Editing History of Pakistan (section)

=== Achaemenid Empire ===
{{Main|Achaemenid invasion of the Indus Valley}}
[[File:Eastern Satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire.jpg|thumb|Much of the area corresponding to modern-day Pakistan was subordinated to the Achaemenid Empire and forced to pay tributes to Persia.|left]]
The main Vedic tribes remaining in the [[Indus Valley]] by 550 BC were the ''Kamboja'', ''Sindhu'', ''Taksas'' of Gandhara, the ''Madras'' and ''Kathas'' of the [[River Chenab]], ''Mallas'' of the [[River Ravi]] and ''Tugras'' of the [[River Sutlej]]. These several tribes and principalities fought against one another to such an extent that the Indus Valley no longer had one powerful Vedic tribal kingdom to defend against outsiders and to wield the warring tribes into one organized kingdom. King [[Pushkarasarin]] of [[Gandhara]] was engaged in power struggles against his local rivals and as such the [[Khyber Pass]] remained poorly defended. [[King Darius I]] of the [[Achaemenid Empire]] took advantage of the opportunity and planned for an invasion. The Indus Valley was fabled in Persia for its gold and fertile soil and conquering it had been a major objective of his predecessor [[Cyrus The Great|Cyrus the Great]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Petrie |first1=Cameron A. |last2=Magee |first2=Peter |title=Histories, epigraphy and authority: Achaemenid and indigenous control in Pakistan in the 1st millennium BC |url=https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/bannu-archaeological-project/petrie2007_02.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611053344/https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/bannu-archaeological-project/petrie2007_02.pdf |archive-date=2011-06-11 |access-date=18 April 2024}}</ref> In 542 BC, Cyrus had led his army and conquered the Makran coast in southern [[Balochistan]]. However, he is known to have campaigned beyond Makran (in the regions of [[Kalat, Pakistan|Kalat]], [[Khuzdar]] and [[Panjgur]]) and lost most of his army in the ''Gedrosian Desert'' (speculated today as the [[Kharan Desert]]).

In 518 BC, Darius led his army through the Khyber Pass and southwards in stages, eventually reaching the [[Arabian Sea]] coast in Sindh by 516 BC. Under Persian rule, a system of centralized administration, with a bureaucratic system, was introduced into the Indus Valley for the first time, establishing several [[satrap]]ies: [[Gandāra]] around the general region of Gandhara, [[Hindush]] around Punjab and Sindh, [[Arachosia]], encompassing parts of present-day [[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]], and [[Balochistan]],<ref name="Iranicaarticle">{{cite encyclopedia|last=Schmitt|first=Rüdiger|title=Arachosia |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/arachosia |date=10 August 2011}}</ref> [[Sattagydia]] around the [[Bannu District|Bannu]] basin,<ref name="arch.cam.ac.uk" /> and [[Gedrosia]] covering much of the [[Makran]] region of southern Balochistan.<ref>[A.B. Bosworth, "Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great." 1988. p. 146]</ref>

What is known about the easternmost satraps and borderlands of the Achaemenid Empire is alluded to in the [[Darius the Great|Darius]] inscriptions and from Greek sources such as the ''Histories'' of [[Herodotus]] and the later ''Alexander Chronicles'' (Arrian, Strabo et al.). These sources list three Indus Valley tributaries or conquered territories that were subordinated to the Persian Empire and made to pay tributes to the Persian Kings.<ref name="arch.cam.ac.uk">{{cite web |url=http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/bannu-archaeological-project/petrie2007_02.pdf |title=Microsoft Word - GS_Alexander_Arrian.doc |access-date=4 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519044446/http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/bannu-archaeological-project/petrie2007_02.pdf |archive-date=19 May 2012}}</ref>