Editing Quetta (section)

== History ==
{{See also|History of Quetta}}
=== Early history ===
<gallery mode="packed" widths="200">
File:Quetta 1880.JPG|Fort Mirri in 1880
File:Quetta4m.jpg|Quetta Cantonment, 1889
</gallery>Modern day Quetta was captured by [[Mahmud of Ghazni|Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi]] during his [[Ghaznavids|invasion of India]].<ref name="Burki">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rk-sBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA470 |title=Historical Dictionary of Pakistan |last=Burki |first=Shahid Javed |year=2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781442241480 }}</ref> In 1543, Mughal emperor [[Humayun]] came to Quetta en route to [[Safavid Persia]], leaving his son and future Mughal emperor [[Akbar]] here. In 1709, the region was a part of Afghan [[Hotak dynasty]] and stayed a part until 1747 when [[Ahmed Shah Durrani]] conquered it and made it a part of [[Durrani Empire]]. The first European visited Quetta in 1828, describing it as ''mud-walled fort surrounded by three hundred mud houses''.<ref name="BHC Govt">{{cite web |url=https://bhc.gov.pk/district-judiciary/quetta/introduction/history |title=History of District |work=bhc.gov.pk |access-date=26 November 2017 |archive-date=1 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201034148/https://bhc.gov.pk/district-judiciary/quetta/introduction/history |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Foundation ===
[[File: Quetta map before 1935.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Map of Quetta after the [[1935 Quetta earthquake]]|left]]
In 1876, Quetta was occupied by the British and subsequently incorporated into [[British India]].<ref name="Burki" /> In 1856, British General [[John Jacob (East India Company officer)|John Jacob]] had urged his government to occupy Quetta given its strategic position on the western frontier.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G-48AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA458 |title=The Cambridge History of the British Empire |last=Dodwell |first=H. H. |date=1929 |publisher=CUP Archive }}</ref> British troops constructed the infrastructure for their establishment as a garrison town.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shah |first=Syed Ali |date=29 December 2013 |title=Quetta: 'Little Paris' lost |url=http://www.dawn.com/news/1077071 |access-date=18 July 2024 |website=DAWN.COM |language=en |archive-date=18 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240718151952/https://www.dawn.com/news/1077071 |url-status=live }}</ref>

It was reconstructed after the [[1935 Quetta earthquake]], which razed the city to the ground. The epicentre of the earthquake was close to the city and destroyed most of the city's infrastructure, killing an estimated 40,000 people.<ref name="ڈان اردو">{{cite web |author=ڈان اردو |date=30 December 2013 |title=پاکستانی شہروں کی تاریخ |url=http://www.dawnnews.tv/news/1001058 |access-date=26 February 2016 |work=dawnnews.tv |archive-date=6 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306213852/http://www.dawnnews.tv/news/1001058 |url-status=live }}</ref> After the foundation of Pakistan, Balochistan acquired the status of a province and Quetta became a provincial capital.<ref name="Burki" />