History of Pakistan

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A map outlining historical sites in Pakistan

The history of Pakistan as a state began in 1947, after the end of British rule, and the partition of British
Indian Empire.[1] Spanning the Indus Basin and covering the western expanse of the Indian
subcontinent and the eastern borders of the Iranian plateau, the region of present-day Pakistan served
both as the fertile ground of a major civilization and as the gateway of South Asia to Central Asia and
the Near East.[2][3]
Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing
present-day Pakistan.[4] The earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower
Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab.[5] The 9,000-year history
of village life in South Asia traces back to the Neolithic (7000–4300 BCE) site of Mehrgarh in Pakistan,[6][7]
[8]
 and the 5,000-year history of urban life in South Asia to the various sites of the Indus Valley
civilization, including Mohenjo Daro and Harappa.[9][10]

Following the decline of the Indus Valley, Indo-Aryan tribes moved into the Punjab from Central Asia in
several waves of migration in the Vedic Period (1500–500 BCE), bringing with them came their
distinctive religious traditions and practices which fused with local culture. [11] The Indo-Aryans religious
beliefs and practices from the Bactria–Margiana culture and the native Harappan Indus beliefs of the
former Indus Valley Civilisation eventually gave rise to Vedic culture and tribes. [12][note 1] The initial early
Vedic culture was a tribal, pastoral society centred in the Indus Valley, of what is today Pakistan. During
this period the Vedas, the oldest scriptures of Hinduism, were composed.[note 2]

In the ensuing centuries, the region compromising Pakistan was the realm of multiple empires and
dynasties, including the Achaemenid, briefly that of Alexander the Great, Seleucid, Mauryan, Indo-
Greek, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Parthian, Kushan, Gupta, the Rai Dynasty, Umayyad Caliphate, Hindu
Shahis, Ghaznavids, Delhi Sultanate, Mughals, Durranis, the Sikh Empire, and most recently, the British
Raj from 1858 to 1947.[15]

Spurred by the Pakistan Movement, which sought a homeland for the Muslims of British India, and
election victories in 1946 by the All-India Muslim League, Pakistan gained independence in 1947 after
the Partition of the British Indian Empire, which awarded separate statehood to its Muslim-majority
regions and was accompanied by an unparalleled mass migration and loss of life. [16] Initially
a Dominion of the British Commonwealth, Pakistan officially drafted its constitution in 1956, and
emerged as a declared Islamic republic. In 1971, the exclave of East Pakistan seceded as the new country
of Bangladesh after a nine-month-long civil war. In the following four decades, Pakistan has been ruled
by governments whose descriptions, although complex, commonly alternated between civilian and
military, democratic and authoritarian, relatively secular and Islamist.[17] Pakistan elected a civilian
government in 2008, and in 2010 adopted a parliamentary system with periodic elections.[18]

Contents
 1History by region

 2Prehistory

o 2.1Paleolithic period

o 2.2Neolithic period

o 2.3Indus Valley civilisation

 3Early history – Iron Age

 o 3.1Vedic period

o 3.2Achaemenid Empire

o 3.3Alexander's Invasion

o 3.4Mauryan Empire

 4Classical period – Middle Kingdoms

o 4.1Indo-Greek Kingdom

o 4.2Indo-Scythian Kingdom

o 4.3Indo-Parthian Kingdom

o 4.4Kushan Empire

o 4.5Sassanian Empire

o 4.6Gupta Empire

o 4.7Rai dynasty

o 4.8Alchon Huns

o 4.9Brahmin dynasty

o 4.10Patola Shahis

o 4.11Rajput dynasties

o 4.12Arab Caliphate and Arab countries

o 4.13Hindu Shahi

 5Medieval period

o 5.1Ghaznavid dynasty

o 5.2Delhi Sultanate

o 5.3Mongol invasions

o 5.4Regional Kingdoms

 5.4.1Maqpon Dynasty

 5.4.2Emirate of Multan

 5.4.3Langah Sultanate

 5.4.4Habbari Dynasty

 5.4.5Soomra dynasty
  5.4.6Samma dynasty

 6Mughal Empire

 7Post-Mughal period

o 7.1Durrani and Maratha Empire

o 7.2Regional Kingdoms

 7.2.1Kalhora dynasty

 7.2.2Talpur dynasty

 7.2.3Sikh Empire

 8British rule

o 8.1Early period of Pakistan Movement

o 8.2Muslim League

o 8.3Muslim homeland – "Now or Never"

o 8.41940 Resolution

o 8.5Final phase of the Pakistan Movement

o 8.6Independence from the British Empire

 9Post-Independence

o 9.1Bengali Language Movement

o 9.2Politics: 1954–1971

o 9.3Bangladesh movement

o 9.4Formal Declaration of Separation

 10Post 1971 history

o 10.1Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

o 10.2Zia-ul-Haq era

o 10.3Restoration of democracy

o 10.4Musharraf era

o 10.5Democracy restored

 11See also

 12Notes

 13References
 o 13.1Surveys

o 13.2Further reading

 14External links

History by region[edit]

Main article:  Timeline of Pakistani history

 History of Azad Jammu & Kashmir

 History of Balochistan

 History of East Pakistan

 History of Gilgit-Baltistan

 History of Islamabad Capital Territory

 History of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

 History of Punjab

 History of Sindh

Prehistory[edit]
Paleolithic period[edit]
The Soanian is archaeological culture of the Lower Paleolithic, Acheulean. It is named after the Soan
Valley in the Sivalik Hills, near modern-day Islamabad/Rawalpindi. In Adiyala and Khasala, about 16
kilometres (9.9 mi) from Rawalpindi, on the bend of the Soan River hundreds of edged pebble tools
were discovered.[citation needed]

Neolithic period[edit]
Main article:  Mehrgarh

Mehrgarh is a Neolithic archaeological site (dated c. 7000 BCE – c. 2500/2000 BCE) situated on

the Kacchi Plain of Balochistan in Pakistan.[19] It is located near the Bolan Pass, to the west of the Indus
River and between the modern-day Pakistani cities of Quetta, Kalat and Sibi. The site was discovered in
1974 by an archaeological team led by the French archaeologists Jean-François Jarrige and his
wife, Catherine Jarrige. Mehrgarh was excavated continuously between 1974 and 1986, and again from
1997 to 2000. Archaeological material has been found in six mounds, and about 32,000 artifacts