Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh
Maharaja of Sikh Empire
Predecessor	Ranjit Singh Was the Founder of the Sikh Empire
Successor	Kharak Singh
Born	1780
Died	1839 (aged 58)
Religion	Sikhism

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839) was the founder of the Sikh Empire, which came to power in the Punjab from the 16th-19th century. The capital was at Gujranwala, later moved to Lahore. Ranjit Singh first came to fame around the year 1798 when he took advantage of the Durrani Empire turmoil in the Punjab region and captured the city of Lahore expelling the Afghan Muslim army garrison in the city. He then expanded in the Punjab region destroying each and ever Afghan Empire garrison and conquered many cities through his most decorated general, Hari Singh Nalwa. At its height, the Sikh Empire stretched from Jamrud in the west, Amritsar in the east, Multan in the south and Srinagar in the north.^[1]

After Ranjit Singh's death, his successors were weak and divided and the entire Punjab region fell to the British East India Company, and was conquered by the British Empire later to become part of British Raj.^[2]

1. ↑ Lafont, Jean Marie (2002). Maharaja Ranjit Singh: Lord of the Five Rivers. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-566111-8.
2. ↑ Sheikh, Mohamed (2017). Emperor of the Five Rivers: The Life and Times of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. I.B.Tauris. doi:10.5040/9781350986220.0008. ISBN 978-1-78673-095-4.