Pakistan lies northwest of India and west of China. The country’s name comes from the
Urdu language (Pakistan’s official language), meaning “Land of the Pure.” Its southern coast borders the Arabian Sea. The Hindu Kush and Himalayan mountain ranges of northern Pakistan have some of the most rugged land found anywhere in the world. Nearly all of the land in these mountains lies above 7,800 feet. The Indus plains are in the central region of the country.
The climate there is hot and dry. The region usually receives only about eight inches of rain a year and temperatures may hover around 104ºF(40ºC) for months at a time. Despite these conditions, the Indus plains support the largest part of Pakistan’s population.
Urdu is Pakistan’s official language, although only 10 percent of Pakistanis speak it. Sixty percent of the population speak Punjabi. Other languages include Sindhi (13 percent); Pushto or Pashtu, spoken by the Pathans (8 percent); and Kashmiri, 2 percent. With this diversity, and because of the role of language in cultural identity, Urdu has been adopted as Pakistan’s national language.