Kacchi Plain

{{Short description|Area in Balochistan, Pakistan}} The '''Kacchi Plains''' (Sindhi: ڪچي ميدان, Balochi: کَچِّ سَتَیْ زَمِیمْ), also known as '''Kach Gandava''',<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|wstitle=Kach Gandava|inline=yes|volume=15|page=626}}</ref> is a low-lying flat region in Balochistan, Pakistan separating the Bugti hills from those of Kalat, covering an area of {{convert|8000|km2|abbr=on}}.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Allah Bakhsh |first= |last2=Veldman |first2=Reinier |date=12 December 2022 |title=A flood with a benefit: using the extensive moisture in Kachhi Plains |url=https://thewaterchannel.tv/thewaterblog/excessive-moisture-utilization-in-kachi-plain/ |access-date=16 August 2025 |website=TheWaterChannel |language=en-US}}</ref><ref name="EB1911" /> The addition of the latter "Gandava" is based on the name of the town of Gandava in the present-day Balochistan, Pakistan.

Kach Gandava is driven, like a wedge, into the frontier mountain system and extends for 150 miles from Jacobabad to Sibi, with nearly as great a breadth at its base on the Sindh frontier. The soil is fertile wherever it can be irrigated by the floods brought down from the surrounding hills; but much of the central portion is sandy waste.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=January 2018 |title=Study on the Ecosystem of the Kachi Plain with Focus on Spate Irrigated Areas of Bhag Narri, Balochistan - Pakistan |url=https://floodbased.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/PN_34_Ecosystem-KAchi-plain-spate-irrigated-areas.pdf |access-date=16 August 2025 |website=Flood-Based Livelihoods Network}}</ref>

==History== The Kachhi Plain is the home of the archeological site of Mehrgarh, one of the most important Neolithic sites in archaeology, in the Kachhi district of Pakistan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Costantini |first=Lorenzo |chapter-url=https://ehrafarchaeology.yale.edu/document?id=aq40-001 |title=South Asian Archaeology 1981: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference of the Association of South Asian Archaeologists in Western Europe: Held in Cambridge University, 5–10 july 1981 |date=1984 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-25599-8 |pages=29–33 |chapter=The Beginning of Agriculture in the Kachi Plain: The Evidence of Mehrgarh}}</ref>

Until the end of the 15th century Kacchi had been part of Sindh. Around 1500, it was taken by Shah Beg of the Arghun dynasty from the Samma dynasty of Sindh. The territory was conquered by the Kalhora amirs of Sindh;<ref>{{cite web |date=2 February 2009 |title=Sibi {{snd}} The Hot Spot of Pakistan |url=http://www.pakistanpaedia.com/oth/sibi/sibi.html |accessdate=17 July 2017 |publisher=PakistanPaedia}}</ref> they were displaced by the Nadir Shah of Persia and awarded by him to the Kalat Khanate in 1740.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Sibi District |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V22_344.gif |access-date=20 July 2025 |encyclopedia=Imperial Gazetteer of India | volume= 22 |page=338 |via=Digital South Asia Library}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baloch |first1=N.A |title=Ḳandābīl |journal=Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online |date=2012 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_sim_3856 |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_3856 |publisher=Brill |language=en|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Kachhi was notified as a district in February 1965. At that time Naseerabad, Jhal Magsi, Jafarabad, Usta Muhammad and Sohbatpur districts were included; these were separated in 1987. Kacchi plains are also the site of Kacchi Canal Project.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abbasi |first=Arshad H. |date=14 April 2025 |title=How the Kachhi Canal project failed Balochistan? |url=https://www.brecorder.com/news/40357404 |access-date=20 July 2025 |website=Business Recorder |language=en}}</ref>

==Geography==

===Plain=== The Kacchi Plain is an arid plain with mountain ranges on three sides except to the southeast, located in: *the Kachhi District *the southern part of Sibi District, extending into the Nasirabad Division

===Districts=== Kachhi, Sibi, Nasirabad, Jafarabad, Jhal Magsi, Usta Muhammad, Sohbatpur districts of Balochistan.<ref name=":0" />

==See also== *Kacchi (Kalat) *Kachhi (Punjab)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{Cite journal |last=Audouze |first=F. |last2=Jarrige |first2=C. |date=1 August 1991 |title=Nomadic Pastoralists and Sedentary Agriculturists in the Kachi Plain, Baluchistan |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/025764309100700204 |journal=Studies in History |language=EN |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=230–254 |doi=10.1177/025764309100700204 |issn=0257-6430|url-access=subscription }}

Category:Plains of Pakistan Category:Landforms of Balochistan (Pakistan) Category:Dera Bugti District Category:Kachhi District Category:Sibi District