The South Asian country of Pakistan was the site of one of the world's oldest civilizations. Nevertheless, it is a young country. In 1947 the colony called British India gained independence and was divided into two countries: Pakistan and India. Pakistan was meant to be a homeland for the colony's Muslims. The capital of Pakistan is Islamabad.
Pakistan is bounded on the west by Iran, on the north by Afghanistan, on the northeast by China, on the east and southeast by India, and on the south by the Arabian Sea. It covers an area of 307,374 square miles (796,095 square kilometers). This figure does not include the region of Kashmir, which is disputed territory between Pakistan and India.
Pakistan has three major natural regions. The Himalayas and the Karakoram Range in the northern part of the country include some of the highest and most rugged mountains in the world. Among them is K2, the world's second-tallest peak at 28,251 feet (8,611 meters). The Balochistan plateau of western Pakistan is a very dry region of deserts, salt lakes, and a narrow coastal plain. In the east are the flat, fertile plains of the Indus River. The majority of the country's people live in this region.
Pakistan has hot summers and cool or cold winters. Summer temperatures can climb higher than 120° F (49° C). It is generally very dry, but seasonal winds called monsoons bring rain from June through September.
Natural vegetation in Pakistan is sparse. Apart from some forests on the mountain slopes, it is mostly limited to grasses, dry bushes, and small trees. Wildlife, however, is abundant. Brown bears, black Himalayan bears, wild sheep, and the rare snow leopard live in the northern mountains. The area near the mouth of the Indus River is home to crocodiles, pythons, and wild boars. Jackals, foxes, wildcats, and a variety of rodents and reptiles are found throughout the country. Some of these animals are in danger of extinction because the expanding human population has led to the loss of their habitats. Others are threatened by widespread hunting.
The people of Pakistan are a racial mixture of various groups who have lived in the region over thousands of years. The population includes five major ethnic groups: the Punjabis, the Pashtuns, the Sindhis, the Balochis, and the muhajirs. Punjabis make up about half of the population, and their language is the most commonly spoken. Almost everyone in Pakistan practices the religion of Islam. When Pakistan was separated from the Hindu state of India in 1947, millions of Muslims left India to settle in Pakistan. These people and their descendants are the muhajirs. They speak Urdu, which is the country's official language. Most educated Punjabis speak Urdu as well.
The majority of the people of Pakistan live in rural areas, but the cities have grown rapidly. The largest cities are Karachi and Lahore. Located on the Arabian Sea coast, Karachi is Pakistan's main port and center of commerce and industry. It was also the national capital until 1959, when Islamabad was chosen as the site of the new capital. Lahore, located near the border with India, is an educational center.
Pakistan's cultural heritage dates back more than 5,000 years. The Indus Valley was the site of one of the world's earliest urban civilizations. Brick buildings, sculptures, and jewelry from this era have been uncovered. Most of the greatest surviving architecture, arts, and handicrafts in Pakistan, however, date from the Muslim era, which began more than 1,000 years ago. Some of the finest mosques (Muslim houses of worship), shrines, tombs, and gardens in the country were created some 200 to 500 years ago, when the Mughal Empire ruled the region.
Before Pakistan became independent in 1947, the economy was mostly agricultural. Since then the economy has become more diverse. Nevertheless, agriculture still employs more Pakistanis than any other activity. The main crops are wheat, rice, sugarcane, and cotton. Rice is exported, but cotton is the most important cash crop. Goats, sheep, cattle, and water buffalo are kept as livestock.
Agriculture provides raw materials for some of Pakistan's most important industries. Textiles, especially made of cotton, and clothing are the country's leading exports. Livestock are a source of wool for making carpets and hides and skins for producing leather goods. Other manufacturing industries in Pakistan produce chemical fertilizers and processed foods.
Mining is only a small part of Pakistan's economy. The country has huge supplies of limestone, however, which is used to make cement. Coal mining is one of the country's oldest industries, but the quality of the coal is poor. Pakistan also has small quantities of oil and some very large natural gas fields.
Pakistan and India share a common early history because they were united until 1947. (For an account of their early history, see India.) From the 1850s until that date the British government ruled them together as a colony called British India. In the 20th century the people of the colony began to seek independence from Britain. As the British began to consider granting independence, Muslims in India feared that the Hindu majority would mistreat them in the new country. By 1940 the Muslims, led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, demanded the creation of a separate Muslim state.
The British agreed to divide British India into two states: Pakistan and India. The new countries came into being in August 1947. Roughly, the parts of British India that had a Muslim majority became Pakistan, and the parts with a Hindu majority became India. Pakistan was made up of two regions, West and East Pakistan, that were separated by more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) of Indian territory. After the British left, many Muslims fled India for Pakistan and many Hindus left Pakistan for India. Many people from both communities were massacred during this period.
After the separation, the territory between Pakistan and India known as Kashmir remained disputed. Both Pakistan and India claimed the land. Tension over Kashmir led to a full-scale war between the countries in 1965. Although they agreed to a cease-fire later that year, the two countries continued to battle over the territory from time to time. Meanwhile, the people of East Pakistan increasingly felt that they were neglected by West Pakistan. East Pakistan demanded independence, and a civil war between East and West Pakistan began in 1971. Aided by an invasion of the Indian army, East Pakistan became the independent country of Bangladesh in 1972.
Pakistan's conflict with India heightened in 1998 when both countries tested nuclear weapons. Occasional border clashes in Kashmir continued into the 21st century.
The government of Pakistan changed often in the last decades of the 20th century. On several occasions the military seized control of the country. In 1999 an army general named Pervez Musharraf ousted the prime minister and became the country's ruler.
In 2001 Musharraf gave his support to the United States in its efforts to find and defeat suspected terrorists in neighboring Afghanistan. The United States launched its military campaign against Afghanistan in response to terrorist attacks carried out in the United States in September 2001. Many Pakistanis disagreed with Musharraf's decision to help the United States, which led to some rioting in Pakistan. Population (2001 estimate), 144,617,000.
