Punjab (historical region)

Punjab (historical region) (Hindi, “five rivers”), historical region, north-western portion of the subcontinent of India, now divided into the province of Punjab in Pakistan and the states of Punjab and Haryana in India. The extreme north-eastern part of the Punjab region lies in the Himalayan foothills, but most of the territory is a level plain sloping from an elevation of about 490 m (1,600 ft) in the north to less than 61 m (200 ft) in the extreme south-west. The region's name is derived from the five great rivers that traverse it: the Indus and its tributaries, and the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, and the Sutlej. The chief cities of the Punjab include Amritsar and Chandigarh (in India), Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi, and Sialkot (in Pakistan).

Most of the region's population work in agriculture; the Punjab is the most important wheat-growing region of the subcontinent. The soil is very fertile, but much of it requires extensive irrigation. Punjabi industry is known for its craft products, such as handloomed carpets, shawls, and rugs; work in gold, silver, brass, and copper; glazed tiles and pottery.

The climate of the plains is excessively hot and dry between April and August; temperatures average 34° C (94° F) but are often as high as 49° C (120° F). Winters are cool (averaging 12° C (54° F) in January) with some frosts. Annual rainfall ranges from about 915 mm (36 in) in the north to 102 mm (4 in) in the south. About 70 per cent of the total falls during the monsoon season which begins at the end of June. In winter, cyclones from the west bring rain to the northern part of the region.

In the Indian portion of the Punjab region, the majority of the population is Hindu, but there is a considerable Sikh population, and a small proportion of Muslims (see Islam). In the Pakistani portion, the majority of the population is Muslim. There is a rich cultural tradition; Punjabi literature dates back to the Islamic poetry of Attar, a 13th-century follower of Sufism. Romantic folk ballads such as the Hir Ranjha, Sohni Mahiwal, and Mirza Sahiban have remained popular in the region. Giddha—a dance that originated in the region—and both Sikh and Muslim musical forms are still common across the Punjab.

People have inhabited the Punjab since the late Stone Age. The Indus Valley Civilization, the earliest known civilization of South Asia, included a city at Harappa, which dates to about 2000 bc. Between 2000 bc and 1000 bc, Aryan-speaking peoples migrated into the Punjab from the north-west. The battle between the Kauravas and Pandavas, recorded in the Indian epic poem the Mahabharata, took place in eastern Punjab near the city of Delhi.

Beginning with the invading Greeks in 327 bc, political and cultural influences from the north-west have repeatedly affected the Punjab region, notably Hindu conquerors from northern India in the 4th, 5th, 8th, and 9th centuries ad, and Muslim invaders from Afghanistan in the 11th century. The region subsequently fell within the early Muslim empires of northern India. From the 13th to 16th centuries, the Punjab was devastated by periodic invasions of Mongols and the Turkic Tatars, including an invasion by Tamerlane. In the 250 years following the defeat of the sultan of Delhi in 1526 by Babur at the Battle of Pânîpat, the Punjab was split among its Lahore, Multân, and Delhi subahs (provinces).

An important influence in the history of the Punjab region was the development of the Sikh religion in the 15th century. In the 18th century the Sikhs, the Moguls, and the Afghans all struggled for control of the Punjab. By 1765 many independent Sikh kingdoms had been established in the region. These kingdoms were later welded into a single powerful state, called the Sikh Kingdom of the Punjab, founded by Indian warrior Ranjit Singh. The kingdom, which included Kashmir and eastern Afghanistan, began to unravel after Singh’s death, and the British annexed it to India after the Second Sikh War in 1849 (for details on the immediate pre-colonial history of the Punjab, see Sikhism: History).

Under the terms of the Indian Independence Act of 1947, the Punjab was divided into the East Punjab province of the Union of India and the West Punjab province of Pakistan. India was allotted 96,809 sq km (37,378 sq mi), with a population of about 12.65 million; Pakistan, 160,610 sq km (62,012 sq mi), with a population of about 18.8 million. The partition line followed the course of the Ravi and Sutlej rivers, allotting parts of Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Multān divisions to Pakistan and the remainder of the region to India.

In addition to Punjab proper, the Punjab region included 34 Indian, or Native, states, known as the Punjab States, with an area of 98,798 sq km (38,146 sq mi) and a population (1941) of 5,503,554. Following partition, most of the Indian States joined the Union of India.

Rioting and civil strife among Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs began even before the 1947 partition, and in August, when the Punjabi partition was effected, open warfare erupted. Partition cut the Sikh community in half, and there was bitter conflict between Sikhs and Muslims. As a result of the communal fighting, large numbers of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs abandoned their homes in the Punjab and immigrated to friendly territory.

The Pakistani portion of the Punjab region was amalgamated in 1955 into the province of West Pakistan; in 1970 it was reconstituted as Punjab province. In 1956 the Indian portion was merged with other provinces to form the present state of Punjab; for subsequent history, see Punjab (state, India).