Pakistan travel guide — Pakistan tourism and travel information

Pakistan

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan (پاکستان in Urdu), or Pakistan, is a country located in South Asia. Pakistan borders India, Iran, Afghanistan, China and the Arabian Sea. With over 150 million inhabitants it is the sixth most populous country in the world. It also happens to be the second largest Muslim country in the world (after Indonesia) and an important member of the OIC. Pakistan is also one of the few declared nuclear weapons states.

Pakistan geography

Pakistan has a total area of 803,940 square kilometers, slightly greater than France and the United Kingdom put together.

Pakistan is located in South Asia. To the south is the Arabian Sea, with 1,046 km of Pakistani coastline. To Pakistan's east is India, which has a 2,912 km border with Pakistan. To its west is Iran, which has a 909 km border with Pakistan. To Pakistan's northwest lies Afghanistan, with a shared border of 2,430 km. China is towards the northeast and has a 523 km border with Pakistan.

The main waterway of Pakistan is the Indus River that begins in China, and runs nearly the entire length of Pakistan, flowing through all of Pakistan's provinces except Balochistan. Several major rivers, interconnected by the world's largest system of agricultural canals, join the Indus before it discharges into the Arabian Sea.

The northern and western areas of Pakistan are mountainous. Pakistani administered areas of Kashmir contain some of the highest mountains in the world, including the second tallest, K-2. Northern Pakistan tends to receive more rainfall than the southern parts of the country, and has some areas of preserved moist temperate forest. In the southeast, Pakistan's border with India passes through a flat desert, called the Cholistan or Thal Desert. West-central Balochistan has a high desert plateau, bordered by low mountain ranges. Most of the Punjab, and parts of Sindh, are fertile plains where agriculture is of great importance.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Pakistan".