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Punjab,
its name meaning 'Land of Five
Rivers', is the richest, most fertile and
most heavily populated province of Pakistan. (Originally
the five rivers referred to the Jhelum,
Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej and Beas - but the last
is now in Indian Punjab only, so the Indus is now included
as Pakistan's fifth river).
 In
Punjab live over 70 million people - more than half
the population of the entire country. Geographically,
it is a land of contrasts, from the alluvial plain of
the Indus River and its tributaries to the sand-dunes
of the Cholistan Desert, from the verdant beauty of
the pine-covered foothills of the Himalaya to the strangely
convoluted lunar landscape of the Potwar Plateau and
the Salt Range.
In
the 17th century, Lahore became one of the greatest
Mughal cities in the subcontinent. A town near Lahore
was the birthplace of Guru Nanak, the 15th century founder
of the Sikh religion, and Lahore was the capital from
which Maharaja Ranjit Singh ruled his 19th century Sikh
Empire. The British coveted this fertile region, and
overthrew the Sikhs in 1849, annexing Punjab to their
Indian dominions, with Lahore as its provincial capital.
Finally, it was in Lahore that the All India Muslim
League passed, on 23 March 1940, its Resolution for
the Creation of Pakistan.
The
best time to visit northern Punjab is in the spring,
from February to April, and in the autumn, from September
to November. Southern Punjab is extremely hot in summer,
so Multan is at its best in winter, from November to
February.
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