ABSTRACT
23The origin of the Baloch cannot be precisely established. It is an insolvable riddle of history. Among the many views on the origin of the Baloch, the most popular explanation, especially among the Baloch, is that they are a Semitic race living in Syria and migrated from Aleppo to Kirman in the present-day Iran and from there finally to what is called Balochistan. Who called it Balochistan first is also not clear. If it was the British, why they called it Balochistan and not Brahuistan after the Brahuis of Kalat? Or was it Nadir Shah? This chapter provides an overview of the history of the Baloch and the land of the Baloch from the beginning till the arrival of the British. In the absence of any reliable sources, the reliance is on Baloch sources. Granted that the British published vast literature on Balochistan, however, it borrows heavily from the Baloch oral tradition. The chapter provides basic facts about the Baloch and their geographical and tribal divisions. The chapter analyses the relationship between the Khanate of Kalat and the tribal sardars and the relationship between Kalat and the Afghan rulers, and the Baloch tribal system.
