Around the time of the 15th Century, Guru Nanak Dev founded the Sikh religion, which quickly came to prominence in the region and shortly afterwards, Maharaja Ranjit Singh reformed the Punjab into a secular and powerful state. The 19th century saw the beginning of British rule, which led to the emergence of several heroic Punjabi freedom fighters. In 1947, at the end of British rule, the Punjab was split between Pakistan and India.

The Rise of Sikh Power :

• The period from AD 1716 to 1799 was a highly turbulent time politically and militarily in the Punjab. This was caused by the overall decline of the Mughal empire, which left a power vacuum in the region that was eventually filled by the Sikhs in the late 18th century, after defeating several invasions by the Afghan rulers of the Durrani empire. Sikh warlords eventually formed their own independent Sikh administrative regions, which were later united in large part by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Sikhs became complete masters of the country between the Sutlej and the Yamuna and divided the plains of land among themselves.

Foundation of Sikh Empire :

• The foundation of the Sikh empire could be defined as early as AD 1707, starting from the death of Aurangzeb and the downfall of the Mughal empire, with the Mughals significantly,weakened, opportunities for the Sikh Army known as the Dal Khalsa. A rearrangement of the Khalsa, inaugurated by Guru Gobind Singh to lead expeditions against them and also the Afghans in the West. This led to a growth of the army, which was split into different confederacies or semi-independent 'Misls'. Each of these Misls controlled different areas and cities.
• The formal start of the Sikh empire began with the merger of this ‘Misls’ under Ranjit Singh, who captured Lahore in 1799 and established the empire based around the Punjab region. The empire existed from 1799 to 1849. At its peak, in the 19th century. The empire extended from the Khyber pass in the West to Kashmir in the North to Sindh in the South and to Western Tibet in the East.
• The Maharaja Ranjit Singh belongs to Shukarchakia Misl, one of the `Misls’, among existing twelve Misls at that time. In 1800, Ranjit Singh proceeded to Jammu and first seized Mirowal and then Narowal. He then laid siege to the fort of Jassarwal and marched to Sialkot. After these victories, Ranjit Singh returned to Lahore and on 12th April, 1801. He declared himself Maharaja of Punjab on the auspicious day of Baisakhi and his investiture ceremony was performed by Sahib Singh Bedi, who was the direct descendant of Guru Nanak.
• A commemorative coin was issued 'popularly known as Nanakshahi rupee.
• A few rebellions by various leaders, such as Uttam Singh and Sahib Singh, were successfully defended by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In the year 1802, he marched to Daska and eventually conquered Chiniot.
• After some time, Ranjit Singh set out for Multan and with the decline of the Afghan empire, marched into Jhang. In 1806, Ranjit Singh appointed a Chhatri named Makhan Chand as Chief of the army. The same year, he crossed the Sutlej river and seized Zira, Muktsar Sahib, Kot Kapura and Dharmkot.
• Later he marched to Ludhiana, which was held by Mohammedians, captured the city and made himself master of Ludhiana.
• In 1807, he invaded Kasur, held by Qutb-ud-din Khan.

The British and the Sutlej Treaty :

• In 1808, the British Government send CT Metcalfe to negotiate a treaty with Maharaja, as the ambitious Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, was believed to be meditating the invasion of India and British wanted to form a defensive alliance with Ranjit Singh.
• A treaty was concluded at Amritsar on 25th April, 1809, by which Ranjit Singh agreed not to occupy territory South of the Sutlej and withdraw all claims of sovereignty over the rulers of that territory.After the treaty, British established at Ludhiana under the command of colonel Ochterlomy.
• Ranjit Singh was virtually made master of all the territory to the West of Sutlej. First he turned towards Kangra valley and captured the Kangra valley from Gurkhas.
• After Kangra, Ranjit Singh sent a force under the command of Hukma Singh Chimmi to Jammu and himself marched on to Khushab and Jaffar Khan accepted Ranjit Singh's terms and gave up the fort to him. Around this time, he also got the fort of attock by daring operations of Hari Singh Nalwa and Desa Singh Majithia .
• Now Punjab under Ranjit Singh extended from Sutlej to river Attack and from Kashmir Tokasur. With the capture of Multan, the whole Bari doab came under his sway.
• In the year 1819, Ranjit Singh successfully annexed Kashmir, followed by subduing the Kashmir mountains West of the river Jhelum.
• The most significant encounters between the Maharaja and the Afghans were fought in 1813, 1823, 1834 and 1837. In 1823, Ranjit Singh defeated a large army of Yusafzai tribesmen North of the Kabul river.In 1834, he marched into Peshawar and the Battle of Jamrud, In 1837, became the last confrontation between the Sikh and the Afghans.

Successors of Maharaja Ranjit Singh :

• Maharaja Ranjit Singh died in 1839, after a reign of nearly forty years, his successors Kharak Singh, Nau Nihal Singh, Chand Kaur, Sher Singh and Dalip Singh acceded the throne of Punjab respectively.

Administration of Ranjit Singh :

The Maharaja Ranjit Singh divided the central administration into twelve departments for better control. The important among them were four departments.

• Daftar-e-Abwab-ul-Mal : Dealt with income of the state and maintained proper records.
• Daftar-e-Taujihat : Maintained records for the entire expenditure incurred on the royal family.
• Daftar-e-Mawajih : Kept the account of the pay of the various civil and military officials.
• Daftar-e-Roznamcha-Ikhrajat : Was responsible for maintaining the accounts of all day-to-day expenditure.
• The income and expenditure of the state was kept upto date so that Maharaja Ranjit could know the financial position of the state and to take appropriate action for the financial health of his empire.
• Maharaja had further divided his empire into four provinces namely, Lahore,Multan,Kashmir and Peshawar. Under each Governor, who was called as Nazim.Moti Ram was made the Nazim of Kashmir, whereas Peshawar was kept under the Governorship of Hari Singh Nalwa. Three kinds of currency were in use namely, Mughal coins, Hari Singh Nalwa and the Nanakshai coins.

Multan and Kotwal :

• Multan was kept under Khush Dayal Khatri in the beginning. Later Sawan Mal made the Governor of Multan. For Lahore province and being his capital, special administrative arrangements had been made. Imam Baksh was appointed as a special officer known as Kotwal for administrative control of Lahore:- He was having full authority and right to deal with any situation. Qazi was appointed to settle disputes among the Muslims.

Kardar :

• The provinces were further divided into districts and Mauzas (villages). Kardar was the head of the district, basically a Revenue Officer. His prime duty was to collect the revenue from the district and deposit the same in the royal treasury. In each district there were 50 to 100 villages depending upon the size of the district. These villages were administered by the panchayat, which had full authority to deal with problems of the villages. By this system, law and justice situation in the villages remained quite successful.
• Maharaja Ranjit Singh had also evolved the method of grant of Jagir in his empire to the chiefs of Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and other communities for submitting before him. These Jagirs were granted out of their territories for their livelihood.
• It is estimated that the civil, military and judicial administration under Maharaja Ranjit Singh was remarkably modern keeping in view the conditions prevailing in his entire empire in those times. He kept and maintained regular check on inefficient and corrupt officials and soldiers. He understood the importance of funds in his royal treasury to administer Punjab state smoothly and carry out his expansion programmes throughout his life. He was an intelligent administrator of Sikh empire of Punjab. Punjab. He was called the Sher-e-Punjab. In Indian history, he is considered to be one of the great rulers and administrator of Punjab.

Respect for other Religions : 

• Though a devout Sikh himself, the Maharaja had the same reverence for the religious beliefs of other faiths. Soon after becoming the ruler of Lahore. The first act of the Maharaja was to offer prayer at the Badshahi Masjid adjacent to Lahore fort. The Maharaja gave liberal grants to the shrines of Jawalamukhi in Kangra, Jagannath Puri,. Benaras, Haridawar, Dargah of Mian Mir in Lahore, and birth place of Baba Farid in Pakpattan Sharif.

Secular Punjabi Nationalism :

• Ranjit Singh was able to rise above the communal prejudices of his times and treated all his subjects on equal footing. Competent person from all faiths, Sikh, Hindu, Muslim, occupied high positions in the court of the Maharaja. The Maharaja was able to create a sense of Punjabi nationalism is evident from the fact that when, after his death, the British compelled the Lahore Darbar to take up arms, all communities Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs fought shoulder to shoulder to save the first Punjabi sovereign state established by Ranjit Singh.
• The Maharaja was able to do what no other Indian ruler had done before by making Punjabis realise that being a Punjabi was more important than being Muslim, Hindu or Sikh. He was the founding father of Punjabiyat. His army and administration fully represented all the three communities.

Land Revenue System :

• As regards the Land Revenue System, the system of Batai was introduced, in the beginning of the reign of Ranjit Singh and it continued upto a period of 1823. In 1824, Batai system was replaced by a system of assessment known as Kankut. The share of the government was determined on the basis of a standing crop, whose value was estimated in terms of money. The share of the state was collected in cash. After 1834, Ranjit Singh began to encourage the practice of farming of periods varing from 3 to 6 year.The state stated demand varied from two-fifths to one-third of the produce of the year.
• The land revenue was collected twice a year. The chief officer in-charge of collection in a district was Kardar and he was assisted by sub-ordinate officials like Muqadams, Patwaris and Kanungos. The proceeds of revenue were kept in the district treasury under the control of a Kardar and were either sent to Lahore or disposed of according to the orders of the Central Government.

Anglo-Sikh Wars :

• The Anglo-Sikh wars resulted in the subjugation of Sikh empire and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West frontier province by the East India company.
• At the end of the first Anglo-Sikh war, the Sikh empire was forced to cede some valuable territory (the Jalandhar doab) to the East India Company and Maharaja Gulab Singh, ruler of Jammu was allowed to acquire Kashmir from Sikh empire by a large cash payment to the East India Company.
• The infant Maharaja Dalip Singh of the Sikh empire was allowed to retain his throne, but a British resident, Sir Henry Lawrence, controlled the policy of the Darbar. 
• On 21st February, 1849, the Sikhs were defeated at the Battle of Gujarat by the victory of the British allowed them to take over the Punjab.
• Punjab was annexed on 2nd April, 1849 and became part of British India.
• The transfer of Delhi territory from North-Western provinces to Punjab. Punjab with the dependencies was formed into a lieutenant governorship. Sir John Lawrence, then Chief Commissioner being appointed the first Lieutenant-Governor on 1st January, 1859. He was succeeded by Sir Robert Montgomery (1859), Sir Donald Mc Leod (1865), Sir Henry Durand (1870), Sir Henry Davies (1871) respectively.
• In 1866, The Judicial Commissioner was replaced by a Chief Court. The direct administrative functions of the government were carried out through the Lieutenant Governor through the Secretariat, comprising a chief secretary and two under-secretaries. They were usually members of the Indian Civil Service.
• The territory under the lieutenant consisted of twenty nine districts, grouped under five divisions and forty three princely states.

Division and British India :

• The actual division of British India between the two new dominions was accomplished according to what has come to be known as the June Plan of Mountbatten. It was announced by Mountbatten on 3rd June 1947 and the date of independence was also announced 15th August, 1947.

The plan's main points were :

• Hindus and Muslims in Punjab and Bengal Legislative Assemblies would meet and vote for partition. If a simple majority of either group wanted partition, then these provinces would be divided.
• A Boundary Commission to be set up in case of partition.
• The Indian political leaders accepted the plan, which was silent about the question of princely states, but on 3rd June, Mountbatten advised them against remaining independent and urged them to join one of the two new dominions. Within British India, the border between India and Pakistan (The Radcliffe Line) was determined by a British commissioned report prepared under the chairmanship of a London's Barrister, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, Pakistan came into being with two non-contiguous enclaves, East Pakistan and West Pakistan, separated geographically by India. India was formed out of the majority of Hindu regions of British India and Pakistan from the majority of Muslim areas.

Partition Between India and Pakistan :

• In early 1947, in the months leading up to the deliberations of the Punjab Boundary Commission, the-main disputed areas appeared to be in the Bari and Bist doabs. In the Bari doab, the disticts of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Lahore and Montgomery were all disputed.
• Before the Boundary Commission began formal hearings, governments were set up for the East and the West Punjab regions. Their territories were provisionally divided by National Division based on simple district majorities.
• In both, the Punjab and Bengal, the Boundary Commission consisted of two Muslims and two Non-Muslim judges with Sir Radcliffe as a common chairman.
• Each side, the Muslims and the Congress/Sikhs presented its claim through with no liberty to bargain. On 15th August, 1947, India became Independent. The great Indian nation was partitioned on the basis of religion into two states of India and Pakistan.
• Western Punjab was dominated by Muslims and went to Pakistan while Eastern Punjab was dominated by Hindus and Sikhs and remained in India.
• The Indian state of Punjab was created in 1947 and the partition saw many people displaced and much inter communal violence. Several small Punjabi princely states, including Patiala, also became its part.

Punjabi Suba Movement (1948-1966) :

• In the 1950s,the linguistic groups across India sought statehood, which led to the establishment of the States Reorganisation Commission in 1955. The Akali Dal, a Sikh dominated political party active mainly in Punjab, sought to create a Punjabi Suba(Punjabi Province). The States Reorganisation Commission while recommending reorganisation of states for the rest of India on the basis of linguistic homogenity demand for the formation of a separate Punjabi speaking state.
• Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru himself took a tough line against the Sikh agitation for a Punjab state and declared that he would not concede the demand even if as a consequence, he had to face a Civil War. The Punjabi Suba Movement was led by Master Tara Singh and Fateh Singh of India.

Reorganisation of the State of Punjab :

• In 1950, two separate states were created. Punjab included of the former Raj province Union of Punjab, while the princely states were combined into a new state, the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU). PEPSU consisted of the princely states of Patiaia, Nabha, Jind, Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Faridkot and Kalsia. Himachal Pradesh was created as a Union Territory from several princely states and Kangra district. In 1956, PEPSU was merged into Punjab state and several Northern districts of Punjab in the Himalayas were added to Himachal Pradesh.
• The capital of the undivided Punjab province, Lahore, ended up in the West Pakistan after partition, so a new capital for Indian Punjab state was build at Chandigarh. Shimla was named temporary capital of the Punjab until Chandigarh was completed in 1960.
• In September 1966, Indira Gandhi led Union Government accepted the demand and Punjab was trifurcated as per the Punjab Reorganisation Act. A new state of Punjab came into existence under the Punjab Reorganisation Act Number 31 of 1966 on 18 September, 1966.

Formation of Haryana State :

A new state to be known as the state of Haryana comprising the following territories of the existing state of Punab, namely

• Hisar, Rohtak, Gurgaon, Karnal and Mahendragarh districts.
• Narwana, and Jind tehsils of Sangrur district.
• Ambala, Jagadhari and Naraingarh tehsils of Ambala distirct.
• Pinjore Kanungo Circle of Kharar tehsil of Ambala district.
• The territories in Manimajra Kanungo Circle of Kharar tehsil of Ambala district specified in the First Schedule. And there upon the said territories shall cease to form part of the existing state of Punjab.

Transfer of Territory from Punjab to Himachal Pradesh :

• The territories in the existing state of Punjab shall be added to the Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh, comprised in :
• Simla, Kangra, Kullu and Lahaul and Spiti districts.
• Nalagarh tehsil of Ambala districts.
• Lohara, Amb and Una Kanungo Circles of Una tehsil of Hoshiarpur district.
• The territories in Santokhgarh Kanungo Circle of Una tehsil of Hoshiarpur district Specified in Part I of the Third Schedule.
• The territories of Dhar Kalan Kanungo Circle of Pathankot tehsil of Gurdaspur district and there upon the said territories shall cease to form part of the existing state of Punjab.

Formation of Union Territory of Chandigarh :

• Act formed a new Union Territory to be known as the Union Territory of Chandigarh comprising such of the territories of Manimajra and Manauli Kanungo Circles of Kharar tehsil of Ambala district in the existing state of Punjab and there upon the territories, so specified shall cease to form part of the existing state of Punjab.

State of Punjab and Territorial Divisions :

• The state of Punjab shall comprise the territories of the existing state of Punjab.
• Territories which were part of Ambala district in the exiting state of Punjab, but are not transferred, the territories which were part of the Una tehsil of Hoshiarpur district in the existing state of Punjab but are not transferred, formed a separate district known as the Ropar district in the state of Punjab. The territories, which were part of Manimajra Kanungo circle of Kharar tehsil of Ambala district but are not transferred called that Mullanpur Kanungo Circle.
• The territories, which were part of Una tehsil of Hoshiarpur district but are not transferred form a separate tehsil known as Anandpur Sahib tehsil.
• The territories, which were part of Santokhgarh Kanungo circle of Una tehsil of Hoshiarpur district but are not transferred, form a part of Nurpur Bedi Kanungo circle.