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Geography
The city of Lahore is located at latitude
31 ° 35´ N and
longitude 74° 13´
E. The city occupies an
area of over 2000 km²
and is expanding. It is
situated one mile to the
south of the river Ravi,
and some 23 miles from the
eastern border of the district.
The city is built in the
form of a parallelogram,
the area within the walls,
exclusive of the citadel,
being about 461 acres. It
stands on the alluvial plain
traversed by the river Ravi.
The city is slightly elevated
above the plain, and has
a high ridge within it,
running east and west on
its northern side. The whole
of this elevated ground
is composed of the accumulated
debris of many centuries.
The river, which makes a
very circuitous bend from
the East, passes in a semi-circle
to the North of Lahore.
Climate
The climate of the Lahore is hot in summer
and cold in winter. The
maximum and minimum temperature
recorded in the Lahore is
46ºC and 1.2ºC
respectively. The Monsoon
starts at the end of June
and continues till the end
of August. The average annual
rainfall in the Lahore is
about 490 mm.
History
Lahore lies in 'land of five rivers'
Punj-aab and has been settled
since modern humans arrived
from Africa. The early history
of Lahore is involved in
so much obscurity that it
is impossible to discover
the exact date of its foundation.
In the middle of the second
century Claudius Ptolemeus,
surnamed Ptolemy, the celebrated
astronomer and geographer,
in his geography he mentions
a city called 'Labokla',
situated on the route between
the Indus and Palibothra,
or Pataliputra (Patna),
in a tract of country called
Kasperia (Kashmir), described
as extending along the rivers
Bidastes (Jhelam), Sandabal
or Chandra Bhaga (Chenab),
and Adris (Ravi). This place,
from its name and locality,
is identify as Lahore. Lahore
is also identufied with
Sanghala, mentioned by Arrian
and Curtius, the classical
writers, as the stronghold
of the Kathaean or Khatri
tribe. This is the Sanghala
of Alexander, mentioned
also by Diadorus. But its
position, 65 miles from
the bank of the Hydraotes
(Ravi), precludes the identity
of its situation with that
suggested by the enterprising
traveller. Yet both Curtius
and Arrian agree in stating
that Alexander crossed the
Hydraotes (Ravi) before
advancing against Sanghala
to punish the insurgent
Kathaeans. There can, therefore,
be no doubt that the Alexander
crossed the Ravi in the
immediate neighbourhood
of Lahore, which “was most
probably the position of
his camp when he heard of
the recusancy of the Kathaean.”
But it must have been a
place of no importance at
the time of the Macedonian
invasion, or it would have,
doubtless, been mentioned
by the Greek writers.When
the celebrated Chinese pilgrim,
Hwen Thsang, visited the
Punjab in 630 A.D., he found
the walls of Sanghala completely
ruined, but their foundations
still remained ; and-in
the midst of the ruins he
found a small portion of
the old city, still inhabited.
According to the Chinese
traveller, Taki, or Asarur,
about two miles to the south
of the high road between
Lahore and Pindi Bhatian
(or 45 miles from the former
and 24 from the latter),
was the capital of the Panjab
in A.D. 633.
Arab general Mohammad Bin Qasim conquered
Indus valley in 712 A.D.
from Karachi to Kashmir
including Punjab and Lahore.
Lahore came under Muslim
rule in 713 CE when Umayyad
Muslim Arab army led by
Muhammad bin Qasim conquered
Punjab, and the present
Pakistan from Kashmir to
the Arabian Sea. Sultan
Mahmud of Ghazni placed
it under the rule of his
governor, Malik Ayaz. When
Sultan Qutb-ud-din Aybak
was crowned in 1206 here,
he became the first Muslim
Sultan of the South Asia.
From 1524 to 1752 Lahore
was part of the Mughal Empire.
During Akbar's rule, Lahore
was the capital of the empire
from 1584 to 1598. During
this time a massive fort,
the Lahore Fort, was built
on the fundaments of an
older fort in the 1560s.
This fort was later extended
by Jahangir, a Mughal emperor
who is now buried in the
city. Shah Jahan, his son,
was born in Lahore and is
famous for building the
world-renowned Taj Mahal
in India. He, like his father,
extended Lahore Fort and
built many other structures
in the city, showering more
affection on his hometown
than any other city. The
last of the great Mughals,
Aurangzeb, ruling from 1658
to 1707, built the city's
most famous monuments, the
Badshahi Masjid and the
Alamgiri Gate next to the
Lahore Fort. The Muslim
technocrats, bureaucrats,
soldiers, traders, scientists,
architects, teachers, theologians
and sufis flocked from the
rest of the Muslim world
to Islamic Sultanate in
South Asia and many settled
in Lahore. The Sikhs ruled
it in the 18th and 19th
centuries, making Lahore
the capital of Sikh state.
During the barbaric Sikh
rule Muslim were persecuted
and the Badshahi Mosque
was used by the Sikhs as
stable of their army. However
the last bloody Anglo-Sikh
war resulted in a British
victory thus bringing Lahore
under the rule of the British
crown. The British defeated
the Sikhs in 1849 and Muslims
of Punjab hailed them as
liberaters from the barbaric
Sikh rule. The people Lahore
supported the Muslim League
and the establishment of
the Muslim state. The 23
March 1940 resolution for
the struggle for Pakistan
was passed in Lahore by
the Muslim League.
Demography
The population of Lahore was estimated
to be more than 9 million
in 2005. Linguistically,
approximately 85% are Punjabis,
5% Seraikis, 5% Urdu speakers
and the rest are Kashmiris
and Pakhtuns. Religiously,
nearly 99% are Muslim and
there is small minority
of Christians and Ahmadis.
This page is under
development.
Page last updated:
Thursday, November 10, 2005 04:22:25 PM -0500 |
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