The eastern edge of the arid Iranian plateau rises to form the mountains of Baluchistan, whose northeast members are continuous with the much higher ranges of the Himalayas. Several ranges of high mountains border the Indus Valley: In the north, the Sulaiman Range runs nearly due south, extending into the Indus plain as the Marri-Bugti Hills. Farther south, the Kirthar Range also runs nearly due north-south, and between the Kirthar Range and the Marri-Bugti Hills lies the Kachi plain, a substantial extension of the alluvial plain. The valley of the Bolan River, which flows through the Kachi plain, creates one of the major passes giving access from the Indus plains to the Baluchi highlands and the Iranian plateau beyond. A number of smaller rivers and mountain torrents also break through the mountains and provide east-west routes: Of these the most important is the Gomal River in the north of the Sulaiman Range. To the west the mountains are lower and heavily dissected by valleys and streams, those in the north mainly flowing west while those of southern Baluchistan flow north-south. These rivers create narrow valleys and plateaus with limited areas of cultivable soil. A few valleys have more extensive areas of arable land, including the Bannu Basin and Gomal Valley in the north, the Quetta Valley in the center, and the Las Bela plain in the south.
The region is semiarid, with limited and often unreliable winter rainfall over most of the region, brought by westerly winds. Agriculture therefore relies heavily on other sources of water: springs and wells in some areas, and, more widely, hill runoff when rain and snowmelt feed seasonal streams and rivers. This water is often captured and stored for later use or diverted onto fields, using a variety of small dams (bunds and gabarbands): although hard to date, some of these dams seem likely to have been constructed as early as in the pre-Indus period. Given the scarcity of water, cultivation in the region is therefore of less importance than pastoralism: keeping sheep, goats, and cattle. Many pastoralists spend their summers at home in Baluchistan and migrate with their animals to the Indus region during the cold winter months, a pattern that stretches back into antiquity. A wide range of wild game lives in the hills, including gazelle, markhor and other wild goats, wild sheep (urial), boar, and onager, as well as predators such as wolf, bear, leopard, and in the past probably Asiatic lion. The native vegetation is largely of the steppe or scrub type, with scattered trees such as acacia, tamarisk, and euphorbia, as well as juniper, jujube (zizyphus), almond, pistachio, and other edible species in some parts. Native grasses include a variety of wild barley. Both trees and other vegetation were more abundant in antiquity.
The mountains of the Indo-Iranian borderlands, particularly the Chagai Hills and those of the Sarawan region, are the source of many useful minerals, some exploited since remote antiquity: salt, steatite, agate and other semiprecious stones, alabaster, copper, and others.
The narrow Makran coast bordering the Arabian Sea is a bleak and inhospitable region, waterless except for occasional oases and rivers. The Kech-Dasht Valley in the west is the main focus of settlement and also provides a major route into the interior. East of the Makran is Las Bela, also a fertile plain, watered by the Porali and Hingol Rivers. Other rivers also provide paths from the coast into the mountains for most of the year when they are dry, and they are navigable after the rains. Fish furnish the main source of food for those dwelling on the coast; dates are the main crop in areas where cultivation is possible. The indented coast provides numerous small natural harbors and anchorages and is sheltered from the full impact of the monsoon winds. Maritime trade is important, as it was to the Indus people who established a number of coastal settlements in strategic locations. Seaborne relations with the people of the Oman peninsula, on the western side of the Gulf of Oman, may have been established by the early third millennium.
World History
