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Bengali
People of Bengali culture from Bangladesh and India (West Bengal, Tripura). There are 80–150 million speakers of Bengali, an Indo-Iranian language belonging to the Indo-European family. It is the official language of Bangladesh and of the state of Bengal and is also used by emigrant Bangladeshi and Bengali communities in such countries as the UK and the USA. Bengalis in Bangladesh are predominantly Muslim, whereas those in India are mainly Hindu.
Between the 8th and 12th centuries the Bengalis were ruled by the Buddhist Pála dynasty. From the 13th century they were governed by semi-independent Muslim princes until their incorporation into the Mogul Empire. In the 18th century Bengal was annexed by the British and on independence the region was partitioned by the successor states of India and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
© Research Machines plc 2008. All rights reserved. Helicon Publishing is a division of Research Machines plc.
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