In 1728, the estuary of the Hub River to the west of what is now Karachi, which then formed the port of Kharak Bunder, silted up. The Hindu merchants who used this port were forced to look for other means of access. 1/n http://arifhasan.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Understanding-Asian-Cities.pdf

In 1792, they chose the bay of Karachi eighteen miles to the east and established a small town near its existing fishermen’s village called “Kolachi jo Goth”. This town came to be known as Karachi 2/n

Kolachi began growing into a city in the early eighteenth century as a transit trade route between the Indian peninsula, Central Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. In 1839, the British occupied the city and..3/n

used it for landing troops and armour for their campaigns in Afghanistan to contain the Russians. In 1843, they annexed Sindh to the Empire and made Karachi its administrative centre. 4/n

After 1843, Karachi expanded rapidly, the population increasing from fifteen thousand to fifty-six
34 thousand by 1870 . The new railroad network linked Karachi to agricultural Sindh and Punjab
which had developed 5/n

as a result of the perennial canal irrigation system introduced by the British making it an export route for the voluminous agriculture produce. By 1922, the population of the city had increased to 203,000 6/n

The Czarist and later Soviet pressure on the western frontier of British India increased Karachi importance, and it became a strategic naval and military cantonment. During the Second World War, or the European War of 1939-45, it was used again as a landing port for troops 7/n

& materials for the eastern front, and & developed to meet the growing military needs. In 1941, the population of the city was recorded as 435,887. After 1947, when the British Indian Empire was partitioned & Pakistan was created, Karachi was made its first capital. 8/n

In 1947, Karachi’s population was just above 400,000 people, but with the influx of refugees from India between 1947 and 1951 it became 1, 37,000. Majority of the migrants were poor and destitute who occupied all open spaces in the city centre. 9/n

All public amenities and civic services were greatly over stretched as a result and maintaining health and sanitation became a major issue. Most of these refugee settlements were multi-ethnic and multi-class. 10/n

A number of civil servants, intellectuals, poets & politicians also came to live in Karachi lending it an administrative and intellectual value. There was an immense cultural, ethnic and linguistic change as a 92 percent Urdu speaking predominantly ..11/n

Muslim population replaced over 61.2 percent Sindhi speaking predominantly Hindu population. These changes have had a major effect on the culture, politics and development of the city. 12/12