Pakistan came into being in 1947. The area was part of India until that time. It had been invaded by many Asian peoples through the centuries, with the Muslims arriving in waves from the early 1000s to the 1500s. The British took control over the whole subcontinent in the 1700s. The primarily Muslim areas of India gained independence in 1947 as Pakistan, which then was divided into two widely separated sections (the eastern section would become independent as Bangladesh in 1971). Fighting broke out almost immediately between Muslims and Hindus, and some 7 million Muslims fled from India to Pakistan, while about 6 million Hindus left Pakistan for India. Since 1947, there have been wars between India and Pakistan many times, with the most violent outbreaks being 1947-1948, 1965, and 1971. The war in 1971 was a continuation of the 1966 outbreak. When Pakistan attacked the Indian airfields in Kashmir, India retaliated by attacking both East and West Pakistan. India occupied the Eastern half, and this region declared its independence on December 6, 1971 as Bangladesh. The outbreak was relatively short-lived as the United Nations brought pressure for a cease-fire, which was arranged in mid-December after Pakistan was defeated. Pakistan was then thrown into turmoil as it lost its eastern half and its army of 10,000 soldiers.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah was an Indian Muslim leader and the first governor-general of Pakistan. He was born in Karachi in 1876. He was educated in Karachi and Bombay and studied law at Lincoln's Inn in England. He was admitted to the bar in 1896. He served briefly as a magistrate in Bombay and then practiced law, showing a remarkable gift for advocacy and rhetorical ability. He had his first important brush with politics in 1906 when he acted as private secretary to the president of the Indian national Congress. He joined the Muslim League in 1913 to protest against the Hindu majority, and he became pres...