The Maritime history of Bengal (Bengali: বাংলার সামুদ্রিক ইতিহাস; Bānglāra Sāmudrika Itihāsa), represents the era of recorded human interaction with the sea in the southern region of Bengal, including shipping and shipbuilding, shipwrecks, naval warfare, and military installations and lighthouses, which were built to protect or assist navigation and development in Bengal.
For most of the 16th and 17th centuries, the major ports of Bengal, Satgaon and Chittagong, and later Hooghly, maintained significant commercial links with Burma, Malacca and Aceh.
The main exports of Bengal's coastal and overseas transport were various types of manufactured goods and agricultural products—clothes, rice, wheat, gram, sugar, opium, clarified butter, and salt.
In return, Bengal imported spices, camphor, porcelain, silk, sandalwood, ivory, metals, conch shells, and cowrie.
With the arrival of the Portuguese in the 16th century, Bengal entered the Euro-Asian exchange network, becoming the center of the region's economy.