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Punjab (meaning: “Land of five Rivers”) is a region straddling the border between India and Pakistan. Punjab has a long history and rich cultural heritage. The people of the Punjab are called Punjabis and they speak a language called Punjabi. The three main religions are Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism.
Punjabi Heroes that History Forgot
A Forgotten Hero Named Jassa
 
Ancient Punjab (or the Greater Punjab) had comprised vast territories of Northern India, eastern Pakistan and parts of Afghanistan. It once extended as far as river Yamuna in the east. The Punjabis, i.e., the inhabitants of Punjab, in ancient times, were also known as Vahikas or Arattas. The name comprised such ethnic elements as the Gandharas, Prasthalas, Khasas, Vasatis, Trigartas, Pauravas, Malavas, Yaudheyas, Saindhavas, Sauviras; the Iranian and trans-frontier peoples such as the Kambojas, Pahlavas; and the Persianised Ionians (Yavanas) as well as the nomadic Scythians, also called Shakas. The region, populated by Indo-Aryans, has been invaded and ruled by many different empires and races, including the Persians, Turks, Mughals, Afghans and British. Around the time of the fifteenth Century, Guru Nanak founded the Sikh religion, which quickly came to prominence in the region, and shortly afterwards, Maharaja Ranjit Singh reformed the Punjab into a powerful state. The Nineteenth Century saw the beginning of British rule. In 1947, at the end of British rule, the Punjab was split between Pakistan and India. A historical region of the northwest Indian sub-continent bounded by the Indus and Yamuna rivers. It was a center of the prehistoric Indus Valley civilization and after c. 1500 B.C. the site of early Aryan settlements. Muslims occupied the western part of the region by the eighth century, introducing Islam, and although they later conquered the eastern part, Hinduism remained entrenched there. The Mughals brought the region to cultural eminence until their empire declined in the eighteenth century. The Punjab was controlled by Sikhs from 1716 to 1849, when it was annexed by Britain. It was partitioned between India and Pakistan in 1947. Once a single entity, it is now split between two nations: Pakistan's Punjab Province and India's Punjab state. The Indian states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were also parts of the former undivided Punjab. Delhi had been apart of the British Punjab province. Punjab, India covers an area of 50,362 square kilometers (19,445 square miles). Punjab, Pakistan is 205,344 square kilometers, (79,284 square miles). Population: 24,289,296 (2000) in India, 86,084,000 (2005) in Pakistan. Roughly half of Pakistan's population lives in Pakistani Punjab. Punjabi is spoken by (approx) 90% of population in Pakistani Punjab and 92.2% in Indian Punjab. The capital city of the Indian Punjab is Chandigarh. The capital city of the Pakistani Punjab, and the pre-Partition Punjab is Lahore.
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