KARACHI (kii-ralfche), a seaport city on the west coast of India, immediately to the north of the Indus delta. It is at once the headquarters town of the district of Karachi, the capital of Sind province, administrative, commercial and military, and the third port of India. Its population, which was 263,565 in 1931, has almost doubled since 1901 and continues to increase rapidly.
Neither the actual site nor the immediate surroundings of Karachi suggest conditions favourable to the emergence of a city of such importance. It stands on a backwater opening south on the east-west stretch of coast which marks a sharp change in direction of the shore line between Cape Monze and the Indus delta. Westward this backwater is screened from the sea by the rocky point of Manora, cemented to the mainland by a sand spit. On its eastern side it is defined by what was once the island of Kiamari but which, as a result of the construction of the Napier Mole (185o) and subsequent reclamation undertakings, no longer retains its insular identity. Formerly the harbour could be entered from both sides of Kiamari. The western approach, passing under Manora point has always been the principal, and to-day is the only one ; the eastern was closed when Chinna creek was finally blocked in 1873. Prior to improvements follow ing upon British occupation the backwater filled and emptied with every tide, and presented at low water a stretch of mud flats and mangrove swamps. The deep-water anchorage lay off Kia mari and here ships had to unload into small boats which pro ceeded with the tide up to Karachi.
To the landward there is desert. A line drawn from the city of Karachi to Tatta roughly divides Karachi district into two physical divisions. To the north is a thirsty, prevailingly hilly land scape (Kohistan), the limestone spurs of the Kirthar range break ing down southwards into sandy wastes. Crossing the line into the southern division). the Indus delta is entered. This is a monotonous expanse of recent alluvium riddled by creeks and passing seaward into mangrove swamp. Physically divergent, the two divisions are alike in that they afford little support to human life. On the whole Karachi district is agriculturally one of the poorest in Sind. Yet something may be credited to the natural endowment of Karachi.
The natural scour of the backwater under the action of cur rents on either side of Kiamari was a real asset along a coast prone to suffer severely from silting, and the port owes its foundation and early development by Hindu merchants, two and a half centuries ago, primarily to this. About that time the
port at the outfall of the Habb river in the neighbourhood of Cape Monze, serving Baluchistan, became choked, while a simi lar fate was always overtaking ports at the mercy of the shifting Indus. The natural protection against monsoon storms afforded by Manora headland may be noted also, and the fact too that it furnished an excellent site for the defence of the harbour. Thus the Mirs, who gained Karachi from the khan of Kalat in 1795, erected a permanent fort on it, eventually demolished by British guns in 1839. Finally, the location of the port, apart from, but in immediate proximity to, the Indus delta and established ports at its head, offered possibilities which the trading genius and rare diplomacy of its founders exploited from the outset. Karachi soon came to short circuit the tidal creeks of the great river by establishing direct connections, road and water, eastwards with centres upstream.
Yet it remains true that the "arrival" of Karachi is due to its key situation in the scheme of empire space relationships, strategic and economic. Its strategic value in relation to the North-West Frontier, Near East, and the all-red route via Suez, is obvious. Karachi is the nearest Indian port to Europe, being 6,077 miles from London, via Suez; Zoo miles nearer than Bombay, the only other developed first-class harbour on the west coast of India. Aerial developments are enhancing its situation. It already has an R.A.F. cantonment. It is to serve as a main base in the imperial airship scheme, England to Australia and work on an airship shed began in 1926. The site, covering 600 acres, was presented by the Indian Government, who are also assisting this scheme with a grant-in-aid of four lakhs of rupees. A mast will be erected if ultimately deemed necessary. Meteorological or ganization is proceeding and weather forecasting for the area Karachi to the head of the Persian gulf is undertaken. Proximity to oil fuel, abundant space at sea-level, immunity from floods and heavy rains, minimum frequency of low cloud all favour Karachi from an aerial standpoint, and it is largely for climatic reasons that it has been preferred as a main base over Bombay and Calcutta. In connection with the Cairo-Karachi aeroplane service, an aerodrome has been provided and cleared, and a hangar is in course of erection. There is also an emergency landing ground available and marked. Lastly, Eastern Airways Ltd. (cap. £375, 000) has just issued its programme, which includes, inter alia, services between Karachi and Bombay and Karachi and Delhi.