Firozpur

Firozpur, or FEROZEPORE, a town in the Punjab, 3½ miles from the left or south-east bank of the Sutlej. Founded, it is said, by Firoz Shah (1351-87), and at one time a large and important town, it had sunk into poverty and insignificance before it actually came, in 1835, into the possession of the English. Since then the place has regained much of its former consequence, and it possesses the largest arsenal in the Punjab. It contains a church built in memory of those who fell in the Sikh wars (1845-46). Pop. (1891, including cantonment 2 miles south, 20,000), 50,437.—Firozpur district has an area of 4302 sq. m., and a pop. (1891) of 886,676 (549,253 in 1868). Much has been done, since British occupation, to increase the value of this once dreary and desert plain, by tree planting and otherwise, and now 76 per cent. of the district is under cultivation.