Gulf of bengal

The Gulf of Bengal ("বঙ্গপসাগর" in Bengali) is a sea in the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Its shape resembles a triangle. It is bordered to the east by the Malacca Peninsula, to the west by the Indian subcontinent. The northern end of the gulf borders the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh. The southern extremes are bounded by the island of Sri Lanka and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. These last islands separate the Bay of Bengal from the Andaman Sea (also Burma Sea).

Many of India's major rivers flow from the west into the Bay of Bengal: in the north the Ganges (or Ganga) River, the Meghna River and the Brahmaputra River. To the south the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishná and the Kaveri (also written Cauvery). The mangrove forest called the Sundarbans is located in the delta formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers in the Bay of Bengal.

The major Indian ports on the gulf are Madras, Vishakhapatnam, Calcutta and Pondicherry.

The Bay of Bengal covers an area of 2,600 square kilometers (1,003.9 mi²). Several large rivers flow into the Bay of Bengal: the Ganges-Hooghly, the Padma, the Brahmaputra-Yamuna, the Barak-Surma-Meghna, the Irrawaddy, the Godavari River, the Mahanadi River, the Brahmani, the Baitarani River, the Krishna and the Kaveri river.

Background

Delimitation of the IHO

The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), the highest international authority on the delimitation of seas, considers the Gulf of Bengal ("Bay of Bengal") as a sea. In his world reference publication, "Limits of oceans and seas" (Limits of oceans and seas, 3rd edition of 1953), he assigns it the identification number 43 and defines it as follows: defines the limits of the Bay of Bengal as continues:

To the east: A line that goes from Cabo Negrais (16°03'N) in Burma through the major islands of the Andaman group, so that all the narrow waters between the islands are to the east of the line and are excluded from the Bay of Bengal, to a point in Small Island Andaman. Island in latitude 10°48'N, length 92°24'E and from there along the Southwest boundary of the Andaman Sea. [A line that goes from Oedjong Raja [chuckles]"Ujung Raja" or "Point Raja"] (5°32′N 95°12′E / 5.533, 95.200) in Sumatra to Poeloe Bras (Breuëh) and through the western islands of the group of Nicobar Group to Sandy Point in Little Andaman Island, so that all narrow waters belong to the sea of Burma.]

South: Bridge of Adam (between India and Ceylon) and from the southern end of Dondra Head (south point of Ceylon) to the northern tip of Poeloe Bras (5°44′N 95°04′E / 5.733, 95.067).

Note: Oedjong means "cape" in Dutch on maps of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).

Etymology

The bay gets its name from the historic region of Bengal (present-day Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, and the Barak Valley of southern Assam). In ancient Indian scriptures, this body of water may have been referred to as 'Mahodadhi' (Sanskrit: महोदधि, meaning Great Receptacle of Water). while it appears as Sinus Gangeticus or Sinus Gangeticus, meaning "Gulf of the Ganges& #34;, on some old European maps.

The other Sanskrit names for the Bay of Bengal are Vaṅgopasāgara' (Sanskrit: वङ्गोपसागर, (Undersea of Bengal or Bay of Bengal), ' Vaṅgasāgara' (Sanskrit: वङ्गसागर, (Sea of Bengal), 'Pūrvapayodhi& #39; (Sanskrit: पूर्वपयोधि, (Eastern Ocean).

History

Ross Island, in the Andamans, was one of India's leading naval bases during World War II.

In ancient classical India, the Bay of Bengal was known as the Kalinga Sagar (Kalinga Sea).

The Northern Circars occupied the western coast of the Bay of Bengal and is now considered the Indian state of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. The Chola dynasty (9th to 12th century) when ruled by Rajaraja Chola I and Rajendra Chola I occupied and controlled the Bay of Bengal with the Chola Navy. circa AD 1014, the Bay of Bengal was also called the Chola Sea or Chola Lake.

The Kakatiya dynasty reached the western shore of the Bay of Bengal, between the Godavari and Krishna rivers. The Kushanas in the middle of the 1st century AD. C. invaded northern India, perhaps extending to the Bay of Bengal. Chandragupta Maurya extended the Maurya dynasty across northern India to the Bay of Bengal. Hajipur was a stronghold of the Portuguese pirates. In the 16th century, the Portuguese built trading posts in the northern Bay of Bengal, at Chittagong (Porto Grande) and Satgaon (Little Port)..

The first indications of a Muslim presence in the region came from textile trade routes, one of which ran east of the Arabian Sea, influencing the emigration of Arabs and Persians, and another to the west, which which caused the Buddhist Bengalis to blend culturally with Islam. The coastal areas surrounding the Bay of Bengal were first settled by the Portuguese. One of the main settlements was Santo Tomé de Meliapor, today converted into a neighborhood of the city of Madras in India. In 1522, the Portuguese built a church there, and a year later, a small town had already been built on the site. At the beginning of the 17th century, São Tomé was a large city by the standards of the time. Although there is no doubt that Europeans played an important role in the historical development of the Bengali region, it is also true that, in general, they were more continuators of the activities of previous cultures than initiators of development. Today, experts believe that the influence in this region of the first commercial relations with the Europeans has been overestimated. It has been possible to demonstrate that the number of Asian merchants engaged in the import and export of materials such as silk and other textiles in the Bay of Bengal area exceeded that of the Europeans, even in the middle of the century XVIII.

Importance

Economic importance

One of the first trading companies along the Bay of Bengal was The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies, better known as the British East India Company. Gopalpur-on-Sea was one of its main trading centers. Other trading companies along the coast of the Bay of Bengal were the English East India Company and the French East India Company.

BIMSTEC (Balf of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sector Economic and Technical Cooperation) supports international free trade around the Bay of Bengal between Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The Sethusamudram Sea Canal Project is a new proposal that would create a canal for a shipping route linking the Gulf of Mannar to the Bay of Bengal. This would connect India from east to west without the need to go around Sri Lanka.

Along the shores of the Bay of Bengal, the thoni and catamaran fishing boats of the fishing villages thrive. Anglers can catch between 26 and 44 species of marine fish. In a year, the average catch is two million tons of fish in the Bay of Bengal alone. Approximately 31% of the world's coastal fishermen live and they work in the bay.

Geostrategic importance

The Bay of Bengal is located in the center of South and Southeast Asia. It sits at the center of two huge economic blocs, the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (ASACR or SAARC) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It influences China's landlocked southern region in the north and major seaports in India and Bangladesh. China, India, and Bangladesh have established naval cooperation agreements with Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia to increase cooperation in fighting terrorism on the high seas.

Picture of American vessels participating in the Malabar naval exercise 2007. Aegis cruises of the Japanese and Australian armed and logistical support vessels from Singapore and India participated in the Gulf of Bengal.

Its outer islands (the Andaman and Nicobar Islands) and, above all, the main ports, such as Paradip Kolkata, Chennai, Visakhapatnam, Tuticorin, Chittagong and Mongla, along its coast with the Bay of Bengal, increased their importance.

China has recently made efforts to project its influence in the region through agreements with Myanmar and Bangladesh. The United States has held major exercises with Bangladesh, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and most recently with India. The largest exercise The military history event in the Bay of Bengal, known as Malabar 2007, was held in 2007 and involved warships from the United States, Bangladesh, Thailand, Singapore, Japan and Australia. India also participated.

Large natural gas fields in the maritime zone areas of Bangladesh prompted India and Myanmar to raise a territorial dispute. Disputes over rights to some oil and gas blocks have led to brief diplomatic skirmishes between Myanmar and India with Bangladesh.

The maritime boundary dispute between Bangladesh and Burma led to military tensions in 2008 and 2009. Bangladesh is trying to reach an agreement with Myanmar and India on the border dispute through the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.

Religious significance

The Bay of Bengal in the stretch of Swargadwar, the Sanskrit gate of heaven, in the Indian city of Puri, is considered sacred by Hindus.

Samudra arati or worship of the sea by the disciples of Govardhan Matha in Puri

Samudra arati is a daily tradition started by the current Shankaracharya of Puri nine years ago to honor the holy sea. The daily practice includes prayer and fire offering to the sea at Swargadwar in Puri by the disciples of the Govardhana matha of the Shankaracharya. Every year on Paush Purnima, Shankaracharya himself comes to offer prayers to the sea.