Sialkot
Sialkot (Punjabi, ) is a city located in Punjab, Pakistan. It is the capital of the Sialkot District and is the 13th most populous city in Pakistan. The boundaries of Sialkot are joined with Jammu (the winter capital of Indian administered Jammu and Kashmir) in the north east, the districts of Narowal in the southeast, Gujranwala in the southwest and Gujrat in the northwest. Sialkot is believed to be the successor of Sagala, the capital of the Madra kingdom razed by Alexander the Great in 326 BCE, and then made the capital of the Indo-Greek kingdom by Menander I in the 2nd century BCE—a time during which the city greatly prospered as a major center for trade and Buddhist thought. In the 6th century CE, it was again made capital of the Taank Kingdom, which ruled North Punjab for the next two centuries. Sialkot continued to be a major political centre until it was eclipsed by Lahore around the turn of the first millennium CE. The city rose again in prominence during the British era and is now one of Pakistan's most important industrial centers. The city is also the birthplace of Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Pakistan's national poet. The city has been noted for its entrepreneurial spirit and productive business climate that has made Sialkot an example of a small Pakistani city that emerged as a "world-class manufacturing hub." The relatively small city exported approximately 2.5 billion annually to strengthen the national exchequer.
