Punjab is a province of Pakistan. With a population of over 127 million, it is the most populous Pakistani province and the second most populous subnational polity in the world. Located in the central-eastern region of the country, it has the largest economy, contributing the most to national GDP in Pakistan. Lahore is the capital and largest city of the province. Other major cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Multan.
It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-west, Balochistan to the south-west and Sindh to the south, as well as Islamabad Capital Territory to the north-west and Azad Kashmir to the north. It shares an international border with the Indian states of Rajasthan and Punjab to the east and Indian-administered Kashmir to the north-east.
The province forms the bulk of the transnational Punjab region, partitioned in 1947 between Pakistan and India. The most fertile province of the country, Punjab is considered the breadbasket of the nation, in addition to being the most industrialised. It is also one of the more urbanised regions in South Asia, with approximately 40 per cent of its population being urban.
Punjabi Muslims form majority of the province. Their culture has been strongly influenced by Islamic culture and Sufism, with a number of Sufi shrines spread across the province. Punjab hosts several of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Shalimar Gardens, the Lahore Fort, the archaeological excavations at Taxila, and the Rohtas Fort, among others.
Etymology
The name "Punjab" consists of two parts ( and ), from Persian which are cognates of the Sanskrit words ( and ). The word pañj-āb is thus calque of Indo-Aryan pañca-áp and means "The Land of Five Waters", referring to the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas. All are tributaries of the Indus River, Sutlej being the longest. References to a land of five rivers are found in the Mahabharata, in which one of the regions is named as Panchanada (). The ancient Greeks referred to the region as Pentapotamía (). Earlier, Punjab was also known as Sapta Sindhu in the Rigveda and Hapta Hendu in the Avesta, translating into "The Land of Seven Rivers"; the other two being Indus and Kabul which are included in the greater Punjab region.
The 14th-century author Ayn al-Mulk Mahru referred to the region as the wilayat of Punjab () in Insha-i-Mahru; Punjab finds mention in the travelogue of Ibn Battuta and in the Tarikh-i-Wassaf of Ilkhanid historian Wassaf as well. The current name gained currency during the Mughal period.
History
Ancient period
The earliest evidence of human habitation in Punjab traces to the Soan Valley of the Pothohar, between the Indus and the Jhelum rivers, where Soanian culture developed between 774,000 BCE and 11,700 BCE. This period goes back to the first interglacial period in the second Ice Age, from which remnants of stone and flint tools have been found. The Punjab region was the site of one of the earliest cradle of civilisations, the Bronze Age Harrapan civilisation that flourished from about 3000 BCE. and declined rapidly 1,000 years later, followed by the Indo-Aryan migrations that overran the region in waves between 1500 and 500 BCE. The migrating Indo-Aryan tribes gave rise to the Iron Age Vedic civilisation, which lasted till 500 BCE. During this period, the Rigveda was composed in Punjab, laying the foundation of Hinduism. Frequent intertribal wars in the post-Vedic period stimulated the growth of larger groupings ruled by chieftains and kings, who ruled local kingdoms known as Mahajanapadas. Taxila in Gandhara was the site of one of the oldest education centre of South Asia and was part of the Achaemenid province of Hindush.
One of the early kings in Punjab was Porus, who fought in the Battle of the Hydaspes against Alexander the Great. The battle is thought to have resulted in a decisive Greek victory; however, A. B. Bosworth warns against an uncritical reading of Greek sources who were obviously exaggerative. The battle is historically significant because it resulted in the syncretism of ancient Greek political and cultural influences on the Indian subcontinent, yielding works such as Greco-Buddhist art, which continued to have an impact for the ensuing centuries. In south-central Punjab, the Mallians, together with nearby tribes, gathered a large army to face the Greek army. This was perhaps the largest army faced by the Greeks in the entire Indian subcontinent. During the siege of the citadel, Alexander leaped into the inner area of the citadel, where he faced the Mallians' leader. Alexander was wounded by an arrow that had penetrated his lung, leaving him severely injured. The city was conquered after a fierce battle.
The region was then divided between the Maurya Empire and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom in 302 BCE. Menander I Soter conquered Punjab and made Sagala (present-day Sialkot) the capital of the Indo-Greek Kingdom. Menander is noted for becoming a patron and converting to Greco-Buddhism and he is widely regarded as the greatest of the Indo-Greek kings.
Medieval period
The Buddhist monk Xuanzang visited Punjab in the 7th century CE and described a large polity known as Takka Kingdom, which according to him covered territory between Indus and Sutlej and had capital at Sialkot. Following the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent at the beginning of the 8th century, Arab armies of the Umayyad Caliphate penetrated South Asia, introducing Islam into the Punjab. Umayyad decline was followed by formation of various Arab-ruled principalities, notably the Emirate of Multan, in 855. In the 9th century, the Odi Shahi dynasty originating from Gandhara replaced the Takka kingdom, ruling much of Punjab along with Kabulistan.
Ghaznavids and Ghurids
Punjab was annexed by the Ghaznavid dynasty in the 11th century. Mahmud of Ghazni conquered Peshawar by defeating Maharaja Jayapala of Punjab in 1001. The ruler of Multan, Abul Fateh Daud was defeated in 1010. Nandana, the last Shahi capital, fell in 1014 and Punjab became part of expanding Ghaznavid Empire, which ruled for 157 years. Lahore became secondary, and after 1163, sole capital of the Ghaznavids. They gradually declined as a power until the Ghurids conquered Lahore under Muhammad of Ghor in 1186, deposing the last Ghaznavid ruler Khusrau Malik.
Following the assassination of Muhammad of Ghor at Dhamiak in 1206, the Ghurid state fragmented and was replaced in northern India by the Delhi Sultanate. The Delhi Sultanate ruled Punjab for the next three hundred years, led by five unrelated dynasties.
Delhi Sultanate
The first ruler of Delhi Sultanate was Qutb ud-Din Aibak, a Mamluk, who died in Lahore while playing polo in 1210. Following his death his successor Iltutmish transferred capital from Lahore to Delhi. The relocation of regional centre was necessitated by the rise of Mongol Empire in the west. Mongols under Genghis Khan first invaded Punjab in 1221 while chasing the retreating armies of Khwarezmian prince Jalal al-Din Mangburni; Genghis Khan annihilated the Khwarezmians at the Battle of the Indus besides modern Attock. Mongols plundered Punjab plains but returned due to the hot climate of Punjab.
Throughout the 13th-century, Punjab bore the brunt of numerous Mongol invasions, and the towns of Lahore, Multan and Dipalpur were repeatedly sacked. Mamluk sultan Balban led several campaigns against them. Alauddin Khilji and his generals Zafar Khan, Nusrat Khan, Ulugh Khan and Malik Kafur inflicted a series of defeats over them and large-scale raids by Mongol khanates stopped. Ghiyath al-Din Tughlaq, the former governor of Multan and Dipalpur, founded the Tughlaq dynasty in 1320. Earlier, he had served as the governor of Multan and had fought twenty-eight battles against Mongols from his base at Dipalpur, preserving Punjab and Sind from their advances. The mother of Ghiyath al-Din was from Punjab, as was the mother of Firuz Shah Tughlaq, who became the emperor in 1351.
The Tughlaqs declined towards the end of 14th century. In 1398 Delhi Sultanate faced a devastating invasion by Emir Timur, who massacred the citizens of Delhi and Multan. Following his return, Khizr Khan established the Sayyid dynasty, the fourth dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, with four rulers ruling from 1414 to 1451 for 37 years. Variously described as a Sayyid or a Khokhar chief, Khizr Khan initially ruled as the Timurid vassal of Multan, and conquered Delhi in 1414. During the reign of his successor Mubarak Shah, large parts of Punjab were conquered by Punjabi chieftain Jasrath and he spent his reign fighting against Jasrath. Sayyids ruled the Sultanate until they were displaced by the Lodi dynasty on 19 April 1451, when the last ruler of the Sayyids, Ala ud-Din, voluntarily abdicated the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in favour of Bahlul Khan Lodi. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, was born in the town of Nankana Sahib in 1470.
Langah Sultanate
In 1445, Rai Sahra, chief of Langah tribe, established the Langah Sultanate in Multan. The sultanate included regions of southern and central Punjab. A large number of Baloch settlers arrived and the towns of Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan were founded.
Modern period
Mughal Empire
The Mughal emperor Babur defeated the Lodis in 1526, establishing Mughal Empire. During Mughal period Punjab region was divided into two provinces; Multan and Lahore. They were created as one of the original 12 Subahs of the Mughal Empire under the administrative reforms carried by Akbar in 1580. By the 16th century, Punjabi Muslims were the majority in the region and an elaborate network of mosques and mausoleums marked the landscape. They formed a small but notable part of Mughal nobility. Mughal-era was also marked by the flourishing of Punjabi literature. A number of Punjabi scholars and poets including Shah Hussain, Sultan Bahu, Abdullah Lahori, Bulleh Shah, Abdul Hakim Sialkoti, Mita Chenabi and Waris Shah wrote their works in the Mughal period.
thumb|A painting of [[Wazir Khan Mosque in 1856. It was founded by Wazir Khan, a Punjabi viceroy of Shah Jahan, in 1634 and shows regional architectural influences.]]
The Mughal Empire ruled the region until it was severely weakened in the eighteenth century. Gakhar clan under Muqarrab Khan and Sial clan under Inayatullah Khan. The 18th-century was marked by constant warfare between these principalities and by several foreign invasions.
Ranjit Singh, born in Gujranwala in the ruling family of one such principality, established the Sikh Empire which ruled Punjab from 1799 until the British annexed it in 1849 following the First and Second Anglo-Sikh Wars.
British Rule
thumb|Punjab Region on World Map under the [[British Rule]]
Most of the Punjabi homeland formed a province of British India, though a number of small princely states retained local rulers who recognised British authority. In the Revolt of 1857, a Kharal sardar Rai Ahmad Khan led rebellion against the British Raj in the Bar region, as did Dhund tribe in Murree. However, most Punjabis were divided with regards to their allegiance and many did not feel loyalty towards the Mughal emperor in Delhi. British recruited a number of Sikh, Pathan and Muslim troops to quell the revolt. The Punjab with its rich farmlands became one of the most important colonial assets. Disturbances in the region increased as the war continued. The Punjab bore the brunt of the civil unrest following partition, with casualties estimated to be in the millions.
Another major consequence of partition was the sudden shift towards religious homogeneity that occurred in all districts across Punjab owing to the new international border that cut through the province. This rapid demographic shift was primarily due to wide-scale migration but also caused by large-scale religious cleansing riots which were witnessed across the region at the time. According to historical demographer Tim Dyson, in the eastern regions of Punjab that ultimately became Indian Punjab following independence, districts that were 66% Hindu in 1941 became 80% Hindu in 1951; those that were 20% Sikh became 50% Sikh in 1951. Conversely, in the western regions of Punjab that ultimately became Pakistani Punjab, all districts became almost exclusively Muslim by 1951.
Geography
Punjab is Pakistan's second largest province by area after Balochistan with an area of . It occupies 25.8% of the total landmass of Pakistan.
Topography
thumb|Punjab features mountainous terrain near the [[hill station of Murree.]]
thumb|The route from [[Dera Ghazi Khan to Fort Munro|left]]
Punjab's landscape mostly consists of fertile alluvial plains of the Indus River and its four major tributaries in Pakistan: the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers, which traverse Punjab north to south. The landscape is amongst the most heavily irrigated on earth and canals can be found throughout the province. Punjab also includes several mountainous regions, including the Sulaiman Mountains in the southwest part of the province, the Margalla Hills in the north near Islamabad, and the Salt Range which divides the most northerly portion of Punjab, the Pothohar Plateau, from the rest of the province. In south the elevation reaches at the hill station of Suroh in Dera Ghazi Khan, which is also the highest peak in province. A portion of Thar desert lies in southern Punjab along the border with Indian state of Rajasthan, known as Cholistan. Another semi-arid desert lies in the Sind Sagar Doab called Thal.
Fauna
thumb|[[Chital (centre) and chinkaras (background) at Lal Suhanra National Park ]]
Terrain of Punjab supports a wide range of fauna due to the variety of landscape present in the region, ranging from snowy hills to deserts. The mammal species in the province include leopard, barking deer, gray wolf, striped hyena, jackal, White-footed fox, chinkara, hog deer, rhesus macaque, and pangolin. The blackbuck, nilgai and chital have been successfully reintroduced at Lal Suhanra National Park. Punjab urial is the provincial animal, and is found only in the Salt Range and Kala Chitta Range of northern Punjab. Sulaiman markhor is also present in the southwestern Sulaiman Range. Reptilian species include mugger crocodile, gharial, monitor lizard, Russell's viper, Indian cobra, saw-scaled viper, wolf snake, John's sand boa, and spiny-tailed lizard. Indus river dolphin is the best known aquatic mammal endemic to the Indus River Basin in Punjab and Sindh. The avian species include Himalayan monal, Kalij pheasant, Koklass pheasant, grey partridge, grey francolin, common wood pigeon, houbara bustard, bulbul, common quail, pied cuckoo, parakeet, Sind woodpecker, great Indian bustard, black kite, Eurasian nightjar, steppe eagle, shikra, Eurasian griffon vulture, and peregrine falcon.
Climate
thumb|Sunset in Punjab, during summer
Most areas in Punjab experience extreme weather with foggy winters, often accompanied by rain. By mid-February the temperature begins to rise; springtime weather continues until mid-April, when the summer heat sets in. The onset of the southwest monsoon is anticipated to reach Punjab by May, but since the early 1970s, the weather pattern has been irregular. The spring monsoon has either skipped over the area or has caused it to rain so hard that floods have resulted. June and July are oppressively hot. Although official estimates rarely place the temperature above 46 °C, newspaper sources claim that it reaches 51 °C and regularly carry reports about people who have succumbed to the heat. Heat records were broken in Multan in June 1993, when the mercury was reported to have risen to 54 °C. In August the oppressive heat is punctuated by the rainy season, referred to as barsat, which brings relief in its wake. The hardest part of the summer is then over, but cooler weather does not come until late October.
In early 2007, the province experienced one of the coldest winters in the last 70 years.
Punjab's region temperature ranges from −2° to 45 °C, but can reach 50 °C (122 °F) in summer and can touch down to −10 °C in winter.
Climatically, Punjab has three major seasons:
- Hot weather (April to early June) when temperature rises as high as .
- Rainy season (late June to September). Average annual rainfall ranges between 950 and 1300 mm sub-mountain region and 500–800 mm in the plains.
- Cold / Foggy / mild weather (October to March). Temperature goes down as low as .
Weather extremes are notable from the hot and barren south to the cool hills of the north. The foothills of the Himalayas are found in the extreme north as well, and feature a much cooler and wetter climate, with snowfall common at higher altitudes.
Demographics
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! colspan="4" style="background:#ccf; text-align:center;"| Historical population figures