Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi lies on the Pothohar Plateau near the ancient country of Gandhara. Buddhist remains dot the surrounding region, including the Mankiala stupa to the southeast. The town itself fell into decay after Mongol invasions, before the Gakhar chief Jhanda Khan restored the settlement in 1493.

Under the Mughals, the Gakhars ruled Rawalpindi while acknowledging imperial authority and fortified the nearby caravanserai of Rawat. Akbar spent years in and around the town while extending his northwestern frontier. In the 1760s Sikh chiefs took Rawalpindi from the Gakhars, and its administrator Milkha Singh invited merchants from Jhelum and Shahpur to settle there. The exiled Afghan rulers Shah Shuja and Shah Zaman later found refuge in the town. Ranjit Singh seized it in 1810 but retained Milkha Singh's son as governor.