Manufactures.— The principal manufacture of Bengal is that of cotton goods, including cotton piece-goods of various descriptions, cali coes, thread, and sail-cloth. Muslins of the most beautiful and delicate texture were for merly made at Dacca, a city in this province, but the manufacture is almost extinct.
The modern decay of the muslin manufac ture of India has been owing in a great measure to the successful competition of Great Britain and to the circumstance of English fabrics be ing subject to no duty in Bengal, while high duties were levied on the fabrics of Bengal in Great Britain. These duties are now abolished. Large quantities of coarse cloth, manufactured from jute, are made in various districts of Bengal. Sericulture is carried on more largely in Bengal than in any other part of India, and silk-weaving is still a leading industry in many of the districts, but of late years there has been a serious decline. One branch of this industry, however, seems more flourishing than some others, namely, the cultivation of tasar or wild silk, the worm that produces it feeding upon the leaves of the sal and other forest trees. On the other hand, various new manufactures, carried on by machinery, are increasing. The most important of these are the industries connected with jute, cotton and sugar. These are already affording employment to many thousands.and the natives show great aptitude for factory work.
Commerce.— The commerce of Bengal, both internal and external, is very large. Mul titudes of native boats and other craft navigate the rivers. The imports to Calcutta from the interior have been valued at over $13,000,000, consisting of rice, tea, jute, indigo, linseed, mustard seed, wheat, etc. The foreign trade is large and increasing. Almost the whole of it passes through Calcutta, and the value of it annually is over $275,000,000, over $170,000,000 being exports. The most important exports arc opium, jute, indigo, oil seeds, tea, hides and skins and rice; the chief import is cotton piece goods. The foreign trade is chiefly with Great Britain, China, the Straits Settlements, Francc, the United States and Ceylon.
History.— The English first got a firm footing in Bengal about 1644 when, through the influence of an English medical man named Boughton, a favorite of the Emperor of Delhi, the East India Company- obtained permission to locate themselves at Hugli or Hoogly, some 28 miles above Calcutta. In 1686 the company's factors, having had a rupture with the Moslem commander at the place where they were lo cated, removed to Calcutta, then the village of Chuttanutty, where they continued to carry on their trade. In 1700 the viceroy of Bengal, being in want of money to dispute the succes sion to the Mogul throne, obtained a large sum from the company for the township on which their factory stood at Calcutta and some adja cent lands. Seven years afterward, namely, in 1707, Calcutta was erected into a presidency and the foundation of British power in India laid. For nearly half a century the company pursued a peaceful and profitable commerce, but at the expiration of that period, 1756, Cal cutta was attackcd and taken by the Soubandar of Bengal, who thrcw the 147 Englishmen he found there in the notorious "black-holen of Calcutta, where 123 of them perished in 11 hours. In the ensuing ycar Calcutta vvas re taken by Lord Clive—an event which was fol lowed by a series of victories on the part of the British that terminated in the entire conquest of India. In consequence of unprecedented drought great scarcity of food prevailed in 1873 and 1874, but the prompt measures of the gov ernment were sufficient to prevent any wide spread mortality. A bill conferring upon agri cultural tenants a transferable interest in their holdings and protecting them against eviction was passed in 1885. For the purpose of more efficient administration, a preliminary partition and reconstitution of the presidency- was effected in October 1905, not without consider able agitation and opposition on thc part of the population. The present reconstitution into a province took effect in April 1912. For fur ther general history and bibliography see INDIA.