Multan

a city in Pakistan in Punjab Province, near the Chenab River. Population, 678,000 (1971). Important economic center and transportation junction. Multan has a large textile industry (primarily cotton), as well as enterprises of the chemical, glass, and food industries. The city has a pipeline to gas deposits in Sui.

Multan is an old handicrafts center: glazed tiles and ceramics, rugs, and leather items are made there. Noteworthy architectural monuments include the brick mausoleums of Sheikh Yusuf Gardez (1150–52), Bahawal Haq (second half of the 13th century), Shams-e Tabriz (rebuilt 1780), and Rukn-i Alam (1320–24).

Multan probably came into being in the middle of the first millennium B.C. as a center for the Malli tribe. It was conquered by Alexander the Great in 326 B.C., and by the Arabs in A.D. 713. In the eighth century it became the center of a Muslim principality, and in the tenth century, of the theocratic state of the Karmathians. In the 11th century, Multan was seized by Mahmud of Ghazna, who took reprisals against the Karmathians. In the 12th century the city was included in the Ghorid state. It joined the Delhi sultanate in 1228 and was seized by Tamerlane in 1398. Having been conquered by Baber in 1527, Multan was part of the Mongolian empire until 1752. In 1818 it became part of the Sikh state. The city was captured by British colonialists in 1849 during their annexation of Punjab. After the partition of India in 1947, Multan was incorporated into Pakistan.