Karachi کراچی

View of Merewether Clock Town in downtown Karachi, Pakistan | Karachi


Karachi (کراچی) is the biggest city in Pakistan. The city district covers 3,527 sq km (1,361 sq mi) and has a population of 13 million people, within a metropolitan area of 24 million people. Karachi is the main port as well as financial centre for Pakistan. It is also the provincial capital of Sindh. The city is the 10th largest urban agglomeration in the world.

Karachi is located in the southern part of Pakistan facing the Arabian Sea. It has been inhabited since ancient times. Even the Greeks know about it, as Alexander the Great camped there in preparation of his invasion of Babylonia. It was known by many different names, among them Krokola, Barbarikon and Devak. The present name originated as Kolachi as used by the fishing tribes living in the area.

By the 18th century, Kolachi has growed into a trading port. The Sindhi people built a fort here to protect their city. The British conquered the city on 1 February 1839, and brought it within the British Indian Empire.

Karachi became the capital of Sindh in the 1840's. Under the British, the port of Karachi was developed to export produce of the Indus River basin. By the time Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was born in the city in 1876, it had become a bustling city. By 1899 it was the biggest exporter of wheat in the East.

Karachi continued to grow into a metropolis with many elegant colonial buildings. When Pakistan gained its independence in 1947, Karachi was chosen to be the capital. Its population experienced another boom with an influx of Muslim refugees from India. The capital was relocated in 1958 to Rawalpindi, and then in 1960 to the purpose-built Islamabad.

Karachi remains today the main financial and industrial nerve center of Pakistan, with the largest proportion of the country's white collar workers as well as the biggest contributor to its GDP.

Visiting Karachi

Visitors to Karachi arrive at the Jinnah International Airport (KHI), which receives flights from Delhi, Dubai, Singapore, London and Toronto, among others.

Places of Interest to visit in Karachi

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