Treaty of Amritsar (1809)

The Treaty of Amritsar of 1809 was an agreement between the British East India Company and Ranjit Singh, the Sikh leader who founded the Sikh empire. Among the outcomes was that Singh gained a carte blanche to further consolidate his territorial gains north of the Sutlej river at the expense both of other Sikh chiefs and their peers among the other dominant communities.

Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) was a Sikh warrior who had been establishing a kingdom in what was at that time northern India. He had established a capital at Lahore in 1799 when he defeated Zaman Shah, an Afghan leader, and this emphasised his status among the Sikhs. He proclaimed himself maharajah of the Punjab in 1801 and expanded his territories to such an extent that by 1808 he had control of an area bounded by Gujarat, Ludhiana and Multan. He had Malwa, on the south side of the Sutlej river, as his next target but the Sikh chiefs in that area appealed to the British for protection. The protection was forthcoming and the British, who until recently had been occupied in Hindustan obtaining victory in the Second Anglo-Maratha War, attempted to resolve the issue using diplomacy. This failed, Singh invaded Malwa in September 1808 and in February 1809 the British successfully attacked Singh's forces there. Realising his relative military weakness, Singh conceded with the Treaty of Amritsar. They promised that they will not interfere his affairs.

Although the terms of the treaty prevented Singh from any further territorial expansion south of the Sutlej, they also permitted him complete freedom of action to the north of it. This enabled him to extract tribute from less powerful chieftains, including Jats and other Sikhs, and ultimately to gain control of areas such as Peshawar and Kashmir. The unification of these territories, which was aided by him Westernising his armies, formed the Sikh empire that last until British subjugation in 1849.