contains a command to stock up supplies in case of an emergency.<ref>{{cite book|author=Willem van Schendel|title=A History of Bangladesh|date=12 February 2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780511997419|pages=16–7}}</ref> The inscription is called the Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription.<ref name="Willem van Schendel 17"/> Bengal was the eastern frontier of the Mauryan empire. Western Bengal with its port of Tamralipti achieved importance under the Mauryas.<ref name="Baxter 1997 13"/>

A prominent view in scholarship is that the Mauryan and Gupta empires exercised authority over most parts of the Bengal delta. The incomplete evidence which exists suggests that Bengal's western rather than eastern regions were parts of larger empires.<ref>{{cite book|author=Willem van Schendel|title=A History of Bangladesh|date=12 February 2009|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9780511997419|page=21}}</ref> The ancient zones in Bengal were the Bhagirathi-Hooghly basin, Harikela, Samatata, Vanga and Varendra.<ref>
{{cite book|author=Richard M. Eaton|title=The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gKhChF3yAOUC|date=31 July 1996|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|isbn=978-0-520-20507-9|page=3|access-date=9 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170106124647/https://books.google.com/books?id=gKhChF3yAOUC|archive-date=6 January 2017|url-status=live}}
</ref> Vanga is believed to be central Bengal, Harikela and Samitata were apparently Bengal's eastern zones and Varendra was northern Bengal.<ref name="Willem van Schendel 19"/> The names of sites indicate that Tibeto-Burman, Austro-Asiatic and Dravidian languages were spoken by the majority of people. Indo-European languages became prominent from 400 BCE.<ref name="Willem van Schendel 17"/>

The Vanga Kingdom was a powerful seafaring nation of [[Ancient Bengal]]. They had overseas trade relations with [[Java]], [[Sumatra]] and [[Rattanakosin Kingdom|Siam]] (modern day [[Thailand]]). According to [[Mahavamsa]], the Vanga prince [[Vijaya of Sri Lanka|Vijaya Singha]] conquered [[Lanka]] (modern day [[Sri Lanka]]) in 544&nbsp;BC and gave the name "[[Sinhala Kingdom|Sinhala]]" to the country.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mahavamasa - the Sinhalese epic|url=http://mahavamsa.org/mahavamsa/original-version/06-coming-vijaya/|access-date=30 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151030084837/http://mahavamsa.org/mahavamsa/original-version/06-coming-vijaya/|archive-date=30 October 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Bengali people]] migrated to the [[Maritime Southeast Asia]] and [[Siam]] (in modern Thailand), establishing their own settlement there.<ref name="paxgaea.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.paxgaea.com/HRBangladesh.html |title=Bangladesh (People's Republic of Bangladesh) Pax Gaea World Post Human Rights Report |website=Paxgaea.com |access-date=12 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213190256/https://themuslimtime.online/bangladesh-resilience-a-journey-of-resilience/https://themuslimtime.online/bangladesh-resilience-a-journey-of-resilience/HRBangladesh.html |archive-date=13 December 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Gangaridai/Nanda Empire===
{{main|Gangaridai|Nanda dynasty}}

[[Image:Asia 323bc.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Asia in 323 BCE, the [[Nanda Empire]] and [[Gangaridai]] Empire in relation to [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]]'s Empire and neighbours.]]
Though north and west Bengal were part of the empire, southern Bengal thrived and became powerful with her overseas trades. In 326&nbsp;BCE, with the invasion of [[Alexander the Great]] the region again came to prominence. The Greek and Latin historians suggested that Alexander the Great withdrew from India anticipating the valiant counter-attack of the [[Gangaridai]] empire that was located in the Bengal region. Alexander, after the meeting with his officer, [[Coenus (general)|Coenus]], was convinced that it was better to return. [[Diodorus Siculus]] mentions Gangaridai to be the most powerful empire in India. The allied forces of the [[Nanda Empire]]/[[Gangaridai]] empire and Prasioi(region inside Nanda empire)were preparing a massive counter-attack against the forces of Alexander on the banks of the Ganges. Gangaridai, according to the Greek accounts, kept on flourishing at least up to the 1st century CE.
The Greeco-Roman sources description of Gangaridai matches with Nanda empire. 
<ref>{{Cite news |date=2021-11-17 |title=Alexander and Chandragupta Maurya: A short history of war, empire, and greatness |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/alexander-and-chandragupta-maurya-a-short-history-of-war-empire-and-greatness-7626667/ |access-date=2023-02-15 |work=The Indian Express |language=en |archive-date=15 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215033025/https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/alexander-and-chandragupta-maurya-a-short-history-of-war-empire-and-greatness-7626667/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

One account of the origins of the Nanda's, are them being represented as the lord of both "Prasioi and the [[Gangaridai]]" or of Gangaridai alone. The description of Prasioi was a general name for the people of [[Eastern India]], so the specific mention of Gangaridai attaches significance. The importance of Gangaridai or the Vanga people (Lower Bengal) may be explained by the suggestion of the Nanda dynasty belonging to them.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sri Venkatesvara University |first=Oriental Research Institute |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Sri_Venkateswara_University_Oriental_Jou/soJOAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |title=Sri Venkateswara University Oriental Journal Volumes 21–22 |year=1979 |pages=33}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Sircar |first=D.C. |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.11692/page/4/mode/2up?q=peculiar |title=Journal of Ancient Indian History, Vol-14 |year=1984 |pages=5}}</ref>