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Khanate of Kalat

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Khanate of Kalat

The Khanate of Kalat, which emerged from the Brahui Confederacy, was a Baloch tribal Khanate that originated in the modern-day Kalat region of Pakistan. The Brahui Confederacy itself was a union of Baloch tribes and part of the broader Baloch tribal structure—not a separate ethnic entity.

Formed in 1666 due to the threat of Mughal expansion in the region, it controlled the wider Balochistan at its greatest extent in the mid-18th century, extending from Kerman in the west to Sindh in the east and from Helmand River in the north to the Arabian Sea in the south.

The Khanate of Kalat lost considerable area to Qajar Iran and the Emirate of Afghanistan in the early 19th century, and the city of Kalat was itself sacked by the British in 1839. Kalat became a self-governing state in a subsidiary alliance with British India after the signature of the Treaty of Kalat by the Khan of Kalat and the Brahui Sardars in 1875, and the supervision of Kalat became a task of the Baluchistan Agency.

Kalat was briefly independent from 12 August 1947 until 27 March 1948, when its ruler Ahmad Yar Khan acceded to Pakistan, making it one of the Princely states of Pakistan.

The Khanate of Kalat was the first unified polity to emerge in the history of Balochistan. It took birth from the confederacy of nomadic Baloch and Brahui tribes in 1666 which under Mir Ahmad Khan I declared independence from the Mughal suzerainty and slowly absorbed the Baloch principalities in the region.

According to Brahui and Baloch traditions, Kalat was ruled by a Hindu ruler named Sewa when they first conquered it. Historically, the regions surrounding Kalat were part of the Mughal province of Kandahar during 17th century. During the reign of Shah Jahan, Mughal expansion reached its high point, and caused the emergence for the first time a strong, unified "Baloch and Brahui Confederacy" or the Khanate of Kalat.

The first ruler of the Baloch and Brahui Confederacy was Mir Ahmad Khan I (r.1666–1695). He was strong enough to capture Quetta, Mastung, and Pishin from the Mughal governor at Kandahar. He spent his life fighting the Afghans and Kalhoras of Sindh, and became an ally of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. During the reign of his successor, Mir Samandar Khan (r.1697–1714), He expanded the state till Karachi and Placed Mir Noor Muhammad Kalhoro on The Throne under his hand, He Plundered Districts of Zhob which were the country of Pashtuns, a Safavid army under Tahmasb Beg invaded western Balochistan. Safavids were defeated, and Tahmasb was killed. Samandar Khan was rewarded by Mughals with the gift of port of Karachi.

Under Mir Abdullah Khan (r.1716–31), the state expanded from Upper Sindh and Kandahar to Persia till the port of Bandar Abbas. He was later killed while fighting against allied army of Hussain Hotak of Hotak dynasty and Kalhoras in 1734. His son and successor, Mir Mehrab Khan (r.1734–1749), was given the region of Kacchi, then under Kalhoras, by Nader Shah as blood compensation of his father.

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