When was the Sikh Empire established?

          It was Maharaja Ranjit Singh who established the secular Sikh kingdom in Punjab. It emerged as a dominant kingdom in 1799, when Ranjit Singh captured Lahore, and remained powerful till 1849. The Sikh kingdom reached its pinnacle in the 19th century; and the Empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west to western Tibet in the east.

          The foundations of the Sikh Kingdom can be traced to as early as 1707; that’s when Aurangzeb died and the Mughal Empire began disintegrating. With the Mughal power significantly weakened, the Sikh army, known as the Dal Khalsa, led expeditions against them and the Afghans in the west.

          The Sikh army grew and split into different confederacies or semi-independent misls. Each of these component armies exercised control over different areas and cities. However, the period between 1762 and 1799 saw the rise of Sikh commanders of the misls as warlords.

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