One of history's great caravan routes runs through Pakistan, from the 'cross roads of the world' in Afghanistan, to India and the ancient maritime highways of the Arabian Sea. Armies followed trade, and the territory has been repeatedly invaded and fought over. But the borders were drawn without regard for ethnic boundaries. They were established by the British, when they ruled all India, and their main concern was military security.
Geographically Pakistan divides into three regions. The largest is the central plain country: the river basin of the Indus and its tributaries. In the north and west are mountains including some of the world's highest peaks; the peak of K2 (Godwin Austen) in Kashmir a territory also claimed by India - is the second highest in the world at 8611 m (28 251 ft).
Pakistan was born out of Britain's Indian empire when it became independent in 1947. It had been hoped to keep the territory as one state, but it proved impossible to reconcile the religious and cultural differences of the two major factions, the Hindus and the Muslims. So, largely because of the campaigning of the Muslim leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan was created for the Muslims. The new state was an ungainly creation: two territories separated by a piece of northern India.
The eastern territory, predominantly Bengali, was the more important exporter of Pakistan’s early day, supplying most of the world's jute. Little of the resulting wealth was reinvested in the east. The Bengalis became the poor relations of West Pakistan and began to demand their own self-governing state.
In 1971 a guerrilla war broke out in the east, which the Pakistani government tried to repress with force. Millions of refugees poured into India, which intervened and found itself at war with Pakistan. The war resulted in East Pakistan becoming the independent state of Bangladesh in 1971.
From 1971 (West) Pakistan struggled to find its new identity. The four major regional groups are the Punjabis, Baluchis, Sindhis and Pathans, but their societies are overlaid by other groups. Rich urban Muslim, the Muhajirs, migrated from India in 1947 and became a major force, particularly in business.
Pakistan began as an exporter of raw materials and an importer of manufactures. All governments have tried to make the country more self-reliant by industrialisation. Spectacular industrial growth was achieved in the 1960s, thanks largely to massive aid from the USA and from the rich Muslim Arab nations.