Bengal is the name of the territorial unit of the region referred to here given by the Muslim rulers in the medieval period. As the title specifies, the subject matter of this manuscript incorporates history─ political and economic─ of the ancient and medieval periods. Most historians hold that the ancient period of Bengal began with the advent of the Gupta power in the region in c. 320 AD and ended with the fall of the Hindu power and consequent rise of the Muslim power in c. 1200 AD. In our present discussion, however, we have taken to include the prehistoric time into the ancient time. In the ancient period, the geographical boundary varied as also in the medieval period with a fair degree of political stability, which was absent in the ancient period. The ancient Bengal was ruled by Hindu-Buddhist powers while the medieval Bengal was by Muslim power.