Lahore, capital of the Punjab, stands in 31° 34' N. lat. and 74° 21' E. long., near the left bank of the Ravi. Pop. (1868) 125,413; (1891) 176,854, of whom 86,413 were Mussulmans. Lahore covers 640 acres of ground, and is surrounded by a brick wall 16 feet high. The city is entered by metalled roads through thirteen gates. The fort occupies a commanding position to the north-east, and near it are the mosque of Aurungzebe and Runjeet Singh's tomb. The English civil station, some 3 miles long, is called Anarkalli, and a broad road, the Mall, connects this with the government house and the Lawrence Gardens. Three miles farther is the military station or cantonment of Mián Mir, one of the dreariest and most unhealthy in India. The Punjab University, largely endowed by native chiefs and gentlemen—Moslem, Sikh, and Hindu—is one of the most flourishing educational establishments in India. There are also the Oriental College, the Government College, Government Medical School, Mayo Hospital, the Roberts Institute, and a good museum containing many fine specimens of Græco-Bactrian sculpture.
The origin of Lahore is uncertain, but is certainly not later than the 7th century A.D. Under the Mogul empire the city reached its greatest size and magnificence, and is said to have had a population of over 1,000,000 souls. Akbar and Jahangir lived at Lahore, and the remains of the beautiful and magnificent buildings erected by them and other great Mogul emperors are still considerable, as well as Jahangir's wonderful gardens at Shádra and Shálímár. Since the time of Aurungzebe nothing of importance has been constructed. In 1799 Ranjeet Singh, the Sikh ruler of the country, removed the seat of government to Amritsar, about 30 miles to the south; but in 1846 a British Council of Regency (of the Punjab) was established in Lahore, in 1849 the young Maharaja Dhuleep Singh transferred the government of the state to the East India Company, and Lahore became the capital of the new British province of the Punjab. Lahore is an important railway centre; lines from Kurrachee and Peshawur are connected there with the south road leading to Delhi and Rajputana, to Calcutta, and to Bombay.
The Lahore district is one of the most important of the Punjab, with an area of 3648 sq. m., and a population of above a million. The Bári Doab Canal is an important government irrigation work, and no less than 500,000 acres in the district are cultivated by means of artificial irrigation of some sort.