Punjab

In British India, until the Partition of Punjab in 1947, the Punjab Province encompassed the present-day Indian states and union territories of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Delhi; and the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory.

Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the East India Company in 1849, and was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British control.

In British India, until the Partition of Punjab in 1947, the Punjab Province encompassed the present-day Indian states and union territories of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Delhi; and the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory.

Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir to the north, and Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the east, Haryana to the south and southeast, and Rajasthan to the southwest.

In British India, until the Partition of Punjab in 1947, the Punjab Province encompassed the present-day Indian states and union territories of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Delhi; and the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory.

Forming the bulk of the transnational Punjab region, it is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the enclave of Islamabad, and Azad Kashmir.

The geographical definition of the term "Punjab" has changed over time: in the 16th century Mughal Empire it referred to a relatively smaller area lying between the Indus and the Sutlej rivers.

The northern part of the Indus Valley, with its tributaries, forms the Punjab region, while the lower course of the river is known as Sindh and ends in a large delta.

The people of the Punjab today are called Punjabis, and their principal language is Punjabi.

The Punjabis or Punjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, presently divided between Punjab, India and Punjab, Pakistan.

The main religions of the Indian Punjab region are Sikhism and Hinduism.

Sikhism, or Sikhi (, from Sikh, meaning a "disciple", "seeker," or "learner"), is a monotheistic religion that originated in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent around the end of the 15th century.

The people of the Punjab today are called Punjabis, and their principal language is Punjabi.

It is the native language of the Punjabi people, an ethnolinguistic group of the cultural region of Punjab, which encompasses northwest India and eastern Pakistan.

It bordered the Balochistan and Pashtunistan regions to the west, Kashmir to the north, the Hindi Belt to the east, and Rajasthan and Sindh to the south.

Pashtunistan borders Iran to the west, Persian and Turkic-speaking areas (Turkestan) to the north, Kashmir to the northeast, Punjab to the east, and Balochistan to the south.

It bordered the Balochistan and Pashtunistan regions to the west, Kashmir to the north, the Hindi Belt to the east, and Rajasthan and Sindh to the south.

Unable to take the Punjab region, they invaded South Asia through Sindh, where they became known as Indo-Scythians (later Western Satraps).

The Punjab region has been inhabited by the Indus Valley Civilisation, Indo-Aryan peoples, and Indo-Scythians, and has seen numerous invasions by the Persians, Greeks, Kushans, Ghaznavids, Timurids, Mughals, Pashtuns, British, and others.

Indo-Scythians (also called Indo-Sakas) were a group of nomadic Iranian peoples of Saka and Scythian origin who migrated southward into western and northern South Asia (Sogdiana, Bactria, Arachosia, Gandhara, Sindh, Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra) from the middle of the 2nd century BC to the 4th century AD.

It bordered the Balochistan and Pashtunistan regions to the west, Kashmir to the north, the Hindi Belt to the east, and Rajasthan and Sindh to the south.

Balochistan borders the Pashtunistan region to the north, Sindh and Punjab to the east, and Persian regions to the west.

Historic foreign invasions mainly targeted the most productive central region of the Punjab known as the Majha region, which is also the bedrock of Punjabi culture and traditions.

Majha (Punjabi: ਮਾਝਾ (Gurmukhi), (Shahmukhi); Mājhā) is a region located in the central parts of the historical Punjab region split between India and Pakistan.

The Punjab region has been inhabited by the Indus Valley Civilisation, Indo-Aryan peoples, and Indo-Scythians, and has seen numerous invasions by the Persians, Greeks, Kushans, Ghaznavids, Timurids, Mughals, Pashtuns, British, and others.

After gaining control of the former Achaemenid satrapy of Gandhara, including the city of Taxila, Alexander advanced into Punjab, where he engaged in battle against the regional king Porus, whom Alexander defeated in the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC, but was so impressed by the demeanor with which the king carried himself that he allowed Porus to continue governing his own kingdom as a satrap.

The later name of the region, Punjab, is a compound of two Persian words: پنج panj —meaning "five"—and آب âb —meaning "water", introduced to the region by the Turko-Persian conquerors of India, and more formally popularised during the Mughal Empire.

Around the same time, Indo-Aryan tribes moved into the Punjab from regions further northwest in several waves of migration.

Punjab thus means "[The Land of] Five Waters", referring to the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas.

It is one of six rivers of the Indus System in Punjab region (Punjab means "Five Rivers").

The 19th century definition of the Punjab region focuses on the collapse of the Sikh Empire and the creation of the British Punjab province between 1846 and 1849.

The Sikh Empire (also Sikh Khalsa Raj or Sarkar-i Khalsa ) was a state originating in the Indian subcontinent, formed under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who established a secular empire based in the Punjab.

Punjab thus means "[The Land of] Five Waters", referring to the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas.

It is the westernmost of the five rivers of the Punjab region, and passes through the Kashmir Valley.

In British India, until the Partition of Punjab in 1947, the Punjab Province encompassed the present-day Indian states and union territories of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Delhi; and the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory.

Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer and Patiala and East Punjab States Union respectively and certain territories of Bihar was transferred to West Bengal.

The Punjab (,, ; native pronunciation: ), also spelled and romanised as Panjāb, is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northern India.

Among the well-known folk dances are the bhangra of the Punjab, Ghoomar of Rajasthan and rouf and bhand pather of Kashmir.

Punjab thus means "[The Land of] Five Waters", referring to the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas.

The Chenab River (Hindi: चिनाब chinaab; ਚਨਾਬ ; Urdu: چناب) is a major river that flows in India and Pakistan, and is one of the 5 major rivers of the Punjab region.

In the 16th century, during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar, the term "Punjab" was synonymous with the Lahore province.

Lahore is the largest city and historic cultural centre of the wider Punjab region, and is one of Pakistan's most socially liberal, progressive, and cosmopolitan cities.

The Punjab region is often referred to as the breadbasket in both India and Pakistan.

The Punjab and Haryana regions are considered the breadbaskets of India.

The Punjab (,, ; native pronunciation: ), also spelled and romanised as Panjāb, is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of eastern Pakistan and northern India.

Later Sindh, Balochistan, and parts of the Punjab region saw conquest by the Arab caliphates along with an influx of Muslims from Persia and Central Asia, which resulted in spread of both Shia and Sunni Islam in parts of northwestern region of South Asia.

In the 16th century, during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar, the term "Punjab" was synonymous with the Lahore province.

Akbar's father Humayun had regained control of the Punjab, Delhi, and Agra with Safavid support, but even in these areas Mughal rule was precarious, and when the Surs reconquered Agra and Delhi following the death of Humayun, the fate of the boy emperor seemed uncertain.

The Maurya presence in the area was then consolidated in the Indo-Greek Kingdom in 180BCE.

The Indo-Greek Kingdom or Graeco-Indian Kingdom was a Hellenistic kingdom spanning modern-day Afghanistan, into the classical circumscriptions of the Punjab of the Indian subcontinent (northern Pakistan and northwestern India), during the last two centuries BC and was ruled by more than thirty kings, often conflicting with one another.