The Indus then flows onto the dry Punjab plains of Pakistan and becomes a broad, slow-moving, silt-laden stream. There it receives the combined waters of the five rivers of the Punjab (Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej), its chief affluent. In Pakistan the Indus is extensively used for irrigation and hydroelectric-power generation. The Jinnah, Sukker, and Kotri barrages feed the main Indus canals in W Punjab and Sind. The irrigated plain is Pakistan's most densely populated region and its main agricultural area; wheat, corn, rice, millet, dates, and fruits are the chief crops.
The lower Indus is navigable for small boats but is little used for transportation, at least since the development of railroads. The extensive use of the Indus's waters for irrigation has greatly reduced the flow of freshwater in the lower Indus, leading to the encroachment of saltwater up the lower river and the loss to the Sind of millions of acres of surrounding farmland to the sea or salt and of hundreds of thousands of acres of ecologically important mangrove swamp.
The river valley was the site of the prehistoric Indus valley civilization, and the Indus was once considered to be the western boundary of India. The use of the Indus and its tributaries has been a source of conflict between Pakistan and India, although a treaty by which the waters were to be shared was signed in 1960; the use of the river system's waters also is an issue between the provinces of Punjab and Sind within Pakistan.
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- Indus valley civilization
Indus valley civilization, ancient civilization that flourished from about 2500 B.C. to about 1500 B.C. in the valley of the Indus River and its tributaries, in the northwestern portion of the...
- Mianwali
Mianwali, town (1981 pop. 59,159), N Pakistan, on the Indus River. It is the administrative center and market for a district that produces food grains, oilseed, hides, and wool.
- baths
Baths, in architecture. Ritual bathing is traceable to ancient Egypt, to prehistoric cities of the Indus River valley, and to the early Aegean civilizations. Remains of bathing apartments dati...
- Punjab
Punjab [Pers.,=five rivers], historic region in the NW of the Indian subcontinent. Since 1947 it has been separated into an Indian state and a Pakistani province bearing the same name. The Ind...
- Dera Ismail Khan
Dera Ismail Khan, town (1981 pop. 64,358), N central Pakistan, c.1 mi (1.6 km) on the western bank of the Indus River. A district administrative center, it is known for its lacquered woodwork,...
- Sukkur
Sukkur, city (1998 pop. 329,176), SE Pakistan, on the Indus River. It is an important commercial and industrial city and a center for trade with Afghanistan. Its industries produce cotton and ...
- Dera Ghazi Khan
Dera Ghazi Khan, town (1981 pop. 102,007), central Pakistan, on the Indus canal. It is an administrative center in a wheat and millet area. Manufactures include textiles, processed foods, and ...
- Kailas
Kailas, peak, c.22,280 ft (6,790 m) high, SW Tibet region of China, highest point of the Kailas Range, in the Himalayas. It is near the sources of the Sutlej, Indus, and Yarlung Zangbo (Brahma...
- Sulaiman Mountains
Sulaiman Mountains, range, extending c.250 mi (400 km) from N to S along the western edge of the Indus River valley in E Baluchistan province, central Pakistan. The twin peaks of Takht-i-Sulai...
- Karakorum, mountain range, Kashmir
Karakorum or Karakoram, mountain range, extending c.300 mi (480 km), between the Indus and Yarkant rivers, N Kashmir, S central Asia; SE extension of the Hindu Kush. It covers disputed territo...
