page_title: Punjabis
section_title: History of Punjab
hierarchical_section_title: Punjabis / History of Punjab
caption_attribution_description: English: The major sites of the Indus Valley Civilization fl 2600&#8211;1900 BCE in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan
context_page_description: 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. They speak Punjabi, a language from the Indo-Aryan language family. The name Punjab literally means the land of five waters in Persian: panj āb. The name of the region was introduced by the Turko-Persian conquerors of the Indian subcontinent. The Punjabis are the 7th largest ethnic group in the world by total population.
  The historical Punjab region is often referred to as the breadbasket in both India and Pakistan. The coalescence of the various tribes, castes and the inhabitants of the Punjab region into a broader common "Punjabi" identity initiated from the onset of the 18th century CE. Prior to that the sense and perception of a common "Punjabi" ethno-cultural identity and community did not exist, even though the majority of the various communities of the Punjab region had long shared linguistic, cultural and racial commonalities.
  Traditionally, Punjabi identity is primarily linguistic, geographical and cultural.
context_section_description: Indigenous population flourished in this region, leading to a developed civilisation in 5th to 4th millennium BC, the ancient Indus Valley Civilization. Also, Buddhist remnants have been found like that of the Mankiala which corroborate the Buddhist background of this region as well. The remains of the ancient city of Taxila, and many ornaments that have been found in this region, suggests that, one of the centres of Indus Valley Civilization was established at many parts of Punjab, most notably Taxila and Harappa, Punjab became a center of early civilisation from around 3300 BC. During the Vedic Era The earliest text of Rigveda were composed in greater Punjab (northwest India and Pakistan) region.
  According to Historians this region was ruled by many small kingdoms and tribes around 4th and 5th BCE. The earliest known notable local king of this region was known as King Porus and he fought a famous Battle of the Hydaspes against Alexander. His kingdom, known as Pauravas, was situated between Hydaspes (modern Jhelum) and Acesines (modern day Chenab). These kings fought local battles to gain more ground. Taxiles (Ambhi), another local king from Punjab, wanted to defeat his eastern adversary Porus in a turf war and he invited Alexander the Great to defeat Porus. This marked the first intrusion of the West in the Indian subcontinent and Indus valley in general. But such was the valor of Porus and his kingdom forces in Punjab, that despite being defeated, he was appreciated by Alexander the Great for his skill and valor and he was granted further territories in the North. The other local kings did not like the fact that Porus was now an ally of Western forces. In less than ten years an Indian king Chandragupta Maurya defeated the forces and conquered the Northern Indian regions up to the Kabul river (in modern-day Afghanistan). Alexander mostly ruled this land with the help of local allies like Porus.
  Centuries later, areas of the Punjab region were ruled by local kings followed by the Ghaznavids, Ghurids, Delhi Sultanate, Mughals and others. Islam arrived in Punjab when the Muslim Umayyad army led by Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh in 711 AD, by defeating Raja Dahir. Some of the Muslims are said to have settled in the region and adopted the local culture. Centuries later, the Ghaznavids introduced aspects of foreign Persian and Turkic culture in Punjab.
  The earliest written Punjabi dates back to the writing of Sufi Muslim poets of the 11th Century. Its literature spread Punjab's unique voice of peace and spirituality to the entire civilisation of the region.
  Regions of North India and Punjab were annexed into the Afghan Durrani Empire later on in 1747, being a vulnerable target. However, in 1758, the Marathas captured most of Punjab including Lahore during its northwest expansion campaign. After conquering Peshawar and Attock, the Marathas defeated the Durrani Empire in the Battle of Lahore fought in 1759.The region was lost to the Durranis, however, after the Third Battle of Panipat. The grandson of Ahmed Shah Durrani (Zaman Shah Durrani), lost it to Ranjit Singh, a Punjabi Sikh. He was born in 1780 to Maha Singh and Raj Kaur in Gujranwala, Punjab. Ranjit took a leading role in organising a Sikh militia and got control of the Punjab region from Zaman Shah Durrani. Ranjit started a Punjabi military expedition to expand his territory. Under his command the Sikh army began invading neighbouring territories outside of Punjab. The Jamrud Fort at the entry of Khyber Pass was built by Ranjit Singh. The Sikh Empire slowly began to weaken after the death of Hari Singh Nalwa at the Battle of Jamrud in 1837. Two years later, in 1839, Ranjit Singh died and his son took over control of the empire. By 1850 the British took over control of the Punjab region after defeating the Sikhs in the Anglo-Sikh wars, establishing their rule over the region for around the next 100 years as a part of the British Raj. Many Sikhs and Punjabis later pledged their allegiance to the British, serving as sepoys (native soldiers) within the Raj.
caption: Map showing the sites and extent of the Indus Valley Civilisation. Harappa was the centre of one of the core regions of the Indus Valley Civilization, located in central Punjab. The Harappan architecture and Harrapan Civilization was one of the most developed in the old Bronze Age.
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