History of Lahore Timeline

It was not until 1524 that Lahore became part of the Mughal Empire. From 1524 to 1752, Lahore remained part of the Mughal Empire.

Image source: Mughal Empire

The first Battle of Panipat (April 1526) was fought between the forces of Babur and the Delhi Sultanate, paving the way for Mughal dominance in South Asia.

Image source: First Battle of Panipat

Lahore grew under emperor Babur; from 1584 to 1598, under the emperors Akbar the Great and Jahangir, the city served as the empire's capital.

Image source: Akbar

The 17th century saw the Lahore Quartet — Abu al-Barakat Munir Lahori, Muhammad Saleh Kamboh, Shaikh Inayat Allah Kamboh, and Chandar Bhan Brahman — four local scholars and poets who mutually promoted each other and engaged in the revival of Persian literacy in India.

Image source: Muhammad Saleh Kamboh

The last of the great Mughals, Aurangzeb, who ruled from 1658 to 1707, built the city's most famous monuments: the Badshahi Masjid and the Alamgiri Gate next to the Lahore Fort.

Image source: Badshahi Mosque

Lahore's reputation for beauty fascinated the English poet John Milton, who wrote 'Agra and Lahore, the Seat of Great Mughal' in 1670.

Image source: John Milton

During the 18th century, as Mughal power dwindled, Lahore was often invaded and government authority was lacking. The 1740s were years of chaos, and the city had nine different governors between 1745 and 1756.

In March 1758, about 50,000 Maratha soldiers sieged Sirhind as part of their campaign against Afghan power in northern India.

Image source: Afghan–Maratha War

Shortly after defeating the Afghans in the Battle of Delhi, the Marathas entered Lahore in 1758. In April 1758, the Marathas massacred the Afghan garrison and victoriously entered Lahore.

In 1759, the Marathas and their allied forces crushed an invasion by the Durrani general Jahan Khan at the Battle of Lahore.

Image source: Dattaji Rao Scindia

Ahmad Shah Durrani captured remnants of the Mughal Empire and had consolidated control over the Punjab and Kashmir regions by 1761. During the 18th century, Lahore became a province of the Afghan Empire, governed by provincial rulers with their own court.

Image source: Ahmad Shah Durrani

After defeating the Durranis in the battles of Gujranwala (1761) and Sialkot, in 1761, the Sikhs attacked Lahore and besieged it.

Image source: Sikh Empire

On 7 July 1799, Ranjit Singh, accompanied by his mother-in-law Sada Kaur, captured Lahore.

Image source: Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh was crowned on 12 April 1801 at Lahore. During this period Sikhs and Afghans fought the Afghan-Sikh wars; the Sikhs captured the whole Punjab region including Jammu, and Maharaja Ranjit Singh established the Sikh Empire in 1801.

Syed Ahmad Barelvi was at Balakot, Mansehra District, on 6 May 1831, during the period of conflict in the region.

Image source: Syed Ahmad Barelvi

Ranjit Singh's death on 27 June 1839 ultimately ended his reign, while Sikh rule continued until the British gained control of the empire in 1849. Instability following his death contributed to events leading eventually to British control of the Lahore Darbar ten years later.

In 1841, during the Sikh civil war, Ranjit Singh's son Sher Singh placed zamburahs or light guns atop the minarets of Badshahi Mosque to bombard supporters of Maharani Chand Kaur taking refuge in the besieged Lahore Fort, inflicting great damage to the Fort itself.

Image source: Sher Singh

The precipitating factors leading to British control included internecine fighting between the Sikhs; several rapid forfeitures of territory by Ranjit Singh's sons; the intrigues of the Dogras; and two Anglo-Sikh wars, the first in 1845–1846 and the second in 1848–1849.

Image source: First Anglo-Sikh War

Capitalising on the disarray surrounding the succession struggles after Ranjit Singh's death, only partially diminished by war against the Sikhs on their eastern frontier, the British rode into Lahore in February 1846 and garrisoned their troops in the citadel.

Image source: British Raj

In March 1848, following the British victory, Dalip Singh, Ranjit Singh's teenage son and heir to the throne, was formally deposed in Lahore.

Image source: Duleep Singh

Under British rule (1849–1947), colonial architecture in Lahore combined Mughal, Gothic and Victorian styles.

The first prominent British work covering Lahore's history was History and Antiquities of Lahore (1861, reprinted in 1868) by Thomas Henry Thornton, which served as a guidebook for European visitors and influenced British officials' views of the city. An expanded edition followed in 1876 co-authored by John Lockwood Kipling.

Native writers began authoring works on the city, starting with Nur Ahmad Chishti in 1867, followed by Mufti Ghulam Sarwar Qureshi Lahori's Tarikh-e Makhzan-e Punjab in 1877, Kanhaya Lal in 1884, and Syad Muhammad Latif in 1892.

Other British colonial works covering the city were the Punjab Settlement Report 1865–69, published by Leslie Saunders in 1873, along with the Imperial Gazetteer. A gazetteer dedicated to the settlement, Gazetteer of the Lahore District 1883–84, was edited by Denzil Ibbetson.

The first racing club, established in 1924, is called LRC or Lahore Race Club. Also in 1924, Henry Raynor Goulding's book on Lahore titled Old Lahore: Reminiscences of a Resident was published.

The Hudud al-Alam was translated into English by Vladimir Fedorovich Minorsky and published in Lahore in 1927.

The 1929 Congress session was held at Lahore, where a resolution of 'complete independence' was moved by Pandit Nehru and passed unanimously at midnight on 31 December 1929.

Image source: Lahore Resolution

The most important session of the All India Muslim League, later the Pakistan Muslim League, was held in Lahore in 1940.

Image source: Lahore Resolution

After the independence of Pakistan in 1947, the minority Hindus and Sikhs migrated to India while Muslim refugees from India settled in the Lahore District.

Image source: Pakistan Movement

Khan Muhammad Waliullah Khan authored a work in 1961 titled Lahore and Its Important Monuments, documenting the city's heritage.

Less than 20 years after independence, Lahore once again became a battleground in the War of 1965 between Pakistan and India.

Image source: Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

In 1994, Anis Nagi published Ancient Lahore: A Brief Account of the History and Antiquities of Lahore, a reprint of the first section of a lost guidebook on Lahore likely authored by Thornton in 1860 under the instruction of Robert Montgomery.

In 1996, the International Cricket Council Cricket World Cup final match was held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Image source: 1996 Cricket World Cup

The Punjab government embarked on a major project in 2009 to restore the Royal Trail (Shahi Guzar Gah) from Akbari Gate to the Lahore Fort with the help of the World Bank under the Sustainable Development of the Walled City of Lahore (SDWCL) project.

Image source: Walled City of Lahore