Karachi

Karachi (Urdu: ﻛﺮﺍﭼﻰ , Sindhi: ڪﺮﺍﭼﻲ ) is
the capital of the province of Sindh,
and the most populated city in
Pakistan. Located on the coast of the
Arabian Sea, north-west of the Indus
River Delta, the megacity is the
financial and commercial centre as
well as the largest port of the
country. The metropolitan area along
with its suburbs comprises the
world's second most populated city,
spread over 3,530 square kilometers.
The city credits its growth to the
mixed populations of economic and
political migrants and refugees from
different national, provincial,
linguistic and religious origins who
have largely come to settle here
permanently. It is locally termed as
the City of Lights ( ﺭﻭﺷﻨﯿﻮﮞ ﮐﺎ ﺷﮩﺮ ) for
its liveliness and the City of The
Quaid ( ﺷﮩﺮِ ﻗﺎﺋﺪ ), for not only being
both the birth and death place of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah the founder
of Pakistan but also his home after
1947. Residents and those born in
the city are called "Karachiites".
The Baloch tribes from Balochistan
and Makran established a small
settlement of fishing communities,
many of whom still inhabit sections
of Sindh, and called it Kolachi. The
modern port-city of Karachi, however,
was developed by authorities of the
British Raj in the 19th century.
Upon the independence of Pakistan
in 1948, the city was selected to
become the national capital, and
was settled by Muslim refugees from
India, which radically expanded the
city's population and transformed
the demographics and economy.
Karachi has faced major
infrastructural and socio-economic
challenges, but modern industries
and businesses have developed in
the city, and the population
expanded even after the capital was
moved to Islamabad in August 1960.
The area of Karachi has been known
to the ancient Greeks by many
names: Krokola, the place where
Alexander the Great camped to
prepare a fleet for Babylonia after
his campaign in the Indus valley;
'Morontobara' port (probably the
modern Manora Island near the
Karachi harbour), from where
Alexander's admiral Nearchus sailed
for back home; and Barbarikon, a sea
port of the Indo-Greek Bactrian
kingdom. It was also known as the
port of Debal to the Arabs, from
where Muhammad bin Qasim led his
conquering force into South Asia in
712 AD. According to the British
historian Eliot, parts of city of
Karachi and the island of Manora
constituted the city of Debal.