| Quetta,
derived from kwatta, meaning fort in Pushtu, no doubt is
a natural fort, surrounded as it is by imposing hills on
all sides. The encircling hills have the resounding names
of Chiltan, Takatoo, Mordar and Zarghun.
Quetta was first mentioned
in the 11th century when it was captured by Mahmood of
Ghazni on one of his invasions of the subcontinent. In
1543 the Moghul emperor Humayun rested here on his retreat
to Persia, leaving his one-year-old son Akbar until he
returned two years later. The Moghuls ruled Quetta until
1556, when it was taken by the Persians, only to be retaken
by Akbar in 1595.
The powerful Khans of Kalat held the fort from
1730. In 1828 the first westerner to visit Quetta described
it as a mud-walled fort surrounded by 300 mud houses.
Although occupied briefly by the British during the First
Afghan War in 1839, it was not until 1876 that Quetta
came under permanent British control and Robert Sandeman
was made political agent in Baluchistan. Since Partition
the Population of Quetta has increased dramatically. Because
of its military base and trading activities, and the introduction
of commercial fruit farming, Quetta District can now support
half a million people. Quetta, before the great earth-quake
of 31 May, 1935, was a bright and bustling city, having
multi storied buildings, it was almost completely destroyed
in this great earthquake and was razed to the ground in
the small hours of the morning of that fateful day, when
about 40,000 souls perished within the twinkling of an
eye. After the great calamity that overtook Quetta,
houses are generally single storey and quake proof. These
houses are built with bricks and reinforced concrete.
The structure is generally of lighter material. Incidentally,
the bricks of Quetta have a yellowish tinge unlike the
red variety of Sindh and the Punjab.
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