HISTORY. Baluchistan, which is first men tioned by the historians of Alexander the Great under the name of fIedrosia, was ruled from early times to the end of the Seventeenth Cen tury by a line of Hindu primps. Hard pressed by the mountain tribes of the interior, the Hin du rulers summoned to their aid the Bralmis, under their leader Numbar, who subdued the predatory tribes, and then made themselves masters of the country. The descendants of Kumbar established themselves firmly in power, and were confirmed in their authority by the celebrated Nadir Shah, ruler of Persia, who overran the region on his expedition into India in 1739. Under the energetic Nasir Khan (1139-93), the supremacy of the Khan of Khelat was successfully asserted over the numerous tribal chiefs. British influence in Baluchistan dates from 1839. when. in reprisal for the Khan's hostile conduct, Khelat was stormed by General Wiltshire. By a treaty of alliance con
cluded between Nasir Khan II. and Great Brit ain in 1854. that ruler, in return for an annual subsidy of 50.000 rupees, later increased to 100,000, conceded to the British the right of armed intervention in any part of his territory— an exercise of power which the British Govern ment carried to the extent of forcing the resigna tion of the ruler of Khelat, Mir Mahmud Khan, in 1893. The present status in Baluchistan was created by treaties in the years 1876 and 1883. Consult: Macgregor, Wanderings in. Balochistan (London, 1882) ; Mockler. "Origin of the Bal oeh," in Asiatic Journal (Calcutta, 1896) : Noet ling. "Veber priihistorische Niederlassungen in Baluchistan," in Zeitsehrift file Anthropologic find Ethnotogic (Berlin, 1899) ; Bellew, Races of Afghanistan (London, ISso).