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KARACHI
EARLY HISTORY
Early_karachi
The earliest account of the area where Karachi is located can be found in the record books of one of Alexander-the-Great's admirals, who sailed back home from the Greek expedition to India, from a harbor by the Indus delta, known as Krokola. According to widely held belief though, the city of Karachi started its life as a small fishing settlement by the Indus Delta known as Kolachi-jo-Kun (the ditch of Kolachi), named after an old fisherwoman, Mai Kolachee who took up settlement here.
In time, the settlement grew into a small fishing village and came to be known as Kolachi-jo-Goth or, the village of Kolachee. This small fishing village gradually started trading activities by sea with Muscat and Bahrain.
A portrait of the natives of Sindh and the Mir Yar Muhammad Khan and Mir Muhammad Khan (c. 1842)
Originally under the rule of the Kalhora rulers of Sindh, it was taken under the control of the Khan of Kalat as compensation for a family death, and was transformed into a small trading post. In 1795 however, the Talpur rulers of Sindh overthrew the Kalhoras and took back the control of the village. The Talpura Amirs erected a small fort at Manora near the village, which had some cannons brought in from Muscat. The fort had two doorways: one facing the sea known as Khaara Darwaaza (Brackish gate) and the other facing the Lyari river known as Meetha Darwaaza (Sweet gate).
The old fort at the Karachi harbor, the Karachi Fort (Charles Masson, 1830)
Views of the old village of Karachi (c. 1850)
Maggar Talao (Alligator Tank): a swampy oasis filled with alligators attributed to a miracle performed by Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a sufi saint in Sindh
An early map of the Karachi harbor (Carless, 1838)
