1.
City
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A city is a large and permanent human settlement. Cities generally have complex systems for sanitation, utilities, land usage, housing, a big city or metropolis usually has associated suburbs and exurbs. Such cities are associated with metropolitan areas and urban areas. Once a city expands far enough to another city, this region can be deemed a conurbation or megalopolis. Damascus is arguably the oldest city in the world, in terms of population, the largest city proper is Shanghai, while the fastest-growing is Dubai. There is not enough evidence to assert what conditions gave rise to the first cities, some theorists have speculated on what they consider suitable pre-conditions and basic mechanisms that might have been important driving forces. The conventional view holds that cities first formed after the Neolithic revolution, the Neolithic revolution brought agriculture, which made denser human populations possible, thereby supporting city development. The advent of farming encouraged hunter-gatherers to abandon nomadic lifestyles and to settle near others who lived by agricultural production, the increased population density encouraged by farming and the increased output of food per unit of land created conditions that seem more suitable for city-like activities. In his book, Cities and Economic Development, Paul Bairoch takes up position in his argument that agricultural activity appears necessary before true cities can form. According to Vere Gordon Childe, for a settlement to qualify as a city, it must have enough surplus of raw materials to support trade and a relatively large population. To illustrate this point, Bairoch offers an example, Western Europe during the pre-Neolithic, when the cost of transport is taken into account, the figure rises to 200,000 square kilometres. Bairoch noted that this is roughly the size of Great Britain, the urban theorist Jane Jacobs suggests that city formation preceded the birth of agriculture, but this view is not widely accepted. In his book City Economics, Brendan OFlaherty asserts Cities could persist—as they have for thousands of years—only if their advantages offset the disadvantages, OFlaherty illustrates two similar attracting advantages known as increasing returns to scale and economies of scale, which are concepts usually associated with businesses. Their applications are seen in more basic economic systems as well, increasing returns to scale occurs when doubling all inputs more than doubles the output an activity has economies of scale if doubling output less than doubles cost. To offer an example of these concepts, OFlaherty makes use of one of the oldest reasons why cities were built, in this example, the inputs are anything that would be used for protection and the output is the area protected and everything of value contained in it. OFlaherty then asks that we suppose the protected area is square, the advantage is expressed as, O = s 2, where O is the output and s stands for the length of a side. This equation shows that output is proportional to the square of the length of a side, the inputs depend on the length of the perimeter, I =4 s, where I stands for the quantity of inputs. So there are increasing returns to scale, O = I2 /16 and this equation shows that with twice the inputs, you produce quadruple the output
2.
Urdu
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Urdu is a persianized standard register of the Hindustani language. It is the language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 official languages recognized in the Constitution of India, hyderabad, Rampur, Bhopal and Lucknow are noted Urdu-speaking cities of India. Urdu is historically associated with the Muslims of the northern Indian subcontinent, apart from specialized vocabulary, Urdu is mutually intelligible with Standard Hindi, another recognized register of Hindustani. Urdu, like Hindi, is a form of Hindustani, Urdu developed under the influence of the Persian and Arabic languages, both of which have contributed a significant amount of vocabulary to formal speech. Around 99% of Urdu verbs have their roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit, Urdu words originating from Chagatai and Arabic were borrowed through Persian and hence are Persianized versions of the original words. For instance, the Arabic ta marbuta changes to he or te, nevertheless, contrary to popular belief, Urdu did not borrow from the Turkish language, but from Chagatai. Urdu and Turkish borrowed from Arabic and Persian, hence the similarity in pronunciation of many Urdu, Arabic influence in the region began with the late first-millennium Arab invasion of India in the 7th century. The Persian language was introduced into the subcontinent a few centuries later by various Persianized Central Asian Turkic and Afghan dynasties including that of the Delhi Sultanate. With the advent of the British Raj, Persian was no longer the language of administration but Hindustani, still written in the Persian script, the name Urdu was first used by the poet Ghulam Hamadani Mushafi around 1780. From the 13th century until the end of the 18th century Urdu was commonly known as Hindi, the language was also known by various other names such as Hindavi and Dehlavi. The communal nature of the language lasted until it replaced Persian as the language in 1837 and was made co-official. Urdu was promoted in British India by British policies to counter the previous emphasis on Persian and this triggered a Brahman backlash in northwestern India, which argued that the language should be written in the native Devanagari script. At independence, Pakistan established a highly Persianized literary form of Urdu as its national language, English has exerted a heavy influence on both as a co-official language. Owing to interaction with other languages, Urdu has become localized wherever it is spoken, similarly, the Urdu spoken in India can also be distinguished into many dialects like Dakhni of South India, and Khariboli of the Punjab region since recent times. Because of Urdus similarity to Hindi, speakers of the two languages can understand one another if both sides refrain from using specialized vocabulary. The syntax, morphology, and the vocabulary are essentially identical. Thus linguists usually count them as one language and contend that they are considered as two different languages for socio-political reasons
3.
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
4.
Indus River
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The Indus River, also called Sindhū or Abāsīn, is a major south-flowing river in South Asia. The total length of the river is 3,180 km which makes it one of the longest rivers in Asia and it is the longest river and national river of Pakistan. The river has a drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 km2. Its estimated annual flow stands at around 207 km3, making it the twenty-first largest river in the world in terms of annual flow, the Zanskar is its left bank tributary in Ladakh. In the plains, its left tributary is the Chenab which itself has four major tributaries, namely, the Jhelum, the Ravi, the Beas. Its principal right tributaries are the Shyok, the Gilgit, the Kabul, the Gomal. Beginning in a spring and fed with glaciers and rivers in the Himalayas. The Indus forms the delta of present-day Pakistan mentioned in the Vedic Rigveda as Sapta Sindhu, the river has been a source of wonder since the Classical Period, with King Darius of Persia sending his Greek subject Scylax of Caryanda to explore the river as early as 510 BC. In Pali, Síndhu means river, stream and refers to the Indus River in particular, the word Indus is the romanised form of the ancient Greek word Indós, borrowed from the old Persian word Hinduš which is in turn borrowed from the Sanskrit word Sindhu. Megastheness book Indica derives its name from the rivers Greek name, Indós, the ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indói, literally meaning the people of the Indus. The country of India and the Pakistani province of Sindh owe their names to the river, Rigveda also describes several mythical rivers, including one named Sindhu. The Rigvedic Sindhu is thought to be the present-day Indus river and is attested 176 times in its text –95 times in the plural, more often used in the generic meaning. In the Rigveda, notably in the hymns, the meaning of the word is narrowed to refer to the Indus river in particular. The Rigvedic hymns apply a feminine gender to all the rivers mentioned therein, Sindhu is seen as a strong warrior amongst other rivers which are seen as goddesses and compared to cows and mares yielding milk and butter. The Indus River provides key resources for Pakistans economy – especially the breadbasket of Punjab province, which accounts for most of the nations agricultural production. The word Punjab means land of five rivers and the five rivers are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej, the Indus also supports many heavy industries and provides the main supply of potable water in Pakistan. The ultimate source of the Indus is in Tibet, the river begins at the confluence of the Sengge Zangbo and Gar Tsangpo rivers that drain the Nganglong Kangri, the Indus then flows northwest through Ladakh and Baltistan into Gilgit, just south of the Karakoram range. The Shyok, Shigar and Gilgit rivers carry glacial waters into the main river and it gradually bends to the south, coming out of the hills between Peshawar and Rawalpindi
5.
Peshawar
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Peshawar is the capital of the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It also serves as the centre and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Situated in a valley near the eastern end of the historic Khyber Pass, close to the border with Afghanistan. Making it the oldest city in Pakistan and one of the oldest in South Asia, Peshawar is the largest city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. According to the last census, it is also the ninth-largest city of Pakistan, the earliest settlement established in the area of Peshawar was called Puruṣapura, from which the current name Peshawar is derived. The Arab historian and geographer Al-Masudi noted that by the mid 10th century, after the Ghaznavid invasion, the citys name was again noted to be Parashāwar by Al-Biruni. The city became to be known as as Peshāwar by the era of Emperor Akbar, a name which is traditionally said to have been given by Akbar himself. The new name is said to have been based upon the Persian for frontier town, or more literally, forward city, though transcription errors and linguistic shifts may also account for the citys new name. Akbars bibliographer, Abul-Fazl ibn Mubarak, lists the name by both its former name Parashāwar, transcribed in Persian as پَرَشاوَر, and Peshāwar. Peshawar was founded as the ancient city of Puruṣapura, on the Gandhara Plains in the broad Valley of Peshawar, the city likely first existed as a small village in the 5th century BCE, within the cultural sphere of eastern ancient Persia. Puruṣapura was founded near the ancient Gandharan capital city of Pushkalavati, in the winter of 327-26 BCE, Alexander the Great subdued the Valley of Peshawar during his invasion of ancient India, as well as the nearby Swat and Buner valleys. Following Alexanders conquest, the Valley of Peshawar came under suzerainty of Seleucus I Nicator, a locally-made vase fragment that was found in Peshawar depicts a scene from Sophocles play Antigone. Following the Seleucid–Mauryan war, the region was ceded to the Mauryan Empire in 303 BCE, as Mauryan power declined, the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom based in modern Afghanistan declared its independence from the Seleucid Empire, and quickly seized Puruṣapura around 190 BCE. The city was ruled by several Iranic Parthian kingdoms. Puruṣapura was then captured by Gondophares, founder of the Indo-Parthian Kingdom, Gondophares established the nearby Takht-i-Bahi monastery in 46 CE. In the first century of the Common era, came under control of Kujula Kadphises, the city was made the empires winter capital. The Kushans summer capital at Kapisi was seen as the capital of the empire. Ancient Peshawars population was estimated to be 120,000, which would make it the seventh-most populous city in the world at the time, around 128 CE, Puruṣapura was made sole capital of the Kushan Empire under the rule of Kanishka
6.
Multan
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Multan, is a Pakistani city located in Punjab province. Multan is Pakistans 5th most populous city, and is the premier-centre for southern Punjab province, Multan is located on the banks of the Chenab River, and is at the heart of Pakistans Seraiki-speaking regions. Multans history stretches back into antiquity, the ancient city was site of the renowned Multan Sun Temple, and was besieged by Alexander the Great during the Mallian Campaign. Multan was one of the most important trading centres of medieval Islamic India, the city, along with the nearby city of Uch, is renowned for its large collection of Sufi shrines dating from that era. The origin of Multans name is unclear and it has been postulated that Multan derives its name from the Sanskrit word for the pre-Islamic Hindu Multan Sun Temple, called Mulasthana. Hukm Chand in the 19th century suggested that the city was named after an ancient Hindu tribe that was named Mul, the Multan region has been continuously inhabited for at least 5,000 years. The region is home to archaeological sites dating to the era of the Early Harappan period of the Indus Valley Civilisation. According to Hindu mythology, Multan was founded by the Hindu sage Kashyapa, according to the Persian historian Firishta, the city was founded by a great grandson of Noah. Hindu mythology also asserts Multan as the capital of the Trigarta Kingdom at the time of the Kurukshetra War that is central the Hindu epic poem, ancient Multan was the centre of a solar-worshipping cult that was based at the ancient Multan Sun Temple. While the cult was dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, the Sun Temple was mentioned by Greek Admiral Skylax, who passed through the area in 515 BCE. The temple is mentioned in the 400s BCE by the Greek historian. Multan is believed to have been the Malli capital that was conquered by Alexander the Great in 326 BCE as part of the Mallian Campaign, during the siege of the citys citadel, Alexander leaped into the inner area of the citadel, where he killed the Mallians leader. Alexander was wounded by an arrow that had penetrated his lung, leaving him severely injured, during Alexanders era, Multan was located on an island in the Ravi river, which has since shifted course numerous times throughout the centuries. In the mid-5th century CE, the city was attacked by a group of Hephthalite nomads led by Toramana, by the mid 600s CE, Multan had been conquered by the Chach of Alor, of the Hindu Rai dynasty. After his conquest of Sindh, Muhammad bin Qasim in 712 CE captured Multan from the local ruler Chach of Alor following a two-month siege, following bin Qasims conquest, the citys subjects remained mostly non-Muslim for the next few centuries. By the mid-800s, the Banu Munabbih, who claimed descent from the Prophet Muhammads Quraysh tribe came to rule Multan, and established the Amirate of Banu Munabbih, which ruled for the next century. During this era, the Multan Sun Temple was noted by the 10th century Arab geographer Al-Muqaddasi to have located in a most populous part of the city. The Hindu temple was noted to have accrued the Muslim rulers large tax revenues, during this time, the citys Arabic nickname was Faraj Bayt al-Dhahab, reflecting the importance of the temple to the citys economy
7.
Babur
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He was a direct descendant of Turco-Mongol conqueror Timur from the Barlas clan, through his father, and also a descendant of Genghis Khan through his mother. Babur was the eldest son of Umar Sheikh Mirza and he ascended the throne of Fergana in 1495 at the age of twelve and faced rebellion from his own relatives. He conquered Samarkand two years later, only to lose the city of Fergana soon after, in his attempt to reconquer Fergana, he lost control of Samarkand. In 1501, his attempt to both cities went in vain as he was defeated by Muhammad Shaybani Khan. In 1504, he conquered Kabul, which was under the rule of the infant heir of Ulugh Begh. Babur formed a partnership with Safavid ruler Ismail I and reconquered parts of central Asia, including Samarkand, only to lose it. After losing Samarkand for the time, Babur turned his attention to creating his empire in north India. In 1524, Daulat Khan Lodi, a rebel of the Lodhi dynasty, invited Babur to overthrow Ibrahim, Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat in 1526 and founded the Mughal empire. However, he faced opposition, this time from Rana Sanga of Mewar who considered Babur a foreigner. The Rana was defeated at the Battle of Khanwa, notable among his sons are Humayun, Kamran Mirza and Hindal Mirza. Babur died in 1530 and was succeeded by Humayun, according to Baburs wishes, he was buried in Bagh-e-Babur in Kabul, Afghanistan. Being a patrilineal descendant of Timur, Babur considered himself a Timurid and Turk and he is considered a national hero in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Many of his poems also have become popular folk songs and he wrote his autobiography, Baburnama, in Chaghatai Turkic and this was translated into Persian during Akbars reign. Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn is Arabic for Defender of the Faith, and Muhammad honours the Islamic prophet, the name is generally taken in reference to the Persian babr, meaning tiger. The word repeatedly appears in Ferdowsis Shahnameh and was borrowed into the Turkic languages of Central Asia. The choice of vowel would nominally be restricted to one of the four front vowels, hence babr → babür, thackston argues for an alternate derivation from the PIE word beaver, pointing to similarities between the pronunciation Bābor and the Russian bobr. Babur bore the royal titles Badshah and al-ṣultānu l-ʿazam wa l-ḫāqān al-mukkarram pādshāh-e ġāzī and he and later Mughal emperors used the title of mirza when they were princes. Baburs memoirs form the source for details of his life
8.
Pashtuns
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The Pashtuns /ˈpʌʃˌtʊnz/ or /ˈpæʃˌtuːnz/, historically known by the exonyms Afghans, and Pathan, are an ethnic group native to Afghanistan and North-Western Pakistan. They are generally classified as Eastern Iranian ethno-linguistically, who use Pashto language and follow Pashtunwali, the origin of Pashtuns is unclear but historians have come across references to various ancient peoples called Pakthas between the 2nd and the 1st millennium BC, who may be their early ancestors. Their history is mostly spread amongst various countries of South and Central Asia, as the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, Pashtuns have been the dominant ethno-linguistic group for over 300 years. The Barakzai dynasty played a role during the Great Game from the 19th century to the 20th century as they were caught between the imperialist designs of the British and Russian empires. There have been many notable Pashtun people throughout history, Ahmad Shah Durrani is regarded as the founder of the modern state of Afghanistan. Under Amanullah Khan, Afghanistan was able to pursue an independent foreign policy, some others include Malala Yousafzai, Shah Rukh Khan, Hamid Karzai, and Imran Khan. They are an important community in Pakistan, which has the largest Pashtun population, Pashtuns attained presidency there and high rankings in sports. They are the worlds largest segmentary lineage ethnic group, according to Ethnologue, the total population of the group is estimated to be around 50 million but an accurate count remains elusive due to the lack of an official census in Afghanistan since 1979. Estimates of the number of Pashtun tribes and clans range from about 350 to over 400, additional Pashtun communities are located in western and northern Afghanistan, the Gilgit–Baltistan and Kashmir regions and northwestern Punjab province of Pakistan. There are also sizeable Muslim communities in India, which are of largely Pashtun ancestry, throughout the Indian subcontinent, they are often referred to as Pathans. Smaller Pashtun communities are found in the countries of the Middle East, such as in the Khorasan Province of Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, Europe, important metropolitan centres of Pashtun culture include Peshawar, Quetta, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Kunduz, and Lashkar Gah. The cities of Kabul and Ghazni in Afghanistan are home to around 25% Pashtun population while Herat, with as high as 7 million by some estimates, the city of Karachi in Sindh, Pakistan has the largest concentration of urban Pashtuns in the world. In addition, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Lahore also have sizeable Pashtun populations, about 15% of Pakistans nearly 200 million population is Pashtun. In Afghanistan, they are the largest ethnic group and make up between 42-60% of the 32.5 million population. The exact figure remains uncertain in Afghanistan, which is affected by the 1.5 million or more Afghan refugees that remain in Pakistan. Another one million or more Afghans live in Iran, a cumulative population assessment suggests a total of around 49 million individuals all across the world. A prominent institution of the Pashtun people is the system of tribes. Despite this, many people identify themselves with various clans
9.
Jat people
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The Jat people are a traditionally agricultural community in Northern India and Pakistan. Originally pastoralists in the lower Indus river-valley of Sindh, Jats migrated north into the Punjab region, Delhi, Rajputana, and the western Gangetic Plain in late medieval times. Primarily of Hindu, Muslim and Sikh faiths, they now mostly in the Indian states of Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Hindu Jat kingdom reached its zenith under Maharaja Suraj Mal of Bharatpur, the Jat community of the Punjab region played an important role in the development of the martial Khalsa Panth of Sikhism, they are more commonly known as the Jat Sikhs. By the 20th century, the landowning Jats became a group in several parts of North India, including Haryana, Punjab, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan. Over the years, several Jats abandoned agriculture in favour of urban jobs, Jats are classified as Other Backward Class in seven of Indias thirty-six States and UTs, namely Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. However, only the Jats of Rajasthan – excluding those of Bharatpur district, in 2016, the Jats of Haryana organized massive protests demanding to be classified as OBC in order to obtain such affirmative action benefits. The Jats are an example of community- and identity-formation in early modern Indian subcontinent. Jat is a label applied to a wide-ranging, traditionally non-elite. At the time of Muhammad bin Qasims conquest of Sind in the 8th century, Arab writers described agglomerations of Jats in the arid, the wet, and the mountainous regions of the conquered land. Between the eleventh and the centuries, Jat herders migrated up along the river valleys, into the Punjab. Many took up tilling in regions such as Western Punjab, where the sakia had been recently introduced, by early Mughal times, in the Punjab, the term Jat had become loosely synonymous with peasant, and some Jats had come to own land and exert local influence. According to historians Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot, The Jats also provide an important insight into how religious identities evolved during the precolonial era, before they settled in the Punjab and other northern regions, the pastoralist Jats had little exposure to any of the mainstream religions. Only after they became integrated into the agrarian world did the Jats adopt the dominant religion of the people in whose midst they dwelt. Many new rulers of the 18th century came from such martial, the effect of this interaction on Indias social organization lasted well into the colonial period. During the heyday of Mughal rule, Jats had recognized rights, according to Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Their successes were a part of the Mughal success, as the Mughal empire now faltered, there were a series of rural rebellions in North India. Although these had sometimes been characterized as peasant rebellions, others, such as Muzaffar Alam, have pointed out that small local landholders, or zemindars, often led these uprisings
10.
Kandahar
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Kandahar or Qandahar is the second-largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 491,500 as of 2012. Formerly called Alexandria Arachosia, the city is named after Alexander the Great, Kandahar is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at an altitude of 1,010 m above sea level. The Arghandab River runs along the west of the city, the city of Kandahar has a population of 557,118. It has 15 districts and a land area of 27,337 hectares. The total number of dwellings in Kandahar is 61,902, Kandahar is one of the most culturally significant cities of the Pashtuns and has been their traditional seat of power for more than 200 years. It is a trading center for sheep, wool, cotton, silk, felt, food grains, fresh and dried fruit. The region produces fine fruits, especially pomegranates and grapes, and the city has plants for canning, drying, and packing fruit, the area is believed to be the birthplace of cannabis indica. The region around Kandahar is one of the oldest known human settlements, Alexander the Great had laid-out the foundation of what is now Old Kandahar in the 4th century BC and gave it the Ancient Greek name Αλεξάνδρεια Aραχωσίας. Many empires have long fought over the city due to its location along the trade routes of southern, central. In 1709, Mirwais Hotak made the region an independent kingdom, in 1747, Ahmad Shah Durrani, founder of the last Afghan empire, made it the capital of modern Afghanistan. A temple to the deified Alexander as well as an inscription in Greek and Aramaic by Emperor Ashoka, Ibn Batutta mentions Kandahar in the 14th century by describing it as a large and prosperous town three nights journey from Ghazni. It has been then mentioned extensively by Mughal Emperor Babur and others, an alternative story describes Khandahar as Gandhara in Mahabharata ruled by Suvala and later by Shakuni. The princess of Hastinapur, Gandhari was born in Gandhara, a folk etymology offered is that the word kand or qand in Persian and Pashto means candy. The name Candahar or Kandahar in this form probably translates to candy area and this probably has to do with the location being fertile and historically known for producing fine grapes, pomegranates, apricots, melons and other sweet fruits. Ernst Herzfeld claimed Kandahar perpetuated the name of the Indo-Parthian king Gondophares, excavations of prehistoric sites by archaeologists such as Louis Dupree and others suggest that the region around Kandahar is one of the oldest human settlements known so far. Early peasant farming villages came into existence in Afghanistan ca.5000 B. C. or 7000 years ago, deh Morasi Ghundai, the first prehistoric site to be excavated in Afghanistan, lies 27 km southwest of Kandahar. Another Bronze Age village mound site with multiroomed mud-brick buildings dating from the same period sits nearby at Said Qala, Bronze Age pottery, copper and bronze horse trappings and stone seals were found in the lowermost levels in the nearby cave called Shamshir Ghar. In the Seistan, southwest of these Kandahar sites, two teams of American archaeologists discovered sites relating to the 2nd millennium B. C, while the Diadochi were warring amongst themselves, the Mauryan Empire was developing in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent
11.
Nader Shah's invasion of the Mughal Empire
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Emperor Nader Shah, the Shah of Persia and the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Persia, invaded the Mughal Empire, eventually attacking Delhi in March 1739. His army had defeated the Mughals at the battle at Karnal. Nadir Shah became the Persian ruler in 1736, his troops captured Esfahan from the Safavid dynasty and its ruler, Muhammad Shah, proved unable to stop the disintegration of the empire. The imperial court administration was corrupt and weak whereas the country was extremely rich whilst Delhi’s prosperity, Nadir Shah, attracted by the countrys wealth, sought plunder like so many other foreign invaders before him. Nadir had asked Muhammad Shah to close the Mughal frontiers around Kabul so that the Afghan rebels he was fighting against, even though the Emperor agreed, he practically took no action. Nadir seized upon this as a pretext for war, together with his Georgian subject Erekle II, who took part in the expedition as a commander leading a contingent of Georgian troops, the long march had begun. He defeated his Afghan enemies fleeing into the Hindu Kush and also seized major cities such as Ghazni, Kabul and Peshawar before advancing onto the Punjab, Nadir advanced to the river Indus before the end of year as the Mughals mustered their army against him. At the Battle of Karnal on 24 February 1739, Nadir led his army to victory over the Mughals, Muhammad Shah surrendered, the keys to the capital of Delhi were surrendered to Nadir. He entered the city on 20 March 1739 and occupied Shah Jehan’s imperial suite in the Red Fort, coins were struck, and prayers said, in his name in the Jama Masjid and other Delhi mosques. The next day, the Shah held a durbar in the capital. The Afsharid occupation led to increases in the city. The city administrator attempted to fix prices at a level and Afsharid troops were sent to the market at Paharganj. However, the merchants refused to accept the lower prices. When a rumour spread that Nadir had been assassinated by a guard at the Red Fort. Nadir, furious at the killings, retaliated by ordering his soldiers to carry out the notorious qatl-e-aam of Delhi. On the morning of 22 March, the Shah rode out in full armour and this was the signal to start the onslaught and carnage. Almost immediately, the fully armed Afsharid army of occupation turned their swords and guns on to the unarmed, the Afsharid soldiers were given full licence to do as they pleased and promised a share of the booty as the city was plundered. Muslims, like Hindus and Sikhs, resorted to killing their women, children, in the words of the Tazkira, Here and there some opposition was offered, but in most places people were butchered unresistingly
12.
Mankera
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Mankera, is the principal town of Mankera Tehsil, an administrative subdivision of Bhakkar District, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is situated about 320 kilometres west of the city of Lahore, Bhakkar is located in the west of Punjab. One third of the land is sandy of which small portion is irrigated by Thal canal, rest of the sandy land is cultivated and is entirely dependent upon rains. People mostly depend on agriculture which is dependent on rain falls. As such people are poor, backward and traditional, education and health facilities are not adequately available. The origins of Mankera according to tradition go back one thousand years BC, it is believed that Mankera was originally Malkherkot, Mekan family have deep roots in Mankera. Mekan Raja ruled Mankera for 500 year, there is evidence that suggests that a state by this name existed during Alexanders invasion of the sub-continent. The Arabs however called it Manker Kot, and during Muhammad bin Qasims rule in greater Sindh, the first Muslim governor of Mankera was Ahmed bin Khuzema who died in Mankera and is buried in Mankera fort. Following the downfall of Arab rule in Sindh, the Hindu king of Kanauj took possession of Mankera followed by the Mekan, the Abdali kings annexed Mankera and the adjoining areas and the Baloch gave way to Saddo Zai Pathans. The Pathan rule of the state ended with the siege of Mankera by Ranjit Singh which resulted in the forfeiture of Nawab Surbulands claim to Mankera. Mankera fort, the feature of the town lies half a kilometre to the left of the Bhakkar highway. The fort was constructed in two phases, the initial construction of the brick fort was carried out during the time of the Baloch rule, and further fortification in the form of a thick mud wall was undertaken during the Pathan rule. Today the fort and its fortification is mostly in ruins, the major part of the mud wall still exists, however decay and neglect is abundantly clear. The main fort is mostly in ruins except for a well, a tomb, the outer walls of the citadel are however intact. During the dying days of the Mughal empire, Mankeras Saddo Zai rulers with the help of their Abdali benefactors emerged as a force to reckon with in this area, Mankera was the seat of their dominions. Nowadays the Tomb of Mankera is not in the condition and is broken at all the places. The Sikh occupation of Mankera is abundantly evident, the Sikh annexation of this area began in 1821, and was completed with the fall of Mankera in the autumn of that year. Ranjit Singh personally led the troops that besieged Mankera, the siege lasted for twenty-two days and at a great cost to the invaders
Pakistan
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dera Ismail Khan". Encyclopædia Britannica. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 64.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the 
