This page is incomplete: it just provides a time line.
The modern period in Bengali history can be said to start with the rise of the European, especially British, influence in India.
The British East India Company based on a Royal Charter, established factorie at Hooghly, Cassim Bazar and English Bazar. All settlements in India were administratively brought under Fort St. George of Madras in 1658. The factory at Sutanuti was created by Job Charnock on 24 Aug 1690, and the zamindari rights to Sutanuti, Govindapur and Kalikata were bought by the British (represented by Charles Eyer) from Suvarna Chowdhury family on 10th November 1698 by a lease signed at the bariSA AtcAlA (Fort William dates to 1773).
The Portuguese, whose first expedition to chittagong took place in 1517, had set up factories in Chittagong (Porto Grande; fort captured and Sandwip made into tributary in about 1590; Sandwip captured in 1602 and lost around 1605 regained in 1607 and lost again in 1616; early settlement in Dianga repulsed by king of Arakan in 1607, king defeated in 1615, wins back in 1616, portuguese and arakan become allies and portuguese took up piracy, resettled Dianga after 1615; Entire possession lost to mughals in 1665 and portuguese settled in Ferenghi Bazar near Dacca) and Saptagram (Porto Pequeno) by 1537 (regained in 1590), and Bandel de Hooghly in 1580 (Ugolim founded by Antonio Tavares; Bandel friary built by the order of Agostinians in 1599; held till 1632; resettled in 1633 by a land grant from Shah Jahan). They also had minor settlements in Dacca (1580), Sripur, Chandean, Bakla, Catrabo, Loricul, Bhulua, Hijili (1520, lost in 1636), Merepore (1838 claim: settlers from Goa), Tamluk (1635), and Balasore. Already by 1680, there were more than 20,000 portuguese mestiços in bengal.
The Dutch set up their factory in Chinsura (till 1825). See this link for more on dutch and portuguese colonial history.
The French were at Chandernagore in c. 1673 (intermittently till 1952). See this link for a short history of this settlement. In short, on 20 Jun 1949, they voted to join India, and B.K. Bandopdhyay was the Indian Commissioner. It was transferred to India on 2 May 1950 and Basanta Kumar Banerjee now continued as the Administrator till 1952, when Subilbaran Roy replaced him. On 2 Oct 1954, it joined West Bengal.
The Danish held Fredercknagore (Serampore) from 1699 till 1845.
After Mohammad Azim Al Din (1698–1700), Azim-us-shan, the viceroy of Bengal, appointed Murshid quli Khân ´Alâ´ ad dawla as the diwan of Bengar. After a brief interlude in 1707 under Azam Shah and Kam Baksh, two sons of Aurungzeb, the mughal empire passed to the third son shâh ´âlam bahâdur who ruled as bahadur shah (1707–1712, shia in belief, though did not make that the official creed), and then after a brief stint in 1712 under his eldest son Azim-us-shan, to his second son jahândâr mu´izz ad din shah (1712–overthrown in 1713). Farrukh siyar, son of Azim-us-shan revolted in Bengal in 1713 and captured power in Delhi (1713–deposed in 1719) with the help of syed brothers (qutb-ul-mulk hasan ali and amir-ul-umra hussain ali), and Murshid Quli Khan became viceroy or subedar of Bengal. Murshud Quli Khan founded Murhsidabad and moved his capital there; and started the land ijara system (tax a flat rate, not dependant on production). In the mughal empire, the syed brothers put shams ad dîn Râfi´ ad Darajât for one month, Râfi´ ad dawla as shâh jahân II, and nîku siyar muh.ammad on the throne in 1719. In 1720? 19?, they finally put Roshan Akhtar, son of jehan shah, younger brother of jahandar shah, as Muh.ammad Shâh nâs.îr ad dîn (1720–48) on the throne. In 1722, he started supporting the turanians, was deposed, the syed brothers killed, and regained his throne. In 1739, Nâdîr Shâh of Persia massacred Delhi. Minister Ghazi-ud-din became the kingmaker and raised muhammad shah's son Ah.mad bahâdur Shâh (1748–54), ´Azîz ad dîn ´Âlamgîr II, son of jahandar shah (1754–59; supported sikhs and marathas), Shâh Jahân III (1759–71). Afghan ruler Ahmad Shah Abdali Durrani installed Shâh ´Âlam II, son of Alamgirh II (1759–1806) as mughal emperor in exile (bîdâr bakht in 1788 as well?). He was followed by his son, mu´in ad dîn Akbar Shah II (1806–1837) and then his son sirâj ad dîn Abu Bahâdur Shâh Zafar II (1837–58) whose male line of descent (son mirza mughal, and grandson mirza abu-bakr) died out, and who were puppets of the British East India Company.
In 1717, Mughal emperor Faruksiyar granted the rights to duty free trading in Bengal to the British (a british surgeon Hamilton had treated the emperor). Murshudquli Khan was displeased, and as Nawab of Bengal, became effectively independent of the Mughal empire. He ruled till 1727? 25?, and was succeeded by Shujâ´ad dîn Muhammed Khân shujâ´ ad dawla (1727–1739; started exerting power over Bihar and Orissa) and Sarfrâz Khân ´alâ´ ad dawla (1739–1741; read the khutba in the name of Nadir Shah, overthrown). The last two kings of independent Bengal, ´Alîwirdî Khân hâshim ad dawla (1741–1756) and mîrzâ mah.mûd Sirâj ad Dawla (1756–1757) are still remembered for their struggle against the British under Rovert Clive; which happened primarily when the British supported Ghasiti Begam against Siraj-ud-Daulah. After the British threw the French out of chandannaore in 1756 and won against Siraj-ud-daula on Jun 23 1757 in the battle of palasi, the Nawabship of Bengal continued after that under the British, the rulers were Mîr Ja´far muh.ammad khân hâshim ad dawla(1757–1760 and 1763–1765), Mir Qasim ´alî (1760–1763), Najm-ud-daula (1765–67), Saif-ud-daula (1767–1770), and mubarak-ud-daula (1770).
In 1764, the Mughal emperor Shah Alam II formally gave revenue rights (diwani) to Bengal to East India Company in return for Rs. 32,00,000 per annum. In 1769, Bengal citizens are prohibited from trading in certain items; and that year and the next saw a famine (The still remembered famine or manvantara of Bengali year 1176) in which one-third of the population (about 10 million people) died. The later history of Bengal is tied to the history of British India. In this period India was effectively ruled by the British East India company through its governor generals:
1782 saw a India-wide famine. Printing started in 1778, newspapers in 1780s, Asiatic society was founded in 1784 by Wiliam Jones, Serampore baptist mission in 1800 by William Carey, and Hindu college founded in 1816. Brahmo samaj was started by rAmamohana rAYa in 1828, dharma sabha by rAdhAkAnta deva in 1830.
East India Company sold India to the British Crown, and on Nov 1 1858, the Government of India went to the British Monarch, Queen Victoria, who made Calcutta the Royal Capital and ruled it through viceroys:
The queen declared herself Empress of India on 1st January 1877, made Calcutta the Imperial Capital, and had the viceroys:
King Edward VII of Britain then ruled India (1901–1910) and had the Viceroys
and in 1905, Bengal was partitioned under Lord Curzon sparking massive anti-British protests, enough that the partition did not last. He was followed by King George V (1910–1936), under whom the imperial capital moved from Calcutta to Delhi in 1912, and who had the Viceroys
The next emperors were Edward VIII (1936) annd George VI (1936–1947) who were represented by the Crown representatives
A list of the governors of bengal is available on the internet.
Indian society under the British rule was divided into various geographic, linguistic, religious, and cultural groups. Numerically, the two largest religious groups were Hindus and Muslims, though it would be anachronistic to assume a conscious identity for either of the two groups in the early British period.
Even though Islam originated in Arabia, the combination of its beliefs in absolute Good and Evil, the Goodness of the one God, the religious duty of Man to side with Good over Evil in all matters, and the resulting injunction to fight political authority that interfered in this — none of which singly was new in the religious landscape of humanity — lead to its zealous spread around the world. The religion forbade them from residing permanently under political power that could conflict with their religious allegiance and its extremely democratic roots appealed strongly to the oppressed classes in the by then barrier ridden cultures around the world. As it moved it imbibed the existing knowledge — from Byzantium (Rumi), Persia, India, Egypt, — and created a distinctly Islamic, even though not entirely homogenous, culture. On the religious front, the eternal thirst for the Truth lead to extensive investigations — with the Qalamis studying the Quran using Greek philosophy and mysticism, the Mutajilas trying to understand the nature of God and afterlife, the Kadaris and the Jabaris analyzing the independence of Man, and the Kiramitas questioning the idolization of even the Kaba.
But possibly the most far reaching divides occurred when Islam overran the traditionally deeply hierarchical society of Persia, a society with both a strong belief in the eternal fight between Good and Evil and in the almost divine status of the ruler. It stood to logic in this collective mind that in ambiguous matters, the actions and statements of the leaders, Ali in particular, were the chief religious guide; whereas in the democratic spirit of Islam, elsewhere no none person could be considered infallible. Goodness of God, however, was reflected in Ijma, or collective wisdom of the thinkers, and this was a surer guide to truth. This initial split between the Shi'a and Sunni schools proved to have a lasting impact on the religion. The form of Islam that dominated Indian political thought in the medieval age came through Turkey and Afganisthan, and was distinctly Sunni, though strongly affected by the Persian court and culture. Its medium was Urdu which was mainly a local dialect with large amounts of vocabulary borrowed from strongly semitized Persian. But the basic sunni nature lead to a larger emphasis on the original texts in India, and it became a center for production of such manuscripts.
A Persian stream of thought, however, was to have an ultimately much larger effect on the religious consciousness in Bengal. The stirrings of this mystic school of thought can be seen as the Noor (light) of God in the Quran itself, but we find it as a fully formed Sufi thought somewhat later. It is unclear today where all the different components arose — the striving for the merger of the inner light with the universal, the asceticism that can lead to that goal, the strong emphasis on the Murshid (teacher) in making this possible, the almost infallibility of the Imam and the Hujjat (religious guide), and the concept of Ana-l-haq (the unity of Man and God) — but influence of existing religions, including Persian Zoarastrianism and Hindu and Buddhist philosophy that had diffused from India, can certainly not be excluded. In any case, when this came to India, it so identified with the Bhakti (devotion) movement in Indian religions which originated in the South and the East, that it was common for people to simultaneously revere both the Sufi and the Hindu saints. Indian culture hungrily accepted the wonderful poems of Maulana Jalal uddin Rumi, of Firdausi and Sadi, of Hafiz and Saki, and even the almost agnostic Umar Khayyam.
This, by no means, represent the only approach at a religious synthesis: apart from the historical examples such as Dara Shikoh and Akbar, and of movements by Shri Chaitanya, we find isolated sects like the Khojas lead by Aga Khan who originated as Shias but accepted the avatars of Visnu; the Matiyas of Naosari who accept the fast on Ramadan and the burial of the dead but Brahmins performing marriage ceremony; and the Rajputs of Malekana who cannot be classified cleanly either. But such sects remained isolated: The reality of muslim domination guranteed the well-born muslim economic and political power that often united them as a class; people of other religions stayed as dhimmi in the muslim kingdoms, sometimes, but not always, taxed with the jijiya.
With the advent of the modern era, muslims worldwide started loosing this dominance: dar-al-islam started reverting back to dar-al-harb. The explicit conflict with the ultra-orthodox interpretation of their religion that this engendered led to the Wahhabi movement — a return to Muhammad's direct ideals — and a pan-Islamic movement started by Syed Jamal-ud-din al-Afghani. They found a resonance among the Indian muslims
On August 15, 1947, India became independent and had the Governor-generals of India:
(transfer of power governors of bengal Sir John Anderson 1932–1937; Sir Fredeick John Burrows 1946–47; Chakravarti Rajagopalachari August 15, 1947–June 1948; Dr Kailash Nath Katju June 1948; Chief ministers: khwaja nazimuddin 1943–1945; governor: Sir John Hervert; R.G. Casey 1944 –). A massive famine hit Bengal in 1949 (Bengali 1355–6). The states that were nominally independent and territories that were under non-British European colonies continued to do so (see here and here for some states) and only in 1962 did India become unified, except for territorrial disputes with its neighbours, Pakistan and China.
On January 26, 1950, India became a multi-party bicameral parliamentary democratic republic and had the prime ministers:
and presidents:
West Bengal is a state of India [province till 26 Jan 1950; joined with Cooch Behar in 1950; Chandernagore voted to join India from French on 20 Jun 1949 and was placed under commissioner B.K. Bandyopadhyay on Jul 1949, transferred to India on 2 May 1950 (and under administrator Basanta Kumar Banerjee), though formally only on 11 April 1952 (under administrator Sunilbaran Roy) and to West Bengal on 2 October 1954] and has a unicameral (used to be bicameral) parliamentary form of government with a chief minister as the main executive (when not under President's rule)
and a governor (see site on Indian rulers; I do not have the full forms of the initials of some of the South Indian names as the full ceremonial form of the names are rarely, if ever, used in public life)