SanjayMurugesan220 at 08:26, 15 March 2026

2026-03-15T08:26:44Z

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{{Short description|Ancient region in Balochistan}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}
[[Image:Gedrosia-Map-Route-of-Alexander-1823-Lucas.png|thumb|Map showing Gedrosia in the [[Indian campaign of Alexander the Great]]]]
[[File:Tabula_Asiae_IX_a_map_Gedrosia_from_Munster's_edition_of_Ptolemy's_'Geographia',_1540.png|thumb|right|200px|A map of Gedrosia from Munster's edition of Ptolemy's 'Geographia']]
'''Gedrosia''' ({{IPAc-en|dʒ|ᵻ|ˈ|d|r|oʊ|ʒ|ə}}; {{langx|el|Γεδρωσία}}) is the [[Hellenization|Hellenized]] name of the part of coastal [[Makran]] in what is now [[Balochistan]]. In the accounts about [[Alexander the Great]] and his [[Diadochi|successors]], the area referred to as Gedrosia runs from the [[Indus River]] to the north-eastern edge of the [[Strait of Hormuz]]. It is directly to the south of the provinces of [[Arachosia]] and [[Drangiana]], to the east of the province of [[Carmania (satrapy)|Carmania]], and due west of the Indus which formed a natural boundary between it and western India. {{Citation span|The native name of Gedrosia might have been [[Gwadar]] or [[Bandar Gavater|Gwatar]] as there are two towns by that name and three bays with similar names (Gwadar East Bay, Gwadar West Bay and [[Gwatar Bay]]) in central Makran.|date=August 2025}}

==Geography==
[[Pliny the Elder]] while explaining the extent of India included four satrapies Arachosia, Gedrosia, [[Aria (region)|Aria]] and [[Paropamisadae|Parapanisidae]] as western borders of India.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wink|first=André|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2m7_R5P2oAC&pg=PA132|title=Al-Hind, the Making of the Indo-Islamic World: Early Medieval India and the Expansion of Islam 7Th-11th Centuries|date=2002|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-0-391-04173-8|language=en}}</ref>
<blockquote>India within the Ganges is bounded on the west by the Paropanisadai, Arakhosia, and Gedrosia along their eastern sides; on the north by Mount Imaos, which is situated near the Sogdiaioi and Sakai; on the east by the river Ganges; and on the south and again on the west by a part of the Indian Ocean.<br>
[[Ptolemy]], [[Geography (Ptolemy)|Geography 7:1]]<ref>Ptolemy, Geography, Book 7, Chapter 1; McCrindle, p. 33</ref>
</blockquote>

==People==
According to [[Arrian]], [[Nearchus]] mentions a race called [[Ichthyophagi]] ("fish-eaters") as inhabiting the barren shores of the [[Gwadar]] and [[Pasni (city)|Pasni]] districts in Makrān. During the homeward march of Alexander the Great, his admiral, Nearchus led a fleet in [[Arabian Sea]] along the Makrān coast and recorded that the area was dry and mountainous, inhabited by the ''Ichthyophagoi'' or ''Fish-Eaters''.{{ref|origins}}<ref>Arrian, ''Indica'', [https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/arrian-bookviii-india.asp 29:]</ref> They are also identified on the 4th century [[Peutinger Map]], as a people of the Baluchistan coast. The existence of such tribes was confirmed by [[Richard Francis Burton|Sir Richard F Burton]].<ref>''El-Medinah'', p. 144</ref>

Another group of people named as [[Oreitans]] were mentioned inhabiting modern [[Lasbela District]] in [[Balochistan (Pakistan)|Balochistan]] province of [[Pakistan]]. Alexander the Great crossed Hub River through Lasbela on his way back to [[Babylon]] after his campaigns in Northwestern India. Alexander mentions the river name as [[Arabius]], and local people as Oreitans.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=nTmXOFX-wioC&dq=Oreitans&pg=PA345 The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander]</ref>

== History ==
===Gedrosia (satrapy)===
{{main|Gedrosia (satrapy)}}
[[File:Eastern Satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire.jpg|thumb|Territory of Gedrosia, among the eastern territories of the [[Achaemenid Empire]].]]
[[File:Gedrosia (Peutinger Map).png|thumb|Gedrosia on the [[Peutinger Map]]]]
Gedrosia is a dry, mountainous country along the northwestern shores of the Indian Ocean. It was occupied in the Bronze Age by people who settled in the few oases in the region. Other people settled on the coast and became known in Greek as [[Ichthyophagi]]. It was conquered by [[Cyrus the Great]] or [[Darius the Great]], although information about his campaign is comparatively late. The capital of Gedrosia was Pura, which is probably identical to modern [[Bampur]], forty kilometers west of [[Iranshahr County|Irânshahr]].

Several scholars have argued that the Persian satrapy [[Maka (satrapy)|Maka]] is identical to Gedrosia (which is a Greek name). One argument is the similarity of the name Maka to the modern name Makran, a part of Pakistan and [[Iran]] that is situated a bit more to the east. However, it is more likely that Maka is to be sought in modern Oman, which was called Maketa in Antiquity.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.livius.org/ga-gh/gedrosia/gedrosia.html |title=Gedrosia |access-date=29 April 2021 |archive-date=24 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924223622/https://www.livius.org/ga-gh/gedrosia/gedrosia.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Alexander's campaign===
{{See also|Gedrosian campaign}}
Gedrosia became famous in Europe when the Greek king Alexander the Great tried to cross the Gedrosian desert and lost one third of his men.

Following his army's refusal to continue marching east at the [[Hyphasis River]] in 326 BCE, Alexander the Great crossed the area after sailing south to the coast of the [[Indian Ocean]] on his way back to Babylon. Upon reaching the Ocean, Alexander divided his forces in half, sending half back by sea to [[Susa]] under the command of Nearchus.<ref>{{harvp|Bosworth|1988|p=139}}</ref> The other half of his army was to accompany him on a march through the Gedrosian desert, inland from the ocean.<ref>{{harvp|Bosworth|1988|p=142}}</ref> Throughout the 60-day march through the desert, Alexander lost at least 12,000 soldiers, in addition to countless livestock, camp followers, and most of his baggage train.<ref>{{harvp|Bosworth|1988|p=145}}</ref> Some historians say he lost three-quarters of his army to the harsh desert conditions along the way.<ref>[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Alexander*/10.html Plutarch, ''The Life of Alexander'', 66.]</ref> However, this figure was likely based on exaggerated numbers in his forces prior to the march, which were likely in the range of no fewer than 30,000 soldiers.<ref name="Bosworth_146">{{harvp|Bosworth|1988|p=146}}</ref>

There are two competing theories for the purpose of Alexander's decision to march through the desert rather than along the more hospitable coast. The first argues that this was an attempt to punish his men for their refusal to continue eastward at the Hyphasis River.<ref>{{harvp|Heckel|2002|p=68}}</ref> The other argues that Alexander was attempting to imitate and succeed in the actions of Cyrus the Great, who had failed to cross the desert.<ref name="Bosworth_146"/> It is plausible that [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] had an ambition to safely cross through the desert with his army, unlike [[Semiramis|Semiramis']] and [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus']] failed Gedrosian campaigns; both left to flee away from the region with their remaining few men.{{efn|"Now it is reasonable to suppose that [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] believed such records because he was blinded by his numerous good fortunes; at any rate, [[Nearchus]] says that Alexander conceived an ambition to lead his army through Gedrosia when he learned that both [[Semiramis]] and [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]] had made an expedition against the [[Indian people|Indians]], and that Semiramis had turned back in flight with only twenty people and Cyrus with seven; and that Alexander thought how grand it would be, when those had met with such reverses, if he himself should lead a whole victorious army safely through the same tribes and regions.⁠³"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Strabo|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/home.html|title=The Geography of Strabo, Volume 7 of the Loeb Classical Library edition|publisher=Harvard University Press|language=en|page=Book XV, Chapter 1, Section 5}}</ref>|sfn}}{{efn|"They say that [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]], although aware of the difficulties, conceived an ambition, in view of the prevailing opinion that [[Semiramis]] escaped in flight from India with only about twenty men and [[Cyrus the Great|Cyrus]] with seven, to see whether he himself could safely lead that large army of his through the same country and win this victory too.¹¹⁹"<ref>{{Cite book|last=Strabo|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/home.html|title=The Geography of Strabo, Volume 7 of the Loeb Classical Library edition|publisher=Harvard University Press|language=en|page=Book XV, Chapter 2, Section 5}}</ref>|sfn}}

After the death of Alexander, this region became part of the holdings of [[Seleucus I Nicator|Seleucus]], who held Aria, Arachosia, and Gandhara, in addition to Gedrosia.

===Mauryan Empire===
The territories, known collectively as Ariyana were later lost to the Mauryan Empire of ancient India under the reign of [[Chandragupta Maurya]].<ref name="Ray2003">{{cite book |last1=Ray |first1=Himanshu Prabha |title=The Archaeology of Seafaring in Ancient South Asia |date=2003 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-01109-9 |language=English|quote=In spite of the vagueness of the historical texts, the consensus among scholars is that the treaty concluded between Candragupta Maurya and Seleucus acknowledged Indian control of territories to the west of the Indus. These included Gedrosia, Paropamisadae (the region of Kabul and Begram) and Arachosia (the Kandahar region).}}</ref> Gedrosia, along with [[Saurashtra (state)|Saurashtra]], were regions in ancient India that formed an important part of the [[Maurya Empire]], before being attacked by Indo-Greeks from the west.<ref name="BRS1949">{{cite book |title=The Journal of the Bihar Research Society |date=1949 |publisher=Bihar Research Society |page=74 |language=English |quote=Gedrosia and Saurashtra had formed important parts of the Mauryan empire before the Indo-Greek adventurers attacked in on the west.}}</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|21em}}

===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book |last=Bosworth |first=A. B. |year=1988 |title=Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great |url=https://archive.org/details/conquestempire00abbo |url-access=registration |publisher=Cambridge University Press |series=Canto |isbn=9780521406796 }}
*{{cite book |last=Heckel |first=Waldemar |year=2002 |title=The Wars of Alexander the Great |series=Essential Histories |publisher=Osprey |isbn=9781841764733 }}
*{{cite book |last=Saul |first=David |year=2009 |title=War: From Ancient Egypt to Iraq |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=9781405341332 }}
{{Refend}}

{{coord missing|Pakistan}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Balochistan]]
[[Category:Maurya Empire]]
[[Category:Historical regions of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Geography of ancient Greece]]

Gedrosia - Revision history

SanjayMurugesan220 at 08:26, 15 March 2026