Sikh Empire

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The Sikh Empire was a regional power based in the Punjab region of South Asia. It existed from 1799, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, to 1849, when it was defeated and annexed by the British East India Company following the Second Anglo-Sikh War. At its peak in the mid-19th century, the empire extended from Gilgit and Tibet in the north to the deserts of Sindh in the south and from the Khyber Pass in the west to the Sutlej in the east, and was divided into 8 provinces. Religiously diverse, with an estimated population of 12 million in 1800 (making it the 12th most populous state at the time), it was the last major region of the Indian subcontinent to be conquered by the British Empire. In 1799, Ranjit Singh of the Sukerchakia Misl captured Lahore from the Sikh triumvirate which had been ruling it since 1765, and was confirmed on the possession of Lahore by the Durrani ruler, Zaman Shah. He was formally crowned on 12 April 1801 by Sahib Singh Bedi, a descendant of Guru Nanak....

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