| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Quetta |
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(kw ´t ) (KEY) , city (1998 pop. 560,307), capital of Baluchistan prov., W central Pakistan, at an altitude of c.5,500 ft (1,675 m), ringed by mountains. Deriving its name from the Pashto word kawkot [fort], it commands the entrance through the strategic Bolan Pass into Afghanistan and is a trade center for Afghanistan, Iran, and much of central Asia. The city’s cottage industries produce textiles, foodstuffs, and carpets. | 1 | | The city was occupied (1876) by the British following the Second Afghan War, and it gained prominence as the seat of British resident Sir Robert Sandeman. It became a strongly garrisoned British military station. Much of the present city was rebuilt after a disastrous earthquake in 1935. Quetta has a military staff college (est. 1907) and a geophysical observatory. Like many major Pakistani border cities, Quetta was a magnet for some of the millions of Afghan refugees who fled after the 1979 Soviet invasion; the refugees who remain have swelled the local population to an estimated 2 million people. As a result of war and ongoing fighting in Afghanistan, Quetta has become a center for arms and drug smuggling and a base for ousted Taliban leaders. | 2 |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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