It is the largest city in Pakistan and 12th largest in the world, with a population of over 20 million. The region has been inhabited for millennia, [ 25 ] but the city was formally founded as the fortified village of Kolachi as recently as British administrators embarked on substantial projects to transform the city into a major seaport, and connect it with the extensive railway network of the Indian subcontinent. Karachi holds more than two million Bengali immigrants , a million Afghan refugees , and up to , Rohingyas from Myanmar.
Karachi is now Pakistan's premier industrial and financial centre. Known as the "City of Lights" in the s and s for its vibrant nightlife, [ 48 ] Karachi was beset by sharp ethnic, sectarian, and political conflict in the s with the large-scale arrival of weaponry during the Soviet—Afghan War. Modern Karachi was reputedly founded in as the settlement of Kolachi-jo-Goth during the rule of Kalhora dynasty. The region around Karachi has been the site of human habitation for millennia.
Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic sites have been excavated in the Mulri Hills along Karachi's northern outskirts. These earliest inhabitants are believed to have been hunter-gatherers , with ancient flint tools discovered at several sites. The expansive Karachi region is believed to have been known to the ancient Greeks , and may have been the site of Barbarikon , an ancient seaport which was located at the nearby mouth of the Indus River.
The ancient site of Krokola , a natural harbour west of the Indus where Alexander the Great sailed his fleet for Achaemenid Assyria , may have been located near the mouth of Karachi's Malir River , [ 59 ] [ 60 ] [ 61 ] though some believe it was located near Gizri. Under his rule, fortifications in the region acted as a bulwark against Portuguese incursions into Sindh. In —54, Ottoman admiral Seydi Ali Reis , mentioned a small port along the Sindh coast by the name of Kaurashi which may have been Karachi.
The first port was established by the Kalhoras near Karachi in the midth century, known as Kharak Bander. A new settlement was built in at the site of Dibro , which came to be known as Kolachi-jo-Goth "The village of Kolachi".
