• 1A region of north-western India and Pakistan, a wide, fertile plain traversed by the River Indus and the five tributaries which gave the region its name.

  1. 1.1 A province of Pakistan; capital, Lahore.
  2. 1.2 A state of India; capital, Chandigarh. Until 1966 the Punjab also encompassed what is now the state of Haryana.

The region became a centre of Sikhism in the 15th century and, after the capture of Lahore in 1799 by Ranjit Singh, a powerful Sikh kingdom. It was annexed by the British in 1849 and became a part of British India. In the partition of 1947 it was divided between Pakistan and India