THE EARLY HISTORY OF KARACHI CITY: AN EXPLORATION

Abstract

The present study intends to explore the early history of Karachi starting from the beginning of the eighteenth century when the city was just a small fishing village. However, due to its ideal geographic location it turned into a commercial town and a busy port soon. In this respect, the current research sheds light on the antiquity of the town through various important historical events that have been mentioned in the ancient and medieval chronicles. Furthermore, the paper also discusses different theories regarding the etymology of Karachi that have been revealed through oral traditions as well as the historical accounts. This paper particularly deals with the two general notions regarding the founders of the city whether it was a fishermen’s village or it was a Baloch village. In this paper, an effort is made to highlight the early history of Karachi through scrutinizing the early sources