History Of Islamabad

Early history

Islamabad Capital Territory, located on the Pothohar Plateau, is regarded to be one of the earliest sites of human settlement in Asia. Some of the earliest Stone Age artifacts in the world have been found on the plateau, dating from 100,000 to 500,000 years ago. Rudimentary stones recovered from the terraces of the Soan River testify to the endeavours of early man in the inter-glacial period. Items of pottery and utensils dating back to prehistory have been found.
Excavations have revealed evidence of a prehistoric culture. Relics and human skulls have been found dating back to 5000 BC that show this region was home to Neolithic people who settled on the banks of the Swaan River. The Neolithic people developed small communities in the region at around 3000 BC. A Buddhist town once existed in the region.
Situated at one end of the Indus Valley Civilization, the area was the first habitation of the Aryan community. Their civilisation flourished here between the 23rd and 18th centuries BC. Many great armies such as those of Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, Timur and Ahmad Shah Durrani used the corridor through Islamabad on their way to invade the Indian Subcontinent. Modern Islamabad is based on the old settlement known as Saidpur. The British took control of the region from the Sikhs in 1849 and built Asia's largest cantonment in the region^.

Recent history

Islamabad has attracted people from all over Pakistan, making it one of the most cosmopolitan and urbanised cities of Pakistan. As the capital city it has hosted a number of important meetings, such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit. In October 2005, the city suffered some damage due to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake having a magnitude of 7.6. Islamabad has experienced a series of terrorist incidents including the July 2007 Siege of Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), the June 2008 Danish embassy bombing, and the September 2008 Marriott bombing. In 2011, four terrorism incidents occurred in the city, killing four people, including the murder of the then Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer. Some tragic air crashes took place on 28 July 2010, when Airblue Flight 202, crashed in the Margalla Hills killing all 152 flight crew and passengers on board and Bhoja Air Flight 213 carrying 121 passengers crashed while making final approach for landing, killing all on board on 20 April 2012.

 ^{Source: Wikipedia} 

History of Lahore

The Badshahi Mosque was built in 1673 by the Emperor Aurangzeb in Lahore

The recorded history of Lahore (Urdu: تاريخ لاہور‎), the second largest city-district of Pakistan, covers thousands of years. Originally the capital and largest city of the Punjab region, it has since its creation changed hands from Hindu, Buddhist, Greek, Afghan, Muslim, Sikh and British rule to becoming the cultural capital and the heart of modern day Pakistan.

A mythological legend, based on oral traditions, states that Lahore was named after Lava, son of the Hindu god Rama, who supposedly founded the city. To this day, the Lahore Fort has a vacant temple dedicated to Lava (also pronounced Loh, hence "Loh-awar" or The Fort of Loh). Likewise, the Ravi River that flows through northern Lahore was named for the Hindu goddess Durga^..
Ptolemy, the celebrated astronomer and geographer, mentions in his Geographia a city called Laboklasituated on the route between the Indus river and Palibothra or Pataliputra (Patna), in a tract of country called Kasperia (Kashmir), described as extending along the rivers Bidastes or Vitasta (Jhelum), Sandabal or Chandra Bhaga (Chenab), and Adris or Iravati (Ravi).
The oldest authentic document about Lahore was written anonymously in 982 and is called Hudud-i-Alam. It was translated into English by Vladimir Fedorovich Minorsky and published in Lahore in 1927. In this document, Lahore is referred to as a small shahr (city) with "impressive temples, large markets and huge orchards." It refers to "two major markets around which dwellings exist," and it also mentions "the mud walls that enclose these two dwellings to make it one." The original document is currently held in the British Museum.

 ^{Source: Wikipedia} 

History of Karachi

^{A beautiful view of Mazar e Quaid, Karachi}

Karachi also known as City of Lights, is the Capital of Sindh and The area of Karachi was known to the ancient Greeks by many names: Krokola/, the place where Alexander the Great camped to prepare a fleet for Babylonia after his campaign in the Indus Valley; 'Morontobara' (probably Manora island near Karachi harbour), from whence Alexander's admiral Nearchus set sail; and Barbarikon, a port of the Bactrian kingdom. It was later known to the Arabs as Debal from where Muhammad bin Qasim led his conquering force into South Asia in 712 AD
Karachi was reputedly founded as "Kolachi" by Sindhi and Baloch tribes from Balochistan and Makran, who established a small fishing community in the area.Descendants of the original community still live in the area on the small island of Abdullah Goth, which is located near the Karachi Port.The original name "Kolachi" survives in the name of a well-known Karachi locality named "Mai Kolachi" in Sindhi. Mirza Ghazi Beg, the Mughal administrator of Sindh, is among the first historical figures credited for the development of Coastal Sindh (consisting of regions such as the Makran Coast and the Mehran Delta), including the cities of Thatta, Bhambore and Karachi.
The village that later grew out of this settlement was known as Kolachi-jo-Goth (Village of Kolachi in Sindhi). By the late 1720s, the village was trading across the Arabian Sea with Muscat and the Persian Gulf region. The local Sindhi populace built a small fort, that was constructed for the protection of the city, armed with cannons imported by Sindhi sailors from Muscat, Oman. The fort had two main gateways: one facing the sea, known as Kharra Darwaaza (Brackish Gate) (Kharadar) and the other facing the Lyari River known as the Meet'ha Darwaaza (Sweet Gate) (Mithadar). The locations of these gates correspond to the modern areas of Kharadar (Khārā Dar) and Mithadar (Mīṭhā Dar).
The name Karachi occurs for the first time in a Dutch document of 1742, when a merchant ship de Ridderkerk shipwrecked nearby its coast<sup>.

 Source: Wikipedia</sup> 

History of Peshawar

^{A bird eye view of Peshawar}

Being among the most ancient cities of the region between Central, South, and West Asia, Peshawar has for centuries been a centre of trade between Afghanistan, South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. As an ancient centre of learning, the 2nd century BC. Bakhshali Manuscript used in the Bakhshali approximation was found nearby.
Vedic mythology refers to an ancient settlement called Pushkalavati in the area, after Pushkal, the son of King Bharata in the epic Ramayana but this settlement's existence remains speculative and unverifiable.In recorded history, the earliest major city established in the general area of Peshawar was called Purushapura (Sanskrit for City of Men), from which the current name "Peshawar" might have been derived. the city was founded by the Kushans, a Central Asian tribe of Tocharian origin, over 2,000 years ago^.
The area that Peshawar occupies was then seized by the Greco-Bactrian king, Eucratides (170 – 159 BC), and was controlled by a series of Greco-Bactrian, and later, Indo-Greek kings, who ruled an empire that geographically spanned from the area of present-day Pakistan to North India. According to the historian, Tertius Chandler, Peshawar consisted of a population of 120,000 in the year 100 AD, making it the seventh most populous city in the world at the time. Later, the city was ruled by several Parthian and Indo-Parthian kings, another group of Iranic peoples germane to the region, the most famous of whom, Gondophares (Gandapur in Pashto), ruled the city and its environs, starting in circa 46 AD; the period of rule by Gondophares was briefly followed by two or three of his descendants, before they were displaced by the first of the "Great Kushans", Kujula Kadphises, around the middle of the 1st century AD.

 ^{Source: Wikipedia} 

History of Quetta City

Beautiful view of Quetta City at night

The area was inhabited by Kasi Tribe Pashtun. The first detailed account of Quetta is from the 11th century when it was captured by Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi during one of his invasions of the South Asia. The native population converted to Islam by Sufi missionaries. In 1543, the Mughal emperor Humayun rested in Quetta on his retreat to Safavid Persia, leaving his one-year-old son Akbar in the city until his return two years later. In 1828 the first westerner to visit Quetta described it as a mud-walled fort surrounded by three hundred mud houses.
Although the city was occupied briefly in 1839 by the British during the First Afghan War, it was not until 1876 that Quetta became part of the British colonial empire, with Robert Sandeman being made the political leader for Balochistan. The arrival of British troops led to the establishment of road and rail links and the introduction of schools, mainly for strategic purposes.
The British made the largely Pashtun area part of British Balochistan. In April 1883 it was combined with Pishin into a single administrative unit.
By the time of the earthquake on 31 May 1935 Quetta had developed into a bustling city with a number of multistory buildings. The epicentre of the earthquake was close to the city and destroyed most of the city's infrastructure and killed an estimated 40,000 people. After many years the city has been rebuilt mainly with local funds. Structures are now generally earthquake resistant, being mainly single story structures with bricks and re-inforced concrete. However multi-story buildings are also built, while a number of buildings of three to five floors are being constructed in the city.
The predominantly Muslim population supported Muslim League and Pakistan Movement. On joining Pakistan, Quetta was made the capital city of the newly created province of Balochistan before it was combined with other Balochi princely states (Kalat, Makran, Lasbela and Kharan) to form the Baloch province. Quetta remained the capital of the province until 1971 when the provincial system was abolished under Zulfiqar Bhutto. After Bhutto was overthrown by General Zia ul Haq, the provincial system was re-instated, and Quetta was once again made capital of Balochistan.
Source : Wikipedia