The Punjab--an area now divided between Pakistan and India--experienced significant economic growth under British rule from the second half of the nineteenth century. This expansion was founded on the construction of an extensive network of canals in the western parts of the province. The ensuing agricultural settlement transformed the previously barren area into one of the most important regions of commercial agriculture in South Asia. Nevertheless, Imran Ali argues that colonial strategy distorted the development of what came to be called the "bread basket" of the Indian subcontinent. This comprehensive survey of British rule in the Punjab demonstrates that colonial policy making led to many of the socio-economic and political problems currently plaguing Pakistan and Indian Punjab. Subordinating developmental goals to its political and military imperatives, the colonial state cooperated with the dominant social classes, the members of which became the major beneficiaries of agricultural colonization. Even while the rulers tried to use the vast resources of the Punjab to advance imperial purposes, they were themselves being used by their collaborators to advance implacable private interests. Such processes effectively retarded both nationalism and social change and resulted in the continued backwardness of the region even after the departure of the British. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Punjab was generally called 'the Lahore Province' or 'the Lahore Kingdom', after the name of the capital city during the Sikh Reign of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Lahore Kingdom stretched from Sutlej in the east to the Khyber Pass in the west.The British had arrived in India in the second half of the 18th century but it was only in 1849 that they could annex Punjab, a full 92 years after the fall of Plassey to them.After the Mutiny of 1857, Delhi and Hissar of present Haryana was added to the Punjab Province. From the Punjab, the areas to the west beyond the Indus were separated in 1901 and a separate province NWFP (presently KPK) was formed.Great development of Punjab took place under the British, particularly the building of canals and extension of Irrigation facilities. A lot of Punjabi youth especially from North Punjab benefitted as they were recruited for the Army.Under the viceroy Lord Curzon and in 1912, the capital Delhi was separated from the Punjab. Under the British rule, it came to be called 'the Province of the Punjab'.When the call for Swadeshi was made, Punjabi youth abroad got involved in the Ghadar movement and the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre further distanced the Punjabis from the British. During the second world War, Muslim League found it opportune moment to create Pakistan. The Sikh-Muslim relations had deteriorated already after the Shaheedgunj Mosque/gurdwara controversy. The March riots of Rawalpindi and Northern Punjab saw an exodus of 500,000 Non-Muslims towards East before 15th August. The Post-partition months saw savage killings of minorities on both sides of the Punjab and by 1948, the ethnic cleansing of Punjab was over.

The establishment of the Indian National Congress in 1885 marked a turning point in modern South Asian history. At the time, few grasped the significance of the event, nor understood the power that its leader would come to wield. From humble beginnings, the Congress led by Gandhi would go on to spearhead India s fight for independence from British rule: in 1947 it succeeded the British Raj as the regional ruling power. Ian Copland provides both a narrative and analysis of the process by which Indians and Pakistanis emancipated themselves from the seemingly iron-clad yoke of British imperialism. In so doing, he goes to the heart of what sets modern India apart from most other countries in the region its vigorous democracy.