Until the Partition of Punjab in 1947, the British Punjab Province encompassed the present-day Indian states and union territories of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, and Delhi; and the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Islamabad Capital Territory. It bordered the Balochistan and Pashtunistan regions to the west, Kashmir to the north, the Hindi Belt to the east, and Rajasthan and Sindh to the south. The Partition of Punjab divided the Land of the Five Rivers between India and Pakistan, yet, geographically, it stands as one indivisible unit.
The people of the Punjab today are called Punjabis, and their principal language is Punjabi. The main religions of the Indian Punjab region are Sikhism and Hinduism. The main religion of the Pakistani Punjab region is Islam. Other religious groups are Christianity, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Ravidassia. The Punjab region has been inhabited by the Indus Valley Civilisation, Indo-Aryan peoples, and Indo-Scythians, and has seen numerous invasions by the Persians, Greeks, Kushans, Ghaznavids, Timurids, Mughals, Pashtuns, British, and others. Historic foreign invasions mainly targeted the most productive central region of the Punjab known as the Majha region,[3] which is also the bedrock of Punjabi culture and traditions.[4] The Punjab region is often referred to as the breadbasket in both India and Pakistan