The British Raj marked one of the most transformative periods in Punjab’s history - an era that reshaped the land, its people, and its identity. Emerging after the fall of the Sikh Empire in 1849, British rule introduced new systems of governance, education, and infrastructure, while simultaneously dismantling centuries of local sovereignty and reshaping Punjab’s social fabric.

For the first time, Punjab was formally defined as a province under colonial administration. The British introduced sweeping reforms - land revenue systems, canal irrigation projects, and railways that altered the region’s economy and agriculture forever. Cities like Lahore, Amritsar, and Multan became administrative and cultural centres, witnessing both progress and control. The canal colonies transformed once arid tracts into fertile farmlands, but also deepened class divisions and altered traditional village structures.

Education flourished under missionary and government schools, introducing Western curricula and English literacy that gave rise to a new educated Punjabi class. Yet, these advancements came hand-in-hand with exploitation. Local industries declined under British economic policy, while social and religious reform movements - such as the Singh Sabha, Arya Samaj, and Anjuman-i-Himayat-i-Islam - emerged in response, seeking to preserve cultural identity in a rapidly changing world.

Punjab also became the backbone of the British Indian Army. Thousands of Punjabi men, particularly Sikhs, enlisted and fought in distant wars, earning global recognition while binding the province closer to the colonial state. But beneath the order, resentment brewed. Revolts, peasant uprisings, and political movements began to challenge British authority, culminating in the nationalist wave that swept across India in the early twentieth century.

The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 became a turning point, a moment that revealed the brutal face of colonial power and awakened unity across Punjab’s communities. From there, the struggle intensified until the eventual independence and partition of 1947, when the province once again stood at the crossroads of history.

Divided, yet indelibly changed.

This series explores the British Raj through Punjab’s eyes, tracing its early annexation, the rise of new institutions, the socio-economic transformations, and the deep scars left by division. It is a story not of condemnation nor celebration, but of complexity; where hardship met opportunity, and where Punjab learned, once again, to rebuild itself amid empire and upheaval.