Are

سنڌ
Are

Emblem and flag

Basic data

Capital :

Karachi

Coordinates :

24 ° 52 ' N , 67 ° 3' E Coordinates: 24 ° 52 ' N , 67 ° 3' E

Status:

province

Area :

140,914 km²

Residents :

47,886,051 (2017 census)

Population density :

339.8 inh / km² (2017)

Time zone :

GMT + 5

Languages :

Urdu , Sindhi , Saraiki , Balochi

ISO 3166-2 :

PK-SD

map

The Sindh ( Sindhi in Arabic script سنڌ; Urdu سندھ) is one of the four Pakistani provinces . The traditional capitals of Hyderabad and Thatta were replaced by Karachi in 1936 . The Sindh is relatively heavily populated with 48 million inhabitants, with the population of Karachi being estimated at up to 14 million people. The Sindh is divided into 23 districts.

Are

A legend about the origin of the name Sindh is of Indo-European origin; it says: The Indus rises from the lion's mouth - Sinh-ka-bab . In Sanskrit the area is called Sindhu ("ocean"). The Assyrians named the region in the 17th century BC. BC Sinda , the Persians Abisind .

geography

The Sindh borders - clockwise, starting in the west - on the provinces of Balochistan and Punjab , on the Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat and on the Arabian Sea . Geographically, it is the third largest province of Pakistan with a north-south extension of 579 km and 282–442 km in east-west. The Thar desert borders the Sindh to the east and the Kirthar Mountains to the west. The level in the center is traversed by the Indus .

There are two large seaports in the province of Sindh, both in the area of the city of Karachi (12.3 million inhabitants), as well as the largest and most modern airport in Pakistan: Jinnah International Airport . Other important cities (from a total of around 160) in the province are Hyderabad (1.2 million inhabitants), Sukkur (430,000 inhabitants), Larkana (379,000 inhabitants) and Mirpur Khas (124,000 inhabitants). The rural population lives mainly from the cultivation of cotton, wheat and sugar cane, and in the vicinity of the Indus also largely from rice cultivation. The area is famous for its tasty bananas and mangoes. Karachi's coastal waters are very rich in fish and are among the best fishing areas in the world for crabs, shrimps and large fish.

Districts

The 23 districts of Sindh Province (there are now 29 districts)

1. Badin

2. Dadu

3. Ghotki

4. Hyderabad

5. Jacobabad

6. Jamshoro

7. Karachi Center

8. Kashmore

9. Khairpur

10. Larkana

11. Matiari

12. Mirpur Khas

13. Naushahro Feroze

14. Shaheed Benazirabad

15. Qambar Shahdadkot

16. Sanghar

17. Shikarpur

18. Sukkur

19. Tando Allahyar

20. Tando Muhammad Khan

21. Tharparkar

22. Thatta

23. Umerkot

24. (22.) Sujawal

25. (7th) Karachi East

26. (7th) Karachi South

27. (7th) Karachi West

28. (7.) Korangi

29. (7.) Malir

See also: for size information and population figures, the paragraph in the article Administrative division of Pakistan

Cities

population

The provincial language is Sindhi , an Indo-Aryan language written in Arabic letters and related to Sanskrit . According to the 1998 census, Sindhi is spoken by 59.7% of the population, especially in rural areas (92.0%). Other common languages are Urdu (21.1%, especially in Karachi), Punjabi (7.0%) and Pashtun (4.2%)

The literacy rate in the years 2014/15 among the population over 10 years of age was 60% (women: 49%, men: 70%), making it the second highest among the country's 4 provinces.

91.3% of the population are Muslim , there are 6.5% Hindus (in 1941 it was 25.3%) and 1.0% Christians .

In 2017, 52% of the population lived in cities.

Population development

Sindh census population since the first census in 1951.

Census year	population
1951	6,047,748
1961	8,367,065
1972	14,155,909
1981	19,028,666
1999	30,439,893
2017	47,893,244

climate

Generally subtropical, the summers are hot, while the winters are very cold in some areas with minimum temperatures of up to 2 ° C in December and January. Rain falls mainly in July and August. The region is influenced by two Indian monsoons , the southwest monsoon from the Indian Ocean, which determines the weather from mid-February to September, and the northeast monsoon, which blows from the Himalayas from October to January . In Sindh there is little rain, agriculture is dependent on irrigation of the fields from the flooding by the Indus. The river regularly overflows its banks during the snowmelt in the Himalayas and the monsoon rains in the north, but the river has been regulated more and more in recent years through the construction of dams.

Climatically, however, the Sindh has to be divided into three regions. Siro , the area around Jacobabad is crossed by the thermal equator. The temperature record was held in 1919 at 53 ° C. The air is usually very dry. Frosty temperatures in winter are normal. The weather in Wicholo , the central part of the Sindh around Hyderabad, consists of dry, hot days and cold nights. The maximum temperature is 43 to 44 ° C. Lar , the area around Karachi is characterized by a humid, maritime climate. The maximum temperatures are 35 to 38 ° C with steady winds in summer from the southwest and in winter from the northeast and little rain. On the highest mountains of the Kithar area, temperatures can drop to around 0 ° C, and occasionally snow falls in winter.

history

India in the late 18th and 19th centuries

The first evidence of human settlement dates back to around 7000 BC. Classified. Around 4000 BC Non-Aryan groups moved across the Iranian plateau and settled in the Indus valley; the first centers were Amri and Kot Diji - they flourished around 3000 BC. From about 2800 to 1800 BC. The so-called Indus culture developed ; this is just as important, both in size and in population, as the Egyptian or Mesopotamian cultures. The groups in the Indus Valley populated much of what is now Pakistan. One can only speculate about the demise of this civilization, but it is certainly closely linked to the advancing settlement of Indo-Europeans from Eastern Europe, internal conflicts and perhaps also earthquakes or flood disasters.

Part of these new settlers, an Indo-Aryan group, settled around 1500 BC. In the area between Sarasvati and Ganges ; later they also advanced into the area of the Indus. Their descendants shaped the culture of South Asia in the period that followed.

In the 6th century BC The Sindh was conquered by troops of the Persian Achaemenid Empire and became a province of the Hindush, the center of which was in the north, in the 'Five Rivers Land' ( Punjab ). Alexander the Great then annexed the area and was succeeded after his death by the Maurya , who in 305 BC. Crossed the Sindh. Later, during the reign of King Ashoka , the region was shaped by Buddhism . Buddhism remained dominant over the following centuries until Muslim Arabs under Mu unterammad ibn al-Qāsim took control of the area through a campaign in the years 711–714 AD.

From 1839 the Sindh (Sind) was acquired by the British East India Company and in 1847 placed under the Presidency of Bombay . In 1936 it became an independent province of British India , which in 1947 split into the states of India and Pakistan.

economy

In terms of gross domestic product per inhabitant, Sindh is the strongest economy (2010: $ 1,400 per inhabitant) among the 4 provinces in Pakistan. Among other things, there are industries of mechanical engineering and cement production. There are also extracted reserves of natural gas, oil and coal.

Sindh plays an important role in agriculture and fisheries for Pakistan. Among other things, 42% of the nationwide rice cultivation and 23% of the nationwide cultivation of cotton take place in Sindh. However, there is also a large gap between rich and poor in Sindh. Agriculture is still largely in the hands of large landowners . Before the flood disaster in Pakistan in 2010 , for example, one fifth of children and young people were undernourished and malnourished.

politics

The interior minister of Sindh is Zulfiqar Mirza . The Pakistani People's Party has its largest electorate in Sindh and is the strongest party. The parliament is elected and has 168 seats.

In 1972, GM Syed founded the nationalist movement Sindhudesh , which fights for an independent Sindh state and claims a separate national identity of the Sindhis in contrast to the Urdu-speaking muhajirs .

literature

Are. I. Location of the land and reason for taking possession . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 10 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig September 2, 1843, p. 147-148 ( books.google.de ).
Are. II. The inhabitants of the country . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 23 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig December 2, 1843, p. 356-358 ( books.google.de ).
Are. III. The deeds of the English are in . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 24 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig December 9, 1843, p. 372-374 ( books.google.de ).