Balochistan, Pakistan

Balochistan () is a province of Pakistan. Located in the southwestern region of the country, Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan by land area but is also the least populated. It is bordered by the Pakistani provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the north-east, Punjab to the east, and Sindh to the southeast; shares international borders with Iran to the west and Afghanistan to the north; and is bound by the Arabian Sea to the south. Balochistan is an extensive plateau of rough terrain divided into basins by ranges of significant height and ruggedness. It has a large deep-sea port, Gwadar Port, lying in the Arabian Sea.

Although it constitutes approximately 44% of Pakistan's land area, only 5% of it is arable, and it is noted for an extremely dry desert climate. Despite this, agriculture and livestock make up about 47% of Balochistan's economy.

The name "Balochistan" means "the land of the Baloch people". The meaning of the ethnonym "Baloch" (also spelt Baluch) is unclear. Until the times of Arab conquests in the 7th century CE, Baloch people lived in Kerman in present-day Iran. They started migrating eastwards into Makran in what would later came to be known as Balochistan by the time of Seljuks in the 11th century.