Basilica of the Holy Rosary, Bandel is the first church known to have been constructed in 1599 at Hugli-Chuchura in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, India.

[3] Chittagong (erstwhile also referred to as Diang) with significant Portuguese and trading settlements had first hermitage and churches erected around this time.

[4] The Portuguese from there moved to Arakan, where they would transport Hindu and Muslim slaves, about 42,000 in number from 1621 to 1624, and converted 28,000 of those enslaved peoples to Christianity.

Other denominations include:[6] Bengali Christians are considered a model minority in South Asia and usually enjoy a high literacy rate, low male-female sex ratio and a better socio-economic status.

Common Catholic Bengali Christian surnames include Gomes, Rozario, D'Costa, Gonsalvez, Cruze, Dias, D'Silva and D'Souza among others.

[11] Christmas is known as "Boro Din" (Big Day) and is a public holiday in both Bangladesh and Indian West Bengal.