Wah Cantonment

The Wah Cantonment (Punjabi: واہ چھاونی; Urdu: واہ کینٹ) (often abbreviated to Wah Cantt) is a Class I Civilian Cantonment in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the 17th most populous city in Punjab and 24th most populous city in Pakistan with a population of 400,733 people It is located on the historic Grand Trunk Road. It has one of the highest literacy rates in Pakistan, likely exceeding 99%. It spans over 14,433 Acres or 58 square kilometers.

It was termed as a "Model Education City" by Shaukat Aziz, former Prime Mnister of Pakistan. The cantonment headquarters Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF). It is located 30 km (19 mi) northwest of the capital city of Islamabad.

Previously known as Jalal Sar, Mughal Emperor Jahangir coined the term 'Wah' which translates to 'Wow' (Urdu: واہ). In his biography, Tuzk-e-Jahangiri, Mughal Emperor Jahangir recounts while returning from an expedition on 29 April 1607 he visited the natural springs at Mughal Gardens Wah and uttered the words 'Wah' as admiration. Subsequently, people begain referring to the area as 'Wah'. Jahangir wrote the following in Tuzk-e-Jahangiri.

On Wednesday the 12th (of 1607) the camp was at Bābā Ḥasan Abdāl. One kos (Approx. 3.2 KM) to the east of this station there is a waterfall over which the stream rushes with great force. There is no fall like it on the way to Kabul. On the road to Kashmir there are two or three like it. In the middle of the basin, in which is the source of the stream, Rāja Mān Singh has erected a small building. There are many fish in the basin of the length of a quarter guz (Approx. 9 Inches). I halted three days at this enchanting place, drinking wine with those who were intimate with me and employing myself in catching fish. Until now I had never thrown a sufra net, which is a famous kind of net, and which in Hindi they call bhanwar jāl. It is not easy to throw. I threw it with my own hand and caught twelve fish, and putting pearls into their noses, let them loose in the water.

The word 'Cantonment' (shortened as Cantt) was added in December 1951 when Pakistan's second Prime Minister, Khawaja Nazimuddin, inaugurated the first four workshops of POF.

Wah Cantonment is situated along the historic Grand Trunk Road, one of the oldest trade corridor in South-Asia dating back to 2500 years that connected the Central Asia to South Asia.

The region surrounding Wah has been a cradle of history for millennia, lying close to the heartland of the Gandhara Civilisation, famed for its Buddhist art, culture, and scholarship between the 1st millennium BCE and the early centuries CE. Archaeological remains, stupas, and relics from Gandhara still exist in the wider Taxila–Wah area.

The Mughal invasion of this area had a significant impact on the architecture of the village and surrounding areas which is visible in historic landmarks such as Wah Gardens. Which has hosted multiple mughal emperors and other notable mughal figures such as Jahangir, Shah jahan, Aurangzeb and Raja Man Singh I.