Pakistan, explained.

The history of Pakistan spans roughly 9,000 years, from the Neolithic settlement at Mehrgarh in Balochistan through the Indus Valley Civilisation, Gandhara, the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughal Empire, Sikh and British rule, to independence on 14 August 1947. This cluster organises that span into nine eras, each with its dates, its rulers and the places it left behind.

Pakistan holds six UNESCO World Heritage sites and thousands of protected monuments, including the mud-brick city of Mohenjo-daro, the Buddhist ruins at Takht-i-Bahi, Lahore Fort and Shalimar Gardens, the necropolis of Makli at Thatta, Rohtas Fort and the Sufi shrines of Multan. This cluster covers forts, stupas, shrines, mosques and archaeological sites.

Pakistan is administered as four provinces, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, plus Islamabad Capital Territory and the administrative territories of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Together they cover 881,913 square kilometres and hold a population of about 241 million. This cluster covers provinces, valleys and cities.

Pakistan contains five of the world's fourteen peaks above 8,000 metres and more than 100 peaks above 7,000 metres, spread across three great ranges that meet near Jaglot: the Karakoram, the Himalaya and the Hindu Kush. K2, at 8,611 metres, is the second highest mountain on Earth. This cluster covers peaks, ranges, passes and glaciers.

The Indus river runs about 3,180 kilometres from the Tibetan plateau to the Arabian Sea and, with its five Punjab tributaries, drains almost the whole of Pakistan. The basin supports the largest contiguous irrigation system in the world. This cluster covers rivers, basins, barrages and the alpine and salt lakes fed by them.

Pakistan has four major deserts: Thar in south-eastern Sindh, Cholistan in southern Punjab, Thal between the Indus and Jhelum, and the Kharan desert in Balochistan. The Thar, shared with India, is the only subtropical desert in the world with a substantial rural population, at roughly 1.6 million people on the Pakistani side.

Pakistan's coastline runs about 1,050 kilometres along the Arabian Sea, split between the Makran coast of Balochistan and the deltaic Sindh coast. The Makran side is a desert shoreline of hammerhead cliffs, mud volcanoes and fishing towns; the Sindh side holds the Indus delta, the world's fifth largest mangrove system.

Pakistan protects about 30 national parks and more than 100 wildlife sanctuaries across habitats that run from the Karakoram to mangrove swamp. The national animal is the markhor, a wild goat that recovered from near-extinction through community conservation in Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This cluster covers parks and species.

Pakistan has more than 70 living languages, with Urdu as the national language and Punjabi, Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki and Balochi among the largest by speakers. Its cultural output runs from qawwali and Sufi poetry to truck art, ajrak block printing, blue pottery and a regional food map that changes every few hundred kilometres.

Pakistan's festival calendar mixes religious observance, harvest and seasonal gatherings, and regional sporting events. Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha are the two national religious holidays; the Shandur Polo Festival, played each July at 3,700 metres, is the highest polo tournament in the world.