Punjab is the most fertile province of the country as the Indus River and its four major tributaries Ravi, Jhelum, Chenab and Sutlej flow through it.

[22] The name Punjab is of Persian origin, with its two combined words meaning (پنج, panj, 'five' and آب, āb, 'water') and it was introduced and started to be widely used during the Mughal Empire rule over the region.

[24][25] The word pañjāb is thus calque of Indo-Aryan pañca-áp and means "The Land of Five Waters", referring to the rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas.

References to a land of five rivers may be found in the Mahabharata, in which one of the regions is named as Panchanada (Sanskrit: पञ्चनद, romanized: pañca-nada, lit.

[34] The migrating Indo-Aryan tribes gave rise to the Iron Age Vedic civilization, which lasted till 500 BC.

[36] Taxila is considered to be the site of one of the oldest education centre of South Asia and was part of the Achaemenid province of Hindush.

[41] The battle is historically significant because it resulted in the syncretism of ancient Greek political and cultural influences to the Indian subcontinent, yielding works such as Greco-Buddhist art, which continued to have an impact for the ensuing centuries.

[49] Following the Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent at the beginning of the 8th century, Arab armies of the Umayyad Caliphate penetrated into South Asia introducing Islam into Punjab.

[50] Islam emerged as the major power in Punjab after the Umayyad army led by Muhammad ibn al-Qasim conquered the region in 711 AD.

[44] The Delhi Sultanate ruled Punjab for the next three hundred years, led by five unrelated dynasties, the Mamluks, Khalajis, Tughlaqs, Sayyids and Lodis.

[72][73] After the accession of Khizr Khan, the Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Sindh were reunited under the Delhi Sultanate, where he spent his time subduing rebellions.

The last ruler of the Sayyids, Ala-ud-Din, voluntarily abdicated the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in favour of Bahlul Khan Lodi on 19 April 1451, and left for Badaun, where he died in 1478.

The province ceased to exist after the death of its last viceroy, Adina Beg in 1758, with large parts being incorporated into Durrani Empire.

[34] At the end of the war, high casualty rates, heavy taxation, inflation, and a widespread influenza epidemic disrupted Punjabi society.

[34] The British Raj had major political, cultural, philosophical, and literary consequences in the Punjab, including the establishment of a new system of education.

[93][94][95][96] Another major consequence of partition was the sudden shift towards religious homogeneity that occurred in all districts across Punjab owing to the new international border that cut through the province.

This rapid demographic shift was primarily due to wide-scale migration but also caused by large-scale religious cleansing riots which were witnessed across the region at the time.

Other important cities include Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Multan, Sialkot, Bahawalpur, Gujrat, Sheikhupura, Jhelum, Rahim Yar Khan and Sahiwal.

In the South, Punjab's elevation reaches 2,327 metres (7,635 ft)[citation needed] near the hill station of Fort Munro in Dera Ghazi Khan.

Although official estimates rarely place the temperature above 46 °C, newspaper sources claim that it reaches 51 °C and regularly carry reports about people who have succumbed to the heat.

Climatically, Punjab has three major seasons:[102] 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, and feature a much cooler and wetter climate, with snowfall common at higher altitudes.

The Punjabi language is spoken in the form of many dialects across the province including Majhi, Multani, Pothwari, Thali, Jhangvi, Dhanni, Shahpuri, Derawali, Riasti, Doabi, Chachhi, Awankari, Ghebi, and others.

[121] With 124,462,897 adherents, Muslims comprise the largest religious group, with a Sunni Hanafi majority and a Shia Ithna 'ashariyah minority, forming approximately 97.75 percent of the population.

Despite the lack of a coastline, Punjab is the most industrialised province of Pakistan;[8] its manufacturing industries produce textiles, sports goods, heavy machinery, electrical appliances, surgical instruments, vehicles, auto parts, metals, sugar mill plants, aircraft, cement, agricultural machinery, bicycles and rickshaws, floor coverings, and processed foods.

The culture in Punjab grew out of the settlements along the five rivers, which served as an important route to the Near East as early as the ancient Indus Valley civilization, dating back to 3000 BCE.

[147] Agriculture has been the major economic feature of the Punjab and has therefore formed the foundation of Punjabi culture, with one's social status being determined by landownership.

Major visitor attractions there include Lahore Fort and Shalimar Gardens, which are now recognised World Heritage Sites.

The city of Sheikhupura also has a number of sites from the Mughal Empire, including the World Heritage-listed Rohtas Fort near Jhelum.

[158][159][160][161] In August 2015, the Pakistan Academy of Letters, International Writer's Council (IWC) and World Punjabi Congress (WPC) organised the Khawaja Farid Conference and demanded that a Punjabi-language university should be established in Lahore and that Punjabi language should be declared as the medium of instruction at the primary level.