Greeks, Central Asians, and Persians

Unique to Pakistani Punjab was that this area was repeatedly conquered into various Persian, Central Asian, and Greek empires, such as those of Tamerlane, Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan. Of particular importance were the periods of contact between Punjab and various Persian Empires when the region either became a part of the empire itself, or was an autonomous region which paid taxes to the Persian King. In later centuries, when Persian was the language of the Mughal government, Persian architecture, poetry, art and music was an integral part of the region’s culture. The official language of Punjab remained Persian until the arrival of the British in the mid 19th century, where it was finally abolished and the administrative language was changed over to English. After 1947, Urdu, which has Persian and Sanskrit roots, became Pakistan’s national language (Zaban-e-Qaum).