Early history are a Tentative
UNESCO World Heritage Site. The region around Karachi has been the site of human habitation for millennia.
Upper Paleolithic and
Mesolithic sites have been excavated in the
Mulri Hills along Karachi's northern outskirts. These earliest inhabitants are believed to have been
hunter-gatherers, with ancient
flint tools discovered at several sites. The expansive Karachi region is believed to have been known to the
ancient Greeks, and may have been the site of
Barbarikon, an ancient seaport which was located at the nearby mouth of the
Indus River. Karachi may also have been referred to as
Ramya in ancient Greek texts. The ancient site of
Krokola, a natural harbour west of the Indus where
Alexander the Great sailed his fleet for
Achaemenid Assyria, may have been located near the mouth of Karachi's
Malir River, though some believe it was located near
Gizri. No other natural harbour exists near the mouth of the Indus that could accommodate a large fleet.
Nearchus, who commanded Alexander's naval fleet, also mentioned a hilly island by the name of
Morontobara and an adjacent flat island named
Bibakta, which colonial historians identified as Karachi's
Manora Point and
Kiamari (or
Clifton), respectively, based on Greek descriptions. Both areas were island until well into the colonial era, when silting in led to them being connected to the mainland. In 711 CE,
Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the
Sindh and Indus Valley and the port of
Debal, from where he launched his forces further into the Indus Valley in 712. Some have identified the port with Karachi, though some argue the location was somewhere between Karachi and the nearby city of
Thatta. Under
Mirza Ghazi Beg, the
Mughal administrator of Sindh, the development of coastal Sindh and the
Indus River Delta was encouraged. Under his rule, fortifications in the region acted as a bulwark against
Portuguese incursions into
Sindh. In 1553–54,
Ottoman admiral Seydi Ali Reis, mentioned a small port along the Sindh coast by the name of
Kaurashi which may have been Karachi. The
Chaukhandi tombs in Karachi's modern suburbs were built around this time between the 15th and 18th centuries.
Kolachi settlement and the first port , built in 1797 to defend Karachi, was captured by the British on 3February 1839 and upgraded 1888–1889. The first port was established by the
Kalhoras near Karachi in the mid-18th century, known as Kharak Bander. Nineteenth century Karachi historian
Seth Naomal Hotchand recorded that a small settlement of 20–25 huts existed along the Karachi Harbour that was known as
Dibro, which was situated along a pool of water known as
Kolachi-jo-Kun. In 1725, a band of
Baloch settlers from
Makran and
Kalat had settled in the hamlet after fleeing droughts and tribal feuds. A new settlement was built in 1729 at the site of
Dibro, which came to be known as
Kolachi-jo-Goth ("The village of
Kolachi). The founders of the new fortified settlement were Sindhi
Baniyas, Kolachi was fortified, and defended with cannons imported from Muscat,
Oman. Under the Talpurs, the
Rah-i-Bandar road was built to connect the city's port to the caravan terminals. This road would eventually be further developed by the British into Bandar Road, which was renamed
Muhammad Ali Jinnah Road. The name
Karachee was used for the first time in a
Dutch document from 1742, in which a merchant ship
de Ridderkerk is shipwrecked near the settlement. In 1770s, Karachi came under the control of the
Khan of Kalat, which attracted a second wave of Balochi settlers. which was used to protect Karachi's Harbour from
al-Qasimi pirates. In 1799 or 1800, the founder of the Talpur dynasty, Mir Fateh Ali Khan, allowed the
East India Company under Nathan Crow to establish a trading post in Karachi. He was allowed to build a house for himself in Karachi at that time, but by 1802 was ordered to leave the city. The city continued to be ruled by the Talpurs until it was occupied by forces under the command of
John Keane in February 1839.
British control , date from the
British Raj. , such as the
KMC Building. The
British East India Company captured Karachi on 3February 1839 after opened fire and quickly destroyed
Manora Fort, which guarded Karachi Harbour at
Manora Point. Karachi's population at the time was an estimated 8,000 to 14,000, and was confined to the walled city in
Mithadar, with suburbs in what is now the
Serai Quarter. British troops, known as the "Company Bahadur" established a camp to the east of the captured city, which became the precursor to the modern
Karachi Cantonment. The British further developed the
Karachi Cantonment as a military garrison to aid the British war effort in the
First Anglo-Afghan War. Sindh's capital was shifted from
Hyderabad to Karachi in 1840 when Karachi was annexed to the
British Empire after Major General
Charles James Napier captured the rest of Sindh following his victory against the
Talpurs at the
Battle of Hyderabad. Following the 1843 annexation, the entire province was amalgamated into the
Bombay Presidency for the next 93 years, and Karachi remain the divisional headquarter. A few years later in 1846, Karachi suffered a large
cholera outbreak, which led to the establishment of the Karachi Cholera Board (predecessor to the city's civic government). The city grew under the administration of its new Commissioner,
Henry Bartle Edward Frere, who was appointed in the 1850s. Karachi was recognized for its strategic importance, prompting the British to establish the
Port of Karachi in 1854. Karachi rapidly became a transportation hub for British India owing to newly built port and rail infrastructure, as well as the increase in agricultural exports from the opening of productive tracts of newly irrigated land in
Punjab and
Sindh. By 1856, the value of goods traded through Karachi reached £855,103, leading to the establishment of merchant offices and warehouses. The population in 1856 is estimated to have been 57,000. During the
Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the 21st Native Infantry, then stationed in Karachi, mutinied and declared allegiance to rebel forces in September 1857, though the British were able to quickly defeat the rebels and reassert control over the city. Following the Rebellion, British colonial administrators continued to develop the city's infrastructure, but continued to neglect localities like
Lyari, which was home to the city's original population of Sindhi fishermen and Balochi nomads. At the outbreak of the
American Civil War, Karachi's port became an important cotton-exporting port, With increased economic opportunities, economic migrants from several ethnicities and religions, including Anglo-British,
Parsis,
Marathis, and
Goan Christians, among others, established themselves in Karachi, By 1899, Karachi had become the largest wheat-exporting port in the East. In 1901, Karachi's population was 117,000 with a further 109,000 included in the
Municipal area. after large irrigation works in
Sindh were initiated to increase wheat and cotton yields. Native Sindhis were upset by this influence, Riots erupted on 6January 1948, after which most of Sindh's Hindu population fled to India, Karachi became the focus for the resettlement of middle-class Muslim
Muhajir refugees who fled India, with 470,000 refugees in Karachi by May 1948, leading to a drastic alteration of the
city's demography. In 1941,
Muslims were 42% of Karachi's population, but by 1951 made up 96% of the city's population. Between 1958 and 1970, Karachi's role as capital of Sindh was ceased due to the
One Unit programme enacted by President
Iskander Mirza. Several examples of
Modernist architect were built in Karachi during this period, including the
Mazar-e-Quaid mausoleum, the distinct
Masjid-e-Tooba, and the
Habib Bank Plaza (the tallest building in all of South Asia at the time). The city's population by 1961 had grown 369% compared to 1941. Real-estate prices soared during this period, leading to a worsening housing crisis. The period also saw
labour unrest in Karachi's industrial estates beginning in 1970 that were violently repressed by the government of President
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto from 1972 onwards. To appease conservative forces, Bhutto banned alcohol in Pakistan, and cracked-down of Karachi's discotheques and cabarets – leading to the closure of Karachi's once-lively nightlife. The city's art scene was further repressed during the rule of dictator
General Zia-ul-Haq. At this time, Karachi was also rocked by political conflict, while crime rates drastically increased with the arrival of weaponry from the
War in Afghanistan. The party and its vast network of supporters were targeted by Pakistani security forces as part of the controversial
Operation Clean-up in 1992an effort to restore peace in the city that lasted until 1994. Anti-Hindu riots also broke out in Karachi in 1992 in retaliation for the demolition of the
Babri Mosque in India by a group of Hindu nationalists earlier that year. In 1996, two (02) more districts created in the
Karachi Division named
Central and
Malir districts. The 2010s saw another influx of hundreds of thousands of Pashtun refugees fleeing
conflict in North-West Pakistan and the
2010 Pakistan floods. In 2022 at least one million
flood affectees from
Sindh and
Balochistan took refuge in Karachi. A major fire broke out on 18 January 2026 at Gul Plaza, a large shopping mall in Karachi, Pakistan, killing at least 21 people and leaving more than 60 missing. The blaze, one of the city’s largest in over a decade, spread through the multi-story complex containing around 1,200 shops and burned for more than 24 hours before being mostly extinguished. Rescue teams later recovered bodies from the site while cranes demolished remaining structures amid collapse concerns. The fire caused widespread damage, with many shop owners losing years of investment and livelihoods. ==Geography==