Karachi

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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.