Karachi: from twenty-five huts to twenty million people

A short history

The settlement was founded in 1729 as Kolachi-jo-Goth, the village of Kolachi, named for a woman whose son is said to have killed a man-eating crocodile in the harbour. Before the British it was a fishing community of twenty or twenty-five huts.

The East India Company took it in 1839. The Port of Karachi was established in 1854 and the railways followed, and by 1914 Karachi was the largest wheat-exporting port in the entire British Empire.

It was Pakistan's first capital from 1947 until 1958. Partition changed the city's population completely — hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees arrived from India while most of the Hindu population left.

The nickname City of Lights comes from the 1960s and 70s, when the nightlife was famous across the region.

Places worth your time

Mohatta Palace

A 1920s pink-stone palace in Clifton, now a museum, and the prettiest building in the city.

Empress Market

Built in 1889 and still the working market of Saddar. Go for the building and stay for the spice hall.

Frere Hall

Victorian Gothic, with gardens, and a ceiling painted by Sadequain upstairs that is worth asking to see.

Mazar-e-Quaid

Jinnah's mausoleum, finished in the 1960s — white marble, severe lines, and best at dusk when it is lit.

Manora

A former island reached by boat from Keamari, with a lighthouse, a beach and very little else.

Burns Road and Boat Basin

The two food districts. Burns Road for old Karachi, Boat Basin for the late-night version.

Before you go

November to February is pleasant; May onward is hot and humid. Two hours by air from Islamabad. Give it three days, and use taxis rather than walking between districts.