Lahore (Punjabi: لہور, Urdu: لاہور, pronounced [laːˈhoːr] ( listen)) is the capital of the Pakistaniprovince of Punjab and the second largest city in Pakistan after Karachi. The city lies along the Ravi River, situated approximately 25 kilometres (16 mi) from Wagah border crossing and is 32 kilometres (20 mi) from the Indian city of Amritsar.
Historically, Lahore has been a center of cultural heritage for many civilizations. It successively served as regional capital of the empires of the Shahikingdoms in the 11th century, the Ghaznavids in the 12th century, the Ghurid State in the 12th and 13th century, the Mughal Empire in the 16th century, theSikh Empire in the early 19th century, and it was the capital of the Punjab region under the British Raj in the mid 19th and early 20th century. Mughal structures such as the Badshahi Mosque, the Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens, and the mausolea ofJehangir and Nur Jehan are popular tourist attractions for the city. Lahore is also home to many Britishcolonial structures built in the Mughal-Gothic style, such as the Lahore High Court, the General Post Office, Lahore Museum and many older universities including the University of the Punjab. The Lahore Zoo, world's third oldest zoo, is also situated here. Lahore is also referred to as the cultural heart of Pakistan as it hosts most of the arts, cuisine, festivals, film making, music, gardening and intelligentsia of the country. It is also an important religious center as it is a home to many temples,mosques and shrines like Data Durbar Complex.[14]
According to the 1998 census, Lahore's population was 6,318,745.[15] A mid-2006 government estimate now puts the population at approximately 10 million.[12] It is ranked 40 in the most populated urban areas in the world. In 2008, Lahore was ranked as a city with High Sufficiency to become a Gamma world city.[16] In 2010 it was ranked by The Guardian as the 2nd Best Tourist Destination in Pakistan.[17]
History
A legend based on oral traditions holds that Lahore, known in ancient times as Lavapuri ("City of Lava" inSanskrit),[18] was founded by Prince Lava or Loh,[19][20] the son of Rama, while Kasur was founded by his twin brother Prince Kusha.[21] To this day, Lahore Fort has a vacant temple dedicated to Lava (also pronounced Loh, hence Loh-awar or "The Fort of Loh").[22]
Ptolemy, the celebrated 2nd-century Egyptian astronomer and geographer, mentions in hisGeographia a city called Labokla[23] situated on the route between the Indus River and Palibothra, or Pataliputra (Patna) mostly, in a tract of country called Kasperia (Kashmir). It was described as extending along the rivers Bidastes or Vitasta (Jhelum), Sandabal or Chandra Bhaga (Chenab), and Adris or Iravati (Ravi). This city may have been ancient Lahore.
The oldest authentic document about Lahore was written anonymously in 982. It is called Hudud-i-Alam (The Regions of the World).[24] In 1927 it was translated into English by Vladimir Fedorovich Minorsky and published in Lahore. In this document, Lahore is mentioned as a shehr or town inhabited by infidels[25]"impressive temples, large markets and huge orchards." It refers to "two major markets around which dwellings exist," and it also mentions "the mud walls that enclose these two dwellings to make it one." The original document is currently held in the British Museum.[26] Lahore was called by different names throughout history. To date there is no conclusive evidence as to when it was founded. Some historians trace the history of the city as far back as 4000 years ago.[27] However, historically, it has been proved that Lahore is at least 2,000 years old. Hieun-tsang, the famous Chinese pilgrim has given a vivid description of Lahore which he visited in the early parts of the 7th century AD. Lying on the main trade and invasion routes to South Asia, Lahore has been ruled and plundered by a number of dynasties and hordes.
Ghaznavid Empire to Delhi Sultanate
Lahore appears as the capital of the Punjab for the first time underAnandapala- the Hindu Shahi king who is referred to as the ruler of (hakim i lahur)-after leaving the earlier capital of Waihind[28]
Few references to Lahore remain from before its capture by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni in the eleventh century. The sultan took Lahore after a long siege and battle in which the city was torched and depopulated. In 1021, Sultan Mahmud appointed Malik Ayaz to the throne and made Lahore the capital of the Ghaznavid Empire. As the first Muslim governor of Lahore, Ayaz rebuilt and repopulated the city. He added many important features, such as city gates and a masonry fort, built in 1037–1040 on the ruins of the previous one,[29] which had been demolished in the fighting (as recorded by Munshi Sujan Rae Bhandari, author of theKhulasatut Tawarikh in 1695–96). The present Lahore Fort stands on the same location. Under Ayaz's rule, the city became a cultural and academic center, renowned for poetry.[30] The tomb of Malik Ayaz can still be seen in the Rang Mahal commercial area of town.[31]
After the fall of the Ghaznavid Empire, Lahore was ruled by various Muslim dynasties known as theDelhi Sultanate, including the Khiljis, Tughlaqs, Sayyid, Lodhis and Suris.[32] When Sultan Qutb-ud-din Aibak was crowned here in 1206, he became the first Muslim sultan in South Asia.[33] It was not until 1524 that Lahore became part of the Mughal Empire.[34]
Lahore touched the zenith of its glory during the Mughal rule from 1524 to 1752. The Mughals, who were famous as builders, gave Lahore some of its finest architectural monuments, many of which are extant today.
From 1524 to 1752, Lahore was part of the Mughal Empire. Lahore grew under emperorBabur; from 1584 to 1598, under the emperors Akbar the Great and Jahangir, the city served as the empire's capital. Lahore reached the peak of its architectural glory during the rule of the Mughals, many of whose buildings and gardens have survived the ravages of time. Lahore's reputation for beauty fascinated the English poet John Milton, who wrote "Agra and Lahore, the Seat of the Great Mughal" in 1670.[35] During this time, the massive Lahore Fort was built. A few buildings within the fort were added by Akbar's son, Mughal emperor Jahangir, who is buried in the city. Jahangir's son, Shahjahan Burki, was born in Lahore. He, like his father, extended the Lahore Fort and built many other structures in the city, including the Shalimar Gardens. The last of the great Mughals, Aurangzeb, who ruled from 1658 to 1707, built the city's most famous monuments, theBadshahi Masjid and the Alamgiri Gate next to the Lahore Fort.
During the 17th century, as Mughal power dwindled, Lahore was often invaded, and government authority was lacking. The great Punjabi poet Baba Waris Shah said of the situation, "khada peeta wahy da, baqi Ahmad Shahy da" — "we have nothing with us except what we eat and wear, all other things are for Ahmad Shah". Ahmad Shah Durrani captured remnants of the Mughal Empire and had consolidated control over the Punjab and Kashmir regions by 1761.[36]
The 1740s were years of chaos, and the city had nine different governors between 1745 and 1756. Invasions and chaos in local government allowed bands of warring Sikhs to gain control in some areas. The Sikhs were gaining momentum at an enormous rate. In 1801, the twelve Sikh misls joined into one to form a new empire and sovereign Sikh state ruled by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.[37]
Maharajah Ranjit Singh made Lahore his capital and was able to expand the kingdom to the Khyber Pass and also included Jammu and Kashmir, while keeping the British from expanding across the River Sutlej for more than 40 years. After his death in 1839 the internecine fighting between the Sikhs and several rapid forfeitures of territory by his sons, along with the intrigues of the Dogras and two Anglo-Sikh wars, eventually led to British control of the Lahore Darbar ten years later. For the British, Punjab was a frontier province, because Lahore had boundaries withAfghanistan and Persia. Therefore, the Punjabis, unlike the Bengalis and the Sindhis, were not allowed to use their mother tongue as an official language. The British first introduced Urdu as an official language in Punjab,[38][39] including Lahore, allegedly due to a fear of Punjabi nationalism. Under British rule (1849–1947), colonial architecture in Lahore combined Mughal, Gothic and Victorian styles. Under British rule, Sir Ganga Ram (sometimes referred to as the father of modern Lahore) designed and built the General Post Office, Lahore Museum, Aitchison College, Mayo School of Arts (now the NCA), Ganga Ram Hospital, Lady Mclagan Girls High School, the chemistry department of the Government College University, the Albert Victor wing of Mayo Hospital, Sir Ganga Ram High School (now Lahore College for Women) the Hailey College of Commerce, Ravi Road House for the Disabled, the Ganga Ram Trust Building on Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam, and the Lady Maynard Industrial School.[40] He also constructed Model Town, a suburb that has recently developed into a cultural center for Lahore's growing socioeconomic elite.
The GPO and YMCA buildings in Lahore commemorated the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria, an event marked by the construction of clock towers and monuments all over British India. Other important British buildings included the High Court, the Government College University, the museums, the National College of Arts, Montgomery Hall, Tollinton Market, the University of the Punjab (Old Campus) and the Provincial Assembly. Even today, Mall Road retains a variety of Gothic and Victorian style buildings built during the British Raj. At one end of The Mall stands the university, one of the most prestigious universities of Pakistan. The British also launched the city's first horse-racing club in 1924, starting a tradition that continues today at the Lahore Race Club.
Lahore played a special role in the independence movements of both India and Pakistan. The 1929 Indian National Congress session was held at Lahore. In this Congress, the Declaration of the Independence of India was moved by Pandit Nehru and passed unanimously at midnight on 31 December 1929.[41] On this occasion, the contemporary tricolour of India (with a chakra at its centre) was hoisted for the first time as a national flag, and thousands of people saluted it.
Lahore's prison was used by the British to detain revolutionary freedom fighters. Noted freedom fighter Jatin Das died in Lahore's prison after fasting for 63 days in protest of British treatment of political prisoners. One of the greatest martyrs in the history of Indian independence,Shaheed Sardar Bhagat Singh, was hanged here.[42]
The most important session of the All India Muslim League(later the Pakistan Muslim League), demanding the creation of Pakistan, was held in Lahore in 1940.[43]Muslims under the leadership of Quaid-e-Azam (Muhammad Ali Jinnah) demanded a separate homeland for Muslims of India in a document known as the Pakistan Resolution or the Lahore Resolution. It was during this session that Jinnah, the leader of the league, publicly proposed the Two-Nation Theory for the first time.[44]
Upon the independence of Pakistan, Lahore was made capital of the Punjab province in the new state of Pakistan. Almost immediately, large scale riots broke out among Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus, causing many deaths as well as damage to historic monuments—including the Lahore Fort, Badshahi mosque and other colonial buildings.[45] With United Nations assistance, the government was able to rebuild Lahore, and most scars of the communal violence of independence were erased. Less than 20 years later, however, Lahore once again became a battleground in the War of 1965. The battlefield and trenches can still be observed today close to the Wahga border area.
After independence, Lahore lost much of its glory, but in the 1990s, Lahore once again gained its significance as an economic and cultural powerhouse through government reforms. The secondIslamic Summit Conference was held in the city.[46] In 1996 the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup final match was held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore
The Walled City of Lahore known locally as the "Un-droone Shehr" is the oldest and most historic part of Lahore. The Punjab government embarked on a major project in 2009 to restore the Royal Trail (Shahi Guzar Gah) from Akbari Gate to the Lahore Fort with the help of the World Bank under the Sustainable Development of the Walled City of Lahore (SDWCL) project. The project aims at the Walled City development, at exploring and highlighting economic potential of the Walled City as a cultural heritage, exploring and highlighting the benefits of the SWDCL project for the residents, and at soliciting suggestions regarding maintenance of development and conservation of the Walled City
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