Firozpur

Firozpur, (pronunciation: [fɪroːzpʊr]) also known as Ferozepur, is a city on the banks of the Sutlej River in the Firozpur District of Punjab, India. After the Partition of India in 1947, it became a border town on the India–Pakistan border with memorials to soldiers who died fighting for India.

It is located on the banks of the Sutlej River on the India–Pakistan border. The nearby Firozpur Cantonment is a major cantonment of the country.

The name of Ferozepore is said to derive either from Feroz Shah Tughlaq, sultan of Delhi, or from a Bhatti chief, named Feroze Khan, who was a mid-16th century Manj Rajput chief. A popular name for the locality is Shaheedon-ki-dharti ("the land of martyrs").

The city of Firozpur was founded by Firoz Shah Tughlaq, a ruler of the Tughluq dynasty, who reigned over the Sultanate of Delhi from 1351 to 1388. The Ferozepur Fortress is said to have been constructed in the 14th century during the reign of Firoz Shah of the Delhi Sultanate. The Manj Rajput chief, Feroze Khan, was a prominent figure in the region in the mid-16th century. The locality's trade was dominated by the Bhabra Jain community. However, due to an epidemic in 1543, much of these traders shifted to Kot Ise Khan.

The period of Sikh influence in the region was affirmed in 1758, when Adina Beg was defeated by the Sikhs. In 1761, the Sikh chief Hari Singh of the Bhangi Misl captured Kasur and nearby areas of Ferozepore. One of the Bhangi sardars of Hari Singh, named Gurja (Gujar) Singh, along with his brother Nushaha Singh, and two nephews, Gurbakhsh Singh and Mastan Singh, took hold of Ferozepore for the Sikhs. Later, Gurja (Gujar) Singh gave Ferozepore to his nephew, Gurbakhsh Singh. The Ferozepore territory as it existed then contained 37 villages. In 1792, Gurbaksh Singh decided to divy up his territorial possessions among his four sons, with his second-son, Dhanna Singh, being bestowed control over the Ferozepore territory.

In ca.1818–19, Dhanna Singh died and therefore was succeeded by his widow, Lachhman Kaur. In 1820, Lachhman Kaur went on a pilgrimage to shrines of Haridwar, Gaya, and Jagannath after having placed her father-in-law, Gurbakhsh Singh, in charge of Ferozepore in her temporary absence. However, it was during this absence that Baghel Singh, nephew of the deceased Dhanna Singh, occupied the Ferozepore Fort under the guise of visiting his grandfather Gurbaksh Singh. After three years of travels, Lachhman Kaur returned to Ferozepore in 1823 to find that Baghel Singh has holed himself in the fortress and was unable to expel him. Therefore, she enlisted the help of the British East India Company to reclaim her possession of Ferozepore. Through the efforts of Captain Ross, the Deputy Superintendent of Sikh Affairs, whom represented her case to the Lahore agent representing the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh gave orders to Baghel Singh to relinquish his antics, allowing Lachhman Kaur to return to her rule of Ferozepore. Baghel Singh died in 1826.

Lachhman Kaur died issueless on 28 September 1835 (another source gives her date of death as being December 1835). In July 1838, Jhanda Singh and Chanda Singh, the brothers of Baghel Singh and nephews of Dhanna Singh, both claimed the chiefship of Ferozepore. However, these attempts were unsuccessful and the Ferozepore territory lapsed into direct British-control. Henry Lawrence took full charge of the absorbed territory in 1839.

British rule was first established in 1835, when, on the failure of heirs to the Sikh family who possessed it, a small escheat to the British government was formed, and the district was gradually formed around this nucleus. The British inherited Ferozepore at a time when its local economy was in-decline. In 1838, the population of the settlement of Ferozepore stood-at 2,732, however by 1841, the local population rose to 4,841. The increase in the population of Ferozepore in the period immediately following British annexation has been attributed to reforms by Henry Lawrence, who constructed a main market place and also built another market place towards the east of the old fortress.