Pakistan (
i/ˈpækɨstæn/ or i/pɑːkiˈstɑːn/;Urdu: پاكستان ALA-LC: Pākistān,pronounced [pɑːkɪst̪ɑːn] (
listen)), officially theIslamic Republic of Pakistan (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاكستان ALA-LC: Islāmī Jumhūriyah-yi Pākistān IPA: [ɪslɑːmiː d͡ʒʊmɦuːriəɪh pɑːkɪst̪ɑːn]), is a sovereign country in South Asia. With a population exceeding 199 million people,[12] it is the sixth most populous country and with an area covering 881,913 km2 (340,509 sq mi), it is the 36th largest country in the world in terms of area. Pakistan has a 1,046-kilometre (650 mi)coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by India to the east, Afghanistan to the west, Iran to the southwest and China in the far northeast respectively. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistan's narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, and also shares a maritime border withOman.
The territory that now constitutes Pakistan was previously home to several ancient cultures, including the Mehrgarh of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, and was later home to kingdoms ruled by people of different faiths and cultures, including Hindus,Indo-Greeks, Muslims, Turco-Mongols, Afghansand Sikhs. The area has been ruled by numerous empires and dynasties, including the Indian Mauryan Empire, the PersianAchaemenid Empire, Alexander of Macedonia, the Arab Umayyad Caliphate, the Mongol Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Durrani Empire, the Sikh Empire and the British Empire. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led byMuhammad Ali Jinnah and the subcontinent's struggle for independence, Pakistan was created in 1947 as an independent nation forMuslims from the regions in the east and west of Subcontinent where there was a Muslim majority. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted anew constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic. A civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh.
Pakistan is a federal parliamentary republicconsisting of four provinces and four federal territories. It is an ethnically and linguisticallydiverse country, with a similar variation in itsgeography and wildlife. A regional and middle power,[17][18] Pakistan has the seventh largest standing armed forces in the world and is also anuclear power as well as a declared nuclear-weapons state, being the only nation in theMuslim world, and the second in South Asia, to have that status. It has a semi-industrialisedeconomy with a well-integrated agriculture sector, its economy is the 26th largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and 45th largest in terms of nominal GDP and is also characterized among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world.[citation needed]
The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, political instability and conflicts with neighbouring India. The country continues to face challenging problems, includingoverpopulation, terrorism, poverty, illiteracy, andcorruption. Despite these factors it maintains strategic endowments and development potential while it has made substantial progress in reducing poverty giving it the second lowest headcount poverty rate in South Asia.[19] It is ranked 16th on the 2012 Happy Planet Index,[20]while its stock exchange has been among the highest performing in Asia.[21] It is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, the Next Eleven Economies, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, ECO, UfC, D8,Cairns Group, Kyoto Protocol, ICCPR, RCD,UNCHR, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,Group of Eleven, CPFTA, Group of 24, the G20 developing nations, ECOSOC, founding member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, SAARC and CERN.[22]
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Etymology
The name Pakistan literally means "Land of the Pure" in Urdu and Persian. It comes from the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto[23] while the word istān is a Persian word meaning place of; it is a cognate of the Sanskrit word sthāna (Devanagari: स्थान [st̪ʰaːnə]).[24]
It was coined in 1933 as Pakstan by Choudhry Rahmat Ali, a Pakistan Movement activist, who published it in his pamphlet Now or Never,[25] using it as an acronym ("thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN") referring to the names of the five northern regions of the British Raj: Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, Sindh, and Baluchistan".[26][27][28] The letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name.[29]
History
Early and medieval age
Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan.[30]The earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanianduring the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab.[31] The Indus region, which covers most of Pakistan, was the site of several successive ancient cultures including the Neolithic Mehrgarh[32] and the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation (2800–1800 BCE) atHarappa and Mohenjo-Daro.[33][34]
The Vedic Civilization (1500–500 BCE), characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, which would become well established in the region.[35][36] Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre.[37] The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, now Taxilain Punjab.[32] Successive ancient empires and kingdoms ruled the region: the Persian Achaemenid Empire around 519 BCE, Alexander the Great's empire in 326 BCE[38] and the Maurya Empire founded by Chandragupta Maurya and extended byAshoka the Great until 185 BCE.[32] The Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria (180–165 BCE) included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent underMenander (165–150 BCE), prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region.[32][39] Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of higher education in the world.[40][41][42][43]
The Medieval period (642–1219 CE) is defined by the spread of Islam in the region. During this period, Sufi missionaries played a pivotal role in converting a majority of the regional Buddhist and Hindu population to Islam.[44] The Rai Dynasty (489–632 CE) of Sindh, at its zenith, ruled this region and the surrounding territories.[45] The Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire that under Dharampala and Devapala stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan and later to Kamboj region inAfghanistan.
The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered Indus valley from Sindh to Multan in southern Punjab in 711 CE.[46][47][48][49][50] The Pakistan government's official chronology identifies this as the point where the "foundation" of Pakistan was laid.[46][51][52] This conquest set the stage for the rule of several successive Muslim empires in the region, including theGhaznavid Empire (975–1187 CE), the Ghorid Kingdom and the Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526 CE). The Lodi dynasty, the last of the Delhi Sultanate, was replaced by the Mughal Empire(1526–1857 CE). The Mughals introduced Persian literature and high culture, establishing the roots of Indo-Persian culture in the region.[53] In the early 16th century, the region remained under the Mughal Empire ruled by Muslim emperors.[54] By the early 18th century, the increasing European influence slowly disintegrated the empire as the lines between commercial and political dominance were increasingly blurred.[54]
During this time, the English East India Company, had established coastal outposts.[54] Control over the seas, greater resources, technology, and militaryforce projection by East India Company of British Empire led it to increasingly flex its military muscle; a factor that was crucial in allowing the Company to gain control over subcontinent by 1765 and sidelining the European competitors.[55] Expanding access beyond Bengal and the subsequent increased strength and size of its army enabled it to annex or subdue most of region by the 1820s.[54] To many historians, this marked the starting of region's colonial period.[54] By this time, with its economic power severely curtailed by the British parliament and itself effectively made an arm of British administration, the Company began to more consciously enter non-economic arenas such as education, social reform, and culture.[54] Such reforms included the enforcement of English Education Act in 1835 and the introduction of the Indian Civil Service(ICS).[56] Traditional madrasahs – primary institutions of higher learning for Muslims in thesubcontinent – were no longer supported by the English Crown, and nearly all of the
