Ancient The inhabitation of Gwadar, like most of
Balochistan, appears to be ancient. The area shows inhabitation as early as the
Bronze Age with settlements around some of the area's
oasis. It is from this settlement pattern that the word
Makran, the original name of Balochistan, is derived. For a period, it was a region of the
Achaemenid Persian Empire. It is believed to have been
conquered by the founder of the Persian Empire,
Cyrus the Great. The capital of the
satrapy of Gedrosia was
Pura, which is thought to have been located near the modern
Bampūr, in
Iranian Balochistan. During the homeward march of
Alexander the Great, his
admiral,
Nearchus, led a fleet along the modern-day Makran coast and recorded that the area was dry, mountainous, and inhabited by the "
Ichthyophagoi" 'fish-eaters', an
ancient Greek rendering of the
ancient Persian phrase "
Mahi Khorana," which has itself become the modern word "
Makran". After the collapse of Alexander's empire the area was ruled by
Seleucus Nicator, one of Alexander's generals. The region then came under
Mauryan rule around 303 BCE, after Seleucus made peace with Emperor
Chandragupta and ceded the territory to the Mauryans. The descendants of the original inhabitants are known as
Med people, They were mentioned in the early Muslim historiography as seafarers; some of them were pirarea as
Bawarij in the
Indian Ocean from their harbors in
Debal,
Kutch and
Kathiawar, to as far as the mouth of river
Tigris and
Ceylon. Today they are integrated and speak Baloch and Urdu. They are related to the early Sindhi peoples of Makran such as the
Jadgals.
Omani rule until the
Arab-
Muslim army captured Makran in
CE 643 and the area was contested by various powers. This was then followed by almost two centuries of local rule by the various
Baloch tribes. The city was visited by
Ottoman Admiral Seydi Ali Reis in the 1550s and mentioned in his book
Mirat ul Memalik (The Mirror of Countries), 1557. According to Seydi Ali Reis, the inhabitants of Gwadar were
Baloch and their chief was Malik Jelaleddin, son of Malik Dinar. In the 15th century the Portuguese conquered parts of India and Oman. They planned to proceed with annexation of the coastal area of Makran. They attacked Gwadar under the leadership of
Vasco da Gama, but under the supervision of Commander Mir Ismaheel Baloch, the Portuguese were defeated by the Baloch. A few times the Portuguese looted and set the coastal villages on fire, but they failed to capture Gwadar. Cannons of the Portuguese army were found lying near the Central Jail of Gwadar. The grave of Mir Ismaheel Baloch is situated near the Mountain of Batal Gwadar, constructed by Mir Ismaheel Baloch himself during life. He died in 1468, heirless. Towards the end of the 18th century, the
Khan of Kalat,
Nasir Khan I Ahmadzai, granted
suzerainty over Gwadar to
Sultan bin Ahmad, the ruler of
Muscat. When the
sultan subsequently retook Muscat, he was to continue his rule in Gwadar by appointing a
wali (or "governor"). This
wali was then ordered to subjugate the nearby coastal town of
Chabahar (now in Iran). The Gwadar
fort was built during
Omani rule. In the middle of the 18th century, Nasir Khan captured Gwadar and its surrounding areas after defeating the Gichki Baloch tribe and included it in the
Khanate of Kalat. However, realizing that maintaining control of the area will be difficult without the support of the
Gichkis, Nasir Khan entered into an agreement with the local Gichki Chief, which allowed the Gichkis to maintain administrative control of the area by establishing their own separate
state of Makran, in return for furnishing half the collected revenues to Kalat. This arrangement continued till 1783. When Saiad Sultan fell out with his brother, the ruler of Muscat, and asked for help, Nasir Khan handed over Gwadar, as part of his share of revenues, to Saiad Sultan for his maintenance with the understanding that the area be returned to Kalat, when Saiad Sultan acquires the throne. Saiad Sultan ascended to the throne of Muscat in 1797 but never returned Gwadar enclave to Kalat. The ensuing struggle between the heirs of the Sultan and Khan of Kalat for possession of Gwadar, allowed the British to intervene.
Telegraph lines were later extended into the town courtesy of the
British. During the Omani rule various groups settled in Gwadar from
Sindh such as the
Al Lawati which predominantly settled in Oman proper and Muslim
Kanjar people who escaped the British to Gwadar to escape persecution for their nomadic lifestyle. The main two
Wali of Gwadar were Saif Bin Ali (First) and Ehsan Azim also written as (Last) from 1783–1958. The British, after extracting concessions from the Sultan for the use of the area, facilitated Muscat retaining Gwadar. Later on, the British claimed that the area was granted to the Sultan by Mir Nasir, however, local accounts and the declassified documents of that time challenge this claim. From 1863 to 1879, Gwadar was the headquarters of a British Assistant Political Agent. Gwadar was a fortnightly port of call for the
British India Steam Navigation Company's steamers and included a combined Post & Telegraph Office.
Pakistan In 1947,
Makran acceded to the newly created
Dominion of Pakistan and was made a district – but Gwadar at that time was not included in Makran. In 1958, the Prime Minister of Pakistan
Feroz Khan Noon and his wife
Viqar-un-Nisa Noon were able to convince the British Government to hand over Gwadar to Pakistan. On 8 September 1958, Oman finally handed over Gwadar to Pakistan after Prince Karim Aga Khan IV made a contribution of around $3 million USD. It was given the status of a
Tehsil of Makran district. On 1 July 1977, Makran District was upgraded into a division and was divided into three districts of
Turbat (Kech since 1994–95),
Panjgur and Gwadar. Gwadar underwent major development from 2002 to 2007. In 2002, Pakistan's
National Highway Authority (NHA) began construction of the 653 km-long
Makran Coastal Highway linking Gwadar with
Karachi via
Pasni and
Ormara and onwards with the rest of the
National Highways of Pakistan, which was completed in 2004. In 2003, the Gwadar Development Authority was established to oversee the planning and development of Gwadar and Gwadar Industrial Estate Development Authority was established to promote industrial activities in mega port city of Gwadar. In 2004, NHA began construction of the 820-km long
M-8 motorway linking Gwadar with
Ratodero in
Sindh province via
Turbat,
Hoshab,
Awaran, and
Khuzdar and onwards with the rest of the
Motorways of Pakistan. In 2006, the Gwadar Development Authority conceived, developed, and adopted a 50-year Master Plan for Gwadar, which was inspired by the Chinese port city of
Shenzhen. In 2007, the
Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan acquired to construct a new
greenfield airport, the New
Gwadar International Airport , at an estimated cost of US$246 million. The
expressway connects the Gwadar Port with the Makran Coastal Highway, thus improving connectivity and helping the transportation of goods towards Karachi. Other developments include 100MW Electricity import from
Iran, multiple Housing Schemes, 5-star Hotels, Expo Centre, Desalination Plants on Arabian Sea, Pak-China Friendship Hospital, Aramco Oil Refinery (foreign investment from Saudi Arabia) and an ICC Standard Cricket Stadium. == Geography ==