Panjgur District (Balochi: پنجگور دمگ; Urdu: ضلع پنجگور) is a district in the western part of Balochistan province, Pakistan, covering an area of 16,891 square kilometres (6,522 sq mi) with a population of 509,781 as of the 2023 census. It borders Iran to the west along the Iran–Pakistan border and lies within the broader Makran region. Chitkan serves as the principal urban centre and district headquarters.

Panjgur was one of three tehsils of the former Makran District until 1 July 1977, when Makran Division was created and Panjgur constituted as a separate district alongside Kech (Turbat) and Gwadar. The district is best known as one of Pakistan's principal producers of Muzati (Mazafati) dates and as the only highland agricultural zone in the Makran region.

The name Panjgur is most commonly interpreted as a compound of the Balochi words panj (five) and goran (highland), meaning "land of five highlands". Some scholars link goran to the Avestan word gairi (mountain), a derivation supported by nearby place names such as Chokgoran ("small highland") and Mazangoran ("big highland"). A second derivation combines panj with goor (grave), yielding "five graves", in reference to five venerated local tombs. A third interpretation reads the name as a compound of panj and kor (stream), meaning "five streams", which is said to have shifted over time to "Panjgur". None of these etymologies has been conclusively established.

Panjgur District covers an area of 16,891 square kilometres (6,522 sq mi) in western Balochistan, sharing an international border with Sistan and Baluchestan province of Iran to the west. This boundary, known as the Goldsmid Line, was formalised as the Perso-Baloch frontier in the nineteenth century and continues to shape the economic and social life of the district's western tehsils. The district sits within a highland basin at an elevation of approximately 980 metres (3,220 ft) around Chitkan, ringed by arid mountain ranges that distinguish it from the lower-lying Makran coast. The Siahan Range forms the principal mountain barrier to the north. In the western and southwestern parts of the district, around Paroom Tehsil, elevations generally exceed 900 metres (3,000 ft) with peaks surpassing 1,300 metres (4,300 ft).

The Rakhshan River is the principal waterway, flowing through the centre of the district and dividing it broadly into northern and southern zones. Most human settlements are concentrated along its banks. The Gichk valley, in the southeastern part of the district, is a historically significant sub-region and the ancestral seat of the Gichki ruling dynasty of Makran. The River Tank, the district's second principal waterway, flows through the southeastern parts of the district, with the Gichki and Raghai streams among its tributaries.

Agriculture is the principal economic activity along the river corridor; irrigation depends mainly on karez underground channels fed by the subsurface flow of the Rakhshan River and kaurjos, small water channels drawn from pits dug into the perennial river flow and directed to fields. The remainder of the district is sparsely populated and characterised by arid and rocky terrain with xerophytic vegetation typical of the Makran region.

The town of Panjgur is among the oldest documented settlements in the Makran region. Al-Muqaddasī, writing in 985 AD, recorded it, then known in Arabic as Bannajbur, as the capital of Makran and noted that it was inhabited by a people called Balūṣh, constituting the earliest known Arabic reference to the Baloch people. In 643 AD, Islamic forces under Abdullah conquered Makran and the region subsequently came under successive Arab rulers; Arab geographers of the era described it as largely desert. Over subsequent centuries the area passed through the hands of various conquerors, including the Deilamis, Seljuks, Ghaznavids, Ghurids, and Mongols, though local rulers such as the Hots, Rinds, Maliks, Buledais, and Gichkis maintained practical authority, as outside powers had no intention of permanent settlement.

The Buledais rose to prominence in the region through their association with the Zikri sect and maintained links with the rulers of Muscat; they held power for over a century before converting to mainstream Islam in their later years. The Gichki tribe, initially settled in the Gichk valley of Panjgur, subsequently rose to become the ruling class of the state of Makran from approximately 1740 until 1955. Their origins are debated; the most widely cited account describes them as Rajput migrants who arrived in Makran between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, gradually converting to Islam and establishing themselves through diplomacy and strategic alliances with local ruling families. The Gichkis were also initially associated with the Zikri sect, which brought them into conflict with the Khan of Kalat, Mir Nasir Khan I, who conducted several expeditions against Panjgur in the late eighteenth century with the aim of suppressing the Zikri faith. These campaigns resulted in revenue-sharing agreements between the Khan and the Gichkis rather than their outright subjugation.