Islamic Bengal

The Mughal conquest of Bengal in Akbarnama

The Sultanate of Bengal during the reign of Alauddin Hussain Shah in 1500

The excavation of Abbasid Caliphate coins in Bangladeshi archaeological sites indicate trade and political relations between the Pala Empire and the Islamic Middle East. Sufism played an instrumental role in the spread of Islam in Bengal. The Muslim conquest of Bengal began in the early 13th century and was a turning point in Bengali history. The achievements of previous civilizations were, however, not lost, but to a great extent, absorbed into the new Islamic polity, culture and civilization. Bakhtiar Khilji of the Delhi Sultanate defeated Lakhsman Sena of the Sena dynasty in 1204. The Mamluks, Khiljis and Tughluqs ruled the region for more than a century. Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah founded the city of Sonargaon in 1328. The Sultanate of Bengal was proclaimed in 1342. The Ilyas Shahi dynasty ruled Bengal for 123 years. The sultanate was a regional power in Asia and enjoyed links with Ming China, Persia, Hejaz, Indonesia and the Ottoman Empire.^[35][36] The House of Raja Ganesha converted to Islam and reingned between 1415 and 1435. The second stint of Ilyas Shahi rule ended in a palace coup by Abyssinian generals in 1487. The Hussain Shahi dynasty gained power in 1494, when Alauddin Hussain Shah, the son of the Sharif of Mecca, became the Sultan of Bengal. Alauddin ushered an age of prosperity and cultural pluralism. His royal court and governors were major patrons of literature and the arts. The sultanate expanded its territory to include Arakan as a dominion. Bengal's trade links on the Indian Ocean were strengthened
The Mughal Empire controlled Bengal at the end of the 16th century. Dhaka was renamed as Jahangir Nagar and became an important Mughal administrative centre. The Mughals promoted agrarian reform. During the reign of Akbar, the Bengali calendar was modified in line with the Islamic hijri. The region witnessed a boom in manufacturing and agriculture, as exports grew and integration into the world economy increased. Shaista Khan defeated the Arakanese and retook Chittagong in 1666. The decline of Mughal power in the 18th-century led to the formation of the Principality of Bengal. The Nawabs of Bengal presided over a period of increasing influence from European traders. Bengal was probably the wealthiest part of the subcontinent until the 18th century.