To the ancients the land that is today Pakistan was a continent that took its name from the great river Indus sweeping southwards from some of the highest mountains in the world. Along its banks and among its tributaries grew up civilisation after civilisation, luring successive waves of conquerors -- until, in our own century, the land came into itself in free and modern statehood: Pakistan.
About the end of the first half of the third millennium BC, a city civilisation was born in the Indus Valley. The transition from village life was so sudden that outside inspiration seems probable. We know that the merchants of Mesopotamia undertook sea voyages over the Persian Gulf to Bahrain and Oman, and they may well have penetrated the Indus Valley.
The well-known facts are that in the Indus civilisation we have knowledge of an urban culture, occupying a huge area largely within the modern political boundaries of Pakistan, which can be reasonably estimated to have existed between 2500 and 1750 BC. It was centred on the river Indus, and at its maximum extent contained within what is very roughly an equilateral triangle with sides of about one thousand kilometres, one of which is formed by the coast of the Arabian Sea, with its apex on the river Sutlej hardly more than two hundred kilometres south of the Himalayan range.
The Indus Valley civilisation's disappearance was just as swift as its prominence, and archeologists even today search among the ruins for clues that will allow them to piece together the story of the rise and fall of this grand civilisation.
The next historical landmark in this area that constitutes modern-day Pakistan was the advance of Alexander the Great. In 327 BC, he led a part of his army from Afghanistan through the territories which are now Nawagai, Bajaur, Dir and Swat. Later, he marched over the hills to the Indus, which he crossed near Hund, and to Taxila.
When Alexander arrived at Taxila, he found a flourishing Buddhist city of learning. Several years earlier, Buddhism had begun to establish its influence and its emphasis on discipline and order had allowed it to build up a following over a widespread area, starting from the present-day Indian State of Bihar, to upper Swat.
Alexander readily assimilated Buddhism into his empire, and the result gave rise to a Greco-Buddhist school of art and culture. The most famous proponent of this school was the great Mauryan Emperor Ashoka, whose enduring achievement was the establishment of Buddhism as the dominant element in the culture and life of inhabitants from Taxila to upper Swat (also known as the region of Gandhara). In fact, pilgrims from abroad considered Gandhara to be the second home of Buddhism after Bihar, where the Buddha was born and spent most of his life.
The Gandharan period -- from the second to fifth centuries AD -- gave way to many invading hordes amongst whom were the White Huns, Sassanians, Turks and Hindu Shahis.
It was not until the 11th century, with the advent of Islam, that stability once again came to the region. The Mughals were the greatest of all the Islamic rulers, and from early in the 16th century till the early 18th century, their rule was marked with the flourishing of culture.
Subsequently, the British, who had begun contact with the Mughals through the East India Trading Company, began to dominate the economic and political scene, and controlled the entire sub- continent until the 1930's.
Thereafter, educated Muslims of the area began their fight for freedom. They found in Mohammad Ali Jinnah an effective leader, and through him agitated for an independent state. Their struggle for independence was rewarded on August 14, 1947, when the modern-day state of Pakistan came into existence.
It is this country, steeped in rich and varied history, with a geographical diversity stretching from the high mountains of the North to the desert plains of the South, that we wish to explore with you, the intrepid traveller.
Contents copyright © 1996, Walji's Adventure Pakistan. All rights
reserved.
Revised: 22 March, 1996