West Bengal - the cultural centre of India, is a coastal state shaped like a sea horse, spreading out from the temperate coastal plains to the Himalaya ranges. It also boasts of the largest estuarine forest in the world - the spectacular Sunderbans. West Bengal is riple gateway, opening out eastward to the north eastern states, northward to Sikkim and westward to the Gangetic plains. The cultural centre of India, West Bengal is a land of intellectual awakening, a cradle of Indian renaissance and the national freedom movement. A land of political activists and aesthetes, West Bengal is famous for its eminent writers, poets, artists, social reformers, spiritualists, freedom fighters and revolutionaires. It is the land of the Melodious Rabindra Sangeet and Durga Pooja. The topography hence is suitably varied. Born of its geography and history, the colourful state is indeed a land of violent contrasts. It ranges from the cool northern uplands, flat riverbeds, parched Pargana lands, marshy, swampy coastal regions and the dense tropical and alpine forests inhabited by animals like the elusive Royal Bengal Tiger. West Bengal is watered by river Ganges and its tributaries. The main channel is river Hoogly or Bhagirathi. The northern foothills of West Bengal's Himalayas are one of the greatest tea growing regions of the world. Tea and jute are among the most important industries in the region. Mineral wealth in thr form of Coal is also widely available. Kolkata is among the more industrialized areas of India.
The state is long and narrow, running from the delta of the Ganges river system in the Bay of Bengal to the south, up through tjhe Ganges plain, to the heights of Himalayas and Darjeeling in the North Bengal has a wide variety of thrilling experiences to offer to the tourists. From the Himalayan heights to the tea estates, from plantation country to the flourishing jute fields of the fertile river plains, from the great plains to that deltaic hive of massed humanity, throbbing industries and explosive politics. The northern foothills of West Bengal's Himalaya can still bereached by the romantic steam pulled toy train to Darjeeling, one of the picturesque hill stations imprinted with images of the colonial inheritance. To the south is one of the world's most densely populated agricultural regions. But Darjeeling is just a fragment of the varied and complex state of West Bengal.
To the south in one of the world's most densely populated agricultural regions, Kolkata dominates the political and economic life of much of eastern India, but the plains have much to offer. In the border regions of Bangladesh are the remains of Muslims capitals of medieval eastern India and the remarkable terracotta temples of Bishnupur. to the far south, the humid mangroves of the Sunderbans, whose mudflats fade almost imperceptibly into the Bay of bengal, are still home to a sizable tiger population. At the time of partition, the state was split into East and West Bengal. East Bengal eventually became Bangladesh and West Bengal, a state of India with Kolkata as its capital. West Bengal has plenty of historic sites and the famous tourist attractions are Kolkata and Darjeeling. The land of the haunting Rabindra Sangeet and Durga Puja, West Bengal has a wide variety of thrilling experiences to offer the tourists. From Himalayan heights to the tea ranges, from plantation country to the fluorishing jute fields of the fertile river plains, from the Great plains to that deltaic hive of massed humanity, throbbing industry and explosive politics, West Bengal is truly a land of much exotic splendour.
Also read:
Facts And Figures Of West Bengal
