Major ethnic groups of Pakistan in 1980 borders removed

Balochistan ( Balochi: ) or Afghan Baluchistan is an arid, mountainous region that includes part of southern and southwestern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. It extends into southeastern

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and western

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

and is named after the

Baloch people The Baloch ( ) or Baluch ( ; , plural ) are a nomadic, Pastoralism, pastoral, ethnic group which speaks the Western Iranian, Western Iranic Balochi language and is native to the Balochistan region of South Asia, South and Western Asia, encompas ...

Geography

Northern Balochistan/Afghan Balochistan is Nimroz Province, south of

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto language, Pashto/Dari language, Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering ...

and Kandahar Province,

History

Nasir Khan I Ahmadzai the sixth ruler of kalat was one of the most prominent and influential rulers of the Khanate of Kalat. He played a crucial role in consolidating Baloch power, unifying the Baloch tribes, and shaping the political and administrative structure of the Khanate. The border of Balochestan in the reign of Nasir khan stretched from across modern-day Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. Northern Border in areas such as Helmand and parts of

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

( Balochistan, Afghanistan). In the East stretched as far as Punjab including

Dera Ghazi Khan Dera Ghazi Khan, abbreviated as D.G. Khan, is a city in the southwestern part of the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, 16th most-populous city in Punjab and List of most p ...

, in the south Makran coast along the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

from

karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

to bandar abbas, in the western included Persian Balochistan (modern-day Sistan and Baluchestan Province in Iran), Kerman and Bandar abbas. Sanjranis family who ruled Sistan with its capital at Chakansur in the early and late 19th century. Ibrahim Khan Sanjrani Fort is reported to belong to Sanjrani Chiefdom. It was a union of the Baloch tribes under the leadership of Sardar Ebrahim Khan Sanjarani and Sardar Sharif Nahrui. The battle between Ibrahim Khan Sanjrani Baloch and Abdur Rahman Khan took place on 1299/1882. Ibrahim Khan were defeated and the Afghan governor of Farāh captured the fort. Before the colonization and division of

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region o ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, the Balochistan Afghanistan was part of Khanate Kalat, which lost part of its size to

Qajar Iran The Guarded Domains of Iran, alternatively the Sublime State of Iran and commonly called Qajar Iran, Qajar Persia or the Qajar Empire, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic peoples, Turkic origin,Cyrus G ...

and the

Emirate of Afghanistan The Emirate of Afghanistan, known as the Emirate of Kabul until 1855, was an emirate in Central Asia and South Asia that encompassed present-day Afghanistan and parts of present-day Pakistan (before 1893). The emirate emerged from the Durrani ...

in the late 19th century. The Baloch are an ethnic group in

. They are the majority in Nimroz Province. Baloch also have a presence in Helmand, Faryab, Takhar,

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

, Badakhshan and other parts of Afghanistan. The Balochi speakers are mostly settled in

Nimruz Province Nimruz or Nimroz (Balochi language, Balochi: ; Dari, Pashto language, Pashto: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southwestern part of the country. It lies to the east of the Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran and nor ...

. The Brahui speakers mainly inhabit Kandahar Province. In Helmand, the Balochi and Brahui-speaking Baloch intermingle. Baloch in other parts of

speak

Pashto Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...

and

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

References

External links

A Balochi song from Nimruz about Nimruz

Balochi Rung
{{UNPO Regions of Afghanistan Iranian plateau Balochistan

Geography

History

See also

References

External links