Pakistan
From ePedia, the electronic encyclopedia
The Islamic Republic of Pākistān (Urdu: اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان) is a country located in South Asia that overlaps onto the Greater Middle East. It has a one-thousand kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea in the south and borders Afghanistan and Iran to the west and the People's Republic of China in the far northeast. There is a long frontier with India to the east including a territorial dispute in the northerly Kashmir region.
The name Pakistan (IPA:/pɑːkɪsðɑːn/) means Land of the Pure in Urdu and Persian and is believed to have been coined by Choudhary Rahmat Ali who first published it on January 28, 1933 in the pamphlet Now or Never. He saw it as an acronym formed from the names of the "homelands" of Muslims in western South Asia — P for Punjab, A for Afghania, the Afghan areas of the region, K for Kashmir, S for Sindh and tan for Baluchistan. An i was later added to the English rendition of the name to ease pronunciation, producing Pakistan.
Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and the second most populous Muslim country. Pakistan was established in 1947, but the region has a long history of settlement and civilisation that includes some of the most ancient cultures. The region was invaded by Greeks, Persians and Arabs, before being incorporated into British India in the nineteenth century. Following independence, Pakistan has seen both instability with the loss of East Pakistan and significant military and economic growth, with the second-fastest growing economy amongst the ten most populous countries in the world in 2005 and the twenty-fifth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. Pakistan has the seventh largest armed forces in the world and is one of eight declared nuclear weapons states.
The name Pakistan (IPA:/pɑːkɪsðɑːn/) means Land of the Pure in Urdu and Persian and is believed to have been coined by Choudhary Rahmat Ali who first published it on January 28, 1933 in the pamphlet Now or Never. He saw it as an acronym formed from the names of the "homelands" of Muslims in western South Asia — P for Punjab, A for Afghania, the Afghan areas of the region, K for Kashmir, S for Sindh and tan for Baluchistan. An i was later added to the English rendition of the name to ease pronunciation, producing Pakistan.
Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and the second most populous Muslim country. Pakistan was established in 1947, but the region has a long history of settlement and civilisation that includes some of the most ancient cultures. The region was invaded by Greeks, Persians and Arabs, before being incorporated into British India in the nineteenth century. Following independence, Pakistan has seen both instability with the loss of East Pakistan and significant military and economic growth, with the second-fastest growing economy amongst the ten most populous countries in the world in 2005 and the twenty-fifth largest economy in terms of purchasing power parity. Pakistan has the seventh largest armed forces in the world and is one of eight declared nuclear weapons states.
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