The Punjab has been known by different names since ancient times. The team `Punjab’ consists of two Persian words: - `Punj’ (five) and `AAB’ (water) word meaning "the land of five rivers. It means that the five rivers the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab, and the Jhelum-originating from the Himalayas, This name perhaps was given when this region came into contact with Persian Empire (500 years before Christian Era). 

• The earliest records go back to Ibn-Batuta (1394-1378 AD) who visited India during the early 14th century and mentions the region as `Punjab’ – the land of five rivers.
• According to Alexandar Cunningham it covered entire plains of the Punjab from the Indus to Beas and from the foot of the mountain to the junction of the five rivers below Multan.
• In `Rig-Veda’ it has been described as `Sapt Sindhu’ i.e. the hand of seven rivers, the Sutlej, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab, the Jhelum, the Sindhu and the Saraswati.
• When the Aryans settled down in the North India around 1500 B.C. they named it Sapta-Sindhva – land of seven rivers (seas).
• The Puranas and the great Epics-the Ramayana and the Mahabharata describe it as `Panchand’ (land of five rivers).
• The Greeks have named it Pentopotamia, which also means the land of five rivers.
• Another name for this region mentioned by Hiuen-Tang, the Chinese travelers (A.D. 629-644) is `Taki’ after the name of a powerful tribe Taki who ruled over this region.
• In the medieval times, a large part of its was known as the `Province of Lahore’ and as `Lahore kingdom’ during the times of maharaja Ranjit Singh. It was given the name of `Punjab Province ’ in 1849 A.D. by the Britishers when they made it a part of British empire.
• Historically and politically, the boundaries have been changing from time to time. Till medieval times, its boundaries were determined by the five `Doabs’ Multan was made a separate province during Akbar’s regime. Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh were a part of `Lahore Kingdom’ during the reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
• In 1901 A.D. some of its north-western parts were formed into a separate state-North-West Frontier Province, the size of Punjab started decreasing hereafter.
• In 1911, A.D. Delhi was separated from the Punjab with the partition of India, in 1947, Punjab was divided into two parts. East Punjab became a part of India and West Punjab of Pakistan.
• PEPSU was created by amalgamating eight Punjabi princely states: Patiala, Jind, Nabha, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Kalsia, Malerkotla and Nalagarh on July 15, 1948 and formally became a state of India in 1950. The capital and principal city was Patiala. The state covered an area of 26,208 km². (The Indians states of Patiala, Kapurthala, Nabha, Jind, Faridkot and Malerkotla were not a part of it. Delhi and Hissar were integrated into Punjab after the mutiny of 1857 A.D.)
• On 1 November 1956, PEPSU was merged into Punjab State. Part of the former state of PEPSU, including the southeastern portion of the state around Jind and the Narnaul enclave, presently lie within the state of Haryana, which was separated from Punjab on 1 November 1966.
• In 1966, Punjab was divided into Punjabi-speaking Punjab state and Hindi-speaking Haryana state.The undivided Punjab was bounded by Jammu & Kashmir in the North, by Afghanistan and Baluchistan of the North-West by river Yamuna in the East and by Rajasthan on the Southern Frontier.