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MAKRAN, or MEKRAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 452 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MAKRAN, or MEKRAN , a See also:province of See also:Baluchistan, fringing the Arabian See also:Sea from See also:Persia almost to See also:Sind for about 200 m. It is subject to the See also:khan of See also:Kalat under See also:British See also:political supervision. Estimated See also:area, 26,000 sq. m.; estimated pop. (1903), 78,000. The See also:long lateral valley of See also:Kej is usually associated with Makran in See also:early See also:geographical records. The Kej-Macoran of Marco See also:Polo is the Makran of to-See also:day. The long stretch of sandy See also:foreshore is broken on the See also:coast-See also:line by the magnificent cliffs of See also:Malan, the See also:hammer-shaped headlands of Ormarah and See also:Gwadar, and the precipitous cliffs of See also:Jebel Zarain, near Pasni. Within them lies the usual frontier See also:band of parallel ridges, alternating with narrow valleys. Amongst them the ranges called Talana and Talur are conspicuous by their height and See also:regular configuration. The normal conformation of the Baluchistan frontier is somewhat emphasized in Makran. Here the volcanic See also:action, which preceded the See also:general upheaval of See also:recent strata and the folding of the edges of the interior See also:highlands, is still in See also:evidence in occasional boiling mud volcanoes on the coast-line. It is repeated in the blazing See also:summit of the Kuh-i-taftan (the burning See also:mountain of the See also:Persian frontier) which is the highest active See also:volcano in See also:Asia (13,000 ft.), and probably the farthest inland.

Evidence of See also:

extinct mud volcanoes exists through a very wide.area in Baluchistan and See also:Seistan. Probably the miri, or fort, at See also:Quetta represents one of them. The coast is indented by several harbours. Ormarah, Khor Kalmat, Pasni and Gwadar are all somewhat difficult of approach by See also:reason of a See also:sand-See also:bar which appears to extend along the whole coast-line, and which is very possibly the last evidence of a submerged See also:ridge; and.they are all subject to a very lively surf under certain conditions of See also:wind. Of these the See also:port of Gwadar (which belongs to See also:Muscat and is therefore See also:foreign territory) is the most important. They all are .(or were) stations of the Indo-Persian See also:telegraph See also:system which unites See also:Karachi with See also:Bushire. With the exception of the Kej valley, and that of the Bolida, which is an affluent of the Kej, there are no considerable spaces of cultivation in Makran. These two valleys seem to concentrate the whole agricultural See also:wealth of the See also:country. They are picturesque, withthick groves of date palms at intervals, and are filled with crops and orchards. They are indeed exceedingly beautiful; and yet the surrounding See also:waste of hills is chiefly a barren repetition of See also:sun-cracked crags and ridges with parched and withered valleys intersecting them, where a trickle of See also:salt See also:water leaves a See also:white and leprous streak amongst the faded See also:tamarisk or the yellow stalks of last See also:season's grass. Makran is the See also:home of remnants of an in-numerable See also:company of mi.,ed See also:people gathered from the four corners of Asia and eastern See also:Africa. The See also:ancient Dravidians, of whom the See also:Brahui is typical, still exist in many of the districts which are assigned to them in See also:Herodotus.

Amongst them there is always a prominent Arab See also:

element, for the See also:Arabs held Makran even before they conquered Sind and made the Kej valley their See also:trade See also:highway to See also:India. There are negroes on the coast, bred from imported slaves. The Meds of the See also:Indus valley still See also:form the greater See also:part of the fishing See also:population, representing the See also:Ichthyophagi of See also:Arrian. The old See also:Tajik element of Persia is not so evident in Makran as it is farther See also:north; and the Karak pirates whose depredations led to the invasion of India and the See also:conquest of Sind, seem to have disappeared altogether. The See also:fourth See also:section includes the valleys formed by the Rakshan and Mashkel, which, sweeping downwards from the Kalat highlands and the Persian border See also:east and See also:west, unite to break through the intervening See also:chain of hills northward to form the Mashkel swamps, and define the See also:northern limits of Makran. •In these valleys are narrow strips of very advanced cultivation, the See also:dates of Panjgur being generally reckoned See also:superior even to those of the See also:Euphrates. The See also:great Mashkel swamp and the Kharan See also:desert to the east of it, See also:mark the See also:flat phase of See also:southern Baluchistan See also:topography. It is geologically part of an ancient inland See also:lake or sea which included the See also:present swamp regions of the See also:Helmund, but not the central depression of the Lora. The latter is buttressed against hills at a much higher See also:elevation than the Kharan desert, which is separated from the great expanse of the Helmund desert within the See also:borders of See also:Afghanistan by a trans-See also:verse band of serrated hills forming a distinct See also:watershed from See also:Nushki to Seistan. Here and there these jagged peaks appear as if See also:half overwhelmed by an advancing sea of sand. They are treeless and barren, and water is but rarely found at the edges of their See also:foot-hills. The Koh-i-See also:Sultan, at the western extremity of the northern See also:group of these irregular hills, is over 6000 ft. above sea-level, but the general level of the surrounding deserts is only about 2000 ft., sinking to 1500 ft. in the Mashkel Hamun and the Gaod-i-Zirreh.

The whole of this country has been surveyed by See also:

Indian surveyors and the boundary between Persian and British Baluchistan was demarcated by a See also:commission in 1895-1896. In 1898 a See also:column of British troops under See also:Colonel See also:Mayne was despatched to Makran by sea, owing to a See also:rebellion against the authority of the khan of Kalat, and an attack made by some Makran chiefs on a British survey party. The See also:campaign was See also:short and terminated with the See also:capture of the Kej citadel. Another similar expedition was required in 1901 to See also:storm the fort at Nodiz. The headquarters of the native See also:governor, under the khan of Kalat, are at Turbat, with deputies at Tump, Kolwa, Pasni and Panjgur. A See also:levy See also:corps, with two British See also:officers, is stationed along the western frontier. The port of Gwadur forms an See also:enclave belonging to the sultan of Muscat. Baluchistan See also:District Gazetteer, vol. vii. (Bombay, 1907). (T. H.

End of Article: MAKRAN, or MEKRAN

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