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Revision as of 18:55, 10 March 2004 by 18.234.1.84 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Lahore (لاهور) is a city in Pakistan, capital of the province of Punjab.
It is located near to the river Ravi and the Indian border. Lahore has 6.5 million inhabitants and thus the second biggest city in Pakistan (Karachi being the biggest). It is considered to be the 38th biggest city of the world.
File:Pk-map.jpgHistory
According to legends Lahore was founded by Loh, son of Rama, the hero of the Hindu epic Ramayana.
The city became Muslim when Qutub-ud-din Aibak was crowned in 1206 and thus became the first Muslim Sultan of the subcontinent. From 1524 to 1752 Lahore was part of the Mughal Empire. During Akbar's rule, Lahore was the capital of the empire from 1584 to 1598. During this time a massive fort, the Lahore Fort, was built on the fundaments of an older fort in the 1560s. This fort was later extended by Jahangir and Shah Jahan. The last of the great Mughals, Aurangzeb, ruling from 1658 to 1707, built the city's most famous monuments, the Badshahi Masjid and the Alamgiri gateway to the fort.
Ramzi Yousef was captured in Lahore on 7 February, 1995.
Famous Sites
The Badshahi Masjid, one of the world's largest mosques, is located just outside the Northeast corner of the . Opposite is the historic Lahore Fort which houses the famous Sheesh Mahal. Between the buildings two is a garden known as Hazuri Bagh in which Maharaja Ranjit Singh built his baradari, a double storey marble edifice. Every Sunday afternoon story-tellers, poets and singers gather in the garden to continue their oral tradition, often reciting Waris Shah's Heer, Bulleh Shah, Farid Ganjshakar or other Punjabi literature. On the Northern side of the garden is the Samadhi of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The Southern side of Hazuri Bagh is bounded by the wall of the Walled City, with the Roshnai Gate serving as an entrance. Roshnai Gate leads into the Shahi Mohalla quarter of the Walled City, also known as Hira Mundi. Although Shahi Mohalla is notorious for being the red-light district of Lahore, it also offers a large variety of traditional food, including the famous Phajje ke Paye. The Minar-e-Pakistan (thought of by many as being architecturally corrupt in comparison to its surroundings) is located in Iqbal Park just across the road from the Badshahi Masjid complex.
Development
The recent road building programme has improved accessibility. A motorway was completed in 2000, linking Lahore to Islamabad, the capital. This apparently coincided with the appearance of McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants in the new shopping centres all over the city. The Airport has been renovated and renamed to Allama Iqbal International Airport.