Sindh of Pakistan:
Sindh is third largest province of Pakistan by area.It is 2nd largest province by population in Pakistan. Sindh is unique by its culture
Sindh, also spelled Sind, province of
southeastern Pakistan. It is bordered by the provinces of Balochistān on the
west and north, Punjab on the northeast, the Indian states of Rajasthan and
Gujarat to the east, and the Arabian Sea to the south. Sindh is essentially
part of the Indus River delta and has derived its name from that river, which
is known in Pakistan as the Sindhu. The province of Sindh was established in
1970. The provincial capital, Karāchi, is situated on the southwestern coast.
Area 54,407 square miles (140,914 square km). Pop. (2006 est.) 35,864,000.
Pakistanis taking shelter on higher
ground after an Indus River flood, near Thatta, Sindh province, Pakistan,
August 2010.
Pakistanis taking shelter on higher
ground after an Indus River flood, near Thatta, Sindh province, Pakistan,
August 2010.
Kevin Frayer/AP
The area of present-day Sindh province
was the centre of the ancient Indus valley civilization, as represented by the
sites of Mohenjo-daro, Amre, and Kot Diji. This early civilization existed from
about 2300 to 1750 BCE. There is then a gap of more than a millennium before
the historical record is renewed with Sindh’s annexation to the (Persian)
Achaemenid empire under Darius I in the late 6th century BCE. Nearly two
centuries later, Alexander the Great conquered the region in 326 and 325 BCE.
After his death, Sindh came under the domination of the empires of Seleucus I
Nicator, Chandragupta Maurya (c. 305 BCE), the Indo-Greeks and Parthians in the
3rd–2nd century BCE, and the Scythians and the Kushāns from about 100 BCE to
200 CE. Sindh’s population adopted Buddhism under the Kushān rulers in the 1st
century CE. From the 3rd to the 7th century CE, the area remained under the
rule of the Persian Sāsānids.
The Arab conquest of Sindh in 711
heralded the entry of Islam into the Indian subcontinent. Sindh was part of the
administrative province of Al-Sind in the Umayyad and ʿAbbāsid empires from 712
to about 900, with its capital at Al-Manṣūrah, 45 miles (72 km) north of
present-day Hyderabad. With the eventual weakening of central authority in the
caliphate, the Arab governors of Al-Sindh established their own dynastic rule
of the region from the 10th to the 16th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries
Sindh was ruled by the Mughals (1591–1700) and then by several independent
Sindhian dynasties, the last of which lost the region to the British in 1843.
At that time most of Sindh was annexed to the Bombay Presidency. In 1937 Sindh
was established as a separate province in British India, but after Pakistani
independence it was integrated into the province of West Pakistan from 1955 to
1970, at which time it was reestablished as a separate province.
Topographically, Sindh consists of three
parallel belts extending from north to south: the Kīrthar Range on the west, a
central alluvial plain bisected by the Indus River, and an eastern desert belt.
The Kīrthar Range is composed of three parallel tiers of ridges, has little
soil, and is mostly dry and barren. The fertile central plain constitutes the valley
of the Indus River. This plain is about 360 miles (580 km) long and about
20,000 square miles (51,800 square km) in area and gradually slopes downward
from north to south. When the river’s annual flood was magnified by unusually
heavy monsoon rains in summer 2010, Sindh was hard hit by the ensuing
devastation. The eastern desert region includes low dunes and flats in the
north, the Achhrro Thar (“White Sand Desert”) to the south, and the Thar Desert
in the southeast.
Areas affected by flooding in Pakistan
in 2010.
Areas affected by flooding in Pakistan
in 2010.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Sindh has a subtropical climate and
experiences hot summers and cold winters. Temperatures frequently rise above
115° F (46° C) between May and August, and the average low temperature of 36° F
(2° C) occurs in December and January. Annual precipitation averages about 7
inches (180 mm), falling mainly during July and August.
Except for the irrigated Indus River
valley, the province is arid and has scant vegetation. The dwarf palm, kher
(Acacia rupestris), and lohirro (Tecoma undulata) trees are characteristic of
the western hill region. In the central valley, the babul tree is the most
dominant and occurs in thick forests along the banks of the Indus. Mango, date palm,
banana, guava, and orange are typical fruit-bearing trees cultivated in the
Indus valley. The coastal strip and the creeks abound in semiaquatic and
aquatic plants.
Sizable and ongoing migration to the
province has resulted in an ethnically mixed population. Indigenous groups are
the Mehs, or Muhannas, descendants of the ancient Mēds; Sammas and the related
Lakhas, Lohānās, Nigamaras, Kahahs, and Channas; Sahtas, Bhattīs, and Thakurs
of Rajput origin; Jats and Lorras, both admixtures of the ancient Scythian and
the later Baloch peoples; and Jokhia and Burfat. With the advent of Islam in
the region in the 8th century, groups of Arab, Persian, and Turkish origin
settled in Sindh: the most numerous among these were the Baloch, who, beginning
in the 13th century, migrated to Sindh and made it their second homeland after
Balochistān. Another great change occurred with the influx of Muslim refugees
from India after the partition of the subcontinent in 1947; a substantial part
of the population is now descended from refugees from India.
The major indigenous languages in Sindh
are Sindhi, Seraiki, and Balochi. With the entry of numerous linguistic groups
from India after 1947, other languages have come to be spoken in the urban
areas. Of these, the most common is Urdu, followed by Punjabi, Gujarati, and
Rajasthani. The national official language, Urdu, is taught in the province’s
schools, along with Sindhi. The province’s population is overwhelmingly Muslim.
The population has grown rapidly since
1947 and is concentrated in the cities and the irrigated central valley. The
pace of urbanization has also been swift, and two of the largest cities in
Pakistan, Karāchi and Hyderabad, are located in the province.
Agriculture is the basis of the economy.
Sindh’s agricultural productivity increased substantially after 1961 because of
advances in agricultural research, the use of inorganic fertilizers, and the
construction of surface drains to relieve waterlogging and salinity in surface
soils. Sindh’s largest water project, the Gudu Barrage, provides water for
irrigation. Cotton, wheat, rice, sugarcane, corn (maize), millet, and oilseeds
are the major crops in the province. There are also many orchards yielding
mangoes, dates, bananas, and other fruits. Livestock raising is also important,
with cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats the main animals kept. Sindh’s coastal
waters contain prawns and shrimp, pomfrets, shad, and catfish in abundance.
Sindh is one of Pakistan’s most
industrialized regions, with much of its large-scale manufacturing centred in
Karāchi. The province accounts for a substantial part of the country’s entire
raw-cotton production and contains many of the nation’s cotton mills. Several
large cement factories turn out much of Pakistan’s cement products, and there
is a sugar industry with a large number of mills. There are also plants
producing steel and automobiles.
Two major highways, running along the
east and west banks of the Indus River respectively, traverse the province from
south to north. Karāchi is connected by road and railway to Lahore in Punjab
province and to Quetta in Balochistān province. The Indus and some of its
channels have served as the main waterways since time immemorial. These
waterways are now mainly used for the transport of grain and other agricultural
products. Karāchi is Pakistan’s major port.
Karāchi is the stronghold of the
national press. Major universities include Sindh University, centred in
Hyderabad, and Karāchi University. The Sindhi Adabi (literary) board, which
publishes works on Sindhi culture, and the Sindh-Provincial Museum and Library
are located in Hyderabad; libraries in Karāchi include the State Bank of
Pakistan Library, the Liaquat Memorial Library, and others.
LEARN MORE in these related Britannica
articles:
India
India: The Post-Urban Period in
northwestern India
In Pakistan’s Sind province the
Post-Urban phase is recognizable in the Jhukar culture at Chanhu-daro and other
sites. There certain copper or bronze weapons and tools appear to be of
“foreign” type and may be compared to examples from farther west (Iran and
Central Asia); a different…
India
India: Successor states
…arrival of the Arabs in Sind.
Inscriptions of the western Indian dynasties speak of controlling the tide of
the mleccha, which has been interpreted in this case to mean the Arabs; some
Indian sources use the term yavana. The conquest of Sind marked the easternmost
extent of Arab territorial control.…
India
India: Constitutional reforms
…in the west Sind (Sindh) was separated
from the Bombay Presidency and became the first Muslim-majority governor’s
province of British India since the reunification of Bengal. It was decided
that Burma should be a separate colony from British India.…
India
India: The completion of dominion and
expansion
After the Afghans came Sind. There was
little to be said for the emirs themselves—a group of related chiefs who had come
to power in the late 18th century and had kept the country in poverty and
stagnation. A treaty in 1832 threw the Indus River open to commerce…
Pakistan
Pakistan: The Indus River plain
…the plains of Punjab and Sind (Sindh)
provinces to the Arabian Sea coast in the Badin region of southeastern Sind.
The final segment of the LBOD consisted of building a “tidal drain” 26 miles
(42 km) to the sea. However, instead of draining salt water away, the
improperly designed tidal.
Cultural Dressing:
Sindhi culture is one of the most important culture of Pakistan. There cultural dressing make them unique from others.This culture is one of the most colorful cultures of Pakistan.
The people of Sindh wear Sindhi dresses which are loose Kameez and the Shalwar and love to eat Sindhi food.
Sindhi people are very initiative to work and their handicrafts have a unique and a different style.Sindhi culture can be seen in sindhi tablos and shows.
People of Sindh love to wear Sindhi Toppi, that is the most eminent feature of Sindh culture.
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