West Bengal

Western Duars

West Bengal, India

West Bengal, state of India, located in the eastern part of the country. It is bounded to the north by the state of Sikkim and the country of Bhutan, to the northeast by the state of Assam, to the east by the country of Bangladesh, to the south by the Bay of Bengal, to the southwest by the state of Odisha, to the west by the states of Jharkhand and Bihar, and to the northwest by the country of Nepal.

West Bengal has a peculiar configuration; its breadth varies from 200 miles (320 km) at one point to hardly 10 miles (16 km) at another. Its roughly 1,350-mile (2,200-km) frontier with Bangladesh, neither natural nor well defined, is of strategic importance. Although in area West Bengal ranks as one of the smaller states of India, it is one of the largest in population. The capital is Kolkata (Calcutta). Area 34,267 square miles (88,752 square km). Pop. (2011) 91,347,736.