Which bay is the largest in the world by surface area?

The Bay of Bengal is the world's largest bay by surface area.

It occupies the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean between the Indian subcontinent and the Indochinese Peninsula. India forms much of its western boundary, while Bangladesh lies at its northern end and Myanmar borders the northeast. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands mark much of its eastern side.

The bay covers about 2.6 million square kilometres, making it larger than many countries. Several major rivers flow into it, including the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Godavari, Krishna and Mahanadi. Their sediment helps create large deltas, wetlands and coastal ecosystems, especially the Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest.

Its name comes from the historic Bengal region, corresponding broadly to modern Bangladesh and parts of eastern India. A common mix-up is Hudson Bay, which is also enormous, but its surface area is smaller. The Bay of Fundy is famous for extreme tides, while the Bay of Biscay is a large Atlantic bay, not the world's largest.