A place

Bengal

3 stories from this place.

The Coroner’s Report July 25, 2026 · Calcutta (Kolkata), Bengal

The Bengal Famine of 1943, Which Killed Some Three Million People in a Province That Had Food

In 1943, in British-ruled Bengal, around three million people died of starvation and famine disease while rice remained available for those who could pay. War policy — the fall of Burma, 'denial' seizures of boats and rice, prioritisation of Calcutta's war industries, and London's repeated refusal of shipping for relief — turned price shock into mass death. Amartya Sen's analysis of it reshaped how famine itself is understood.

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The Cabinet June 27, 2026 · Wagah border, Punjab

The Partition of British India on 14-15 August 1947 That Killed Up to 2 Million in the Largest Population Displacement of the Twentieth Century

British India was partitioned into the Dominion of Pakistan (14 August 1947) and the Dominion of India (15 August 1947). The communal violence that accompanied the partition killed up to 2 million Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs across northwest and northeast India. Approximately 14-18 million people were displaced — the largest forced migration of the twentieth century.

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The Cabinet June 23, 2026 · Jessore, Bengal (modern Bangladesh)

The First Global Cholera Pandemic and the Indonesian Volcano That Probably Started It

Cholera had been an endemic disease of the Ganges delta for centuries. In 1817 it suddenly became a global pandemic — moving across Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, and eventually Europe over six years. The trigger was probably the Tambora eruption of 1815 disrupting Bengali agriculture two years earlier.

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