Gujranwala

Gujranwala is a city of millions in the northeast of the Pakistani province of Punjab. The city is on the railway and highway network directly with Lahore ( capital of Punjab ), Islamabad ( capital of Pakistan ) and Peshawar connected. The district covers an area of ​​3622 square kilometers and ordered 1981 on 7,522,352 inhabitants. At that time the population growth within 10 years was 29%. Today, over 11 million people live in the district, depending on your perspective ( core area vs. Immediate area ) in the city of 1.7 to 3.4 million people.

Economy

Gujranwala is both an agricultural center (grains, melons, sugarcane ), on the other hand also a center of commerce and industry ( ceramics, leather, production of safe, textiles, silk, motor industry, machine industry). But the metal-working area is the processing of copper, brass and aluminum of importance. 1951 Gujranwala became the capital of the district, what the economy in terms of the newer industries in particular brought a boom. The hydroelectric power plant of Gujranwala generates electricity with the help of the river Chanab. In the city the following banks operate: Habib Bank Limited, United Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited and State Bank of Pakistan.

Education

The city has several colleges, which are connected with the University of the Punjab.

Sports

The city has a cricket stadium of international standard, the Jinnah Stadium. In earlier known as Municipal Stadium Stadium many national and international cricket matches were held. The capacity is 20,000.

History

The city has a very glorious past. The first name of the settlement was Khanpur Shansi. This name comes from Khan Shansi who founded 11 villages in the surrounding environment. In the following period, the country was occupied by the tribe of the Gujar Jaat. Because of their dominance, the city soon became known as Gujranwala. Probably also the capital of Punjab was once in this district - at a time when it did not exist Lahore. Due to the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Hsuan Tsang is known that a city name Taki (or Tse- kia ), the metropolis of the whole country of the five streams should have been. In the vicinity of the modern village of Asarur this former capital was discovered. However, it is not known how it came to the case of Taki and the rise of Lahore. While the district initially prospered and became stronger, it later came to a mysterious depopulation. The region thus lost almost its entire meaning.

After the death of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir in 1707, the Sikhs established gradually in the Punjab. On the death of the old ruler was followed by a series of rapid changes of government, which brought the country to the brink of anarchy. At that moment, took advantage of Charat Singh, the head of the Sikh Clans, seize the moment. He made Gujranwala in 1763 to his stronghold. So the time 1762-1849 is also called the Sikh period. Charat Singh died in 1774, his work was, however, extremely successfully continued by his son, Mahan Singh. Mahan is considered one of the most brilliant leader in the history of Punjab. He achieved the unification of Punjab under one flag. Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled until his death in 1839. Thereafter, the kingdom of the Sikh was divided. This moment of weakness, took the British East India Company from 1849 and ended the rule of the Sikhs after the Second Sikh War. Until 1947 the area was part of the British Empire.

Following independence and the partition of the Indian subcontinent, the Sikhs and Hindus migrated to India, while Muslim refugees came to Gujranwala.