1.
New South Wales
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New South Wales is a state on the east coast of Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south and it has a coast line with the Tasman Sea on its east side. The Australian Capital Territory is an enclave within the state, New South Wales state capital is Sydney, which is also Australias most populous city. In March 2014, the population of New South Wales was 7.5 million. Just under two-thirds of the population,4.67 million. Inhabitants of New South Wales are referred to as New South Welshmen, the Colony of New South Wales was founded as a penal colony in 1788. It originally comprised a more than half of the Australian mainland with its western boundary set at 129th meridian east in 1825, in addition, the colony also included the island territories of New Zealand, Van Diemens Land, Lord Howe Island, and Norfolk Island. During the 19th century, most of the area was detached to form separate British colonies that eventually became New Zealand. However, the Swan River Colony has never administered as part of New South Wales. Lord Howe Island remains part of New South Wales, while Norfolk Island has become a federal Territory, as have the now known as the Australian Capital Territory. The prior inhabitants of New South Wales were the Aboriginal tribes who arrived in Australia about 40,000 to 60,000 years ago, before European settlement there were an estimated 250,000 Aboriginal people in the region. The Wodi Wodi people are the custodians of the Illawarra region of South Sydney. The Bundjalung people are the custodians of parts of the northern coastal areas. The European discovery of New South Wales was made by Captain James Cook during his 1770 survey along the eastern coast of the Dutch-named continent of New Holland. In his original journal covering the survey, in triplicate to satisfy Admiralty Orders, Cook first named the land New Wales, however, in the copy held by the Admiralty, he revised the wording to New South Wales. After years of chaos and anarchy after the overthrow of Governor William Bligh, macquaries legacy is still evident today. During the 19th century, large areas were separated to form the British colonies of Tasmania, South Australia, Victoria. Responsible government was granted to the New South Wales colony in 1855, following the Treaty of Waitangi, William Hobson declared British sovereignty over New Zealand in 1840
2.
Station (Australian agriculture)
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In Australia, a station is a large landholding used for producing livestock, predominantly cattle or sheep, that need an extensive range of grazing land. It corresponds to American ranches that operate under the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 on public lands, the owner of a station is called a pastoralist or a grazier. Originally station referred to the homestead – the owners house and associated outbuildings of a pastoral property, stations in Australia are on Crown land pastoral leases, and are known colloquially as sheep stations or cattle stations as most are stock specific, dependent upon the country and rainfall. The operators or owners are known as pastoralists. Sheep and cattle stations can be thousands of kilometres in area. Anna Creek Station in South Australia is the worlds largest working cattle station, because of the extended distances, there is a School of the Air so that children can attend classes from their homes, originally using pedal powered radios to communicate with the teachers. The larger stations have their own school and teacher to educate the children on the station until at least they commence high school, large isolated stations have their own stores to supply workers with their needs. A station hand is an employee, who is involved in duties on a station. Some stations are in areas that are not easy to access. Accommodation for couples and families may be limited, consequently, many station employees are young and temporary. An important example is the jackaroo or jillaroo, a person who works on a station for several years in a form of apprenticeship. Aborigines have played a big part in the cattle industry where they were competent stockmen on the cattle stations. Nowadays staff on these stations may work in the homestead and in stock camps, stockmen, especially ringers, may be seasonal employees. Others include boremen, managers, mechanics, machinery operators, station and camp cooks, veterinary surgeons also fly to some of the more distant cattle and sheep stations. The long-running television drama McLeods Daughters is set on an Australian cattle station, the film Australia was set on a fictional station Faraway Downs, but parts were filmed on Home Valley Station. Jeannie Gunn arrived at Elsey Station in 1902, leaving after her husband died, Elsey also featured in the 1946 film The Overlanders, the crew set up camp on the property for a month. The river crossing sequence was shot at the Roper River, pastoral lease List of ranches and stations § Australia List of the largest stations in Australia Outstation Station Media related to Sheep and cattle stations in Australia at Wikimedia Commons
3.
Ranch
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A ranch is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to the practice of ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle or sheep for meat or wool. The word most often applies to livestock-raising operations in Mexico, the Western United States and Canada, people who own or operate a ranch are called ranchers, cattlemen, or stockgrowers. Ranching is also a used to raise less common livestock such as elk, American bison or even ostrich, emu. Ranches generally consist of areas, but may be of nearly any size. In the western United States, many ranches are a combination of owned land supplemented by grazing leases on land under the control of the federal Bureau of Land Management. If the ranch includes arable or irrigated land, the ranch may also engage in an amount of farming, raising crops for feeding the animals, such as hay. Ranches that cater exclusively to tourists are called guest ranches or, colloquially, most working ranches do not cater to guests, though they may allow private hunters or outfitters onto their property to hunt native wildlife. Ranching is part of the iconography of the Wild West as seen in Western movies, the person who owns and manages the operation of a ranch is usually called a rancher, but the terms cattleman, stockgrower, or stockman are also sometimes used. If this individual in charge of management is an employee of the actual owner. A rancher who primarily raises young stock sometimes is called an operator or a cow-calf man. This person is usually the owner, though in cases, particularly where there is absentee ownership. The people who are employees of the rancher and involved in handling livestock are called a number of terms, including cowhand, ranch hand, people exclusively involved with handling horses are sometimes called wranglers. Ranching and the tradition originated in Spain, out of the necessity to handle large herds of grazing animals on dry land from horseback. During the Reconquista, members of the Spanish nobility and various military orders received large land grants that the Kingdom of Castile had conquered from the Moors and these landowners were to defend the lands put into their control and could use them for earning revenue. When the Conquistadors came to the Americas in the 16th century, followed by settlers, they brought their cattle, huge land grants by the Spanish government, part of the hacienda system, allowed large numbers of animals to roam freely over vast areas. A number of different traditions developed, often related to the location in Spain from which a settlement originated. For example, many of the traditions of the Jalisco charros in central Mexico come from the Salamanca charros of Castile, however, there were cattle on the eastern seaboard. Deep Hollow Ranch,110 miles east of New York City in Montauk, New York, claims to be the first ranch in the United States, the prairie and desert lands of what today is Mexico and the western United States were well-suited to open range grazing
4.
Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia
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The Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia is one of the largest and most comprehensive aeromedical organisations in the world. It provides emergency and primary care services for those living in rural, remote. It is an organisation which provides health care to people who cannot access a hospital or general practice due to the vast distances of the Outback. The Reverend John Flynn had worked in rural and remote areas of Victoria and was commissioned by the Presbyterian Church to look at the needs of Outback people. His report to the Presbyterian Assembly in 1912 resulted in the establishment of the Australian Inland Mission, in 1928, he formed the AIM Aerial Medical Service, a one-year experiment based in Cloncurry, Queensland. This experiment later became The Royal Flying Doctor Service, flynns missionary work involved the establishment of hospitals in bush communities. This, however, did not help those who lived far from any major community, in his public speaking he would often retell the tragic circumstances that had befallen several bush settlers. The fate of Jimmy Darcy, in 1917, was one of these stories, Darcy was a stockman at Ruby Plains, a remote cattle station in Western Australia. After being found injured, with a bladder, by some friends, he was transported over 30 miles, to the nearest town. Here, Darcy was met by FW Tuckett, the Postmaster, Tuckett said there was nothing he could reliably do for injuries so serious, and tried unsuccessfully to contact doctors at Wyndham, and then Derby, by telegraph. He eventually got through to a doctor in Perth, through communication by morse code, Dr Holland guided Tuckett through two rather messy bladder operations using the only sharp instrument available, a pen knife. Due to the absence of any medical facilities, Darcy had been operated on strapped to the Post Office counter. Holland then travelled 10 days to Halls Creek on a boat for transport, a Model T Ford, a horse-drawn carriage. To rub salt in the wound, the operations had been successful, but the stockman had died from a case of malaria. It was from such as this that Flynn, and his following at the AIM. However, no feasible technology seemed apparent, assisted by costing estimates by Peel, Flynn immediately took the idea of using aircraft to begin his idea, and published Peels idea in the churchs newsletter. Peel died in combat in 1918, probably not even knowing the impact he had in the creation of an Australian icon, along with motorised flight, another new technology was being developed that could replace the complicated means of communication by telegraph. Together with Alfred Traeger, Flynn began experiments with radio in the mid-1920s to enable remote outposts to contact a centralised medical base, the pedal radio was the first result of this collaboration
5.
Northern Territory
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The Northern Territory is a federal Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. It shares borders with Western Australia to the west, South Australia to the south, to the north, the territory is bordered by the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Despite its large area—over 1,349,129 square kilometres, the Northern Territorys population of 244,000 makes it the least populous of Australias eight major states and territories, having fewer than half as many people as Tasmania. The archaeological history of the Northern Territory begins over 40,000 years ago when Indigenous Australians settled the region, makassan traders began trading with the indigenous people of the Northern Territory for trepang from at least the 18th century onwards. The coast of the territory was first seen by Europeans in the 17th century, the British were the first Europeans to attempt to settle the coastal regions. After three failed attempts to establish a settlement, success was achieved in 1869 with the establishment of a settlement at Port Darwin. Today the economy is based on tourism, especially Kakadu National Park in the Top End and the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in central Australia, the capital and largest city is Darwin. The population is not concentrated in regions but rather along the Stuart Highway. The other major settlements are Palmerston, Alice Springs, Katherine, Nhulunbuy, residents of the Northern Territory are often known simply as Territorians and fully as Northern Territorians, or more informally as Top Enders and Centralians. With the coming of the British, there were four attempts to settle the harsh environment of the northern coast. The Northern Territory was part of colonial New South Wales from 1825 to 1863, except for a time from February to December 1846. It was part of South Australia from 1863 to 1911, under the administration of colonial South Australia, the overland telegraph was constructed between 1870 and 1872. A railway was built between Palmerston and Pine Creek between 1883 and 1889. The economic pattern of raising and mining was established so that by 1911 there were 513,000 cattle. Victoria River Downs was at one time the largest cattle station in the world, gold was found at Grove Hill in 1872 and at Pine Creek, Brocks Creek, Burrundi, and copper was found at Daly River. On 1 January 1911, a decade after federation, the Northern Territory was separated from South Australia, alfred Deakin opined at this time To me the question has been not so much commercial as national, first, second, third and last. Either we must accomplish the peopling of the territory or submit to its transfer to some other nation. In late 1912 there was growing sentiment that the name Northern Territory was unsatisfactory, the names Kingsland, Centralia and Territoria were proposed with Kingsland becoming the preferred choice in 1913
6.
Ord River
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The Ord River is a 320-kilometre long river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The rivers catchment covers 46,100 square kilometres, Australias largest artificial lake by volume, Lake Argyle was completed in 1972. It was named in honour of Sir Harry St. George Ord GCMG, CB, RE, Governor of Western Australia from 1877 to 1880, by Alexander Forrest on 2 August 1879. I have named this river the Ord, after His Excellency the Governor of Western Australia, the river has 35 tributaries of which the five longest are Bow River, Nicholson River, Dunham River, Panton River and Negri Rivers. Between 1935 and 1942 drought affected the Kimberley Pastoral Industry and the Ord Scheme can thank this drought for its existence, the focus in 1937 was that a dam on the Ord could supplement the pastoral industry. During August 1941 the newly appointed Director of Works, R. J. Dumas, by May 1944 there was a large body of agriculturalists, botanists and surveyors carrying out investigations in the vicinity of Carlton Reach. The Aborigines who lived in the Ord River basin were decimated through killing and it would be another two years before the Commonwealth Government became involved, with the establishment of a joint CSIR and Western Australia Department of Agriculture facility. In 1951, The KRS Supervisory Committee indicated that sugar and rice were two cash crops that could justify dam construction. Over the 13 years between 1946 and 1959 various agricultural experiments were undertaken at KRS and in April 1959 the KRS Supervisory Committee recommended the establishment of a pilot farm. In August 1959, the Commonwealth Government made a grant of £5m to WA Government, the construction of the Ord River Diversion Dam started in late 1960 and was officially opened in July 1963 by then Prime Minister, Robert Menzies. The Ord River Diversion Dam holds back Lake Kununurra, which gravity feeds the Ord River Irrigation Area with water via the Main Channel, the main channel is visible in the photograph with Lake Kununurra, Ord River in the background. Ltd. to set up and run the first pilot farm and this was backed by the WA Government but was to run as a commercial farming venture. By November 1960 the first 200 acres had been chain-dozed and cleared and this was almost three years before the completion of the Ord River Diversion Dam and main channel, so the pilot farm irrigated by pumping water from the Carlton Reach waterhole. Allocation of commercial farm land during Stage 1 of the project was allocated in stages, with the first group of farmers arriving in 1962,30 farms produced mostly cotton, however pest problems soon became apparent. The early 1970s saw the application of large amounts of pesticides on crops, the primary pest was the caterpillar Helicoverpa armigera which developed resistance to the pesticides. The resulting low crop yields combined with a drop in cotton prices led to suspension of the commercial cotton industry in the region. Work started on the main Ord River Dam in 1969 and was completed before the opening on 30 June 1972 by Prime Minister William McMahon. This marks the beginning of Ord stage two The main Ord River Dam, known locally as Top Dam holds back the waters of the Ord River in Lake Argyle, the Ord scheme created Lake Argyle, which is Australias largest dam reservoir, covering an area of 741 km²
7.
Wave Hill Station
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Wave Hill Station, mostly referred to as Wave Hill, is a pastoral lease in the Northern Territory operating as a cattle station. It is located about 31 kilometres east of Kalkaringi,204 kilometres south east of Timber Creek, the station occupies an area of 13,500 square kilometres and encompasses part of the Victoria River. The country is a high open downs with basalt plains and covered in grass, well watered by the Victoria river to the west. The northern portion of the property is predominantly covered in tussock grassland. The southern portion is based mostly on kandosols with a composed of open woodland to the south west. It is bounded to the north west by Victoria River Downs, areas to the south and west are Aboriginal Land holdings. The traditional owners of the lands are the Gurindji peoples, who have lived in the area for approximately 60,000 years, both Wave Hill and Victoria River Downs were established in 1883. The station was established in 1883 and the station owner was Nathaniel Buchanan. Buchanan, an explorer and bushman, took delivery of another 3,000 head in late 1885 that had been overlanded from Cloncurry. An employee at the station, John Holmes from Devonshire, died of sunstroke in October 1887, by 1888 Buchanan was moving cattle off Wave Hill and to another holding, Sturts Creek Station, where he was fattening the cattle for butchering on-site. This was providing prime fresh beef, at 6d per pound, to the men at the gold diggings. The station manager in 1891 was Sam Johnston also known as Greenhide Sam who was described as as thorough a bushman as can be found in all of Australia. It was Johnston that also provided the name of the station when he suggested it after being struck by the sharp undulations of the plateau. Buchanan put the property up for auction in 1894, advertising the property as being 1,100 square miles of open downs. Wave Hill was stocked with horses and 15,000 head of cattle, the station was blamed for introducing the tick into the Kimberley after 600 cattle from the station crossed the border in 1896 and 100 had died as a result from tick or redwater. In 1899 the station manager, Mr T. Cahill and his stockmen were attacked by Aborigines while they were in camp while out mustering, the party made to defend themselves and the attackers scattered. Later the same year the homestead was burned to the ground also blamed on Aborigines who had been pretty troublesome on the station lately, by 1901 the station was carrying about 20,000 head of cattle. 20,000 head of cattle were removed from Wave Hill and overlanded to Killarney Station, near Narrabri in New South Wales, the remarkable feat of droving took 18 months to complete
8.
Indigenous Australians
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Indigenous Australians are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia, descended from groups that existed in Australia and surrounding islands prior to European colonisation. In present-day Australia these groups are divided into local communities. At the time of initial European settlement, over 250 languages were spoken, it is estimated that 120 to 145 of these remain in use. Aboriginal people today mostly speak English, with Aboriginal phrases and words being added to create Australian Aboriginal English, a population collapse following European settlement, and a smallpox epidemic spreading three years after the arrival of Europeans may have caused a massive and early depopulation. Since 1995, the Australian Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag have been among the flags of Australia. The word aboriginal has been in the English language since at least the 16th century, to mean, first or earliest known and it comes from the Latin word aborigines, derived from ab and origo. The word was used in Australia to describe its indigenous peoples as early as 1789 and it soon became capitalised and employed as the common name to refer to all Indigenous Australians. Strictly speaking, Aborigine is the noun and Aboriginal the adjectival form, however, use of either Aborigine or Aboriginal to refer to individuals has acquired negative connotations in some sectors of the community, and it is generally regarded as insensitive and even offensive. The more acceptable and correct expression is Aboriginal Australians or Aboriginal people, the term Indigenous Australians, which also includes Torres Strait Islander peoples, has found increasing acceptance, particularly since the 1980s. The broad term Aboriginal Australians includes many groups that often identify under names from local Indigenous languages. Anindilyakwa on Groote Eylandt off Arnhem Land, Palawah in Tasmania and these larger groups may be further subdivided, for example, Anangu recognises localised subdivisions such as Pitjantjatjara, Yankunytjatjara, Ngaanyatjarra, Luritja and Antikirinya. It is estimated that prior to the arrival of British settlers, the Torres Strait Islanders possess a heritage and cultural history distinct from Aboriginal traditions. The eastern Torres Strait Islanders in particular are related to the Papuan peoples of New Guinea, accordingly, they are not generally included under the designation Aboriginal Australians. This has been another factor in the promotion of the inclusive term Indigenous Australians. Six percent of Indigenous Australians identify themselves fully as Torres Strait Islanders, a further 4% of Indigenous Australians identify themselves as having both Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal heritage. The Torres Strait Islands comprise over 100 islands which were annexed by Queensland in 1879, eddie Mabo was from Mer or Murray Island in the Torres Strait, which the famous Mabo decision of 1992 involved. The term blacks has been used to refer to Indigenous Australians since European settlement, while originally related to skin colour, the term is used today to indicate Aboriginal heritage or culture in general and refers to people of any skin pigmentation. In the 1970s, many Aboriginal activists, such as Gary Foley, proudly embraced the term black, the book included interviews with several members of the Aboriginal community including Robert Jabanungga reflecting on contemporary Aboriginal culture
9.
Great Dividing Range
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The Great Dividing Range, or the Eastern Highlands, is Australias most substantial mountain range and the third longest land-based range in the world. The width of the range varies from about 160 km to over 300 km, the Dividing Range does not consist of a single mountain range. It consists of a complex of ranges, plateaus, upland areas and escarpments with an ancient. The physiographic division name for the landmass is called the East Australian Cordillera, in some places the terrain is relatively flat, consisting of very low hills. Typically the highlands range from 300 m to 1,600 m in height, the mountains and plateaus, which consist of limestones, sandstone, quartzite, schists and dolomite, have been created by faulting and folding processes. In the north, the rivers on the west side of the drain towards the Gulf of Carpentaria. The higher and more rugged parts of the range do not necessarily part of the crest of the range. At some places it can be up to 400 km wide, notable ranges and other features which form part of the range complex have their own distinctive names. The Great Dividing Range was formed during the Carboniferous period—over 300 million years ago—when Australia collided with what is now parts of South America, the range has experienced significant erosion since. For tens of thousands of years prior to British colonisation the ranges were home to various Aboriginal Australian nations and clans, evidence remains in some places of their traditional way of life including decorated caves, campsites and trails used to travel between the coastal and inland regions. Many descendants of these still exist today and remain the traditional owners. After British colonisation in 1788, the ranges were an obstacle to exploration, although not high, parts of the highlands were very rugged. Towns in the Blue Mountains were later named each of these men. This was the start of the development of the districts of inland New South Wales. A road was built to Blaxland by convicts within six months, easier routes to inland New South Wales were discovered towards Goulburn to the southwest, and westwards from Newcastle. Subsequent explorations were made across and around the ranges by Allan Cunningham, John Oxley, Hamilton Hume, Paul Edmund Strzelecki, Ludwig Leichhardt and these explorers were mainly concerned with finding and appropriating good agricultural land. By the late 1830s the most fertile rangelands adjacent to the ranges had been explored, appropriated from the traditional inhabitants. These included the Gippsland and Riverina regions in the south, up to the Liverpool Plains, various road and railway routes were subsequently established through many parts of the ranges, although many areas remain remote to this day
10.
Dingo
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The dingo is a wild canine found in Australia. Its taxonomic status as a species remains debated. The dingo is the largest terrestrial predator in Australia, and plays an important role as an apex predator, however, the dingo is seen as a pest by livestock farmers due to attacks on animals. Conversely, their predation on rabbits, kangaroos and rats may be of benefit to graziers, for some Australians, the dingo is a cultural icon. The introduction of the dingo is seen by many as being responsible for thylacine extinction on the Australian mainland about two years ago, although a recent study challenges this view. Dingoes have a prominent role in the culture of Aboriginal Australians as a feature of stories and ceremonies, the dingos habitat ranges from deserts to grasslands and the edges of forests. Dingoes will normally make their dens in deserted rabbit holes and hollow logs close to a supply of water. Despite being an efficient hunter, it is listed as vulnerable to extinction, the name dingo comes from the Dharug language used by the Indigenous Australians of the Sydney area. It was used to describe their camp dogs during the first contact with Europeans, the variants include tin-go for a bitch, din-go for a dog, and wo-ri-gal for a big dog. The people of the Yarralin, Northern Territory region call those dingoes that live with them walaku, the taxonomic classification of the dingo remains both confused and debated. Nomenclature provides the name that is to be used for a taxon, in 1768, James Cook took command of a scientific voyage of discovery from Britain to New Holland, which was the name for Australia at that time. In 1770, his ship HMS Endeavour arrived in Botany Bay, the mission collected specimens and made notes for taking back to Britain. On return to Britain, Joseph Banks commissioned George Stubbs to produce paintings based on his observations, johann Friedrich Blumenbach gathered together a collection from the Cook voyage and was the first to classify the New Holland dog as Canis familiaris dingo. In 1793, the Dog of New South Wales was classified by Friedrich Meyer as Canis dingo, in 1947, a proposal was made to change this classification after it was discovered that the New Holland dog Canis antarticus had been specified a year earlier in a little-known work. Both Kerr and Meyer had based their classifications on the illustration of the Dog of New South Wales, the ICZN ruled that Canis antarticus be suppressed and that Canis dingo was the name to be used for the dingo in its Opinion 451. This name was entered on the ICZNs Official Lists and Indexes of Names in Zoology. A name entered onto the Official List of the ICZN is the available name and this is the scientific name for the dingo that appears on the Official Lists and Indexes of Names in Zoology of the ICZN. This ruling did not deter some zoologists from continuing to use the name Canis antarticus in later publications, however this name has now fallen out of use
11.
Toona ciliata
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Toona ciliata is a forest tree in the mahogany family which grows throughout southern Asia from Afghanistan to Papua New Guinea and Australia. It is commonly known as the red cedar, toon or toona, Australian redcedar, Burma cedar, Indian cedar and it is also known as Indian mahogany. In Australia its natural habitat is now extensively cleared subtropical rainforests of New South Wales, the Australian population was formerly treated as distinct species under the name Toona australis. The species can grow to around 60 m in height and its trunk can reach 3 m in girth, the largest recorded T. ciliata tree in Australia grew near Nulla Nulla Creek, west of Kempsey, New South Wales and was felled in 1883. The southernmost limit of distribution is on basaltic soils, growing west of the Princes Highway near the village of Termeil, south of Ulladulla, southern Illawarra. It also naturally occurs at Norfolk Island and it is one of Australias few native deciduous trees. The timber is red in colour, easy to work and very highly valued and it was used extensively for furniture, wood panelling and construction, including shipbuilding, and was referred to as red gold by Australian settlers. Heavily and unsustainably exploited in the 19th Century and early 20th Century, almost all the trees have been cut out. Availability of this timber is now limited, timber is currently also harvested in New Guinea. Although it is not generally a viable plantation species, trees are harvested by Forestry in the Atherton region of Queensland. The tree exudes a chemical that the cedar tip moth seeks out. The red cedar is planted in subtropical and tropical parts of the world as a shade tree. It is grown in the Hawaiian Islands and southern and eastern Africa, in parts of Zimbabwe and South Africa, it has naturalised, growing to maturity and spreading from seed. It is a seed producer and establishes readily. Cedar wood Macleay River Toona sureni Australian timbers National Register of Big Trees Distribution Map
12.
Pakistan
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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on the crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people, in terms of area, it is the 33rd-largest country in the world with an area covering 881,913 square kilometres. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistans narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, Pakistan is unique among Muslim countries in that it is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic, an ethnic civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. The new constitution stipulated that all laws were to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran. Pakistan has an economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector. The Pakistani economy is the 24th-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and it is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing middle classes. The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, the country continues to face challenging problems such as illiteracy, healthcare, and corruption, but has substantially reduced poverty and terrorism and expanded per capita income. It is also a member of CERN. Pakistan is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the name Pakistan literally means land of the pure in Urdu and Persian. It is a play on the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto, the letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan, the earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Vedic Civilization, characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, the Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander, prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of education in the world. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty of Sindh ruled this region, the Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, which, under Dharampala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Indus valley from Sindh to Multan in southern Punjab in 711 AD, the Pakistan governments official chronology identifies this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid
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