1936–1955 → Disestablished 14 October 1955 | Capital Karachi | |
 | ||
Area 123,080 km (47,521 sq mi) | ||
Sind was a province of British India from 1936 to 1947 and Pakistan from 1947 to 1955. Under the British, it encompassed the current territorial limits excluding the princely state of Khairpur with the capital at Karachi. After Pakistan's creation, the province lost the city of Karachi, as it became the capital of the newly created country.
Contents
Location
The province was bordered by Karachi (within The Federal Capital Territory after 1948) and the princely states of Las Bela and Kalat on the west. To the north were the provinces of Baluchistan and West Punjab. The province bordered the princely state of Bahawalpur on the northeast and it enclosed on three sides the princely state of Khairpur. The nation of India's states of Rajasthan and Gujarat bordered to the east and south. On the southwest lay the Arabian Sea, with the Sind's coastline consisting entirely of river deltas, including the Indus River Delta up to Sind's border with the city of Karachi, now the capital of modern Sindh.
History
Sindh was first settled by the Indus Valley Civilization and Mohenjo-daro, as early as 7000 BC. It had Greek influence during its history after the expansion of the Macedonian Empire, and developed trade with surrounding regions. Several Sunni Muslim and Rajput kingdoms were set up there, beginning with the Rai Dynasty and ending with the Arghun dynasty. The Mughal Empire conquered Sindh under the rule of Akbar in 1509. Soon after the coming of European companies, namely the British East Indian Company, the Mughal hold on the area loosened, and Sindh became part of the Bombay Presidency in 1843. Soon, it became the Sind Province.
1936–1947
After conquest by the British in 1843 Sindh had been part of the Bombay Presidency, however on 1 April 1936 Sindh Division was separated from the Bombay Presidency and made into a province of British India.
1947–1955
The independence and passage of the resolution joining Pakistan in the Sindh Assembly, Sindh becoming part of Pakistan in 1947. The province was merged into the province of West Pakistan in 1955 under the One Unit policy announced by Prime Minister Chaudhry Mohammad Ali.
Demographics
By the time of independence in 1947 Sindh had had a Muslim majority for centuries but there were significant minorities of Hindus throughout the province. In 1947 due to communal tensions and the influx of two million Muslim refugees from India many Hindus were forced to flee to India.
The refugees from India were mostly Urdu speakers, and although the official language of Sindh was Sindhi, many schools in big cities of Sindh and switched to Urdu schools.
Government
The offices of Governor of Sindh and Chief Minister of Sindh were established in 1936 when Sindh became a province. This system continued until 1955 when Sindh was dissolved.