Gujranwala: History
=== Founding ===
Gujranwala was founded by Gurjars in the eighteenth century; however, the exact origins of Gujranwala are unclear. Unlike the nearby ancient cities of Sialkot and Lahore, Gujranwala is a relatively modern city. It may have been established as a village in the middle of the 16th century. Locals traditionally believe that Gujranwala's original name was Khanpur Sansi, though recent scholarship suggests that the village was possibly Serai Gujran instead – a village once located near what is now Gujranwala's Khiyali Gate that was mentioned by several sources during the 18th-century invasion of Ahmad Shah Abdali.
In 1707, with the death of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Mughal power began to rapidly weaken especially following Nader Shah's invasion in 1739 and then completely dissipated from the Punjab region due to the invasions of Ahmad Shah Abdali, who raided Punjab many times between 1747 and 1772, causing much devastation and chaos.
Abdali's control over the region began to weaken in the latter part of the 18th century with the rise of the Sikh Misls (independent chieftainships usually consisting of the chief's kinsmen), which overran Punjab. Charat Singh, ruler of the Sukerchakia Misl, established himself in a fort which he had built in the area of Gujranwala between 1756 and 1758.
Nuruddin, a Jammu-based Afghan (Pashtun) general, was ordered by Abdali to subdue the Sikhs but was driven back at Sialkot by Sikh soldiers led by Charat Singh. In 1761, Khwaja Abed Khan, Abdali's governor in Lahore, tried to besiege Charat Singh's base in Gujranwala but the bid misfired. The Sikh misls rallied to his support by attacking Afghan officers wherever they were found. A fleeing Abed Khan was pursued by Sikh contingents led by the Ahluwalia misl into Lahore, where he was killed. Charat Singh made Gujranwala the capital of his misl in 1763.
In a 1774 battle waged in Jammu, Charat Singh of the Sukerchakia misl and Jhanda Singh of the powerful Bhangi misl, fighting on opposite sides, were both killed. Before his death, Charat Singh had become master of large and contiguous territories in the three doabs between the Indus and the Ravi. He was succeeded by his son Maha Singh, who added to the lands that Charat Singh had not only captured but also capably administered. …