West Bengal

West Bengal stretches from the Himalaya at Darjeeling to the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans on the Bay of Bengal. Kolkata, its capital, is India's cultural capital – a city of literature, cinema, football, sweets and the grand celebration of Durga Puja, which UNESCO has recognised as an intangible cultural heritage.

Bengal was the seat of the Pala and Sena kingdoms and later of the Bengal Sultanate and the Nawabs of Bengal. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757 it became the base of British power, and Calcutta was the capital of British India until 1911. Bengal was the centre of the 19th-century Bengal Renaissance, with figures such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda. It was partitioned in 1947, and West Bengal became a state of India.

The state stretches from the Darjeeling and Kalimpong hills in the north, through the plains of the Ganga and its distributaries, to the Sundarbans delta in the south. The Hooghly is its most important river.

West Bengal is a leading producer of rice, jute, potatoes and fish, and Darjeeling tea is world-renowned. Kolkata is a major commercial centre and port.

Bengali is the official language. Rabindra Sangeet, Baul music, Bengali literature and cinema, terracotta temples of Bishnupur, Kantha embroidery and sweets such as rosogolla and sandesh are cherished traditions.