In 1526 the region of Bengalen becomes part of the Empire of the Great Mogul. Colonists from the Netherlands, France and Britain arrive in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. By the end of the 17th century, the British presence on the Indian subcontinent is centered in Calcutta. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the British gradually extended their commercial contacts and administrative control beyond Calcutta to Bengal. In 1859 the British Crown replaces the East India Company, extending British dominion from Bengal, which became a region of British India, in the east to the Indus River in the west. Moslim Indians form in 1885 the All-India Muslem League. Originally it supports the strive of India for independence. In 1919 limited forms of self-government are introduced, this is somewhat enlarged in 1935. At the same time most moslims demand a separate moslim state.

The United Kingdom grants India self-government in 1947: India is partitioned into the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. Pakistan exists out of two areas: West-Pakistan and East Pakistan, far from the rest of the country in the east of Bengal. The separation in states means also the division of Bengal. Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy and Muhammad Ali Jinnah becomes the first governor general. He is assasinated in 1948. The first prime minister is Liaquat Ali Khan of the ML is succeeded in 1951 by Khwaja Nazimuddin, in 1953 by Mohammad Ali Bogra and in 1956 by Chaudhry Mohammad Ali.

In 1956 Pakistan becomes a republic as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. In 1956 the Awami League takes over the premiership and Husayn Sahid Suhrawardi becomes prime minister. He is succeeded in 1957 by Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar of the ML and later that year by Malik Firoz Khan Nun of the Jamhoori Watan Party (Republican Party, JWP). When Pakistan becomes a republic governor-general Iskander Mirza becomes president. Democracy is weak and instable. In 1958 president Iskander Mirza, with the support of the army, suspends the 1956 constitution, imposes martial law, and canceled the scheduled elections. The country is renamed Republic of Pakistan. He is sent into exile by the army and Mohammad Ayub Khan assumes control of a military dictatorship. Khan resigns in 1969 and hands over responsibility for governing to the Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan, who becomes president and chief martial law administrator.

General elections held in 1970 polarize relations between the eastern and western sections of Pakistan. The Awami League led by Mujibur Rahman, which advocates autonomy for the more populous East Pakistan, sweaps the East Pakistan seats to gain a majority in Pakistan as a whole. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) wins a majority of the seats in West Pakistan, but the country is completely split with neither major party having any support in the other area. When negotiations to form a coalition government break down the army grabs power and a civil war ensues.

At the end of this war East Pakistan secedes in 1971 from Pakistan as the People's Republic of Bangladesh, a parliamentary democratic republic in which Mujibur Rahman of the Awami League becomes president. He governs the country in an authoritarian way. In 1975 he urges all parties to merge into the Bangladesh Krishak Sramik Awami League (Bangladesh Peasant's and Workers' Awami League) to make Bangladesh an one-party state. Rahman is murdered in a military coup in 1975, that brings Ziaur Rahman to power as a dictator. He becomes president in 1977. He forms its own party, the Bangladesh Jatiyabadi Dal (Bangladesh Nationalist Party, BJD). Rahman governs the country as an authoritarian leader in a democratic facade. The BJD wins the elections of 1979. Rahman is assassinated in 1981. He is succeeded by Abdus Sattar of his party. He wins the presidential elections of 1981 as a candidate of the BJD.

In 1982 Hossain Mohammad Ershad seizes power in a military coup. He establishes the Jatiya Dal (National Party, JD) in 1986 and rules in a democratic facade. The dictatorship ends in 1991 when parliamentary democracy is restored. The first elections are won by the BJD and its leader Begum Khaleda Zia Rahman, widow of Ziaur Rahman, becomes prime minister. The state is plagued by the polarization between the two main parties. In 1996 the AL wins the elections and Sheikh Hasina Wazed becomes prime minister. After a lot of civic unrest new elections are held in 2001, when the BJD wins the elections. Khaleda Zia becomes prime minister again in a coalition with the Jamaat-i-Islamic Bangladesh (Bangladesh Ismalic Assembly, JIB).