Gujranwala (Punjabi/; ) is a city and capital of Gujranwala Division located in Pakistan. It is also known as "City of Wrestlers" and is quite famous for its food. It is the 5th most populous city proper after Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi respectively. Founded in the 18th century, Gujranwala is a relatively modern town compared to the many nearby millennia-old cities of northern Punjab. The city served as the capital of the Sukerchakia Misl state between 1763 and 1799, and is the birthplace of the founder of the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
Gujranwala is now Pakistan's third largest industrial centre after Karachi and Faisalabad, and contributes 5% to 9% of Pakistan's national GDP. The city is part of a network of large urban centres in north-east Punjab province that forms one of Pakistan's mostly highly industrialized regions. Along with the nearby cities of Sialkot and Gujrat, Gujranwala forms part of the so-called "Golden Triangle" of industrial cities with export-oriented economies.
Etymology
Gujranwala's name means "Abode of the Gujjars" in Punjabi, and was named after the Gujjar tribe that live in northern Punjab. One local narrative suggests that the town was named after a Gujjar, Choudhry Gujjar, owner of the town's Persian wheel that supplied water to the town. Evidence suggests, however, that the city derives its name from Serai Gujran (meaning "inn of Gujjars"), a village once located near what is now Gujranwala's Khiyali Gate.
History
Founding
Gujranwala was founded by Gurjars in the eighteenth century however the exact origins of Gujranwala are unclear. Unlike the ancient nearby cities of Sialkot and Lahore, Gujranwala is a relatively modern city. It may have been established as a village in the middle of the 16th century. Locals traditionally believe that Gujranwala's original name was Khanpur Sansi, though recent scholarship suggests that the village was possibly Serai Gujran instead - a village once located near what is now Gujranwala's Khiyali Gate that was mentioned by several sources during the 18th-century invasion of Ahmad Shah Abdali.
Sikh
In 1707, with the death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Mughal power began to rapidly weaken especially following Nader Shah's invasion in 1739 and then completely dissipated from the Punjab region due to the invasions of Ahmad Shah Abdali who raided Punjab many times between 1747 and 1772 causing much devastation and chaos.
Abdali's control over the region began to weaken in the latter part of the 18th century with the rise of the Sikh Misls (independent chieftainships usually consisting of the chief's kinsmen) who overran Punjab. Charat Singh, ruler of the Sukerchakia Misl, established himself in a fort which he had built in the area of Gujranwala between 1756 and 1758.
Nuruddin, a Jammu-based Afghan (Pashtun) general, was ordered by Abdali to subdue the Sikhs but was driven back at Sialkot by Sikh soldiers led by Charat Singh. In 1761, Khwaja Abed Khan, Abdali's governor in Lahore, tried to besiege Charat Singh's base in Gujranwala but the bid misfired. The Sikh misls rallied to his support by attacking Afghan officers wherever they were found. A fleeing Abed Khan was pursued by Sikh contingents led by the Ahluwalia misl into Lahore, where he was killed. Charat Singh made Gujranwala the capital of his misl in 1763.
In a 1774 battle waged in Jammu, Charat Singh of the Sukerchakia misl and Jhanda Singh of the powerful Bhangi misl, fighting on opposite sides, were both killed. Before his death, Charat Singh had become master of large and contiguous territories in the three doabs between the Indus and the Ravi. He was succeeded by his son Maha Singh who added to the lands that Charat Singh had not only captured but also capably administered.