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Punjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between West Punjab, which went to Pakistan, and East Punjab, which went to India. It comprised the areas of:
In present-day India
In present-day Pakistan
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The word Punjab is named from the "five rivers" by which it is watered: the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, all tributaries of the Indus.
Geographically the Punjab province of India was a triangular tract of country of which the Indus and the Sutlej to their confluence formed the two sides, the base being the lower Himalaya hills between those two rivers; but the British province also included a large tract outside those boundaries. Along the northern border Himalayan ranges divided it from Kashmir and Tibet. On the west it was separated from the North-West Frontier Province by the Indus, until that river reaches the border of Dera Ghazi Khan District, which was divided from Baluchistan by the Sulaiman Range. To the south lay Sindh and Rajputana, while on the east the rivers Jumna and Tons separated it from the United Provinces.[1]
The province included the important city of Delhi.
On 21 February 1849 the Sikhs were defeated at the battle of Gujrat by the British, the victory of the British allowed them to take over the Punjab. Punjab was annexed on the 2nd of April 1849 and became part of British India.
In 1901 the frontier districts beyond the Indus were separated from Punjab and made into a new province - the North-West Frontier Province.
On the annexation of the Punjab by the East India Company, in March, 1849, a Board of Administration was constituted for its government. The Board was abolished in February 1853, its powers and functions being vested in a Chief Commissioner, assisted by a Judicial and a Financial Commissioner. After the transfer of the Delhi territory from the North-Western (later the United) Provinces, to Punjab, Punjab with its dependencies was formed into a Lieutenent-Governorship, Sir John Lawrence, then Chief Commissioner being appointed the first Lieutenent-Governor on January 1, 1859. In this office, he was succeded by Sir Robert Montgomery (1859), Sir Donald McLeod(1865), Sir Henry Durand (1870), Sir Henry Davies (1871), Sir Robert Egerton (1877), Sir Charles Aitchison (1882), Sir James Lyall (1887), Sir Dennis Fitzpatrick (1892), Sir Macworth Young (1897), Sir Charles Rivaz (1902), Sir Denzil Ibbetson (1907) and Sir Louis Dane (1908).
In 1866, the Judicial Commissioner was replaced by a Chief Court. The direct administrative functions of the Government were carried out through the Lieutinent-Governor through the Secretariat, comprising a Chief Secretary, a Secretary and two Under-Secretaries. They were usually members of the Indian Civil Service. [2]
The territory under the Lieutenant consisted of 29 Districts, grouped under 5 Divisions, and 43 Princely States. Each District was under a Deputy-Commissioner, who reported to the Commissioner of the Division. Each District was subdivided into 3 to 7 tahsils, each under a tahsildar, assisted by a naib (deputy) tahsildar.[3]
| Division | Districts in British Territory / Princely States |
|---|---|
| Delhi Division | Hissar · Rohtak · Gurgaon · Delhi · Karnal · Ambala · Simla |
| Jullunder Division | Kangra · Hoshiarpur · Jullunder · Ludhiana · Ferozepore |
| Lahore Division | Montgomery · Lahore · Amritsar · Gurdaspur · Sialkot · Gujranwala |
| Rawalpindi Division | Gujrat · Shahpur · Jhelum · Rawalpindi · Attock |
| Multan Division | Mianwali · Jhang · Multan · Muzzaffargarh · Dera Ghazi Khan |
| Total area, British Territory | 97,209 square miles |
| Native States | Patiala · Jind · Nabha · Bahawalpur · Sirmur · Lohara · Dujana · Pataudi · Kalsia · Simla Hill States · Kapurthala · Mandi · Muler Kotla · Suket · Faridkot · Chamba |
| Total area, Native States | 36,532 square miles |
| Total area, Punjab | 133,741 square miles |
