SHÁHPUR, the southernmost district of the Rawal Pindi division in the lieutenant-governorship of the Punjab, India, between 31° 32' and 32° 42' N. lat. and between 71° 37' and 73° 24' E. long., with an area of 4691 square miles. The district is bounded on the N. by the Jhelum district, on the E. by Gujrát and the Chenab, on the S. by Jhang, and on the W. and N.W. by Dera Ismail Khan and Bannu. On both sides of the Jhelum stretch wide upland plains, utterly barren or covered only with brushwood; a considerable portion of this area, however, is composed of good soil, only requiring irrigation to make it productive. The most important physical subdivisions of the district are the Salt range in the north, the valleys of the Chenáb and Jhelum, and the plains between those rivers and between the Jhelum and the Salt range. The characteristics of these two plains are widely different: the desert portion of the southern plain is termed the bar; the corresponding tract north of the Jhelum is known as the thal. That part of Sháhpur to the north of the Jhelum is by far the most interesting, containing as it does such varieties of scenery and climate, such contrasts of soil, vegetation, and natural capabilities. Communications are carried on by well-made roads, by the Jhelum, which is navigable for country craft throughout its course within the district, and by 52 miles of the Salt branch of the Punjab Northern State Railway. The climate of the plains is hot and dry, but in the Salt range it is much cooler; the average annual rainfall is about 15 inches. Tigers, leopards, and wolves are found in the Salt range, while small game and antelope abound among the thick jungle of the bar....
The census of 1881 disclosed a population of 421,508 (males 221,676, females 199,832); of these 59,026 were Hindus and 357,742 were Mohammedans. Thé only town in the district with more than 10,000 inhabitants is Bhera, with 15,165; but the administrative headquarters of the district are at the small town of Shahpur on the Jhelum river, the population of which in 1881 was 5424. Of the total area only 871 square miles were under cultivation in 1883-84, and 3053 square miles were returned as cultivable. Wheat is the chief staple, and covers nearly a half of the cultivated area; bajra and cotton are the next most extensively grown crops; among other crops are sugar-cane and opium. The commercial importance of the district depends almost entirely upon its connexion with the Salt range, salt being found throughout these hills. The revenue derived from this product, however, though collected in the Shahpur district, cannot properly be credited to it, as the mineral, though abundant in the Shahpur portion of the range, is worked chiefly in that part of it which lies in the Jhelum district. The chief exports are grain, rice, cotton, wool, ghi, and saltpetre; the imports sugar, English piece-goods, and metals. Its manufactures consist of silk and cotton scarfs, toys, and felt and blankets. The gross revenue in 1883-84 amounted to £55,290, of which the land contributed £39,020.
Shahpur passed into the hands of the English along with the rest of the Punjab on the suppression of the Multan rebellion in 1849. During the mutiny of 1857 the district remained tranquil, and though the villages of the bar gave cause for alarm no outbreak of sepoys occurred. Since annexation the limits and constitution of the district have undergone many changes.
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