Thread by @AleemUnar

Karachi -- A Brief History
Karachi’s known history dates back to almost 500 BC. Its natural harbour was used by indigenous fishermen of the area since prehistory. Then came the ancient Greeks who called this port by many names,
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including Krokola.Alexander the Great is said to have encamped here after his campaign in the Indus Valley, and then before he embarked with his fleet on his return to Babylonia.His admiral Nearchus is said to have sailed from the ‘Morontobara’ port — probably the modern
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Manora Island near the Karachi harbour.
Abdullah Shah Ghazi, one of the greatest Sufi saints of Sindh and also Ahl al-Bayt (from the family of Prophet Muhammad PBUH) arrived here from Kufa as a horse merchant-cum-trader in 760. Known for his bravery, he was called Ghazi
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and was buried along with his brother where his shrine now stands.
One of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent’s famous Ottoman admirals, Seydi Ali Reis mentions Debal and Manora Island in one of his books Mirat ul Memalik (The Mirror of Countries) in 1554.
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Debal was fortified during the Mughal period to ward off invasions by Portuguese colonial ships, but it was attacked in 1568 by Portuguese Admiral Fernão Mendes Pinto (1509-1583) in an attempt to destroy the Ottoman ships anchored at the Debal port.
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In 1720 a village grew by the name of Kolachi-jo-Goth (village of Kolachi) and began trading with Muscat and the Persian Gulf in the late 1720s.
In order to protect their village,
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the Sindhi sailors imported cannons from Oman and Muscat and the local populace constructed a small fort with two gateways. The one facing the sea was called ‘Kharra Darwaaza’ (Kharadar) while the other gateway faced the Lyari River and was known as ‘Metha Darwaaza’
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(Mithadar) — the names for those areas still stand.
The name Karachee first appeared on a document in 1742 of a Dutch merchant ship "de Ridderkerk" belonging to the Dutch East India Company when it was shipwrecked along its coast.
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After a few expeditions, the British East India Company, captured the town, two days after the Royal navy ship HMS Wellesley anchored off Manora Island on February 1, 1839. Karachi gained further importance after Sindh’s conquest by Maj. Gen. Charles James Napier in 1843,
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and went on to become part of the British Indian Empire. When Napier left, Karachi was made part of the Bombay Presidency. And in less than 175 years this small fishing village has now become a sprawling megalopolis, with nearly 23 million inhabitants.
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By 1899 Karachi had a cosmopolitan population of about 105,000 people, comprising Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, Europeans, Armenians, Malays Jews, Parsis,
Iranians, Lebanese, African & Goan inhabitants.
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By 1914, Karachi was the British Empire’s largest grain-exporting city. An aerodrome built in the city in 1924 became the main airport of entry into the British Raj & the metropolis came to be described as the `Paris of Asia.’
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