Alright, Pakistan!
You've probably heard of this guy: Maybe the news, maybe in litterature, maybe in movies.
Pakistan is sort of a societal paradox. It's only a little over half of a century old
yet it retains history that predates the pyramids of Egypt.
There's so much to discover so,
Pak your bags and stan-d on this bus ride to Pakistan!
(piano jingle) It's-time-to-learn-ge-o-gra-phy! Sheep: NOW!!!
Hey everyone I'm your host Barbs
Pakistan is kind of like the bridge between the Middle-East and the rest of Asia
It is the only nation on the world known to have been established on the basis of religion alone.
Bangladesh: What about me??
I mean originally kind of yes, but you were like one unit with Pakistan
and then you got a second independence based on you. not. liking. Pakistan
Bangladesh: Oh yeah that's right! Btw you should really re-do my episode.
It's completely outdated and you totally stole that map from JayForeman.
Oh I met up with Jay in London.
We had a jolly live stream chat and laughed about it.
Calm down, he's cool with me.
JayForeman: It's true I am cool with it. (deeper) I'm not really cool with it.
Anyway, time for Pakistan!
(POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY)
Pakistan, Pakistan... It's interesting because even the name which means "Pure land"
is even an acronym for the five formal regions of British India that joined together:
Punjab, Afghania Kashmir, Sindh and BalochiSTAN
PAK-STAN!
Later the 'i' was add to just help with prononciation.
Anyway, the map!
Pakistan is located in South Asia surrounded by Iran, Afghanistan, China and India
with the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the South.
The country is divided into 4 provinces and 3 territories including the capital Islamabad
that acts as its own territory.
Keep in mind, the Northern territories are administratively operated under Pakistan's government
but India still claims parts, or most of them.
The country's largest city and former capital though is Karachi in the Sindh province
with about 15 million people.
It holds the largest and busiest airport: Karachi Jinnah International
and the largest shipping port, the Port of Karachi
which handles about 60% of the nation's cargo.
However, the largest deep seaport in the world is actually here in Gwadar.
Recently, it has been going massive renovations and constructions funded by the Chinese
as it means to help with access to the Indian Ocean.
The nation's second largest city is Lahore in the Punjab province
which hold the 3rd busiest airport: Lahore Allama Iqbal International.
The country has a vast wide rail network extending from Karachi to Peshawar in the north
with branch lines extending to Iran, Afghanistan,
and a proposed line that goes up to China.
However, it would be very difficult considering that there are incredibly high mountains up further north
and today, there is only main road that crosses over from Pakistan into China:
The N-35 highway, otherwise known as the Karakoram highway, the world's highest paved road at over 4,000 meters above sea level.
This one little road is the life-giving artery on the 523km wide border
that gives China access to the Indian Ocean
and Pakistan access to the east,
circumnavigating around India which otherwise blocks them both.
Yeah, I mean it's really not hard to understand why China and Pakistan get along.
It's like:
Rep. of China: "GIVE ME ACCESS TO THE WEST!! UGH!"
British India: "Nope."
(Can anyone figure out what's going on here? I have no idea what they are posing about)
And now my favourite part of any episode:
Territorial ANOMALIES!
Yeah, you can see that there is a lot of backstory hidden within the valleys of Pakistan.
And it goes waaay back to the very important river
which brings us to:
(PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY)
Pakistan's landscape is incredibly diverse.
If you look at Pakistan above, you'll notice it has some prominent and distinctly contrasting features.
And it's very interesting how Pakistan used these features to their advantage.
For one, Pakistan is kind of precariously situated right at the convergence of of the Indian, Arabian and Eurasian plates zones.
This is what has created the dry hilly area known as the Sulaiman Range
and the Baluchistan plateau in the southwest.
Despite the Baluchistan province, the largest one
taking up about 44% of the country's land,
only about 6% of the population lives here.
This effectively made Baluchistan and Azad Kashmir the "earthquake capitals" of Pakistan.
The capital of Baluchistan, Quetta was nearly destroyed in 1935 yet rebuilt.
In the north, you can find the tallest peak, K2 or Chhogori, the second tallest mountain in the world,
straddling the border within the disputed Shaksum Valley that both India and China claim.
Keep in mind, 5 of the 14 tallest peaks in the world known as the "Eight thousanders" club
are located in the north of Pakistan,
4 in the Gilgit-Baltistan territory alone.
From there going south, you see the one iconic powerhouse lifeline of the entire nation:
The Indus River
fed by snowmelt from the mountains up north.
This is the longest river in the nation that has dozens of branches and tributaries that essentially feed the entire country.
In fact, the Indus River basin is the world's largest irrigation system
with over 58,000km of canals, cultivating over 230,000km of land.
Further south, you find the largest natural lake in the country, Manchar
along the edges of the Indus valley that flows into the Indus river delta
(DEMOGRAPHICS)
Thank you, Noah!
Now the weird thing about the entire South Asia subcontinent is that
when you look at the people,
many of them look exactly alike, and you would just assume they are basically relatives.
I mean, you have Pakistani Punjabis and Indian Punjabis.
Pakistani Kashmiris, Indian Kashmiris.
They have the same languages and same cultural traditions and history and customs.
And in most cases, they really are family.
But when it comes to nationhood and worldview,
the dichotomy makes a clear boundary that splits one side from the other.
DPRK: Mmm. "Keep talking, we're listening."
(Friend Zone)
Now you have to understand, Pakistan was kind of like a constructed state to consolidate religious communities in the former empire.
So that means with Pakistan, a lot of their diplomacy depends on strategy.
For one, even though they were a former colony,
they still have a somewhat neutral-ish kind of amicable relationship with the UK.
The UK has the largest population of Pakistanis in Europe, many come from the Mirpur district
and you can still see much of the cultural influences in their societly
such as cricket and driving on the left.
and even go so far to support Azerbaijan's side in the controversial disputes with Armenia.
In conclusion: Pakistan may have been formed in the 40s,
but you would have millennia of backstory with this place.
Pakistan, it is what it is, go for it.
Stay tuned, Palau is coming up next