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Diverse
Culture
Modern Pakistanis are a blend of their Harappan, Indo-Aryan, Indo-Iranian,
Saka, Parthian, Kushan, White Hun, Afghan, Arab, Turkic, and Mughal
heritage. Waves of invaders and migrants settled down in Pakistan
through out the centuries, influencing the locals and being absorbed
among them. Thus the region encompassed by modern-day Pakistan is
home to the oldest Asian civlization (and one of the oldest in the
world after Mesopotamia and Egypt), Indus Valley Civilization (2500
BC - 1500 BC).
The modern state of Pakistan was established on
14 August 1947, but the region it encompasses has an extensive history
that overlaps with the histories of Ancient India, Iran and Afghanistan.
The region was a crossroads of historic trade routes, including
the Silk Road, and was settled over thousands of years by many groups,
including Dravidians, Indo-Aryans, Persians, Greeks, Scythians,
Parthians Kushans, White Huns, Afghans, Arabs, Turks, and Mongols;
the region is often referred to as "a museum of races."
Historian and geographer de Blij Muller characterized the historical
embodiment of the land when he said, "If, as is so often said,
Egypt is the gift of the Nile, then Pakistan is the gift of the
Indus." The earliest evidence of humans are pebble tools from
the Soan Culture in the province of Punjab, dated from 100,000 to
500,000 years ago.
The Indus region was the site of several ancient
cultures including Mehrgarh, one of the world's earliest known towns,
and the Indus Valley Civilisation at Harrappa and Mohenjo-Daro.
The Indus Valley Civilisation collapsed in the middle of the second
millennium BCE and was followed by the Vedic Civilisation, which
extended over much of northern India and Pakistan. Successive empires
and kingdoms ruled the region from the Achaemenid Persian empire
around 543 BCE, to Alexander the Great in 326 BCE and the Mauryan
empire. The Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included
Gandhara and Punjab from 184 BCE, and reached its greatest extent
under Menander, establishing the Greco-Buddhist period with advances
in trade and culture. The city of Taxila (Takshashila) became a
major centre of learning in ancient times - the remains of the city,
located to the west of Islamabad, are one of the country's major
archaeological sites.
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