- Lahore Division
Lahore Division was a former administrative division of the Punjab Province of
Pakistan , until the reforms of2000 abolished the third tier of government.History
Lahore Division was originally an administrative division of the Punjab Province of
British India . It extended along the right bank of theSutlej River from theHimalaya toMultan , and comprised the six districts of Sialkot, Gujranwala, Montgomery, Lahore, Amritsar, and Gurdaspur. The total area of the division was 17,154 sq. mi and the population according to the 1901 census of India was 5,598,463. [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V16_102.gifLahore Division - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 16, p. 96.] ] The commissioner for the division also exercised political control over the hill state of Chamba.The Commissioner's headquarters were at
Lahore and Dalhousie. The total population of the Division increased from 4,696,636 in 1881 to 5,321,535 in 1891, and 5,598,463 in 1901. The total area was 17,154 square miles, and the density of population was 326 persons per square mile, compared with 208 for British territory in the Province as a whole. In 1901 Muslims numbered 3,332,175, or 60 percent of the total; while other religions included Hindus, 1,567,402; Sikhs, 661,320; Jains, 5,5,07; Buddhists, 6; Parsis, 228; and Christians, 31,815, of whom 25,248 were natives. [ [http://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V16_101.gifLahore Division - Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 16, p. 95.] ]The division contained six districts:
Gurdaspur included a few square miles of mountainous country, enclosing the hill station of Dalhousie (highest, point, 7,687 feet) ; but otherwise the Division was flat. It contained 9,869 villages and 41 towns, of which the largest are Lahore (population, 202,964, including cantonment), Amristar(162,429), Sialkot (57,956), Gujranwala (29,224), Batala (27,365), and Kasur (22,022). In commercial importance Lahore and Amritsar dwarfed all other towns in the Division, but Sialkot and Batala were considerably more than local centres. Besides the administrative charge of six British Districts, the Commissioner of Lahore had political control over the Native State of Chamba, which has an area Of 3,216 square miles and a population (1901) of 127,834.
Partition
With the Partition of British India into the independent states of
India and Pakistan in 1947, Lahore Division itself was divided among the two countries.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
