Annexation of the Punjab

1849 · Lahore (Punjab, Pakistan)

After two Anglo-Sikh wars, the East India Company annexes the Punjab in 1849, deposes the child Maharaja Duleep Singh, and takes the Koh-i-Noor; Sikh sovereignty ends for a century, though Sikh soldiers become a mainstay of the British Indian Army.

Tagged: Sikh The Khalsa Panth

The Event

Date
1849 (exact)
Era
Empire and Annexation; Standard periodization of Sikh history
Location
Lahore; today Punjab, Pakistan
Traditions
Sikhism
Streams
The Khalsa Panth
Key figures
Duleep Singh, Lord Dalhousie

Primary Sources

  • The annexation proclamation of 1849

Secondary Sources

  • Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, vol. 1 (Oxford, 2nd ed. 2004)
  • Grewal, The Sikhs of the Punjab (Cambridge, 1990)

Provenance: HIST-0519; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-27.

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