The word Punjab is a xenonym/exonym that was formally introduced by the Mughals in the early 17th Century CE. It is a combination of the Persian words punj (five) and āb (water), thus the (land of) five rivers.[7] The five rivers are the tributaries of the Indus River namely Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. From the Himalayas they all end up in the down-stream of Panjnad, eventually to the Arabian Sea. Sometimes, in English, there can be a definite article before the name i.e. the Punjab.[8] The name is also sometimes spelt as Panjab or Panjaab or Punjaab. In the Rigveda, the sacred text of Vedism, the Punjab region is associated with the ancient Sapta Sindhu, the Land of Seven Rivers, whilst the later Greeks referred to Punjab as Pentapotamia, an inland delta of five converging rivers.[9] The British used to call Punjab Our Prussia. Geography Punjab is Pakistans second largest province in terms of Land area at 205,344 km2 (79,284 sq mi) after Balochistan and is located at the north western edge of the geologic Indian plate in South Asia. The province is bordered by Kashmir (Azad Kashmir, Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir, India) to the north-east, the Indian states of Punjab and Rajasthan to the east, the Pakistani province of Sindh to the south, the province of Balochistan to the southwest, the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the west, and the Islamabad Capital Territory to the north. The capital and largest city is Lahore which was the historical capital of the wider Punjab region. Other important cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Sargodha, Gujrat, Sheikhupura and Jhelum. Undivided Punjab is home to six rivers, of which five flow through Pakistani Punjab. From west to east, these are: the Indus, Jhelum, Beas, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej. Nearly 60% of Pakistans population lives in the Punjab. It is the nations only province that touches every other province; it also surrounds the federal enclave of the national capital city at Islamabad.This geographical position strongly influence Punjabs outlook on National affairs and induces in Punjab a keen awareness of the problems of the Pakistans other important provinces and territories. In the acronym P-A-K-I-S-T-A-N, the P is for PUNJAB. The province is a mainly a fertile region along the river valleys, while sparse deserts can be found near the border with Rajasthan and the Sulaiman Range. The region contains the Thal and Cholistan deserts. The Indus River and its many tributaries traverse the Punjab from north to south. The landscape is amongst the most heavily irrigated on earth and canals can be found throughout the province. Weather extremes are notable from the hot and barren south to the cool hills of the north. The foothills of the Himalayas are found in the extreme north as well.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 10:53:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015