Editing Thar Desert (section)

== History ==
The [[Desert National Park]] in [[Jaisalmer district]] has a collection of 180-million-year- old animal and plant fossils.

[[Jaisalmer State]]'s historical foundations are in the large empire ruled by the Bhati dynasty. The empire stretched from what is now  [[Ghazni]]<ref name="tod_197198">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.114834 |title=Rajasthan or the Central and Western Rajpoot States, Volume 2, page 197-198 |publisher=Higginbotham And Co. Madras|date=2018-08-14}}</ref> in modern-day Afghanistan to what is [[Sialkot]], [[Lahore]] and [[Rawalpindi]] in modern-day Pakistan<ref name="IGI">{{cite web|url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/reference/gazetteer/pager.html?objectid=DS405.1.I34_V21_278.gif |title=Imperial Gazetter of India, Volume 21, page 272 - Imperial Gazetteer of India - Digital South Asia Library |publisher=Dsal.uchicago.edu |date=2013-02-18 |access-date=22 November 2013}}</ref> to the region that is [[Bhatinda]] and [[Hanumangarh]] in modern-day India.<ref name="Bh_gov1">{{cite web |url=http://bathinda.nic.in/html/district_at_a_glance.html#N10024 |title=Bhatinda Government: District at A glance- Origin |publisher=Bhatinda Government |date=2018-08-14 |access-date=14 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110110050936/http://bathinda.nic.in/html/district_at_a_glance.html#N10024 |archive-date=10 January 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The empire crumbled over time because of continuous invasions from central Asia. According to Satish Chandra, the Hindu Shahis of Afghanistan made an alliance with the Bhatti rulers of Multhan because they wanted to end the slave raids that were made by the Turkic ruler of Ghazni, but the alliance was broken apart by Alp Tigin in 977 CE. Bhati dominions continued to shift southwards: they ruled Multan, then finally got pushed into Cholistan and Jaisalmer, where Rawal Devaraja built [[Derawar Fort|Dera Rawal / Derawar]].<ref name="RajGz">{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.71381 |title=Provincial Gazetteers Of India: Rajputana  |publisher=Government of India |date=2018-08-14}}</ref> Jaisalmer was founded as the new capital in 1156 by [[Rawal Jaisal|Maharawal Jaisal Singh]] and the state took its name from the capital. On 11 December 1818 Jaisalmer became a [[British protectorate]] through the [[Rajputana Agency]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.worldstatesmen.org/India_princes_A-J.html| title = Princely States of India}}</ref><ref name="RajGzb">{{cite web|date=2018-08-14|title=Provincial Gazetteers Of India: Rajputana|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.71381|publisher=Government of India}}</ref>

Because the kingdom's main source of income had long been levies on [[Caravan (travellers)|caravan]]s, its economy suffered after [[Bombay]] became a major port, and sea trade largely replaced trade along the traditional land routes. Maharawals Ranjit Singh and Bairi Sal Singh tried to reverse the economic decline, but the kingdom nevertheless became impoverished. To make matters worse, there was a severe [[drought]] and a resulting [[famine]] from 1895 to 1900, during the reign of Maharawal Salivahan Singh, which caused the widespread loss of the livestock upon which the increasingly agriculturally based kingdom had come to rely.

In 1965 and 1971, population exchanges took place in the Thar between India and Pakistan; 3,500 Muslims shifted from the Indian section of the Thar to Pakistani Thar, whilst thousands of Hindu families also migrated from Pakistani Thar to the Indian section.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7imPH4KVJUC&q=arif+hasan+thar+desert+migration&pg=PA15|title=Migration and Small Towns in Pakistan|last1=Hasan|first1=Arif|last2=Raza|first2=Mansoor|publisher=IIED|year=2009|isbn=9781843697343|pages=15–16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://himalmag.com/just-another-border/|title=Not just another border|last=Maini|first=Tridivesh Singh|date=15 August 2012|work=Himal South Asian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.newslens.pk/families-separated-pak-india-border-yearn-see-loved-ones/|title=Families separated by Pak-India border yearn to see their loved ones|last=Arisar|first=Allah Bux|date=6 October 2015|work=News Lens Pakistan|access-date=25 December 2016|archive-date=25 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225150022/http://www.newslens.pk/families-separated-pak-india-border-yearn-see-loved-ones/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Map of Vedic India.png|thumb|The position of Thar Desert (orange colour) in [[Vedic period|Iron Age Vedic India]]]]
[[File:Sarasvati river.jpg|thumb|Present-day Gagghar-Hakra river-course, with paleochannels as proposed by (Clift et al. (2012)).<ref>See [https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Satellite-image-of-the-Indus-River-system-showing-the-study-sites-Stars-indicate_fig1_229062223 map]</ref><br />
1 = ancient river<br/>
2 = today's river<br/>
3 = today's Thar desert<br/>
4 = ancient shore<br/>
5 = today's shore<br/>
6 = today's town<br/>
7 = paelochannels (Clift et al. (2012))]]