The history of Bengal includes modern-day Bangladesh and West Bengal in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, at the apex of the Bay of Bengal and dominated by the fertile Ganges delta. The advancement of civilization in Bengal dates back four millennia. The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai. The Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers acts as a geographic marker of the region, but also connects it to the broader Indian subcontinent; making the region a central entrepot of the historic Silk Road. Bengal, at times, has played an important role in the history of Indian Subcontinent.