Balochistan (Balochi: بلوچستان) or Baluchistan[1] (lit. Land of the Baloch) is an arid, mountainous region on the Iranian plateau in South Asia: it includes part of western Pakistan, south-eastern Iran and south-western Afghanistan. The area is named after the numerous Baloch tribes. The majority of the ethnic Baloch speak Balochi, while some use Brahui as their second language. The small Pashtun population residing in Northwestern Balochistan speak Pashto. The southern part of Balochistan, where Baloch and Balochi originated, is known as Makran.
Landscape and ecology
Balochistan's landscape is composed of barren, rugged mountains and fertile, but dry land. Most of the land is barren, particularly on the Iranian and Afghan side of the region, and it is generally sparsely populated. In the south (Makran) lies the desert in which three out of every four of Alexander the Great's soldiers died before the army finally reached Babylon.
Agriculture in this region is based on horticulture supported mostly by rain water. Cultivation is often located on alluvial fans, along river-courses, and in fertile areas which are maintained through artificial irrigation systems such as qanats (holes sunk in the ground to trap water) and gabarbands (low stone and earth mounds creating raised beds which become saturated by rainfall and water run-off from the surrounding hills). In the southern Makran and oasis region (south of the Chagai Hills) date palms are cultivated. Orange orchards are also typical in southern Balochistan, particularly in Jhalawan and Sarawan.
History
The earliest evidence of occupation in Balochistan is dated to the Paleolithic era, represented by hunting camps and lithic scatters (chipped and flaked stone tools). The earliest settled villages in Balochistan date to the ceramic Neolithic (c. 7000-6000 BCE), and included the site of Mehrgarh (located in the Kachi Plain). These villages expanded in size during the subsequent Chalcolithic, when interaction was amplified. This involved the movement of finished goods and raw materials, including chank shell, lapis lazuli, turquoise and ceramics. By 2500 BCE (the Bronze Age), Balochistan had become part of the Harappan cultural orbit, providing key resources to the expansive settlements of the Indus river basin to the east.
From the 1st century to the 3rd century CE, the region was ruled by the Pāratarājas (lit. "Pārata Kings"), a dynasty of Indo-Scythian or Indo-Parthian kings. The dynasty of the Pāratas is thought to be identical with the Pāradas of the Mahabharata, the Puranas and other vedic and Iranian sources.[2] The Parata kings are essentially known through their coins, which typically exhibit the bust of the ruler on the obverse (with long hair within a headband), and a Zoroastrian fire altar on the reverse (usually silver coins) or Kharoshthi (copper coins). These coins are mainly found in Loralai in western Pakistan.
Herodotus in 450 BCE, describes the Paraitakenoi as a tribe ruled by Deiokes, a Persian king, in northwestern Persia (History I.101). Arrian describes how Alexander the Great encountered the Pareitakai in Bactria and Sogdiana, and had them conquered by Craterus (Anabasis Alexandrou IV). The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (1st century CE) describes the territory of the Paradon beyond the Ommanitic region, on the coast of modern Balochistan.[3]
During the Arab conquest of the Persian empire in the 8th century, Muslim technocrats, bureaucrats, soldiers, traders, scientists, architects, teachers and theologians arrived from the rest of the Muslim world, and many settled in Balochistan and its tributary state, remaining there until the rise of the Mughals. Numerous Baloch tribes moved into the area from the west in the 11th century, to escape the Seljuk Turks. Western Balochistan was conquered by Iran in the 19th century, and its boundary was fixed in 1871. Omani influence waned in the east and Oman's last possession, Gwadar, was bought by Pakistan in 1958.
Demography
Modern Balochistan
Currently the greater Balochistan region is divided among three countries: Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. The Pakistani portion of Balochistan has Quetta as its capital city. Other major cities include Gwadar, Turbat, Khuzdar and Kalat. Although Baloch nationalists have never accepted Balochistan as a part of any of the three countries, Pakistan and Iran insist on sovereignty over their parts of Balochistan. Several nationalist movements have developed in the past sixty years, but have been forcibly repressed by the Pakistani and Iranian regimes.
Modern Balochistan has very few sources of income for the native Baloch people, despite the region being rich in minerals. The main ways Balochs survive in Balochistan are through Government services, raising livestock and smuggling. Agriculture is mostly sparse and is only present in the Khachi region of Balochistan.
Although Baloch people are mostly secular in nature, the invasive influence of foreign intelligence agencies in Balochistan and Muslim extremist religious parties in the region are propagating Islamic extremism in Baloch societies. The spread of Talibanism is also a constant threat to Balochistan and its cultural values. In the past sixty years, Balochs have persistently rejected extremism in the region.
Secessionist movements
- Balochistan Liberation Army
- Jundallah
- Parrari
- Partisans of National Liberation of Afghanistan
- Popular Front for Armed Resistance
See also
- Balochistan, Pakistan
- Sistan and Baluchistan Province
- Balochistan (Afghanistan)
- Balochistan conflict
- Mehrgarh
- Bolan Pass
- Seistan Force
- Balouch rug
- Kakazai
- Lori (ethnic group)
References
- ^ Variations of the spelling, especially on French maps, include: Beloutchistan, Baloutchistan.
- ^ "New light on the Paratarajas" p11
- ^ "New light on the Paratarajas" p29-30