Balochistan

Balochistan بلوچستان
Region
Balochistan region in pink
Countries	Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan
Population (2013)
• Total	c. 18-19 million
Demographics
• Ethnic groups	Baloch Pashtun Brahui
Largest cities	Quetta Zahedan Pasni Chabahar Gwadar Zaranj

Balochistan (Balochi: بلوچستان‎‎; also Baluchistan, often interpreted as the Land of the Baloch) is an arid desert and mountainous region in south-western Asia. It comprises the Pakistani province of Balochistan, the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and the southern areas of the Afghan provinces of Nimruz, Helmand, and Kandahar. Balochistan borders the Pashtun region to the north, Sindh to the east, Punjab to the northeast, and Persian regions to the west. Across its southern coastline lies the Persian Gulf.

The name Balochistan is generally believed to derive from that of the Baloch people, but this is not certain. The term "Baloch" does not appear in pre-Islamic sources. It is likely that the Balochs were known by some other name at their place of origin and acquired the name "Baloch" after arriving in Balochistan sometime in the 10th century. The Suffix "-stān" is a Persian word meaning "place".

Johan Hansman relates the term "Baloch" to Meluḫḫa, the name by which the Indus Valley Civilisation is believed to have been known to the Sumerians (2900–2350 BC) and Akkadians (2334–2154 BC) in Mesopatamia.Meluḫḫa disappears from the Mesopotamian records at the beginning of the second millennium B.C. However, Hansman states that a trace of it in a modified form, as Baluḫḫu, was retained in the names of products imported by the Assyrians (911–605 BC). Al-Muqaddasī (985 AD), who visited the capital of Makran Bannajbur, states that it was populated by people called Balūṣī (Baluchi), leading Hansman to postulate "Baluch" as a modification of Meluḫḫa and Baluḫḫu.

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