The Bengal Presidency is at one time the largest colonial subdivision (presidency) of British India, with its seat in Calcutta, the capital of British-held territories in South Asia until 1911.

At its territorial peak in the nineteenth century, the presidency extends from the present-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan in the west to Burma, Singapore and Penang in the east.

The Governor of Bengal is concurrently the Viceroy of India for many years.

Most of the presidency's territories are eventually incorporated into other British Indian provinces and crown colonies.

In 1905, Bengal proper is partitioned, with Eastern Bengal and Assam headquartered in Dacca and Shillong (summer capital).

British India is reorganized in 1912 and the presidency is reunited into a single Bengali-speaking province.

The Bengal Presidency is established in 1765, following the defeat of the last independent Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757.

Bengal is the economic, cultural and educational hub of the British Raj.

It is the center of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Bengali Renaissance and a hotbed of the Indian Independence Movement.

The Partition of British India resulted in Bengal's division on religious grounds, between West Bengal and East Bengal.