Amritsar

History of Amritsar is really fascinating. The city has been famous for puissant Sikhs and has legends attached to it. According to the legend, when the fourth Guru of the Sikhs Guru Ram Das heard about the healing powers of the pool, he ordered his son Guru Arjan Dev to erect a temple at the site. In 1588, the foundations of a city were laid which later on became an emblem of Sikh culture and history. The city came to be known as Ramdaspur or Guru Ram Das di Nagri (city of Guru Ram Das). The Temple compound was completed in 1601. Historians say that Mughal emperor Akbar also donated the land close to the temple after paying off the local Jat farmers. After the completion of the Temple, Guru Granth Sahib (Also called Adi Granth), holy book of Sikhs was installed in the Temple. The Temple became popular as Harmandir (Temple of God). The traders including Khatris and Aroras were called by Guru Ji to settle in the vicinity of the Gurudwara. A new town grew up with the arrival of all these businessmen. Golden Temple was plundered many times but by God's grace the Temple got much more offerings from its devotees that helped in its reconstruction.

Jalandhar

Jalandhar along with Multan is the oldest surviving city of the Trigarta Empire (Punjab region) of Katoch Rulers, with reference in history as far back as A.D. 100.[2] The Jalandhar Doab (the region surrounding the city between Beas and Sutlej rivers) also marked the eastern most territory of the empire of Alexander the Great. He erected giant altars in this area to mark the eastern most extent of his empire and also founded a city named Alexandria in the vicinity and left many Macedonian veterans there. In the 7th Century, when the famous Chinese traveller and pilgrim Hiuen Tsang visited India during the reign of Harsha Vardhana, the Kingdom of Jalandhara or Trigarta was under the rule of Raja Utito (whom Alexender Cunningham identifies with the Rajput Raja Attar Chand of the Katoch dynasty). The kingdom was said to have extended 167 miles (269 km) from east to west and 133 miles (214 km) from north to south, thus including the hill states of Chamba, Mandi and Suket (Himachal Pradesh) and Satadru or Sirhind in the plains. The city proper of Jalandhar was, when visited by Hiuen Tsiang, a large city, miles in circuit, and functioned as the capital of a Rajput kingdom.[3] Raja Utito was a tributary of Harsh Vardhana. The Rajput Rajas appear to have continued to rule over the country right up to the 12th century, with occasional interruptions, but their capital was Jalandhar and Kangra formed an important stronghold.

Kapurthala

It is said that Kapurthala was founded in the 11th Century during the period of Mahmood Gaznvi. This town was established by Rana Kapoor of Rajput Gharana, of Jaselmer. On his name, the place has got its name- Kapurthala. Almost two centuries ago, When the notorious Ahmed Shah descended upon India for the fifth time in his rapacious career and defeated the Mahrattas from the Punjab. The Sikh community re-established and strengthened their position after about a generation of historical oblivion. When the Sikhs slew Zain Khan in December 1763, Sikh independence became an established fact. Ahmed Shah’s subsequent raids of 1764 and 1767 achieved nothing against the Sikhs.

Patiala

Famous for ‘peg’, ‘pagri’, ‘paranda’ (tasselled tag for braiding hair and ‘Jutti’ (footwear), joyous buoyance, royal demeanor, sensuous and graceful feminine gait and Aristocracy, Patiala presents a beautiful bouquet of life-style even to a casual visitor to the city. A brilliant spectrum of Rajput, Mughal and Punjabi cultures, a fine blend of modernity and tradition and a judicious synthesis of all that is beautiful in form and bold in spirit conjure up> a vision called 'Patiala'. Patiala, an erstwhile princely state, capital of PEPSU and a district headquarters of Punjab are situated in the Malwa region of Punjab. Malwa has the largest number Of districts in the reorganised Punjab, and antiquity of some of the cities goes back to the ancient and early medieval period. Patiala is relatively a young city, a few years more than two centuries old.

Malerkotla

The founder of Royal family of Malerkotla was Shaikh Sardar ud-din Sardar-i-Jahan, a Sherwani Afghan originating from Daraban. He received a jagir of 58 villages near Ludhiana and three lakhs of rupees as marriage gift, after marrying a daughter of Sultan Bahlol Lodhi of Delhi in 1454. The ruling family descends from Shaikh Salar ud-din the issue of this marriage. The founder of the Malerkotla state was Bayazid Khan, who rose high in rank in the Mughal army. Saving the life of the Emperor Aurangzeb from an attacking tiger, he received high honours and recognition as an independent ruler. He was granted the right to construct a defensive fort, which he named Malerkotla, from which the state took its name. According to family tradition, he summoned Shah Fazl Chishti, a Sufi saint, and Damodar Das, a Hindu sadhu, to place the foundation stone, thereby also laying the foundations for the spirit of communal harmony and religious toleration that characterise Malerkotla. Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan, Bayazid's grandson, earned the undying gratitude and honour of the Sikhs. He had interceded with the Emperor in an attempt to stay the execution of Guru Gobind Singh's two young sons, after their capture at Sirhind. Guru Gobind Singh on learning this kind and humanitarian approach profusely thanked the Nawab of Malerkotla and blessed him.

Anandpur Sahib

The zone which is now as Anandpur Sahib, includes Chakk Nanakim, Anandpur Sahib and some adjacent villages. It is generally belived that Anandpur town was founded by Guru Tegh Bahadur Sahib on June 19, 1665. In fact it was Chakk Nanaki which had been founded in 1665. The foundation stone of Anandpur Sahib was laidon March 30, 1689. The area of Chakk Nanaki (in 1665) extended between the village of Agamgarh and the square between Kesgarh Sahib and the town's bus stand. Usually, new towns are founded, established and developed by monarchs. It is unique phenomenon in the history of the Sikh religion that it's prohets founded a number ot towns and turned several villages into major towns. Hence social, political, economic and spritual role became one in the Guru Sahib.

Fatehgarh Sahib

The historic and pious District of Fatehgarh Sahib came into existence with effect from 13th April, 1992 , Baisakhi Day deriving its name from Sahibzada Fateh Singh, the youngest son of Guru Gobind Singh. It is bounded by Ludhiana and Ropar in the North, Patiala in the South, parts of Ropar and Patiala in the East and parts of Ludhiana and Sangrur in the West. It is situated between 30 degree-38' North 16 degree-27' East and is 50 Kms. towards the west of Chandigarh , the capital of Punjab . The economy of the district depends mainly on agriculture and allied activities.The main towns are Sirhind, Bassi Pathana, Amloh, Khamano & Mandi Gobindgarh. The last is also known as the 'Steel Town of India' having a good number of steel rolling mills. Besides, numerous industrial units are engaged in the manufacturing of sewing machine parts, centrifugal pumps, bus/truck body building and mining machinery.

Chandigarh

Chandigarh, derives its name from the temple Chandi Mandir located in the vicinity of the site selected for the city. The deity 'Chandi', the goddess of power and a fort or 'garh' lying beyond the temple gave the City its name. Chandigarh is a modern city with a pre-historic past. The gently sloping plain on which Chandigarh exists, was in the aeons past when the Himalayas were young, a wide lake ringed by a marsh. The fossil remains found at the site testify to a large variety of aquatic and amphibian life which that environment supported. Some 8000 years ago Chandigarh was home to the Harappans. Their potsherds, stone implements, ornaments and copper arrow-heads unearthed during the excavation in 1950s and 1960s testify this. Area near the Church of Sector 18, Sunbeam Hotel, Sector 22 , Indira Holiday Home, Sector 24, CII Complex, Sector 31 etc. were some of the sites from where a lot of relics of Harappans Civilization were found and excavated.

hoshiarpur

The area of present Hoshiarpur District was also part of Indus Valley Civilization. Recent excavations at various sites in the district have revealed that the entire area near the Shiwalik foothills was selected for habitation not only by the early palaeolithic man but also by those in the protohistoric and historic periods. In the explorations, seven early Stone Age sited a Atbarapur, Rehmanpur and Takhni, 30-40 km north of Hoshiarpur District in the foothills of Shiwalik, have been discovered where the stone artifacts have been found. Besides these excavations, among the archaeological remains in the Hoshiarpur District, the remains of temples at Dholbaha, 24 km north of Hoshiarpur, and especially the local legends throw valauble light on the ancient history of the district.

Harike Wetland

Harike Wetland also known as "Hari-ke-Pattan", with the Harike Lake in the deeper part of it, is the largest wetland in northern India in the Amritsar district of the Punjab state in India. The wetland and the lake were formed by constructing the head works across the Sutlej river, in 1953. The headworks is located downstream of the confluence of the Beas and Sutlej rivers. The rich biodiversity of the wetland which plays a vital role in maintaining the precious hydrological balance in the catchment with its vast concentration of migratory fauna of waterfowls including a number of globally threatened species (stated to be next only to the Keoladeo National Park near Bharatpur) has been responsible for the recognition accorded to this wetland in 1990, by the Ramsar Convention, as one of the Ramasar sites in India, for conservation, development and preservation of the ecosystem.