Makran (Urdu/Persian:
مکران) is a semi-desert coastal strip in the south
of Balochistan
, in Iran
and Pakistan
, along the
coast of the Arabian
Sea
and the Gulf of Oman
. The
Persian
phrase
Mahi khoran, fish-eaters (
Mahi = fish +
khor = eat) is believed to be the origin of the modern
word
Makkuran.
The narrow coastal plain rises very rapidly into several mountain
ranges.
Of
the 1,000 km coastline, about 750 km is in Pakistan. The
climate is very dry with very little rainfall.
Makkuran is very
sparsely inhabited, with much of the population being concentrated
in a string of small ports including Chabahar
, Gwatar, Jiwani
, Gwadar
(not to be
confused with Gwatar), Pasni
, Ormara
and many
smaller fishing villages.
The
Pakistani government is currently developing Ormara as a major
naval base and Gwadar as a major new commercial port as well as a
new highway along the entire length of the coast. These
projects have been prompted by the commercial and military
bottleneck at Karachi.
The new naval base at Ormara will host about
half of the Pakistani Navy, whilst Gwadar is planned to reduce the
pressure on the two international ports at Karachi
.
The
Iranian government planned to develop Chabahar in the
1970s, but the toppling of the Shah put an end to those
plans.
The coast
of Makran possesses only one island, Astola Island
, near Pasni, and several
insignificant islets. The coastline can be divided into an
eastern lagoon coastline and a western embayed coastline. The main
lagoons are
Miani Hor and
Kalamat Hor. The main bays of the embayed coast
are
Gwadar West Bay and
Gwatar Bay. This latter bay shelters a large
mangrove forest and the nesting grounds of endangered turtle
species.
History
Ancient era
Two
ancient Harappan
era settlements have been found at Sutkagen dor (on
Dasht River) and Sokhta Koh (astride
Shadi River). The coastal sites are evidence of trade
between Harappan and Sumerian cities as well as those of the
Persian
Gulf
region, possibly from around 3000 BCE.
Alexander the Great marched
through Makkuran during a disastrous exodus after the Indian
Campaign (325 BCE). According to one theory, Alexander's
well-stocked fleet under Admiral Nearchus was supposed to have
continuously provisioned the army as it marched West along the
barren coast towards Persia. In the event, a major portion of
Alexander's route through Makkuran (Bela-Averan-Hoshab-Turbat and
then south to Pasni-Gwadar) turned out to be much further inland
than expected, apparently due to faulty knowledge of the terrain.
The fleet and the marching army were able to eventually rendezvous
in Susa, Persia.[2]
Islamic conquest
Central Makkuran 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 his campaign to
conquer the southern coastal areas of Iran send his
brother Hakam ibn Abu al-Aas to raid the Makran region, the
campaign was not meant for whole scale invasion but merely was a
raid to check the potential of the local inhabitants. The
raid was successfulIn late 644 A.D Caliph
Umar
sent an army for whole scale invasion of Makkuran under the command
of Hakam ibn Amr.
Reinforcement from Kufa
joined him
under the command of Shahab ibn Makharaq and Abdullah ibn Utban,
the commander of campaign in Karman, also
joined them, no strong resistance was faced by them in Makran until
the Hindu King of Rai Kingdom in Sind
, along with
his army having contingents from Makran and Sind stopped them
near River Indus
. In
mid
644,
Battle of
Rasil was fought between
Radhisun
Caliphate and
Rai Kingdom where
Raja's forces were defeated and retreated to eastern bank of river
Indus. Raja’s army included
War
elephants, and they didn’t make any trouble for the Muslims
veterans who handled War elephants during the
conquest of Persia.
According to the
orders of Caliph Umar the war elephants were
sold in Islamic Persia
and the cash
was distributed among the soldiers as a share in booty. In
response of Caliph
Umar’s question about the
Makran region, the Messenger from Makkuran who bring the news of
the victory told him:
Umar looked at the messenger and said:"Are you a messenger or a
poet? He replied “Messenger”.Thereupon Caliph
Umar, after listening to the unfavorable situations for
sending an army 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. Thereupon on of the commander of
Islamic army in Makran said the
following verses:
Referring
to the Hindu Temple in
interior Sind where
prostitutes used to give a part of their
earning as alms.It remainned the part of
Umayyad Caliphate
and
Abbasid Caliphate and was also ruled by Muslim Turks,
Persians and Afghans. It was conquered by Mongols in 13th century
A.D, and in 16th century A.D it became part of
Mughal empire, it remained so until it came
under the rule of
British
Empire.
Balochi attack on Mahmud Ghazni
Modern era
From the 15th century onward, the area was ruled by
Zikri families and sometimes by the Iranian
government.
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, minus an area of 800 km² around Gwadar.
The enclave was finally transferred in 1958 to Pakistani control as
part of the district of Makran. The entire region has been
subdivided into new smaller districts over the years.
See also
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