During the middle of the 18th Century, during the collapse Mughal Power in India, a series of 12 Sikh principalities, or 'Misls', formed in Punjab. After seeing off Afghan invasions, they united under the leadership of Ranjit Singh, forming the Sikh Empire, and went on to conquer much of northern India by 1840. The empire finally came to an end as the result of two failed wars against British India between 1846-49.