Lahore

Lahore is a city in Pakistan, capital of the district of Punjab. It's located near to the river Ravi[?] and the Indian border. Lahore has 6.5 million inhabitants and thus is the second biggest city in Pakistan (Karachi being biggest). It is considered to be the 38th biggest city of the world.

History 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 the massive fort has been built on the fundaments of an older fort. 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.

Development

The recent road building programme has improved accessibility. A motorway was completed in 2000, linking Lahore to Islamabad, the capital. This apparently co-incided with the appearence of McDonalds and KFC restaraunts[?] in the new markets, all over the city.