The settlements in Gujranwala are nearly all of old dates. The immigration of the leading tribes appears to have taken place in Mughal days when most of the existing villages were founded. Even the tradition is silent as to the races who precede them. War, famine and inter-tribal struggles in the first half of the last century brought about the ruin of all but the strongest community but the people were too deeply rooted in the soil to permanently desert their settlements and when the consolidation of the Sikh Rule in the latter half of the century inaugurated an era of comparative peace and security, the old owners, who had temporarily bowed to the storm and taken refuge in their tribal strongholds, at once resumed possession of their deserted homesteads, restored the wells, reclaimed the land, and in many cases showed such tenacity in adhering to their ancient institutions and traditions that they maintained the same proprietary shares as had existed prior to their dispossession.
Thus in thet ehsil the present owners are the descendants of the men who held the land under Mughal rule, and the tribal and village traditions have continued in an unbroken chain from that era.