Earliest settlements

The Kech-Makran region in southwestern Pakistan, along Kech River, was inhabited as early as the 5th millennium BC. The site of Miri Qalat was investigated by French and Pakistani archaeologists from 1987 to 2007. Later, the site of Shahi-Tump, near Turbat, was also studied.^[4]

Large and massive quadrangular stone building were constructed already before 4000 BC. Flints, worked stones, and bone tools used by the inhabitants were found by archaeologists, but no ceramics were yet used.

In this Period I the inhabitants of the Kech River Valley already cultivated wheat and barley, as well as lentils. They had domesticated cattle, goats, and sheep. They also caught fish from the Oman Sea.

During Period II, the building of massive architectural structures continued, and a quadrangular stone complex was built. Later, mud brick constructions also appear on top of some of these stone buildings.^[5]

At Miri Qalat, some links with Uruk culture ceramics were also found.^[6]

The related site of Balakot, Makran, going back to 4000 BC, was also studied by archaeologists.

Ancient times

After the victory of the Mauryan Empire against the Greeks in the Seleucid–Mauryan war, Baluchistan came under the rule of Chandragupta Maurya of ancient India. Chandragupta and Seleucus made a peace settlement in 304 BC. Seleucus I Nicator ceded the satrapies, including those in Baluchistan to the expanding Mauryan Empire.^[7] The alliance was solidified with a marriage between Chandragupta Maurya and a princess of the Seleucid Empire. An outcome of the arrangement proved to be mutually beneficial.^[7] The border between the Seleucid and Mauryan Empires remained stable in subsequent generations, and friendly diplomatic relations are reflected by the ambassador Megasthenes, and by the envoys sent westward by Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka.^[7]

Sasanian Empire

Shapur I's trilingual inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht in Naqsh-i-Rustam, dated to 262 CE, had noted "Makuran"/"Makran" to be one of the many provinces of the Sasanian Empire:

Parthian version of the Shapur I inscription at Ka'ba-ye Zartosht.

And I (Shapur I) possess the lands: Fars [Persis], Pahlav [Parthia] ... and all of Abarshahr (all the upper (eastern, Parthian) provinces), Kerman, Sakastan, Turgistan, Makuran, Pardan [Paradene], Hind [Sind] and Kushanshahr all the way to Pashkibur [Peshawar?] and to the borders of Kashgaria, Sogdia and Chach [Tashkent] and of that sea-coast Mazonshahr [Oman].

— Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht (262 CE), translation by Josef Wiesehöfer (1996).^[8][9][10]

Buddhist and Hindu past

Abū Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad Al-Bīrūnī states in his book Alberuni's India that the coast of India begins with Tiz, the capital of Makran.^[11]

According to historian Andre Wink:

South Asia
350 CE

YAUDHEYAS

ARJUNAYANAS

MADRAKAS

MALAVAS

IKSHVAKUS

KALABHRAS

WESTERN
GANGAS

TOCHARIANS

KADAMBAS

PALLAVAS

LITTLE
KUSHANS

LICCHAVIS

WESTERN
SATRAPS

SASANIAN
HIND

MAHAMEGHA-
VAHANAS

KAMARUPA

GAUDA

SAMATATAS

DAVAKA

KIDARITES

ABHIRAS

VAKATAKAS

GUPTA
EMPIRE

KUSHANO-
SASANIANS

SAKASTAN

TURAN

MAKRAN

SASANIAN
EMPIRE

 

◁ ▷

Approximate location of the Sasanian Province of Makran and contemporary South Asian polities, circa 350 CE.^[12]

Further evidence in the Chachnama makes perfectly clear that many areas of Makran as of Sindh had a largely Buddhist population. When Chach marched to Armabil, this town is described as having been in the hands of a Buddhist Samani (Samani Budda), a descendant of the agents of Rai Sahiras who had been elevated for their loyalty and devotion, but who later made themselves independent. The Buddhist chief offered his allegiance to Chach when the latter was on his way to Kirman in 631. The same chiefdom of Armadil is referred to by Hiuen Tsang O-tien-p-o-chi-lo, located at the high road running through Makran, and he also describes it as predominantly Buddhist, thinly populated though it was, it had no less than 80 Buddhist convents with about 5000 monks. In effect at eighteen km northwest of Las Bela at Gandakahar, near the ruins of an ancient town are the caves of Gondrani, and as their constructions show these caves were undoubtedly Buddhist. Traveling through the Kij valley further west (then under the government of Persia) Hiuen Tsang saw some 100 Buddhist monasteries and 6000 priests. He also saw several hundred Deva temples in this part of Makran, and in the town of Su-nu li-chi-shi-fa-lo – which is probably Qasrqand – he saw a temple of Maheshvara Deva, richly adorned and sculptured. There is thus very wide extension of Indian cultural forms in Makran in the seventh century, even in the period when it fell under Persian sovereignty. By comparison in more recent times the last place of Hindu pilgrimage in Makran was Hinglaj, 256 km west of present-day Karachi in Las Bela.^[13]

Wink has recorded Hiuen Tsang's notes on the language and script in use in easternmost Makran (eastern parts of Pakistani Balochistan and Sindh):

Paths that Alexander the Great took

Hiuen Tsang considered the script which was in use in Makran to be "much the same as India", but the spoken language "differed a little from that of India".^[14]

Early medieval times

The Hindu Sewa dynasty ruled much of Baluchistan up until the 7th century AD. The Sibi division carved out of Quetta division still derives its name from Rani Sewi, the queen of the Hindu Sewa dynasty.^[15]

In 635 or 636 CE, the Hindu Brahman dynasty of Sindh controlled parts of Balochistan.^[16]

Islamic conquest

Central Makran range

The first Islamic conquest of Makran took place during the Rashidun Caliphate in the year 643 A.D. Caliph Umar’s governor of Bahrain, Usman ibn Abu al-Aas, who was on a campaign to conquer the southern coastal areas beyond Sassanid, sent his brother Hakam ibn Abu al-Aas to raid and reconnoitre the Makran region.^[17]

In late 644 AD Caliph Umar dispatched an army under the command of Hakam ibn Amr for the wholesale invasion of Makkuran. He was joined by reinforcements from Kufa under the command of Shahab ibn Makharaq, and by Abdullah ibn Utban, the commander of a campaign in Kerman. They encountered no strong resistance in Makran until the army of the King of Rai, along with contingents from Makran and Sind, stopped them near the Indus River. In mid-644 the Battle of Rasil was fought between the forces of the Rashidun Caliphate and the Rai Kingdom; the Raja's forces were defeated and forced to retreat to the eastern bank of the Indus. The Raja’s army had included war elephants, but these had posed little problem for the Muslim invaders, who had dealt with them during the conquest of Persia. In accordance with the orders of Caliph Umar, the captured war elephants were sold in Islamic Persia, with the proceeds distributed among the soldiers as share in booty.^[18] In response to Caliph Umar’s questions about the Makran region, the messenger from Makkuran who brought the news of the victory told him:

O Commander of the faithful!
It's a land where the plains are stony;
Where water is scanty;
Where the fruits are unsavory;
Where men are known for treachery;
Where plenty is unknown;
Where virtue is held of little account;
And where evil is dominant.
A large army is less for there;
And a less army is use less there;
The land beyond it, is even worse [referring to Sind]

Umar looked at the messenger and said: "Are you a messenger or a poet?" He replied, "Messenger". Thereupon Caliph Umar instructed Hakim bin Amr al Taghlabi that for the time being Makkuran should be the easternmost frontier of the Islamic empire, and that no further attempt should be made to extend the conquests.

It was reconquered by the usurper Chach of Alor in 631. Ten years later, it was described to be "under the government of Persia" by Xuanzang who visited the region. Three years later however, when the Arabs invaded, it was regarded as the "frontier of Al-Hind".^[19] The Brahmin King of Sindh, Maharaja Chacha met the invaders outside Broach and defeated them with heavy slaughter also killing their very Commander-in-Chief Abdul Aziz in the process.^[20][21]

Baloch attack on Mahmud Ghazni

Baloch raiders plundered Mahmud of Ghazni's ambassador between Tabbas and Khabis. In revenge, his son Masud defeated them at the latter place, which lies at the foot of the Karman Mountains on the edge of the desert. ^[22]

Modern era

Map of the Baluchistan Agency

From the 15th century onward, the area was ruled by the Rind, Buledai, and Gichki. The western part of Makran, now Iranian area of Sarbaz and Dashtiyari ruled by Barakzai (Baranzai) and Sardarzai.In the late 18th century, the Khan of Kalat is said to have granted sanctuary at Gwadar to one of the claimants for the throne of Muscat. When that claimant became Sultan, he kept hold of Gwadar, installing a governor, who eventually led an army to conquer the city of Chabahar some 200 kilometres to the west.

The sultanate held onto the Makran coast throughout the period of British colonial rule, but eventually, only Gwadar was left in the hands of the sultan. On the independence of Pakistan, Makran became a district within the province of Balochistan, with the exception of an area of 800 km² (310 sq mi) around Gwadar. In 1958 the Gwadar enclave was transferred to Pakistani control as part of the district of Makran. The entire region has been subdivided into new smaller districts over the years.

Bibliography