DERA GHAZI KHAN

This article appears in Volume V08, Page 64 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: DEM-DIO

DERA GHAZI KHAN , a town and

district

DISTRICT

of British India, in the Punjab. In 1901 the town had a population of 21,700. There are several handsome mosques in the native quarter. It commands the direct approaches to the Baluch highlands by Sakki Sarwar and Fort Monro. For many years past both the town and cantonment have been threatened by the erosion of the river Indus. The town was founded at the close of the 15th century and named after Ghazi Khan, son of Haji Khan, a Baluch chieftain, who after holding the country for the Langah sultans of

Multan

MULTAN, or MOOLTAN

had made himself independent. Together with the two other deras (settlements), Dera Ismail Khan and Dera Fateh Khan, it gave its name to the territorial area locally and historically known as Derajat, which after many vicissitudes came into the possession of the British after the Sikh War, in 1849, and was divided into the two districts of Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan.
The

DISTRICT

DISTRICT

OF DERA GHAZI KHAN contains an area of 5306 sq. m. The district is a long narrow strip of country, 198 m. in length, sloping gradually from the hills which form its western boundary to the river Indus on the

east

EAST
EAST, ALFRED (1849- )

. Below the hills the country is high and arid, generally level, but some-times

rolling

ROLLING

in sandy undulations, and much intersected by hill torrents, 201 in number. With the exceptions of two, these streams dry up after the rains, and their influence is only felt for a few miles below the hills. The eastern portion of the district is at a level sufficiently low to benefit by the floods of the Indus. A barren

tract

TRACT (from Lat. tractare, to treat of a matter, through Provencal tractat and Ital. trattato)

intervenes between these zones, and is beyond the reach of the hill streams on the one hand and of the Indus on the other. Although liable to

great

GREAT

extremes of temperature, and to a very scanty rainfall, the district is not unhealthy. The population in 1901 was 471,149, the

great

GREAT

majority

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

being Baluch Mahommedans. The principal exports are wheat and indigo. The only manufactures are for domestic use. There is no railway in the district, and only 29 M. of metalled road. The Indus, which is nowhere bridged within the district, is navigable by native boats. The geographical boundary between the Pathan and Baluch races in the hills nearly corresponds with the northern limit of the district. The frontier tribes on the Dera Ghazi Khan border include the Kasranis, Bozdars, Khosas, Lagharis, Khetvans, Gurchanis, Mazaris, Mariris and Bugtis. The

chief

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

of these are described under their

separate

SEPARATE

names.

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