Karachi

Karachi is the largest city in Pakistan. Nearly 10, 000, 000 people live in Karachi and they have made it the financial and economic power of the country. Karachi is located in the southern part of Pakistan and is the capital of the province of Sindh.

Karachi is located in a convenient bay, whose shores are bathed by the waters of the Arabian Sea. The Gulf is significant historically and today provides Pakistan with the only important port through which works the foreign trade. Very close to Karachi in a south-easterly direction, is the mouth of the Indus river.

In the fourth century BC Alexander the Great reached Karachi during their march along the great valley of the River Indus. At that time the town was known as Krokola as it was called by the ancient Greeks.

A little later the people stayed on this coast of the Arabian Sea and it soon became the base of a fishing village. Then the people named it Kolachi and thus lay the groundwork for the commercial port of Karachi.

3 centuries ago, Karachi was a thriving village, which focused on foreign exports and imports of goods from Oman and the Persian Gulf. In 1943 the British Empire established dominance in Pakistan's Sindh province, with the result that the city is now part of the colony.

British intervention, however, proved extremely beneficial for the country and particularly for the city as it began to develop the infrastructure to build roads, new buildings, opening of schools, colleges and hospitals and now Karachi has more assets as an important strategic city.

In 1878 already the rail line between British India and the rest of India was drawn. In the late 19th century, nearly 110, 000 people lived in Karachi and turned it into a now cosmopolitan city.

1947 is the year that formed the state of Pakistan, which required several changes in order to build. Most of the population are forced to zabegne in India, but from the opposite side - from India to Pakistan rush many Muslims. By 1958 , Karachi was the first capital of Pakistan. The darkest period of the city's history happened in the late 80's and early 90's of the 20th century, when many refugees from Afghanistan seeked asylum there.

Separately, the city was torn by ethnic fighting between local level and people now defunct of British India. In 1994 Karachi carried out "purge" to suppress social tensions, and during the action, thousands of people lost their lives.

Today in the urban agglomeration of Karachi live a total of about 14 million people who put the city at the 20th biggest in the world. Nearly two thirds of the national income of Pakistan comes from businesses and trade in Karachi.

Many foreign companies have chosen Karachi to situate their branches there, a number of Pakistani banks is also significant. It is believed that Karachi was one of the fastest growing cities on Earth.The whole town is spread over around 3, 530 square meters, making it approximately five times larger than Singapore.

The locals call Karachi, City of Lights. Karachi is always awake with busy life, with the result that has earned the name, Bride of the cities. It is locally known as the City of Quaid, which is in honor of the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam.

In Karachi there is one main highway that crosses the settlement of the Arabian Sea from the southwest to the northeast and the divided city. For this main street the most important is the political, economic, commercial, cultural and financial structures in the city. Karachi has an extremely picturesque old town, which is located on the left side of the main urban highway.

It is a tangle of small commercial streets, dotted with residential two-storey houses. Typically, small private businesses have developed the first floor of their homes as their work place and therefore crowded families live on the second floor of their homes. Across the old city of Karachi you can see rich open and covered markets.

The central part of Karachi has a very different look and has all the features of a modern urbanized city. Skyscrapers, banks and commercial offices, luxury boutiques, etc. The most posh part of the town is southeast, where the beautiful beaches and fancy neighborhoods are situated.