Amritsar and Punjab: Sikh Sacred City, Partition Borderland

A Sikh sacred centre

Amritsar developed around the sacred pool and Harmandir Sahib, commonly known in English as the Golden Temple. The city is central to Sikh religious history, but its population and wider regional history have also included Hindu, Muslim and other communities.

Empire and colonial rule

Punjab became the centre of a powerful Sikh Empire under Maharaja Ranjit Singh in the early nineteenth century before British annexation in 1849. Colonial Punjab later became strategically important to agriculture, the military and imperial administration.

Jallianwala Bagh and political memory

In 1919 British troops under Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer fired on an unarmed gathering at Jallianwala Bagh, killing and wounding many people. The massacre became a major symbol of colonial violence and remains central to public memory in Amritsar.

Partition as lived history

The 1947 border between India and Pakistan cut through Punjab. Amritsar became an Indian border city while Lahore became part of Pakistan. Mass migration and communal violence transformed communities on both sides. Understanding Amritsar therefore requires both Sikh sacred history and the traumatic remaking of Punjab in 1947.