Sind

(2002 pop. 33 million). Sind (Sindh) is a province in southeastern Pakistan, extending over the lower Indus River valley, including the alluvial plain and river delta, between India and the Arabian Sea. Karachi is its capital and largest city. Sind is an arid region with some hilly and desert areas and depends largely on irrigation for agriculture. Its major crops are wheat, rice, millet, cotton, and sugarcane. Sheep, cattle, and poultry are raised, and fishing is important in the area along the Arabian Sea. The chief language is Sindhi, a member of the Indo-Aryan group related to Baluchi and Urdu. The province's land area is approximately 141,000 square kilometers.

Sind derives its name from the Indus River, which was traditionally called Sindhu. It was an early center of the Indus Valley civilization (c. 2500–1600 BCE); the ancient site of Mohenjo Daro is located in northwest Sind. The region was apparently settled by several waves of Indo-European–speaking peoples between 1500 and 1000 BCE (whether this settlement was peaceful is a matter of dispute among scholars). The Persians conquered Sind in the late sixth century BCE, and Alexander of Macedon invaded it in 325 BCE. Following the dissolution of Macedonian hegemony, Sind was fought over by numerous empires, including the Mauryan empire (c. 324—c. 200 BCE) of central India , the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, the Iranic Sakae and Kushans, and the Epethalites or White Huns. By the late 600s CE, Sind was composed of numerous states owing varying degrees of fealty to Sasanid (224/228–651) Persia. The majority of the inhabitants were Buddhist or Hindu.

The Arab general Muhammad al-Thakafi invaded Sind in 711, and within three years Arab forces controlled the entire lower Indus. Sind was ruled by governors nominally loyal to the caliphs until the eleventh century, when it was partitioned between the Ghaznavids (977–1187) of Afghanistan in the north and a Rajput dynasty, the Sumeras, in the south. In the 1200s, all of Sind fell under the sway of the Ghurid sultanate. It soon passed under the control of various local dynasties, and though the Mughals (1526–1857) briefly incorporated it into their empire in 1591, Sind remained largely independent. By the late eighteenth century, a Baluchi dynasty had established an emirate over all of Sind.

The last emir of Sind was defeated by the British under Sir Charles Napier (1782–1853) in 1843. Under the British, Sind became part of the Bombay presidency. The area was relatively passive during the major Indian revolts against British rule, and it was made an autonomous province in 1937. When Pakistan became independent in 1947, Karachi became the national capital. Tens of thousands of Muslims displaced by the 1947 partition were resettled in Sind.

Ethnic violence broke out in the 1990s between Sindhi speakers and Urdu-speaking Mohajirs demanding a separate province, killing thousands. As a result, in 1998 the provincial governor was dismissed and federal rule imposed. Karachi is also a hotbed of Islamist activity and support for the al-Qaeda terrorist network is strong.

Brian M. Gottesman

Lari, Suhail Z. (1994) History of Sindh. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 7–210.

This complete Sind contains 514 words. This article contains 555 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).