The Baloch nation has an amazing story across ancient lands now split between modern countries. Their journey shows how hard they have fought to keep their ancestral culture and homelands. This vast geography has been shaped by invasions and conflicts over centuries, but reflects the Baloch nation’s brave efforts to regain unity and independence.
The Baloch are a very old nation of people with an interesting history and culture. Their ancestral homeland is called Balochistan. This region spreads across parts of modern-day Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan. Over many centuries, the land areas considered part of Balochistan have changed a lot due to invasions, political changes, and different ruling groups taking power.
Scholars who study the Baloch, like Rakim al-Haruf, have looked at the geography of their homeland in two ways:
- The areas where the Baloch people have lived since ancient times, no matter who was in charge politically.
- The specific regions where the Baloch nation itself ruled and decided the official geographical boundaries.
Historically, the lands inhabited by the Baloch covered a massive area. It stretched from what is now eastern Iran all the way to parts of Central Asia and northwestern India. This huge region included areas that are now northern Iran, like the Alborz Mountains, Mazandaran, Gilan provinces, the eastern Iranian deserts, parts of northwestern Iran near Armenia and Turkey, southern Afghanistan from Kandahar to Zaranj (Helmand), and various areas within today’s Pakistan.
Over time, many of these original Baloch homelands came under the control of other nations and empires. The Aryan peoples took over big parts of Baloch lands, either forcing the local Baloch population out or making them adopt the Aryan culture and way of life. The Afghan nation absorbed the Baloch living in southern Afghanistan. And within Pakistan, there have been efforts to divide the Baloch tribes and integrate them into other ethnic groups like Punjabis, Sindhis or Saraikis.
Despite losing much territory, small communities of Baloch people still live in their ancestral homelands, which are now part of different countries. This includes areas within Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and the Zagros Mountains between Iran and Turkey, which were once home to the famous Baloch tribe.
Throughout history, various Baloch tribes ruled different parts of their vast homeland, but there was no single, united government over all of them. It was not until the 1400s AD that the Kambrani Baloch established their rule in the Sorab region and tried to bring the scattered Baloch tribes together under one geographical boundary.
The Ahmadzai branch of the Kambrani clan played a big role in expanding Balochistan’s borders and uniting the Baloch tribes. Leaders like Mir Ahmad Khan , Mir Abdullah Khan, and Mir Naseer Khan Noori worked hard on this goal. Mir Naseer Khan Noori was the first to clearly define the borders of Balochistan, saying to Ahmad Shah Durrani that “the boundaries of my kingdom stretch as far as the Balochi language is spoken.”
The United Baloch Kingdom
At its peak under Mir Naseer Khan Noori, the united Baloch kingdom covered what is now the Baloch areas of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Its total area was around 340,000 square miles. Most of the people living in this vast territory were Baloch tribes, finally united into one national state.
However, when the British arrived in the 1800s and got involved in Balochistan, they broke up this united Baloch kingdom. Through deals like the Goldsmid Line in 1871 and the Durand Line in 1893, the British separated big chunks of Balochistan and gave them to Iran, Afghanistan, and the provinces of Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa within British-ruled India.
After Pakistan became an independent nation, the current Pakistani province of Balochistan covers only around 134,000 square miles – less than half of the original Baloch homeland area. Efforts to re-unite the Baloch areas now in other Pakistani provinces or in Iran and Afghanistan have largely failed so far.
The geography of Balochistan itself is very diverse, with four main types of landscapes:
- Upper Highlands – The central/east-central hills rising over 12,000 feet with valleys at 5,000 feet.
- Lower Highlands – Eastern areas like the Sulaiman Range, parts of Kirthar Range and Chagai Hills up to 5,000 feet high.
- Plains – The Kacchi, Lasbela and Dasht-e-Makran plains around 250 feet above sea level.
- Desert – The southwestern region is covered in vast desert landscapes.
The Scattered Baloch Population is hard to count how many Baloch people there are in total, since they are spread out across different regions and countries, disconnected from their original homeland. However, estimates suggest the global Baloch population may be between 6 to 7 million people or a bit more, scattered throughout Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and beyond.
Despite the challenges of being so scattered, the Baloch nation has maintained its rich cultural traditions and strong identity. Their ancestral Balochistan homelands, with diverse landscapes and seasons, have shaped a unique way of life – from agriculture to crafts and customs. Balochistan is almost like a bouquet, where one can experience all four seasons at once, contributing to the vibrancy of Baloch culture.
Despite these immense challenges across the centuries, the fierce independence of the Baloch spirit remains unbroken. Their disparate communities continue striving to preserve their unique cultural heritage, advocate for rights, and reestablish sovereignty over their ancestral homeland – even if its geographical boundaries have been drastically redrawn by the forces of history.
Article Written by Faryal Baloch, an independent researcher.
