Sindh is a province of Pakistan, located in the southeastern region of the country. It is the third-largest Pakistani province by land area and second-largest by population. It is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the south and borders the provinces of Balochistan to the west and Punjab to the north; in addition to sharing an international border with the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan to the east. Karachi, located along the southern coast, is the capital and largest city. Sindh's landscape consisting mostly of alluvial plains flanking the Indus River, the Thar Desert in the eastern portion of the province along the international border with India, and the Kirthar Mountains in the western portion of the province.
The first settled life in South Asia emerged around Sindh and Punjab 9,000 years ago along the Indus river basin, which gradually developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation. The Aryans migrated from Central Asia after 2000 BCE as the Indus Valley Civilisation gradually declined. Around 1000 BCE, the Indo-Aryan kingdom of Sindhu-Sauvīra emerged in Sindh which lasted until 518 BCE when the Achaemenids captured the region, followed by the Macedonians, the Mauryans, the Indo-Greeks, the Indo-Scythians, the Guptas, and finally the Sasanians in the 3rd century CE. Sindh emerged as an independent kingdom under the Rai dynasty in the 5th century, which was succeeded by the Chach dynasty in the 7th century. The Muslims conquered Sindh in 712 CE under the Umayyad Caliphate — beginning centuries-long Muslim rule — and established it as a caliphal province.
The Habbari Emirate emerged in the 9th century which nominally pledged allegiance to the Abbasid Caliphate. Between the 11th and the 16th centuries, the Soomra, Samma, and Arghun dynasties ruled Sindh respectively — mostly under the vassalage of the Delhi Sultanate. The Mughal Empire captured Sindh in the late 16th century, and directly ruled it until 1701, when the Kalhora dynasty became the local rulers under Mughal suzerainty, and later Afsharid and Durrani suzerainty. The rule of the Talpur dynasty began in 1783 and lasted until 1846 when the East India Company captured Sindh, with a branch continuing to rule in Khairpur under British suzerainty. Initially a division in the Bombay Presidency, Sindh emerged as a separate province in 1936 under the Muslim League's demands raised by Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Following the passing of the Lahore Resolution in 1940, Sindh became the first province to officially endorse the Pakistan Movement, and became part of the Dominion of Pakistan upon Pakistani independence in 1947. It was amalgamated into West Pakistan in 1955 until being restored with the inclusion of its historic territories (Khairpur and Karachi) in 1970.
The economy of Sindh is the second-largest in Pakistan; its provincial capital Karachi is the most-populous city in the country as well as its main financial hub. Sindh is home to a large portion of Pakistan's industrial sector and contains two of the country's busiest commercial seaports: Port Qasim and the Port of Karachi. The remainder of Sindh consists of an agriculture-based economy and produces fruits, consumer items and vegetables for other parts of the country.
Sindh is sometimes referred to as the Bab-ul Islam (), as it was one of the first regions of the Indian subcontinent to fall under Islamic rule. The province is well known for its distinct culture, which is strongly influenced by Sufism, an important marker of Sindhi identity for both Hindus and Muslims. Sindh is prominent for its history during the Bronze Age under the Indus Valley civilization, and is home to two UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sites: the Makli Necropolis and Mohenjo-daro.
Etymology
The Greeks who conquered Sindh in 325 BC under the command of Alexander the Great referred to the Indus River as Indós, hence the modern Indus. The ancient Iranians referred to everything east of the river Indus as hind. The word Sind is a Persian derivative of the Sanskrit term Sindhu, meaning "river," a reference to vast Indus River.
The previous Perso-Arabic spelling Sind () was discontinued in 1988 by an amendment passed in the Sindh Assembly.
History
Ancient era
Sindh and surrounding areas contain the ruins of the Indus Valley Civilization. There are remnants of ancient cities and structures, with a notable example in Sindh being that of Mohenjo Daro. Built around 2500 BCE, it was one of the largest settlements of the ancient Indus civilization, with features such as standardized bricks, street grids, and covered sewerage systems. It was one of the world's earliest major cities, contemporaneous with the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Minoan Crete, and Caral-Supe. Mohenjo-daro was abandoned in the 19th century BCE as the Indus Valley Civilization declined, and the site was not rediscovered until the 1920s. Significant excavation has since been conducted at the site of the city, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. The site is currently threatened by erosion and improper restoration. A gradual drying of the region during the 3rd millennium BC may have been the initial stimulus for its urbanisation. Eventually it also reduced the water supply enough to cause the civilisation's demise and to disperse its population to the east.
During the Bronze Age, the territory of Sindh was known as Sindhu-Sauvīra, covering the lower Indus Valley, with its southern border being the Indian Ocean and its northern border being the Pañjāb around Multān. The capital of Sindhu-Sauvīra was named Roruka and Vītabhaya or Vītībhaya, and corresponds to the medieval Arohṛ and the modern-day Rohṛī. The Achaemenids conquered the region and established the satrapy of Hindush. The territory may have corresponded to the area covering the lower and central Indus basin (present day Sindh and the southern Punjab regions of Pakistan). Alternatively, some authors consider that Hindush may have been located in the Punjab. These areas remained under Persian control until the invasion by Alexander.
Alexander conquered parts of Sindh after Punjab for few years and appointed his general Peithon as governor. He constructed a harbour at the city of Patala in Sindh. Chandragupta Maurya fought Alexander's successor in the east, Seleucus I Nicator, when the latter invaded. In a peace treaty, Seleucus ceded all territories west of the Indus River and offered a marriage, including a portion of Bactria, while Chandragupta granted Seleucus 500 elephants.
Following a century of Mauryan rule which ended by 180 BC, the region came under the Indo-Greeks, followed by the Indo Scythians, who ruled with their capital at Minnagara. Later on, Sasanian rulers from the reign of Shapur I claimed control of the Sindh area in their inscriptions, known as Hind.
The local Rai dynasty emerged in Sindh and reigned for a period of 144 years, concurrent with the Huna invasions of North India. Aror was noted to be the capital. The Chach dynasty succeeded the Rai dynasty. Most of the information about its existence comes from the Chach Nama, a historical account of the Chach-Brahmin dynasty. After the empire's fall in 712, though the empire had ended, its dynasty's members administered parts of Sindh under the Umayyad Caliphate's Caliphal province of Sind.
Medieval era
After the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Arab expansion towards the east reached the Sindh region beyond Persia. The connection between the Sindh and Islam was established by the initial Muslim invasions during the Rashidun Caliphate. The first clash with the Rai kings of Sindh took place in 636 (15 AH) under Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab with the governor of Bahrain, Uthman ibn Abu-al-Aas, dispatching naval expeditions against Thane, Bharuch and Debal. Al-Baladhuri states they were victorious at Debal but does not mention the results of other two raids. However, the Chach Nama states that the raiders of Debal were defeated and its governor killed the leader of the raids. These raids were thought to be triggered by a later pirate attack on Umayyad ships. Al-Baladhuri adds that this stopped any more incursions until the reign of Uthman. Al-Hakim ibn Jabalah al-Abdi, who attacked Makran in the year 649, was an early partisan of Ali ibn Abu Talib. During the caliphate of Ali, many Jats of Sindh (known in Arabic sources as Zuṭṭ) had come under the influence of Shi'ism with some even participating in the Battle of Camel and died fighting for Ali.
In 712, Mohammed Bin Qasim defeated the Chach dynasty and annexed it to the Umayyad Caliphate. This marked the beginning of Islam in the Indian subcontinent. The Habbari dynasty ruled much of Greater Sindh, as a semi-independent emirate from 854 to 1024. Beginning with the rule of 'Umar bin Abdul Aziz al-Habbari in 854, the region became semi-independent from the Abbasid Caliphate in 861, while continuing to nominally pledge allegiance to the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad. The Habbaris ruled Sindh until they were defeated by Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi in 1026, who then went on to destroy the old Habbari capital of Mansura, and annex the region to the Ghaznavid Empire, thereby ending Arab rule of Sindh.
The Soomra dynasty was a local Sindhi Muslim dynasty that ruled between early 11th century and the 14th century. Later chroniclers like Ali ibn al-Athir (c. late 12th c.) and Ibn Khaldun (c. late 14th c.) attributed the fall of Habbarids to Mahmud of Ghazni, lending credence to the argument of Hafif being the last Habbarid. The Soomras appear to have established themselves as a regional power in this power vacuum. The Ghurids and Ghaznavids continued to rule parts of Sindh, across the eleventh and early twelfth century, alongside Soomras.
The Sammas overthrew the Soomras soon after 1335 and established the Sindh Sultanate. The last Soomra ruler took shelter with the governor of Gujarat, under the protection of Muhammad bin Tughluq, the sultan of Delhi. Mohammad bin Tughlaq made an expedition against Sindh in 1351 and died at Sondha, possibly in an attempt to restore the Soomras. With this, the Sammas became independent. The next sultan, Firuz Shah Tughlaq attacked Sindh in 1365 and 1367, unsuccessfully, but with reinforcements from Delhi he later obtained Banbhiniyo's surrender. For a period the Sammas were therefore subject to Delhi again. Later, as the Sultanate of Delhi collapsed they became fully independent. Jam Unar was the founder of Samma dynasty mentioned by Ibn Battuta. The Sammas have left a mark on Sindh with magnificent structures in Thatta. They were later overthrown by the Turko-Mongol Arghuns in the late 15th century.
Modern era
thumb|Elaborately illustrated map of the Thatta Subah of the Mughal Empire, commissioned by Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil, ca.1770
In the late 16th century, Sindh was brought into the Mughal Empire by Akbar, himself born in the Sodha kingdom in Umerkot in Sindh. In 1591–1593, Akbar sent an army to conquer lower Sindh from the Tarkhan dynasty after defeating the last Tarkhan ruler, Mirza Jani Beg; Jani Beg and his son Mirza Ghazi Beg.
Mughal rule from their provincial capital of Thatta was to last in lower Sindh until the early 18th century, while upper Sindh was ruled by the indigenous Kalhora dynasty holding power, consolidating their rule from their capital of Khudabad, before shifting to Hyderabad from 1768 onwards.
The Talpurs succeeded the Kalhoras and four branches of the dynasty were established. One ruled lower Sindh from the city of Hyderabad, another ruled over upper Sindh from the city of Khairpur, a third ruled around the eastern city of Mirpur Khas, and a fourth was based in Tando Muhammad Khan. They were ethnically Baloch, and for most of their rule, they were subordinate to the Durrani Empire and were forced to pay tribute to them.
They ruled from 1783, until 1843, when they were in turn defeated by the British at the Battle of Miani and Battle of Dubbo. The northern Khairpur branch of the Talpur dynasty, however, continued to maintain a degree of sovereignty during British rule as the princely state of Khairpur, The British had two objectives in their rule of Sindh: the consolidation of British rule and the use of Sindh as a market for British products and a source of revenue and raw materials. With the appropriate infrastructure in place, the British hoped to utilise Sindh for its economic potential. The British incorporated Sindh, some years later after annexing it, into the Bombay Presidency. Distance from the provincial capital, Bombay, led to grievances that Sindh was neglected in contrast to other parts of the Presidency. The merger of Sindh into Punjab province was considered from time to time but was turned down because of British disagreement and Sindhi opposition, both from Muslims and Hindus, to being annexed to Punjab. A number of Sindhi pirs, descendants of Sufi saints who had proselytised in Sindh, joined the Khilafat Movement, which propagated the protection of the Ottoman Caliphate, and those pirs who did not join the movement found a decline in their following. The pirs generated huge support for the Khilafat cause in Sindh. Sindh came to be at the forefront of the Khilafat Movement.
Although Sindh was less sectarian than other parts of India, the province's Muslim elite and emerging Muslim middle class demanded separation of Sindh from Bombay Presidency as a safeguard for their own interests. In this campaign, local Sindhi Muslims identified 'Hindu' with Bombay instead of Sindh. Sindhi Hindus were seen as representing the interests of Bombay instead of the majority of Sindhi Muslims. Sindhi Hindus, for the most part, opposed the separation of Sindh from Bombay. both the Muslim landed elite, waderas, and the Hindu commercial elements, banias, collaborated in oppressing the predominantly Muslim peasantry of Sindh who were economically exploited. Sindhi Muslims eventually demanded the separation of Sindh from the Bombay Presidency, a move opposed by Sindhi Hindus.
In Sindh's first provincial election after its separation from Bombay in 1936, economic interests were an essential factor of politics informed by religious and cultural issues. Due to British policies, much land in Sindh was transferred from Muslim to Hindu hands over the decades. Religious tensions rose in Sindh over the Sukkur Manzilgah issue where Muslims and Hindus disputed over an abandoned mosque in proximity to an area sacred to Hindus. The Sindh Muslim League exploited the issue and agitated for the return of the mosque to Muslims. Consequentially, a thousand members of the Muslim League were imprisoned. Eventually, due to panic the government restored the mosque to Muslims. Although the prominent Sindhi Muslim nationalist G. M. Syed left the All India Muslim League in the mid-1940s and his relationship with Jinnah never improved, the overwhelming majority of Sindhi Muslims supported the creation of Pakistan, seeing in it their deliverance. The Muslim League's rise to becoming the party with the strongest support in Sindh was in large part linked to its winning over of the religious pir families. Although the Muslim League had previously fared poorly in the 1937 elections in Sindh, when local Sindhi Muslim parties won more seats, the Muslim League's cultivation of support from local pirs in 1946 helped it gain a foothold in the province, it didn't take long for the overwhelming majority of Sindhi Muslims to campaign for the creation of Pakistan.
Partition (1947)
In 1947, violence did not constitute a major part of the Sindhi partition experience, unlike in Punjab. There were very few incidents of violence on Sindh, in part due to the Sufi-influenced culture of religious tolerance and in part that Sindh was not divided and was instead made part of Pakistan in its entirety. Sindhi Hindus who left generally did so out of a fear of persecution, rather than persecution itself, because of the arrival of Muslim refugees from India. Sindhi Hindus differentiated between the local Sindhi Muslims and the migrant Muslims from India. A large number of Sindhi Hindus travelled to India by sea, to the ports of Bombay, Porbandar, Veraval and Okha.
Demographics
{|class="wikitable floatleft" style="font-size:90%"
|+Demographic indicators
|-
! Indicator
! Value
|-
| Urban population
| 53.97%
|-
| Rural population
| 46.03%
|-
| Population growth rate
| 2.57%
|-
| Gender ratio (male per 100 female)
| 108.76
|-
| Economically active population
| 22.75% (old data)
|}