Dera Ismail Khan

Dera Ismail Khan lies west of the Indus, near the route through the Gomal Pass. Its name recalls Ismail Khan, a Baloch chief whose descendants governed the town for nine generations. The surrounding Derajat took shape in the fifteenth century, when the Langah Sultan of Multan invited Baloch settlers into the region. Under the Mughals it belonged to the province of Multan and grew as a market for Powindah nomads.

Ahmad Shah Durrani captured the town in 1750, ending the rule of Ismail Khan's descendants. The Indus swept away the old settlement in a flood in 1823. Two years later Nawab Sher Muhammad Khan rebuilt it on higher ground, with four bazaars meeting at the central Chowgalla and a market for Afghan traders. In 1836 Ranjit Singh annexed the town to the Sikh state.