The Sikh Empire was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The empire, based around the Punjab region, existed from 1799 to 1849. It was forged, on the foundations of the Khalsa, under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from a collection of autonomous Punjabi Misls. At its peak, in the 19th century, the empire extended from the Khyber Pass in the west, to Kashmir in the north, to Sindh in the south, and Tibet in the east.

The foundations of the Sikh Empire could be defined as early as 1707, starting from the death of Aurangzeb and the downfall of the Mughal Empire. The fall of the Mughal Empire provided opportunities for the Sikh army, known as the Dal Khalsa, a rearrangement of the Khalsa inaugurated by Guru Gobind Singh, to lead expeditions against the Mughals and Afghans. This led to a growth of the army, which was split into different confederacies or semi-independent "Misls". Each of these component armies, known as a Misl, controlled different areas and cities. However, in the period from 1762–1799, Sikh commanders of their Misls appeared to be coming into their own.

This article is about Maharaja Dalip Singh. For other uses, see Dalip Singh

Maharaja Dalip Singh,GCSI (6 September 1838, Lahore, Sikh Empire – 22 October 1893, Paris, France), commonly called Duleep Singh and later in life nicknamed the Black Prince of Perthshire, was the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. He was the youngest son of the legendary "Lion of the Punjab" Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Maharani Jind Kaur, and came to power after a series of intrigues, in which several other claimants to the throne and to the Koh-i-Noor diamond, killed each other. After his exile to Britain at age 13 following the British annexation of the Punjab, he was befriended by Queen Victoria. In June 1850, Lord Dalhousie presented the Kohinoor Diamond by Dalip Singh after it was confiscated by the British. From that date on, the diamond became part of the Crown Jewels, set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth and on display in the Jewel House in the Tower of London.

Dalip Singh was much admired by Queen Victoria, who is reported to have written of the Punjabi maharajah "Those eyes and those teeth are too beautiful". The Queen was godmother to several of his children.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 20 June 1839) was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.

Ranjit Singh belonged to a Sikh clan of Northern India. He was born in Gujranwala, now in modern-day Pakistan. According to some historians, into a Jatt Sikh family and some that he was born into a Sansi Sikh family who were Sukerchakia misldars. As a child he suffered from smallpox which resulted in the loss of one eye. At the time, much of Punjab was ruled by the Sikhs under a Confederate Sarbat Khalsa system, who had divided the territory among factions known as misls.

Ranjit Singh's father Maha Singh was the Commander of the Sukerchakia misl and controlled a territory in the west Punjab based around his headquarters at Gujranwala. After his father's death he was raised under the protection of Sada Kaur of the Kanheya Misl. Ranjit Singh succeeded his father at the age of 18. After several campaigns, he conquered the other misls and created the Sikh Empire.

Pashtun King Amir Ahmad Shah Abdali 1747–1772 of Afghanistan Durrani Known as Kings of Kings first crossed the Indus River in 1748, the year after his ascension – his forces sacked and absorbed Lahore during that expedition. The following year (1749), the Mughal ruler was induced to cede Sindh and all of the Punjab including the vital trans Indus River to him, in order to save his capital from being attacked by the Afghan Pashtun forces of the DurraniEmpire.

Hari Singh Nalwa (1791–1837) was Commander-in-chief of the Khalsa, the army of the Sikh Empire. He is known for his role in the conquests of Kasur, Sialkot, Multan, Kashmir, Attock, Peshawar and Jamrud. In 1813 he accompanied Diwan Mohkam Chand on an expedition to Kashmir which helped Maharaja Ranjit Singh to become the master of the Koh-i-Noor diamond.

Hari Singh Nalwa was responsible for expanding the frontier of Sikh Empire to beyond the Indus River right up to the mouth of the Khyber Pass. In 1831, he opposed moves by Ranjit Singh to appoint Kharak Singh as his successor as Maharaja of the Sikh Empire. At the time of his death, the western boundary of the Sikh Kingdom was Jamrud. His frontier policy of holding the Khyber Pass was later used by the British Raj.

He served as governor of Kashmir, Peshawar and Hazara and established a mint on behalf of the Sikh Empire to facilitate revenue collection.

Hari Singh's ancestors came to Majitha and served the Sukerchakia Misl. His grandfather, Hardas Singh, was killed in action in 1762. His father, Gurdial Singh, served under Charat Singh and Maha Singh as a Risaldar and received the Jagir of Balloki, a village in the modern day Kasur District of Pakistan.

Maharaja Hari Singh (23 September 1895, Jammu–26 April 1961, Bombay) was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in India.

He was married four times. With his fourth wife, Maharani Tara Devi (1910–1967), he had one son, Yuvraj (Crown Prince) Karan Singh.

Hari Singh was born on 23 September 1895 at the palace of Amar Mahal, Jammu, the only surviving son of General Raja Sir Amar Singh (14 January 1864-26 March 1909), the younger son of General Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Ranbir Singh and the brother of Lieutenant-General Maharajadhiraj Sri Sir Pratap Singh, the then Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.

In 1903, Hari Singh served as a Page of Honour to Lord Curzon at the grand Delhi Durbar. At the age of 13, Hari Singh was dispatched to Mayo College in Ajmer. A year later in 1909, when his father died, the British took a personal interest in his education and appointed Major H.K. Brar as his guardian. After Mayo College the ruler-in-waiting went to the Imperial Cadet Corps at Dehra Dun for military training, imbibing its British upper-crust atmosphere and polishing his English to a high gloss, and by the age of 20 he had been appointed commander-in-chief of the Jammu and Kashmir state forces.