Question

notes of rise of British power in bengal

Answer 1

Till 1757, Bengal was a province of the declining Mughal Empire ruled by a Nawab from Murshidabad. Before that, the British had started establishing settlements in Calcutta. In 1757, the Nawab was defeated by the British in the Battle of Plassey and Bengal came under the control of the British. As British power expanded over all of India in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Calcutta became the capital of British India. 

Even as politically, Bengal came under the control of the British, it began to experience a social and cultural renaissance from the mid nineteenth century under eminent personalities like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. They started reform movements to rid Bengal of social evils like sati and prohibition of widow remarriage. Modern educational institutions started to be set up in Calcutta starting with the Hindu College which later became the Presidency College. With the spread of modern education, Bengal started providing intellectual leadership to the whole of India. It started playing an important role in the Indian Independence Movement in which revolutionary groups played a major role. Probably the most well revolutionary figure from Bengal was Subhash Chandra Bose who started an armed movement to rid India of British rule.