Baluchistan, ‘the land of the Baluch’, lies in a central position, at the crossroad of two axes of three macro-regions: Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. Baluchistan is an extremely inhospitable land, arid and mountainous, with a predominantly nomadic population divided between Pakistan and Iran. Those Baluchis who settled in the northern regions of Baluchistan were characterised by a strong segmentary tribal structure, while those living in the oases with irrigated agriculture, developed a socially stratified ‘feudal’ model. Anyhow, among the Baluchis, the tribal structure is much looser than other tribes of northern Central Asia.
Although the Baluchis represent the largest group, there is a Brahoi minority in the Kalat area, the Jats, and other Indian elements on the eastern coast, such as the Gichkis, and descendants from African slavery in the Makran coastal region (Makrani, blacks), where the religious sect of the Zikris is concentrated.
Most of Baluchistan lies outside the monsoon system of weather; therefore, the climate is extremely dry. The annual rainfall is about 15 centimeters, and even less along the coastal region of Makran. In terms of physical geography, Baluchistan has more in common with western Asia than with the Indian subcontinent. Its wild and mysterious vistas of arid wastelands, great deserts, and formidable mountain ranges of amazing rock formations, contoured and twisted by earth’s violent geological movements, make it a dramatic area. Its climate combined with the natural geographical features make one of the most daunting environments for successful human habitation. Therefore, it has always been sparsely populated.
As abovementioned, Baluchistan is a tribal society. The most important tribes located there are the Brohi, Baluch, and Pathan who speak Brohi, Baluchi and Pushto respectively. Most of the people in central Baluchistan lead a semi-nomadic life herding sheep, goats and camels, while others are subsistence farmers and laborers working in Punjab and Sind during winter months. The northeast of Baluchistan province receives rain and snowfall that supports juniper forests, cultivated land and orchards, producing apples, almonds, apricots, peaches and grapes. As there is hardly any rain, the few villages and settlements depend on spring water and wells. The coast has several small fishing villages while main towns like Gwadar, Ormara, Jiwani and Pasni have small harbors.
One of the main characteristics of Baluchistan is the variation in flora and fauna resulting from the climatic differences. This multi-featured inhospitable land raised people of different ethnos. The ethnic diversity is such that we can find Baluchis and Brohi, Arabs, Jats and Kurds, and also the blacks whose ancestors had once been brought to this land as slaves from East Africa by the Omani Arabs.
The land is so infertile that extra sources of income have always been necessary. During the time when the Baluchis were relatively independent and autonomous, they used to attack the farmers residing in nearby villages or rob the caravans (chupao) on their way to, or back from India. Since early days, plunder had always been considered as a means to escape economic difficulties.
The Khanate of Kalat was born as tradition says in 1666 CE and marked the beginning of the reign of Mir Ahmad Khan (1666-1695), chief of the Ahmadzai, a tribal section of the Brahoi ethnic group. Exploiting the political vacuum, the Brahoi confederation expanded in Makran. At the end of their expansion, Nadir Shah of Persia (1722-1747) recognised them as real chiefs and presented them lands in Sind. During the 18th century the Khans of Kalat shifted their loyalty, including troops and taxes, from the Persian Shah to the Durrani chiefs of Afghanistan. But, in 1758 Nasir Khan I of Kalat, the Great (1749-1795) proclaimed his independence, and the Ahmadzai reinforced their role within the Baluchistan tribes. When Nasir Khan I died in 1795 CE, his son, Mahmud Khan I (1759-1817, or 1821), was not able to maintain his father’s dominions, and the Khanate fell into a period of political decadence and territorial disruption. The Baluchis, a very tough people, very skilled in the use of weaponry, adaptable to climate change and environmental conditions, were pushed from the extreme misery of their country towards Persia and towards the coasts of Arabia. Here, they offered themselves as soldiers, sailors and bodyguards for pay. In history, the name Baluch has been associated by western authors with numerous historical accounts of massacres and invasions. Until first European explorations around the 18th century, Baluchistan remained a blank area, scientifically defined “terrae nullius”. At the start of the 19th century the Makran constituted a cultural entity quite distinct from the “Indian” region and was seen as being “other” also by the Persians Qajars: a frontier region, its very geography inhospitable by nature and, according to tales of the time, inhabited by warlike peoples, indomitable and famed - in available European archive documents - for their ferocity. Notwithstanding this, however, and thanks above all to the renewed political order of the Qajars and their frontier feudalism, the area continued to represent one of the main transit routes between the Iranian plateau and the Indus valley along which most trade passed, from east to west and north to south, by land and by sea. Moreover, given its profoundly inhospitable geographical nature, it became the ideal refuge for rebels, bandits, pirates and fugitives.

Nelle memorie bibliografiche sul Baluchistan nel diciannovesimo secolo, ho ritrovato una traduzione italiana del testo di Henry Pottinger, primo esploratore, in età moderna, delle regioni fra l’India e la Persia che furono definite terrae nullius dalla cartografia dell’epoca. Il presente studio è il risultato di una rilettura di una ricerca condotta attraverso un mondo non solamente ancora non noto, e per questo considerato esotico, misterioso, nel quale perdersi, e forse morire, ma un mondo privo di definizioni territoriali e di confini politici. Ho voluto ripercorrere queste prime testimonianze di esplorazioni per provare a riflettere lo sguardo e per tentare di camminare ancora tra i sentieri della ricerca storica alla luce delle complessità metodologiche. Si tratta di una traduzione di un testo dal titolo Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde pubblicato, sotto forma di diario, a Londra nel 1816. Il Baluchistan era totalmente sconosciuto agli europei poiché le ultime testimonianze risalivano al tempo di Alessandro Magno.