Balochistan : Map by Map

Map 1: 1724

It was made by the famous French cartographer Guillaume Delisle in 1724. Unified Balochistan (Mecran) can be seen within yellow boundaries. The map reads in French, ‘habite par les Baluches nation féroce et guerrière'(inhabited by the Baluches, a ferocious and warlike nation). Immanuel Kant was born in the same year, and Pakistan’s national language, Urdu, was still developing and known as ‘Moorish jargon’ among western foreigners.

Reference:

Author: L’Isle, Guillaume de, 1675-1726

Publication Date: 1724

Short Title: Carte de Perse.

Publisher: Guillaume De L’Isle, Quai de l’Horloge Publisher

Location: Paris

Map 2: 1829

The map shows a unified Balochistan and includes Sindh as part of Balochistan because Sindh has a large Baloch population and was ruled by a Baloch dynasty, the Talpurs, from 1783 to 1843 (until British colonisation).

Reference:

Author: Weiland, C. F. (Carl Ferdinand), 1782-1847

Publication Date: 1829

Short Title: Iran, Afghanistan und Beludschistan

Publisher: Verlag des Geographischen Instituts

Location: Weimar

 

Map 3: 1839

Made by the French cartographer Augustin Legrand and published in 1839, the same year when the British Army stormed Balochistan’s capital Kalat (also known as Kelat/Khelat) and the founder of the Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh, died.

Reference:

Author: Legrand, Augustin

Publication Date: 1839

Short Title: Exposition geographique XIII Tableau : Comprenant L’Asie et l’Afrique

Publisher: Bulla

Location: Paris

 

Map 4: 1876

This map was published by Japan for school curriculums in 1876. Japan was undergoing a transformation from a feudal society into an industrialised nation under Emperor Meiji. The western part of Balochistan was illegally given to Persia in 1871 by the British Empire, but the map still shows a unified Balochistan. (Light purple coloured country is Balochistan)

Reference:

Author: 三宅秀一編 [Shūichi MIYAKE].

Publication Date: 1876

Short Title:萬國地誌畧暗射掲圖 / 亜細亜之部 [Topographical Record of the Nations / Asia].

Publisher: Morimoto Tasuke

Location: Osaka

 

Map 5: 1884

Published in 1884 in Edinburgh, the western part of Balochistan is shown as part of Persia after the Goldsmid line was imposed on Balochistan in 1871 by the British Empire. The maps show the historical town with Balochi names that were later Persianised by the Persian colonisers.

Reference:

Author: Black, Adam; Black, Charles

Publication Date: 1884

Short Title: Adam & Charles Black

Publisher: Morimoto Tasuke

Location: Edinburgh

 

Map 6: 1900

Published in 1900 from London, the Durand Line was imposed on Afghan and Baloch people in 1893. Afghanistan’s territory was merged into British India and British Baluchistan, while Balochistan’s northern lands were given to Afghanistan.

Reference:

Author: Andree, Richard; Times (London, England)

Publication Date: 1900

Short Title: Afghanistan and Baluchistan

Publisher: The Office of The Times

Location: London

 

Map 7: 1948

The last map of Balochistan as an independent and sovereign state was published in 1948. Newly created Pakistan still did not appear on the map. Once a unified country, Balochistan was divided and merged into three areas (British Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and Iran) by the British Empire, and then the eastern part also known as Kalat State was invaded by Pakistan.

Reference:

Author: Hammond, C.S.

Publication Date: 1948

Short Title: Japan and Korea. Iran (Persia), Afghanistan, and Baluchistan.

Publisher: Garden City Publishing Company, Inc.

Location: Garden City, New York

 

Map 8: Current map of the region

Balochistan gradually disappeared from the World Map as a sovereign state.