Portal:Punjab/Selected biography/3

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (Punjabi: ਮਹਾਰਾਜਾ ਰਣਜੀਤ ਸਿੰਘ), (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), was the founder of the Sikh Empire, which came to power in the northern South Asia in the early half of the 19th century. He survived smallpox in infancy but lost sight in his left eye. He fought his first battle alongside his father at age 10. After his father died, he fought several wars to expel Afghans in his teenage years, and was proclaimed as the "Maharaja of Punjab" at age 21. His Empire grew in the Punjab region under his leadership through 1839.

Prior to his rise, the Punjab region had numerous warring misls (confederacies), twelve of which were under Sikh rulers and one by a Muslim. Ranjit Singh successfully absorbed and united the Sikh misls, took over other local kingdoms to create the Sikh Empire. He repeatedly defeated the invasions by Muslim armies particularly those arriving from Afghanistan, and established friendly relations with the British. Ranjit Singh's reign introduced reforms, modernization, investment into infrastructure and general prosperity