Pakistan
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
| Islamic Republic of Pakistan اسلامی جمہوریۂ پاکستان Islāmī Jamhūriya-i-Pākistān |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||
| National information | |||||
| National motto: | Iman, Ittehad, Nazm (Urdu: Faith, Unity, Discipline) |
||||
| National anthem: | Pak sarzamin shad bad (Blessed Be The Sacred Land) |
||||
| About the people | |||||
| Official languages: | Urdu and English | ||||
| Population: (# of people) | |||||
| - Total: | {{{populationtotal}}} (ranked 6) | ||||
| - Density: | 186 per km² | ||||
| Geography / Places | |||||
 |
|||||
| Capital city: | Islamabad | ||||
| Largest city: | Karachi | ||||
| Area | |||||
| - Total: | 880,254 (ranked 34) | ||||
| - Water: | 27,288 km² (3.1%) | ||||
| Politics / Government | |||||
| Established: | 14th August 1947 | ||||
| Leaders: | President Pervez Musharraf Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz |
||||
| Economy / Money | |||||
| Currency: (Name of money) |
Rupee (Rs.) | ||||
| International information | |||||
| Time zone: | +5:00 (Pakistan Standard Time) | ||||
| Telephone dialing code: | 92 | ||||
| Internet domain: | .pk | ||||
Pakistan is a country in South Asia, next to is the Republic of India[1], Iran, Afghanistan, and China. It has a long coastline along the Arabian Sea in the south. Pakistan has the sixth largest population in the world and is the second largest Muslim country after Indonesia. Pakistan became independent in 1947 from the British Empire but has a long history including the Indus Valley Civilisation. Until 1971, Pakistan also included an area east of India which is now called the People's Republic of Bangladesh. It lost that area after a war with Indian Army and the Bengalis of Bangladesh. Pakistan has the seventh largest armed forces in the world and has nuclear weapons.
The name Pākistān (IPA:/pɑːkɪsðɑːn/) means Land of the Pure in Urdu and Persian. The name was created by Chaudhry Rahmat Ali[2] in 1933 as an acronym of the Muslim areas of western British India — P for Punjab, A for Afghania (the Afghan areas), K for Kashmir, S for Sindh and tan for Baluchistan. An i was added later to make it easier to pronunciation. The suffix -stan in Persian means "home of" and in Sanskrit means "place". Rahmat Ali later expanded upon this in his 1947 book Pakistan: the Fatherland of the Pak Nation. In that book he explains the acronym as follows: P=Punjab, A=Afghania, K=Kashmir, I=Iran, S=Sindh, T=Turkharistan (roughly the modern central-Asian states), A=Afghanistan and N=BalochistaN. The Persian word پاک pāk, which means "pure", adds another shade of meaning, with the full name thus meaning "land of the pure". Many Central and South Asian states and regions end with the element -Stan, such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Baluchistan, Kurdistan and East Turkestan. This Stan is formed from the Iranian root *STA "to stand, stay," and means "place (where one stays), home, country." Iranian peoples have been the principal inhabitants of the geographical region occupied by these states for over thousand years. The names are compounds of -Stan and the name of the people living there. Pakistan is a bit of exception; its name was coined in 1933 using the suffix -istan from Baluchistan preceded by the initial letters. Interestingly, a word almost identical in form, etymology, and meaning to the Iranian suffix -stan is found in Polish, which has a word stan meaning "State" (in the senses of both polity and condition). It can be found in the Polish name for the "United States of America." Stany Zjednoczone Ameryki (literally "States United of America". Use of the name gradually spread during the successful campaign for the seccesion of a Muslim state from British India Empire.
Pakistan has four provinces: Punjab, Sindh, North-West Frontier Province and Balochistan. Punjab has the most people but Balochistan is the largest province by area.
Some pictures:
[change] References
- ↑ Both Hindu Indians and Pakistanis say that the Kashmir region is their own. Both countries and China separately control parts of the region. India and Pakistan's parts are divided by a Line of Control. The Pakistan–China border is not internationally recognised.
- ↑ Text of the Now or Never pamphlet, issued on January 28, 1933
| Countries and territories of Asia |
|---|
| Afghanistan · Armenia2 · Azerbaijan · Bahrain · Bangladesh · Bhutan · Brunei · Cambodia · China (PRC) · Cyprus2 · East Timor · Gaza Strip · Georgia2 · Hong Kong3 · India · Indonesia · Iran · Iraq · Israel · Japan · Jordan · Kazakhstan · Kuwait · Kyrgyzstan · Laos · Lebanon · Macau3 · Malaysia · Maldives · Mongolia · Myanmar · Nepal · North Korea · Oman · Pakistan · Philippines · Qatar · Russia1 · Saudi Arabia · Singapore · South Korea · Sri Lanka · Syria · Taiwan (ROC) · Tajikistan · Thailand · Turkey1 · Turkmenistan · United Arab Emirates · Uzbekistan · Vietnam · West Bank · Yemen |
| 1. Includes territory in both Europe and Asia. 2. Usually thought of Europe for cultural, Politically and historical reasons. 3. Special territories. |
