Gujranwala

Gujranwala is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan, on the Grand Trunk Road north of Lahore. Ranjit Singh, who founded the Sikh Empire and ruled the Punjab from Lahore, was born in the city in 1780.

Gujranwala grew in the 18th century as the seat of the Sukerchakia clan, led by Charat Singh and later by his son Maha Singh, the father of Ranjit Singh. Their garden and pavilion of Sheranwala Bagh still stand in the center of the old city. Under British rule it became a district headquarters, and the railway from Lahore to Peshawar passed through it in the late 19th century. After the independence of Pakistan in 1947 the city grew quickly into an industrial center of the Punjab.

Electric ceiling fans are made in many small and large factories of Gujranwala and sold across Pakistan and abroad. Master Tiles, a maker of ceramic floor and wall tiles, has its main factory in the city. Metal cookware and sanitary fittings also come from the workshops of the city. Basmati rice from the fields of the surrounding district, known for its long grains and scent, is milled and exported through the city's rice mills.

Gujranwala is known in Pakistan as the city of wrestlers, and traditional pehlwani wrestling is still trained in its akharas. Its food streets are known for grilled meat and for the spicy fried chicken and fish sold in its bazaars. The Chenab River flows to the north of the city, and its plains are farmed for rice, wheat and sugar cane.