Gujranwala
From Free net encyclopedia
Gujranwala (Urdu: گجرانوالہ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan with a population of more than 3.5 million. It is located at 32.16° North, 74.18° East and is 700 feet above sea-level. The district of Gujranwala, with a population of about 11 million has an area of 3198 km². Gujranwala is the 5th largest city in Pakistan. Punjabi is the local language, however English and Urdu are also common, particularly in schools and offices, as is the case in almost all over Pakistan. It's home to the international cricket stadium called Jinnah Stadium and has many hospitals and several colleges affiliated with the University of the Punjab. Recently, the University of the Punjab's Gujranwala campus has also started working. Rachna Engineering University Gujranwala now stands fourth best public engineering university in the country. The city is renowned all over Pakistan for its food, especially meat dishes. Gujranwala has always been famous for its pehlwans (wrestlers) which is why it is also called pehlwanoo ka shehar (The City of Wrestlers).
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Economy
The rural areas around Gujranwala produce a large variety of agricultural goods, the main crops grown here are wheat, cotton, rice, barley and millet. Today, Gujranwala is playing a major role in supporting the economy of Pakistan. It is a large industrial city with numerous textile mills, and large agricultural processing plants. Gujranwala's major exports are rice, textiles, carpets, transformers, clothing, glass goods, electric fans, surgical equipment, hosiery, leather products, metal utensils, auto parts and sanitation equipment. Gujranwala's hydro-electric project provides power from the Chenab River.
History
The city of Gujranwala is about 500 years old. The first name of the settlement, according to the compilers of the first edition of the district Gazette, was Khanpur Shansi after an individual of the Jat caste called Khan Shansi who founded 11 villages in the region. Later, the Jat tribe "Gujar" occupied the land. They reached such dominance that the town came to be known as Gujranwala, which means "Land of the Gujars". In present day too, the Gujars form the majority population of the city. It seems likely that the district once contained the capital of the Punjab at an epoch when Lahore had not begun to exist. The famous Sikh leader Maharaja Ranjit Singh was born in this city. The manor in which he was born still stands today in the center of the city. The city contains a number of important sites of Sikh history including the brithplace of Ranjit Singh, the Samadh (mausoleum) of Ranjit Singh's father Mahan Singh, the haveli (courtyeard residence) of Hari Singh Nalwa and a delapidated baradari (open house) of Mahan Singh in Sheranwala Bagh. The city also contains a large number of Sikh and Jain places of worship, all of which are now private residences follwing the partition of Punjab in 1947 and the mass exodus of Sikhs and Hindus from East Punjab.
After the partition of India in August 1947, Gujranwala became the capital of the district 1951.