Bela

Bela stands on the Las plain, north of the Arabian Sea and west of the hills that separate Baluchistan from Sind. The Purali River crosses the plain towards Sonmiani Bay, depositing silt along its lower course. Bela lay on an old route between Sind and Makran, a road that carried trade across this difficult coastal country and gave the town a place in the history of the region.

In 1742 Jam Ali Khan established his authority at Bela and founded the ruling house of Las Bela. From the town the Jams governed the surrounding plain and coastal lands, a territory between the highlands of Kalat and the sea. The town's position joined the routes of the interior with the lower river and the port on Sonmiani Bay, while its rulers maintained a distinct local polity in the eighteenth century.