The Punjab (sometimes spelt Panjab) is a region straddling the border between India and Pakistan. Once a single entity, it is now split between two nations: see Punjab, India and Punjab, Pakistan. Punjab, India covers an area of 50,362 square kilometres (19,445 square miles). Punjab, Pakistan is 205,344 square kilometres, (79,284 square miles). Population: 24,000,000 (2000) in India: 70,000,000 (1994) in Pakistan.
The region came under British rule when the East India Company annexed the Punjab on March 29, 1849. The region was divided between India and Pakistan when they gained independence in 1947.
The name "Punjab" means "land of five rivers" and derives from the Persian words 'panj,' meaning five, and 'aab,' meaning water. The rivers, tributaries of the Indus River, are the Beas, Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, and Sutlej. The five rivers, now divided between India and Pakistan, merge to form the Panjnad, which joins the Indus.
Most of the Punjab is an alluvial plain, bounded by mountains to the North. Despite its dry conditions, it is a rich agricultural area due to the extensive irrigation made possible by the great rivers.
Sikhism is the main religion of the Indian Punjab. About 60% of the population are Sikhs, most of the rest Hindu and Muslim. Islam is the religion of about 97% of the population of the Punjab in Pakistan. The language of the region is Punjabi.
Chandigarh city is the capital of the Indian state of Punjab. Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab.
The word "Punjab" for the first time was mentioned in the Book ``Tarikh-e-Sher Shah (1580) which mentions the construction of Fort by a fellow named ``Sher Khan of Punjab. Again the name is mentioned in ``Ain-e-Akbari part 1 written by Abul Fazal who also mentions that the territory of Punjab was divided into two provinces of Lahore and Multan. Similarly in the second volume of ``Aeen-e-Akbari title of a chapter contains the word ``Punjab in it. Also the Mughal King Jahangir mentions the word ``Punjab on page 183 of his book "Tuzk-i-Janhageeri". [Quraishee 73]
But Archeologists have traced the signs of human habitation to times long before that of Mughals arrival. The upper basin of Indus and the Baluchistan Plateau hosted one of the earliest human civilizations known as the Indus valley civilization. The earliest signs of life human activity date as far back as 7000 BC. The Indus valley civilization grew from small village and settlements to highly refined urban life. At its height, around 3000 BC, it boasted the splendid cities of Harrapa (Near present Day Sahiwal in West Punjab) and Mohenjo Daro in the lower Indus valley. The story of the decline, whose reasons are still not completely explained, of civilization is also told through the remains of these cities, now primarily attributed to the dessication of the main river that fed the civilisation lying on its shores.
