Which legislative enactment passed by the British Parliament in 1849 formally annexed the Punjab kingdom into the British Indian Empire following the Second Anglo-Sikh War?

💡 Solution & Explanation

Following the decisive British victory at the Battle of Gujarat in February 1849 during the Second Anglo-Sikh War Governor-General Lord Dalhousie issued the proclamation of annexation on 29 March 1849 dissolving the Sikh Empire of Lahore and establishing a Board of Administration for Punjab comprising Henry and John Lawrence. This ended independent Sikh sovereign rule in the region. The province was subsequently organized into a non-regulation administrative province.